The response of Ministry of Culture to the NGO CGO claims that Ministry is misleading the public

The Ministry of Culture is currently coordinating the Drafting of the Law on Media in a very transparent and open process, within the Working Group where representatives of the media, the academic community and non-governmental organizations, including the NGO CGO, participate, in addition to the representatives of the competent state bodies.

We emphasize that Drafting of Media Law is only the first step in the legislative process, after which the draft of legal solutions will be the subject of a comprehensive public debate with all interested parties. Once again we repeat that the Government is interested in this process and is ready to listen to the attitudes of all interested parties, especially the media community and the civil sector, in order to contain and define quality solutions, with full respect for the expert opinions of the international partners and the procedures for harmonizing national legislation with European legislation.

In an inclusive process, the goal of the Government , in partnership with the media, the academic and the NGO community, is to propose to the Parliament new legal solutions that will guarantee the highest level of freedom and professionalism of journalists and media in accordance with the highest international standards.

In this process, we count on complete support and expert assistance from international partners, above all the EU, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Also, as we have already pointed out, the Government of Montenegro will be fully and responsibly approached with the spirit and content of the evaluation and recommendations of the Council of Europe Analysis, and analyze it with the Working Group for drafting of Media Law, after the public promotion, in order to define a quality legal text.

If members of the Working Group for the Drafting of the Law on Media consider that a pre-ambitious deadline for establishing a draft legal text is set, as the first step in the legislative process, the Ministry of Culture is ready to consider the extension of this deadline.