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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #0998 2461203
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031202Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000998 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE (P. PETERSON) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SR
SUBJECT: SERBIA ADOPTS CONTROVERSIAL MEDIA LAW 
 
REF: BELGRADE 791 
 
Summary 
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¶1.  (SBU) The National Assembly of Serbia adopted a controversial Media Law on 
August 31, which President Tadic signed the same day.  The Law was adopted by a narrow majority of 125 votes with the help of opposition leader Cedomir Jovanovic's Liberal Democratic Party, which conditioned its support on overall reform of the Serbian media scene.  The law provides drastic fines for outlets that violate rules of conduct and introduces expedited legal procedures against violators.  Most of the media criticized the "draconian" fines introduced in the legislation, and expressed concern that the new law would limit media freedom and 
result in censorship.   The Journalists' Association and the Serbian Progressive Party announced plans to challenge the legality of the new legislation.  Parliament's adoption of the law put an end to the ongoing dispute within the governing coalition (reftel) and ended talk of early elections.  The media and concerned NGOs have said they will monitor implementation of the new law carefully, 
in order to reduce the possibility for abuse of its provisions.  End Summary. 
 
Dispute within the Governing Coalition 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Returning from summer recess, the National Assembly adopted the controversial Law on Media on August 31.  The voting day started with the unprecedented presence of all 250 members of Parliament, drawn by the government crisis that the proposed law had generated (reftel).  The Assembly first adopted a series of amendments demanded by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Party of United Pensioners (PUPS), and then adopted the entire law.  Both votes passed narrowly, with 125 votes out of 249 present MPs.  (Albanian MP Riza Halimi left the session, lowering the number of votes required to pass.  Although he claimed publicly that his departure was not calculated to help the government, he later confessed to us that for the first time ever the majority had accepted several of his amendments to other pieces of legislation.)  The Democratic Party (DS), G-17 Plus, LDP, PUPS, the minority caucus, and two independent MPs voted for the law.  The Socialists, who had touched off the crisis in the ruling coalition by refusing to support the law, abstained from the voting but provided a quorum.  Tomislav Nikolic's Progressive Party (SNS) walked out, leaving only the Radicals, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), and New Serbia to vote against the law. 
 
What the New Law Provides 
------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The newly-adopted Media Law significantly increases the fines for violations of journalists' rules of conduct; fines reach $350,000 for print media and up to $1 million for electronic media.  The law also introduced several commercial offenses that could result in the banning of a media outlet.  The adopted amendments made only minor changes to the draft by eliminating the requirement for a deposit in order to establish a media outlet, as well as the automatic ban on any media outlet whose bank account was blocked for more than 90 days. 
 
Supporters 
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¶4.  (U) Serbian President Boris Tadic signed the Media Law into force immediately after its passage, surprising many observers and derailing an effort by the 
Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) to refer the law to the Constitutional Court for review before it went into force.  His press office issued a statement that President Tadic would carefully follow the effects of the law's implementation, concluding that media freedom is a precondition for a free society.  LDP president Ceda Jovanovic told the press that the most important thing for his party was the general media strategy agreed between the government, the Independent Association of Journalists (NUNS) and the OSCE.  According to Jovanovic, adoption of the Media Law was only the first step in implementing the strategy to reform the Serbian media environment in accordance with the European standards.  Head of the DS caucus Nada Kolundzija stated that adoption of the law would bring order to the Serbian media scene, and that it would not introduce censorship. 
 
Critics 
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¶5.  (U) Most opposition political parties and almost all editors-in-chief of major media outlets sharply criticized the law, focusing primarily on the drastic fines that they claimed would result in the limitation of media freedoms, censorship, and self-censorship.  UNS head Ljiljana Smajlovic, the ousted former Politika editor, organized a protest of journalists in front of the National Assembly during the session.  Smajlovic told the press that the law created "draconian" fines, was anti-European, could be implemented arbitrarily by politically 
affiliated judges, and made Serbia one of the most restrictive media environments in Europe. 
 
Next Steps 
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¶6.  (U) As President Tadic's immediate signature of the law prevented the referral to the Constitutional Court that would have delayed its implementation, UNS and the SNS now plan to challenge the law via the Ombudsman and the Constitutional Court under regular procedure.  The government has established a working group, including representatives of at least five media associations, to look at all legislation governing the media and develop a coordinated media strategy. 
 
 
Comment 
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¶7.  (SBU) LDP, an opposition party, has now stepped in on several occasions to 
provide a majority when the members of the ruling coalition could not agree on 
key legislation.  It is not yet clear how LDP will benefit from this "shadow" support, but it is safe to assume that Boris Tadic is grateful for the additional stability LDP provides his governing coalition faced with a slim majority and G-17 Plus leader Mladjan Dinkic's notorious inflexibility.  The adoption of the Media Law satisfies Dinkic's demand for a way to deal with hostile tabloids, 
and therefore appears to have ended discussion of new elections for the time being.  Environment Minister and DS leader Oliver Dulic told the Charge on September 1 that in fact the dispute had "cleared the air" within the governing coalition and left it more stable than ever before.  Implementation of the new law will be a true test of the government's democratic capacity, however, which we will work with civil society organizations and international partners to assess.  End Comment. 
BRUSH