Prime Minister Krivokapić congratulates World Press Freedom Day

Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić congratulated the World Press Freedom Day, saying that freedom in every area, especially media, is an imperative of the current Government.

"Freedom of expression is one of the basic foundations of any democratic society and can only be achieved in a free media environment. Our goal is to create a positive legal environment, which respects the role of the media in society and ensures respect for media freedom and pluralism," said Prime Minister Krivokapić.

The Prime Minister said that free and independent media are a key factor in democracy and the foundation of social dialogue.

"Only a totalitarian and autistic system can be self-satisfied with the results achieved in any field of human action. Being self-critical, or accepting constructive criticism based on exactness and empiricism, does not mean revealing personal weaknesses, insecurities and skepticism. The criticisms we received as a country in the accession process from the relevant EU institutions and organisations are not unfounded and do not depend on whether someone looks at us with sympathy or not. Such conclusions came as a result of objective research by relevant and competent analysts. It is not difficult to make better results in the area of media freedom than those burdened with mortgages, the media captured by the former regime, and whose results contain murders, wounds, persecutions, threats and harassment of journalists. We have to and want much more than that," Krivokapić said.

The Prime Minister emphasised that the current Government of Montenegro, by initiating the Continuous Media Dialogue, showed by its example that it wants to share experiences and obligations with the media community and to implement everything that is provided by the Constitution and laws.

"Adoption of the Media Strategy, preparation of the Law on Audio-Visual Media Services, as well as intensive cooperation with the Council of Europe and other international partners when it comes to laws on national public broadcaster are just some of the steps we are taking and will take in the future to move away from bipolar media images of the world. Montenegro is a state of all its citizens and the Government is obliged to create a democratic environment in which all representatives of citizens will have their place in the free and objective media space of our country. Our goal is that no regime, institution or individual can reckon that media freedom, media or media workers and their professional ethics can ever again be someone’s prey or hostages. Freedom is never a certain and accessible object. It is gained in dynamics and struggle. I wish all media and their workers a lot of strength, will, enthusiasm, truthfulness and righteousness to fight for freedom. Your mission can never be paid enough, but without your determination and commitment, no modern society can be considered advanced," PM Krivokapić concluded.