The Management Board of Radio Romania does not supporr the cancellation of the radio and TV license fee.

Radio România, 16.02.2024, 09:41

The Management Board of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation issued a unanimously adopted stand regarding the draft law on the cancellation of the radio and TV license fee:

As regards the draft law on the cancellation of several charges and on amending and completing several laws, which also provides for amending articles 40 and 41 of Law no. 41/1994 on the organization and functioning of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and the Romanian Television, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, in the sense of eliminating the license fee for the public radio service, we announce that the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation DOES NOT support the passing of this draft law for the following reasons:

The draft law on the cancellation of several charges and on amending and completing several laws may have the desired social impact if and only if each case is analyzed from the point of view of its medium and long term social consequences.

As results from the statement of reasons of the draft law, the elimination of the more than 100 charges is meant to “reduce the time spent queuing at various desks for the payment of dues and to streamline the activity of public institutions in order to simplify and speed up internal processes”.

It can be easily noticed that the cancellation of the radio and TV license fee, despite the fact that it does not observe the purpose for which the draft law was initiated, radically affects the autonomous and independent existence of the public media services.

Before giving our stand on the adequacy of this measure, we must highlight that the role of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation as a public service of national interest, as established by law, must be regarded both from the prospect of its nature as a public service and from the point of view of the audiences contribution to the existence of this service.

The license fee for the public radio service is the main source of funding for the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and it has been paid by the citizens of Romania since the public service was set up in 1928, no matter the political regime.

The amount of this fee (2.5 lei per household/ per month) is the lowest in Europe – around 7 Euros per year, being 4 up to 5 times smaller than in Serbia, Poland, Greece, Slovakia and 8 times smaller than in the Czech Republic.

Most of the public media services in Europe are funded through the payment of fees/dues by citizens, and in those countries where such fees do not exist, editorial independence is affected. Some of the countries that have understood that this form of funding helps provide correct and fair information to citizens on issues of public interest are: Great Britain, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Portugal, etc.

In 2015, the revenues obtained from the payment of the license fee for the public radio service stood at 207 million lei, accounting for 48% of the Corporations total revenues. The other own revenues (advertisement, sponsorships, concerts, the Gaudemus book fair, services, etc.) amounted to almost 24 million lei, accounting for almost 6% of the total revenues. The remaining revenues of 196 million lei represented allocations from the state budget meant for the payment of the radio signal transmission services and for the functioning of the Music Ensembles Department, of Radio Romania International and of Radio Romania Chişinău.

Given the above, in the event of canceling the license fee for the public radio service, the supplementary financial effort sustained from the state budget to fund the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation (SRR) would amount to at least 210 million lei per year, not to mention the capital expenditure needed for funding the Corporations investments, which are estimated at almost 15 million lei per year.

One cannot ignore the fact that the radio license fee is meant to fund the activity of the Public Radio as an autonomous, editorially independent public service of national interest. Therefore, we cannot agree with the statement of reasons stipulated in the draft law related to the fact that the revenues will be provided from the state budget in the spirit of transparency and efficiency.

The cancellation of the radio and TV license fee is not in accordance with Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010, which states that “Audiovisual media services are as much cultural services as they are economic services. Their growing importance for societies, democracy – in particular by ensuring freedom of information, diversity of opinion and media pluralism – education and culture justifies the application of specific rules to these services.”

In this context we consider that the two reasons mentioned earlier are not enough for the cancellation of this license fee, given that in the case of the Public Radio they are not relevant, because several key issues have been omitted, namely:

– there is no mention as to the legal status of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, which is already rather unclear, in the context in which funding will be provided from the budget;

– there is no estimation of the amounts of money the Romanian Government intends to allot under the budget law so as to cover the current expenses SRR will incur in order to remain on the media market to provide services for its audience, not to mention the continuous need for development;

• – what is the editorial impact of such a financial subordination and to what extent we can further speak about editorial independence in such conditions.

Such a substantial change in the case of SRR and the Romanian Television (SRTv) has major consequences on the concept of the law as a whole, entailing a complete change of paradigm, which makes us consider insufficient the correction brought only to art. 40 and 41 of Law No. 41/1994, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions.

Attention should also be paid to the fact that the mass media remain an instrument of political influence, and that they risk losing their capacity to further accomplish their public mission of educator, culture and information provider while reflecting a breadth and diversity of opinion, which is so much needed on the audiovisual market, given that private media groups are mainly profit-driven.

The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation should remain editorially and financially independent, irrespective of the governing parties, the radio license fee being an essential link between the paying citizens and the public radio service provided to them and on their behalf.

The public radios being funded from the state budget turns it into a government radio station, the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation thus losing its autonomy and independence, as well as its credibility in accomplishing its public mission to the citizens benefit.

Amending art. 40 and 41 of Law No.41/1994, republished with later subsequent amendments and additions, serves exclusively the purpose of canceling several charges, but poses many legal, organizational, economic and social problems, being insufficient for SRR and SRTv to function continuously and have a clear legal status.

According to the provisions of art.1, art.2 and art.8 of Law No. 41/1994, republished, the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation is an autonomous, editorially independent public service of national interest, which carries out its activity under the control of Parliament, its autonomy and editorial independence being guaranteed by law and protected from any interference by public authority, as well as from the influence of any parties, social and political groups, trade unions, trade and economic bodies and pressure groups.

By using the phrase “autonomous entity”, the lawmaker obviously intended to regulate the independent and autonomous management of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, in accordance with the provisions of art. 31, para (5) of the Constitution, with consequences on the editorial and economic functioning of the radio broadcaster, according to its own norms, allowing it to comply with its obligation to ensure, throughout its entire activity, “pluralism, free expression of ideas and opinions, free communication of information, as well as correct information for the public.”

The autonomy and editorial independence of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation are not limited to the editorial activity alone, they also cover other organizational, financial and managerial aspects.

That is why the lawmaker stipulated under art. 40 of Law No. 41/1994 that the own revenues of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation mainly come from the collection of the radio license fee, which was established to guarantee the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporations autonomous activity from all points of view, just as the Constitutional Court underlined every time it ruled on the constitutionality of the radio and TV license fee.

To that end, under Decision No.159/2004 by the Constitutional Court, it becomes clear that “The autonomy of these services helps provide correct information to people on issues of public interest and ensures an organized framework for the freedom of opinion, the freedom to receive and communicate information or ideas, without interference by public authority.”

Art. 40 of Law No.41/1994 is part of chapter IV -“Financial activity” which contains organizational rules on the assets and financial resources of the public radio and television services, their administration and management. Given that the provisions of art.31 para (5) of the Constitution guarantee the autonomy of the aforementioned services, it is imperative that their organization be thus regulated by an organic law, so as to ensure their functional autonomy.

Consequently, it is only by maintaining the provisions of the current law which regulates the payment of a license fee for the public radio and television broadcasting services that their financial autonomy can be ensured, as a prerequisite for their autonomous organization.

In conclusion, we do not agree with the draft law on the elimination of the radio license fee. Once applied, the measure will soon be followed by a decrease in the quality of the editorial act, to the detriment of the Romanian citizens, will level down the activity of the two public media institutions, whose very existence will be threatened, in the name of transparency and efficiency at a purely declarative level.

It is common knowledge that “he who pays the piper calls the tune”! Please, do not cut off the sole link between the public radio and its audience., considers the Management Board of Radio Romania.