We, the authorized nominators and candidates for members of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM), hereby inform the public that we are withdrawing from further participation in this process. Our decision comes after none of the total of 30 objections submitted by legitimate nominators were considered, and warnings about gross violations of the law and misinterpretations of basic legal norms remained ignored.
At the session of the Committee for Culture and Information, held on June 6, 2025, it was decided to disregard the Law on Electronic Media and accept all illegal nominators and candidates. The objections were not considered at subsequent sessions held on June 9 and 11 either. By doing so, the National Assembly and the relevant committee have knowingly carried out a series of procedures that are contrary to the law, legal standards, and the principles of public interest.
We remind you that the election of the new REM Council was initiated after two weeks of blockades, during which students and citizens demanded its formation in accordance with the law. Instead, we are witnessing another political agreement that has resulted in the trivialization of the process and the humiliation of the legal order of the Republic of Serbia.
We will not be accomplices in the simulation of reforms and the feigning of fulfilling European obligations while REM, as an independent body, is being systematically undermined. REM is not a political tool – it exists to protect civil rights, freedom of expression, to combat hate speech, and to ensure genuine media pluralism.
We are convinced that entry into the European Union is not achieved by bypassing laws, but through their consistent application. Therefore, we believe that this process is legally and politically compromised, and we hereby confirm that we will no longer participate in it.
We remind you that yesterday six film associations and the Association of Drama Artists of Serbia, along with their four candidates, withdrew from the process. With today’s withdrawal of an even greater number of participants, a total of 78 authorized nominators and 16 candidates have so far withdrawn from the election process for the REM Council. In as many as seven out of a total of nine categories, both nominators and candidates have withdrawn, which clearly shows that this process has lost all legitimacy.
The letter delivered today to the National Assembly, with the signatures of the nominators and candidates who have withdrawn from the process, can be found HERE.
Source: Užice Centre for Children’s Rights