Serbia’s key media regulator is again riddled with irregularities, in clear violation of Serbian legislation, and makes a mockery of media reforms demanded by the European Union, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and SafeJournalists Network (SJN) say.
The undersigned organisations alert the EU Commission that the government majority in the Committee for Culture and Information of the National Assembly is again violating legal requirements and manipulating the election process for the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) in favour of candidates aligned with the administration.
We note that this is the second selection process for members of the Council of the REM, the country’s most important media regulator, after the initial process was abandoned in January 2025 due to the withdrawal of candidates citing complaints of similar procedural and legal irregularities.
The organisations of the MFRR, which recently undertook a media freedom mission to Serbia, have repeatedly highlighted the lack of independence of the REM, which has long been stacked with government loyalists and suffers from political capture, and which has resulted in an underregulated media ecosystem rife with propaganda and disinformation.
In the recent annual Rule of Law and Enlargement reports, which outline progress required as part of Serbia’s EU accession bid, the EU Commission called for a new appointment procedure for the REM Council, calls echoed during EU officials’ visits to the country. After multiple delays, in late April 2025, the National Assembly annulled the previous procedure and opened a new call, under pressure from the EU and the demands of the student-led protest movement.
However, since then the process has been undermined by the same irregularities. In a recent session of the Committee for Culture and Information, opposition MPs walked out in protest against a failure to properly address concerns over conflicts of interest among the nominees and list of nominating organisations for the election. The government majority in the Committee rejected a proposal to individually consider each application and the organisation proposing candidates to address allegations of bias or non-compliance with criteria.
Independent Serbian media associations, who nominated several of their own independent candidates, have pointed out that many of the other proposed candidates do not satisfy the legal requirements and that many of the other organisations permitted to nominate candidates display clear government bias, were formed in murky circumstances, and do not meet basic legal requirements outlined in Serbian legislation.
It is clear to our organisations that the Committee for Culture and Information is again conducting this appointment process in a non-independent and arbitrary manner. The new appointment process, though likely to be presented to the EU as meeting a key demand for progress, is nothing more than window dressing.
As MFRR organisations pointed out in our recent mission report, the REM has long represented a key element of media capture in Serbia. Under the control of government loyalists, the previous REM Council, which is responsible for issuing television and radio broadcasting licences, made controversial decisions that undermined media pluralism by boosting pro-government broadcasters at the expense of independent broadcasting houses.
The REM has repeatedly failed to uphold its mandate. It has failed to oversee fair and balanced election coverage; it has failed to address violent rhetoric and hate speech by tabloid media, as well as the spread of pro-Russian disinformation, and it has failed to sanction targeted smear campaigns by certain tabloid media on critics of the ruling party and its leadership.
As the REM Council is also tasked with appointing the Boards of Directors of Serbia’s state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), a key propaganda organ of the Serbian government, the appointment of government-aligned individuals to the Council remains fundamental to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) maintaining overall control over the country’s media landscape and broader public discourse.
Moving forward, to ensure appointments to the REM Council are conducted in a truly fair and independent manner, our organisations call on the Committee for Culture and Information to postpone the final decision of the list of nominees and nominators until detailed assessment of any potential conflicts of interests are debated. Any candidate or organisation that displays clear bias should be disqualified.
When a final list of candidates is drawn up, we urge the National Assembly to vote for candidates based on professionalism, experience and independence, rather than political affiliation. If it is to be assessed as credible by the European Union, the REM Council election must be conducted in a fair, transparent and democratic manner, free from irregularities, and resulting in a pluralistic and professional body able to carry out its mandate without obstruction.
If the process continues to be undermined by blatant irregularities, as it currently appears to be, the EU should be clear and vocal in its criticism of Serbian authorities and should clearly communicate that progress on media reforms under Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) of the EU accession process remain stalled, if not in active reverse. The Serbian authorities’ openly disingenuous approach for implementing EU-mandated reforms should be reflected in future EU Rule of Law and Enlargement reports.
We note finally that the situation at the REM Council is illustrative of the wider state of emergency for press and media freedom in Serbia, where attacks on journalists in recent months have reached levels not seen for decades, threatening independent and watchdog journalism and deepening a long-standing media freedom crisis, requiring urgent attention and vigilance from the EU.
Signed:
Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) –
International Press Institute (IPI)
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)
Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
European Centre for Press and media Freedom (ECPMF)
ARTICLE 19 Europe
SafeJournalists Network –
Association of Journalists of Kosovo
Association of Journalists of Macedonia
BH Journalists Association
Croatian Journalists’ Association
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia
Trade Union of Media of Montenegro
This statement was coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.
