Is the EU content?
The European Union Delegation to Armenia issued the following statement on changes in the law on "Television and Radio" on behalf of the EU Heads of Missions in Armenia.
"The EU Heads of Mission in Armenia welcome the willingness of the government to hold public consultations on the draft amendments to the law regulating the broadcasting sector and the fact that some positive changes have been introduced to the text currently under discussion, in line with recommendations by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the Council of Europe and civil society.
The EU Heads of Mission encourage the government and legislators to continue working closely with civil society, the Council of Europe and the OSCE experts with a view to bring the law further in line with international standards to enhance plurality in the Armenian media and to promote media freedom," as stated in the statement provided by the press service of the European Union Delegation to Armenia.
Let us remind that several days ago, local news organizations expressed their concern that the inter-ministerial commission did not make concessions for a number of fundamental issues and didn't remove any changes that were not related to digitalization and tenders.
Expressing deep disappointment in the creators and authors of the draft law, the organizations have announced that they don't give consent to the draft law presented by a second reading and call on
a. the RA National Assembly not to discuss the mentioned draft law on "Making changes in and additions to the RA Law on "Television and Radio" until it is not presented in the agreed format and content,
b. international organizations to not show any support to the RA Government in digital broadcasting until the RA Government doesn't present a modified draft law and doesn't prove that it is capable of effectively using the support," as stated in the statement signed by Yerevan Press Club, the Freedom of Speech Defense Committee, "Internews" NGO in support of media outlets, "Asbarez" Journalists' Club and Open Society Institute.
According to our information, Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia Raul de Luzenberger recently had a meeting with Chairman of the RA National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan.
