The Slovakian government under left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico has sparked protests with plans to reorganize public broadcaster RTVS.
The liberal and conservative opposition has been accusing the coalition of two social democratic and one right-wing populist party of wanting to create a government propaganda broadcaster. On Thursday evening, President Zuzana Čaputová also criticized the plans.
Several non-governmental organizations (NGO) announced their intention to call in the European Commission. More than a thousand RTVS employees signed a protest petition by Thursday and did not rule out a strike.
RTVS is to be formally dissolved as part of the reorganization and transformed into a new institution called "STaR" (abbreviation for "Slovak Television and Radio"). Čaputová criticized the move in a statement published by the news agency TASR.
"There is no real reason for the dissolution of RTVS except for one - namely to take political control of it," she argued.
Under current law, the government cannot remove the head of RTVS, Lubos Machaj, whom it accuses of political bias. However, a formal dissolution of RTVS removes this hurdle. Machaj was elected by parliament in 2022, when Fico's opponents had a majority.
The culture minister and other government representatives explained on Thursday that the main aim was to secure funding for the public broadcaster.
For example, the ban on advertising on the internet, which has applied to RTVS to date, is to be lifted and the possibility of direct payments from the state for contracts is to be expanded.
Opposition politicians, on the other hand, pointed out that the draft law envisages more influence from the government and parliament.
