WRITTEN QUESTION No. 434/98 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Commission. Freedom of the press in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia
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 ápaper shortagesí. 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 álibelí. 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 Memberís 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