Slovak government approves closure of public radio and television channels – World

The Slovak government, led by social democrat Robert Fico, approved this Wednesday the closure of the public radio and television channel RTVS, which it accuses of reporting in a subjective and non-independent way.

The coalition executive, made up of Smer, from Fico, the also social democrat Hlas and the conservative Slovak National Party approved the controversial project, which will now be debated in Parliament.

There, the definitive closure of public radio television will be put to a vote, but the coalition parties hold an absolute majority, so it is not expected that the project will not move forward.

The vote is expected to be held at the end of June, in line with the Slovak Prime Minister’s expectations.

The initiative was the target of criticism, both from the opposition and from journalists critical of the Fico government, who accuse the executive of wanting to replace RTVS, which they consider objective and independent, with a propaganda broadcaster linked to the government.

Several non-governmental organizations have already announced that they will send letters to the European Commission and the European Parliament to stop the closure of RTVS and the president of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, who ends her term in June, repudiated the measure.

Prime Minister Robert Fico and the Minister of Culture, Martina Simkovicova, promoter of the measure, repeatedly criticized the management of RTVS for alleged bias and tried to dismiss the broadcaster’s general director.

However, Slovak legislation prevented this maneuver, as the head of public radio and television was elected for a term until 2027.

The Executive is trying to get around the situation by replacing RTVS with a new broadcaster called STVR.

In addition to the name change, the government’s proposal includes the appointment of the general director of radio and television through a council made up of several members, three of which were chosen by the Ministry of Culture, and also defends the creation of a council to oversee the programation.