Government to allocate EUR 40 million to national broadcaster RTCG over next 3 years

Podgorica, Montenegro (19 April 2018) – At today's session, the Montenegrin Cabinet approved the Public Services Provision Agreement between the Government of Montenegro and National Public Broadcaster RTCG for the period 2018 - 2020. Text of the agreement, which is an integral part of the RTCG Programme Obligations, was agreed between the Government and the RTCG, and adopted at the RTCG Council’s meeting on 20 March 2018.

The agreement on provision of public services provides for the type and scope of all public services or programme obligations of RTCG, pursuant to Article 9 of the Law on RTCG defining the public broadcaster’s mission, as well as Article 9 defining the amount of funds and the source of funding.

The agreement, inter alia, defines the obligation to maintain separate accounting for public and commercial services in order to avoid cross-subsidisation of public and commercial activities of the RTCG, or the situation in which commercial services are financed by public money.

The agreement is concluded for a 3-year period in compliance with the macroeconomic and fiscal policy guidelines. In line with the legal obligation to allocate 0.3% of GDP in the next three years, the Government will finance the provision of public services with around EUR 40 million over the next three years.

We reiterate that the Parliament of Montenegro passed the Law Amending the Law on National Public Broadcaster RTCG, defining the political, institutional and financial guarantee of the independence of the public broadcaster, and envisaging the obligation to draft an official agreement, as a framework for sustainable financial planning of a 3-year programme production of the national public broadcaster.

MINISTRY OF CULTURE