Đurović: Appointment of members of the RTV Podgorica Council should be carried out in accordance with the law

"The Media Center calls on the President of the Assembly and the councilors to complete the procedure for appointing a new member of the RTV Podgorica Council from among non-governmental organizations in the field of human rights protection without delay, in accordance with the Law on Audiovisual Media Services and the Decision on the Establishment of the Limited Liability Company Local Public Broadcaster "Radio Televizija Podgorica", he said. Goran Djurovic, director of the Media Center.

On February 23rd of this year, the Board for Elections and Appointments of the Capital City of Podgorica, he claims, illegally stopped the procedure for appointing new members of the RTV Podgorica Council.

"By misinterpreting the Decision on the Establishment of the Limited Liability Company Local Public Broadcaster "Radio Televizija Podgorica", the president and members of the Board have stopped the process of appointing new members of the RTV Podgorica Council. If the misinterpretation of the Board is not corrected at the next Board meeting, then the only conclusion is that the procedure has been stopped because the candidate who submitted the correct documentation, Nataša Nelević, is not to the liking of the parties that make up the government," said Đurović.

Two candidates applied for the public call for the appointment of one member of the RTV Podgorica Council from among NGOs in the field of human rights protection: Dajana Maraš and Natasa Nelević, while she applied for election as a member of the Council on behalf of sports organizations Natalija Đaletic.

Based on a request for free access to information, the Media Center reviewed the documentation of the candidates proposed by human rights NGOs.

A review of the documentation shows that candidate Dajana Maraš did not have proper documentation for any of the 11 NGOs that nominated her. On the other hand, candidate Nataša Nelević had proper documentation for all 12 NGOs that nominated her.

"The Capital City Selection and Appointments Committee had to review the documentation of the registered candidates and assess the correctness of the submitted documentation, in accordance with the regulation. In accordance with Article 34 of the Decision on the Establishment of RTV Podgorica, at the session held on February 23, the Committee had to determine the list of candidates (Dajana Maraš and Nataša Nelević) with the names of the NGOs that submitted the correct documentation," Đurović states.

As he pointed out, only candidate Nataša Nelević must be included on the list of candidates who submitted complete and timely documentation.

"Only in the next phase of the procedure, at the next session, is the Board obliged to determine the proposed list for the appointment of members of the Council by authorized proposers, in such a way that the final list would include a representative of an NGO that has the support of a larger number of NGOs with proper documentation (Article 35 of the Decision on the Establishment of RTV Podgorica). Nataša Nelević must be included in that final list because the documentation of the NGOs that supported her was proper," Đurović pointed out.

Articles 34, 35 and 35a of the Decision on the Establishment of RTV Podgorica are completely clear and leave no room for different interpretations.

"The only question is whether the Assembly of the Capital City of Podgorica wants to carry out the procedure for appointing a member of the RTV Podgorica Council in a legal manner or whether it wants to obstruct the process for political reasons. The competent Appointments Committee and the Assembly of the Capital City have the opportunity to correct the mistake made and continue the process because the final decision of the Assembly in this procedure has not been made," said Đurović.

The Media Center will provide the EU Delegation and the European Commission with information on the process of appointing members of the RTV Podgorica Council.

He reminds the councilors of the Capital City Assembly that Montenegro is in the process of joining the European Union and that in a key phase of the process, any evidence of unwillingness to respect the principle of the rule of law can be disastrous for the realization of the citizens' wish for our country to become a member of the EU.