Public broadcasting in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in a monetary disaster that threatens its existence. Behind that is additionally the intention of the Bosnian Serbs to undermine the existence of the whole state.
What’s subsequent? That is the query that hangs over every thing at BHRT. The public broadcaster in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in a monetary disaster that threatens its existence. “Not a single elevator in the building has been working for three months. So all employees walk up twelve floors to get to their outdated workplaces,” says BHRT director Nena Tadić.
“We try not to make a program with anything. We have no money to go out, shoot reports or cover the living expenses of the employees.” The station reduces every thing to the naked necessities to be able to adjust to the authorized obligation and to be a service for all folks in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As of the start of February, BHRT was lacking greater than 50 million euros. The consequence was blocked accounts and excellent electrical energy and satellite tv for pc payments; There are additionally money owed to suppliers and particularly to the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union. By the top of February, BHRT would have needed to pay the equal of 11 million euros in debt to the EBU. According to BHRT, these money owed haven’t been paid. The related deadline has expired.
EBU fee has not been made
The EBU confirms ARD-Request that fee has not been made. In the previous, makes an attempt have been made to discover a sustainable resolution along with BHRT. Unfortunately, the broadcaster was nonetheless unable to pay the contribution owed. “However, as a non-profit organization funded by public broadcasters across Europe, the EBU had to initiate proceedings on behalf of its entire membership to recover the outstanding funds,” a spokeswoman stated. We will “examine all options in the coming months”.
As quickly as that occurs, there’ll not be any funds obtainable for additional broadcasting operations. The roughly 780 staff would successfully be on the streets. According to director Tadić, there’s a threat of collapse: “It would mean media darkness in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We would then be the only European country without public broadcasting and therefore not in a position to become a member of the European Union.”
Protest within the bitter chilly: In November, BHRT journalists reported from a tent in entrance of the parliament in Sarajevo to attract consideration to the station’s state of affairs.
Fight for the existence of the nation
The motive for the disaster is a battle between BHRT and RTRS. The latter is the general public broadcaster in Republika Srpska, the Serbian-dominated a part of the nation and one of many two entities within the nation. “We have a state that consists of two entities and the Brčko district. This is exactly how this radio and television system is divided,” explains Tadić. “These public institutions are responsible for collecting the broadcasting fee in their respective parts of the country. According to the same law, they are obliged to transfer 50 percent of the fees collected in the territory of their institutions to BHRT’s account, since we are all part of the same system.”
According to the director, that is precisely what does not occur. RTRS doesn’t pay its legally required share of the broadcasting payment regardless of courtroom rulings. At BHRT they are saying there have been adjustments in fee round 9 years in the past. Under political directions, RTRS determined to maintain the whole payment collected.
Ten courtroom instances later, there may be nonetheless no resolution, though even the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina identified that the related legal guidelines regulating the distribution of charges have to be complied with. Tadić due to this fact sees Milorad Dodik as accountable.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina is split into the Serb-ruled Republika Srpska, the Bosniak-Croat-ruled Federation and the Brčko District as a particular administrative area. The sub-entities have their very own political establishments and are linked by a weak central authorities. The distribution of energy between Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats is split in accordance with quotas. There isn’t just one, however three state presidents for the roughly 3.2 million inhabitants.
The failures of politics
The former president of Republika Srpska has been deposed after a courtroom ruling due to separatist actions. But his occasion remains to be making an attempt to weaken all establishments on the federal stage, together with BHRT, to be able to painting a functioning state as unimaginable and pave the way in which for secession.
Just initially of February, Dodik stated on the RTRS program: “My main goal is the independent Republika Srpska, and that has not disappeared. It has not disappeared.”
But trying solely at Republika Srpska guilty will not be sufficient, says Maja Sever. The journalist from Croatia is chairwoman of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). The “Milorad Dodiks” could also be on the forefront of the trigger, says Sever. “But it’s not that simple. Politicians in Sarajevo have been ignoring the fee problem for years. They don’t really want to solve the problem.”
The choices are blocked in parliament
What Sever means: The BHRT disaster has lengthy since reached politics, with out it having achieved something up to now. In order to alter that, on the finish of January the Presidium, i.e. the nation’s three-person head of state, consisting of a consultant every of the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, handed a collection of resolutions to save lots of BHRT. These embody, amongst different issues, the obligatory enforcement of the RTRS money owed in addition to instant emergency funding from budgetary funds to stop the blackout of BHRT and likewise assured wages for its staff.
But: When it involves implementing these measures, Parliament comes into play. And there, the respective ethnic events commonly block or delay one another’s choices. The EBU additionally appears to see it that means. The Broadcasting Union additionally sees politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina as having a task. “We continue to urge the authorities to find an urgent and sustainable solution to the financial crisis that has crippled BHRT for many years and now threatens the future of public broadcasting,” it stated ARD.
A case for Schmidt?
The journalist Maja Sever due to this fact brings Christian Schmidt, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, into play. “I want to approach him with the motto: Help them! Force them to find solutions to save BHRT if they can’t find a sensible solution nationally.”
So far it has been heard from Schmidt’s atmosphere that he shouldn’t be the one to take over the duties of parliament. Sever concludes: “I don’t know how they can survive without major changes, without serious investment and financing in the near future.” It’s a query that BHRT can also be asking itself.
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/bosnien-herzegowina-rundfunk-100.html