Brussels, 07/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is to unlock funding to help the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) enhance public service media in European Union candidate countries in the Balkans. On 6 March, senior DG Enlargement official, Yngve Engstroem, signed an agreement in Brussels ratifying the EBU's action plan, “Enabling the democratic role of Public Service Media in the EU accession countries”. On 24 July last, a memorandum of understanding was signed by Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle and EBU president, Jean-Paul Philippot, to establish a partnership to help develop a free and independent public media services in the Balkans, as part of the EU's enlargement policy. EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre said that “the signing of this agreement shows that the EU recognises not only that public service media are a key element of modern European democracy, but also that the EBU has the expertise to mount activities that will make public service media indispensable”.
The €500,000 funding plan for implementing the action plan will help develop public media services in Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo. Other activities under the plan include: high-level advocacy; development of strategies to strengthen the independence, sustainability and contribution to democratic discourse of public service media; training on public service news standards and investigative journalism; assessment of audiovisual archives in the interests of their preservation through digitisation and a conference on public service media and the Roma minorities. (IL/transl.fl)