The TV-radio license fee is one of the 102 fees that Romania’s Parliament has decided to cancel.
Although Romania's President Klaus Iohannis sent the bill providing for the elimination of 102 fees, including the TV-radio licence fee, back to Parliament, the bill has been endorsed again by the Senate in its initial form. 82 senators from the Social Democratic Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians deemed the president's arguments ungrounded and stood against the reexamination of the bill, while the representatives of the National Liberal Party, the People's Movement Party and the Save Romania Union voted in favour.
A former minister of culture, Save Romania Union senator Vlad Alexandrescu has drawn attention to the fact that the elimination of the TV and radio fee affects the autonomy of public services. Moreover, it infringes upon citizens' right to information, the senator has also stated:
"Instead of just being accountable to citizens, the Romanian public television and the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation will have to answer to the Government and the politicians who will propose and approve their budgets. Given that the politicisation of the two public services is already at the highest level, having them become financially dependent on the Government might lead to them becoming fully obedient to the ruling power."
On the other hand, the leader of the Social Democrat senators Serban Nicolae has given assurances that there are resources for the two public services to function properly. Serban Nicolae:
"This fee was normally collected on a monthly basis. The decision will not affect the budgets of the public television and radio services, because the budget law will provide for the necessary resources for them to be able to function without becoming dependent on politicians' will."
"The issues facing the public television and radio are old and systemic, mainly because of the legislation that governs them", said the president in his request for reexamination. According to Klaus Iohannis, a decision regarding these services' funding sources can only be made within a broader scope and with the aim of genuinely reforming the activity of the public television and radio services, and the debate cannot be just about whether a fee to support them is necessary or not. Passing at high speed through Parliament during the election campaign, the bill on the elimination of 102 fees has triggered controversies and fierce debates on the public stage.
Defenders of the fee, including media organisations and experts, say that giving up this fee and funding the public media services exclusively from the state budget would create the background for their full subordination to political decisions.
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