WRITTEN QUESTION No. 434/98 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Commission. Freedom of the press in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia
Date: 1998-02-24
Institutions: European Parliament, VAN BLADEL
Subjects: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, EU programme, Serbia, democratisation, freedom of the press, mass media

2. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 304/103

ii)  Council Directive of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation
or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities (OJ No
L 298, 17.10.1989, p. 23)

Article 12: Television advertising shall not include any discrimination on grounds of race, sex or nationality.

Article 22: Member States shall ensure that broadcasts do not contain any incitement to hatred on grounds of
race, sex, religion or nationality.

iii)  Council Regulation of 2 June 1997 establishing a European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia

(OJ No L 151, 10.6.1997, p. 1).

(98/C 304/154)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0434/98

by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Commission

(24 February 1998)

Subject: Freedom of the press in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia

In Bosnia campaigns are waged from time to time, at the instigation of various authorities, against independent
journalists.

In Serbia the state media are continually used for the propaganda of the ruling party, in which opposing opinions
are  contradicted  without  any  chance  for  both  sides  of  the  issue  to  be  put,  local  TV  and  radio  stations  are
increasingly coming under the control of the ruling political parties in the various local areas, while the press is
frequently affected by (cid:145)paper shortages(cid:146).

In Croatia, most of the media, both national and local, are under the direct or indirect control of the ruling HDZ
party and are used for propaganda purposes, again without any attempt at a balance between the two sides. The
independent media are intimidated with civil actions, brought by prominent HDZ members, often members of
the government, invariably claiming large sums of money for (cid:145)libel(cid:146).

Can the Commission state what means are at its disposal to help improve the media situation in these countries,
which of these means it is currently using, and in which areas new instruments need to be developed?

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission

(13 March 1998)

The Commission shares the Honourable Member(cid:146)s view of the situation of the media in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and is convinced like him that the freedom of the press is crucial
to the democratisation process. Therefore, since 1994 it has been running a programme of aid to the independent
media in the countries of former Yugoslavia.

The  programme  is  managed  by  the  Commission  and  extends  to  all  countries  of  former  Yugoslavia  except
Slovenia. Both the press and audio-visual media received subsidies during 1997: newspapers, radio, television
and news agencies.

Projects aided by the Commission relate in particular to means of producing information or programmes, the
training of journalists, improvement of the means of distribution and dissemination, and legal protection of the
media.

Last year 77 projects were approved, totalling ECU 11.24 million. The Commission means to spend about as
much in 1998 as in 1997 on its policy of aid for independent media in former Yugoslavia.

To suit the situation in the countries concerned, the Commission plans to hive off the management of modestly
sized  projects  to  its  delegations  with  the  aim  of  making  the  implementation  of  programmes  relating  to  the
independent media faster and more flexible.