The work of the National Public Broadcaster “Teleradio Moldova” is hampered by Parliament as the six members of the Supervisory Board haven’t been yet named. The chairman of the Electronic Press Association APEL Vasile State has told IPN that all the consequences are serious for the public broadcaster because the Supervisory Board has the status of managerial body and inspection body.
The last meeting of the Board was held last December. The Council has been non-functional for at least seven months as it has only three of the nine members. “The situation is serious because, from legal viewpoint, any decision referring to financing, any change of the personnel schemes at Teleradio-Moldova, and any decision to attract investments for developing the company must be approved by the Supervisory Board,” said the expert.
Vasile State also said that Parliament violated nothing by not naming members of the Board during over half a year as the Broadcasting Code stipulates no term in this respect. There are legislative shortcomings whose liquidation cannot be delayed. First of all, the broadcasting legislation must provide not only the method and procedure of naming the members of the Supervisory Board, but also the period during which they should be named. Secondly, the broadcasting legislation must stipulate that the former members of the Board should work until new members are appointed.
According to him, the delay in adopting such amendments is possibly based on political reasons. “Those who decide probably didn’t reach an agreement,” stated the expert.
Contacted by IPN, deputy chairman of the parliamentary commission on education, research, youth and sport, PLR lawmaker Valeriu Saharneanu said that this subject is politicized. The commission held interviews with 12 contenders and a meeting was to take place to announce the six selected candidates, who were to be confirmed by Parliament. The Liberal-Reformists proposed that each party from the coalition should field by two members of the Supervisory Board, but the other two components of the coalition - PLDM and PDM – proposed distributing the members this way – three suggested by the PLDM, two by the PDM, and one by the PLR.
The Supervisory Board is the autonomous managerial body of the National Public Broadcaster “Teleradio-Moldova” whose goal is to ensure the people’s right to get truthful and comprehensive information in a fast way and to monitor the observance of the legal and statutory provisions by the broadcaster.
