STA, 18 May 2022 - Under amendments to the RTV Slovenija act sponsored by the opposition Democrats (SDS), the public broadcaster's license fee would no longer be mandatory. The new coalition opposes the proposal, saying it would ruin RTV Slovenija, whereas the other opposition party, New Slovenia (NSi), supports it.
Since the SDS filed a motion today to call a referendum on the changes to the legislation, the bill's consideration will take more time than initially thought.
In addition to the license fee becoming voluntary, the amount payable would be determined by citizens themselves, said Alenka Jeraj from the SDS as she presented the proposal at Wednesday's session of the National Assembly. According to her, the broadcaster is not as credible and objective as it should be and has lost 200,000-250,000 viewers in the past ten years.
The emerging coalition of the Freedom Movement, Social Democrats (SD) and Left finds the proposal an attempt to undermine RTV Slovenija in a financial sense as well.
They agree that the RTV Slovenija act needs to be changed, but in a way to depoliticise the broadcaster and ensure editorial autonomy, said Predrag Baković from the SD in parliament. They have also tabled their own version of the bill to achieve this, he added.
