Although Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis sent the
\nbill providing for the elimination of 102 fees, including the TV-radio licence
\nfee, back to Parliament, the bill has been endorsed again by the Senate in its
\ninitial form. 82 senators from the Social Democratic Party, the Alliance of
\nLiberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians deemed the
\npresident’s arguments ungrounded and stood against the reexamination of the
\nbill, while the representatives of the National Liberal Party, the People’s
\nMovement Party and the Save Romania Union voted in favour. <\/p>\n
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A former minister of culture, Save Romania Union
\nsenator Vlad Alexandrescu has drawn attention to the fact that the elimination
\nof the TV and radio fee affects the autonomy of public services. Moreover, it
\ninfringes upon citizens’ right to information, the senator has also stated:<\/p>\n
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Instead of just being accountable to citizens, the
\nRomanian public television and the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation will
\nhave to answer to the Government and the politicians who will propose and
\napprove their budgets. Given that the politicisation of the two public services
\nis already at the highest level, having them become financially dependent on
\nthe Government might lead to them becoming fully obedient to the ruling power.
\n<\/p>\n
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On the other hand, the leader of the Social Democrat
\nsenators Serban Nicolae has given assurances that there are resources for the
\ntwo public services to function properly. Serban Nicolae:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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This fee was normally collected on a monthly basis.
\nThe decision will not affect the budgets of the public television and radio
\nservices, because the budget law will provide for the necessary resources for
\nthem to be able to function without becoming dependent on politicians’ will.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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The issues facing the public television and radio
\nare old and systemic, mainly because of the legislation that governs them,
\nsaid the president in his request for reexamination. According to Klaus
\nIohannis, a decision regarding these services’ funding sources can only be made
\nwithin a broader scope and with the aim of genuinely reforming the activity of
\nthe public television and radio services, and the debate cannot be just about
\nwhether a fee to support them is necessary or not. Passing at high speed
\nthrough Parliament during the election campaign, the bill on the elimination of
\n102 fees has triggered controversies and fierce debates on the public stage. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Defenders of the fee, including media organisations
\nand experts, say that giving up this fee and funding the public media services
\nexclusively from the state budget would create the background for their full
\nsubordination to political decisions. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The TV-radio license fee is one of the 102 fees that Romanias Parliament has decided to cancel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":70842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[19347,38767],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-71406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-romania","tag-tv-and-radio-licence-fee"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n