Veaceslav Ionita and Igor Munteanu could be excluded from the Observers Council (OC) of the Public Broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova. The Council entrusted secretary Anatol Dubrovschi with the task to formulate an application, asking the Parliament to consider excluding the two members because they consecutively miss the meetings without reason. Anatol Dubrovschi has told Info-Prim Neo that he is drafting the application and will present it at the next meeting of the Observers Council on June 9. If the document is signed by the largest part of the members, the application will be submitted to the Parliament. According to the OC secretary, Veaceslav Ionita and Igor Munteanu had been absent from seven consecutive meetings of the Council. They invoked the temporary suspension of activity as reason. But this is not a justified reason according to the legislation. Under the Broadcasting Code, if an OC member misses two or more consecutive meetings, he/she can be excluded from the Council. Their absence creates impediments in the Council’s activity, Anatol Dubrovschi said. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Veaceslav Ionita said that an OC member can be indeed excluded over unjustified absences, but the Council is not authorized to determine if the absence is justified or not. He said that his and Igor Munteanu’s absences “are more than justified”. The two OC members argued the suspension of the activity in January, saying that the access to information is hindered and their opinions are censured. According to Ionita, none of the documents they asked in January have been given to them yet. Veaceslav Ionita has said that he does not intend to withdraw from the OC as he announced earlier because this would mean to yield up too easily. “The best service we could do now to the society and the only form of asserting ourselves in a way or another at Teleradio-Moldova is to not attend the meetings of the Observers Council. We cannot do something good for the society if we are present there. The absence sends a clear message – the reform at Teleradio-Moldova got stuck,” the cited source said. The Observers Council is now composed of: Mariana Slapac – the OC president, vice president of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Anatol Dubrovschi – the OC secretary, director of the state-owned enterprise “Casa Presei”, Ludmila Barbus – director of Svetoci High School, Alexandru Burean – executive director of “The World – a Mirror for Moldova” Fund, Viorel Cibotaru – director of the European Institute for Political Studies in Moldova, Boris Focsa – director of Luceafarul Theater, Tudor Tataru – director of Buciumul Studio, Igor Munteanu – executive director of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, and Veaceslav Ionita – program director at IDIS “Viitorul”, university lecturer.