Skopje, 26 March 2019 – Director of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services Zoran Trajchevski, President of the Agency Council Lazo Petrushevski and Deputy President of the Agency Council Milaim Fetai had a working meeting today with a delegation of the Secretariat for European Affairs, led by Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bujar Osmani.
The participants in the meeting discussed the role and activities of the Agency in the European integration processes, the amendments to the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, the finances and human resources and, in general, the current situation in the media sphere. A special accent was placed on the issues concerning hate speech and false news, especially on the eve of the presidential elections, as well as on the monitoring of the electoral media coverage. Deputy Prime Minister Osmani pointed out that the European Commission assessed the work of the Agency positively and added that he expected the regulator to continue working in this direction in the forthcoming crucial period.
“We had an opportunity for an open discussion about what the State can do for the Agency to have all the conditions and prerequisites needed for independence and efficiency in its work, but also to discuss what the Agency will do to ensure freedom of the media,” Osmani stated after the meeting. Director Trajcevski expressed his gratitude for the visit and said that the Agency would make every effort in the forthcoming period to help obtain a positive recommendation from the European Commission to start negotiations for accession to the EU.
“We will show this, first of all, by our impeccable implementation of the Electoral Code during the presidential elections, in coordination with the other state bodies that conduct the election process and, of course, by implementing and fully practicing the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and the Law on Media,” said Director Trajcevski, adding that the Agency as an institution was prepared and willing to help the Government in achieving the desired result. 