The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, is concerned about two draft laws in Slovakia, which he communicated to the National Council (Parliament) in a letter dated 7 May and published on 14 May.
One concerns non-profit organisations, the other the overhaul of public service channels.
With regard to the first bill, Michael O’Flaherty criticised the sanctions - including dissolution - provided for in the event of failure to comply with the new obligations, as well as the labelling of “organisations with foreign support”, which could have “a chilling effect for civil society”.
He is calling for the text to not be adopted as it stands.
With regard to the bill to replace RTVS (public radio and television) with a new entity called STVR, the Commissioner stresses the importance of legislative frameworks guaranteeing the independence of public service media from the executive.
He is therefore asking the National Council to “give close consideration” to anything in the text that could undermine the public service broadcaster’s guarantees of independence.
Faced with dissent from RTVS, warnings from the European Commission and the recent directive on media freedom, Robert Fico’s government backed down for a while, before approving, in April, a slightly amended bill which provides for half of the board of directors to be appointed by the government and the National Council, now dominated by Robert Fico and his allies.
Link to the Commissioner’s letter: https://aeur.eu/f/c6z (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)