Monitor: Fico: Parliament Could Pass Bill on RTVS in April

Bratislava, March 13 (TASR) - Parliament is likely to vote on the Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) bill as early as in April, and the issue of the public broadcaster should be resolved by the summer, according to Prime Minister Robert Fico in an interview for Standard daily. Fico added that there's a need to introduce more stringent supervisory mechanisms over RTVS and change its legal status. In the interview, Fico confirmed that RTVS won't be split into separate television and radio companies as originally considered. The coalition is entertaining the idea of transforming the public broadcaster into a state-owned stockholder company, with the Finance Ministry set to become the sole stockholder. "The licence fees have been scrapped, after all. So, as the state is funneling all those tens of millions of euros there in the way it does, it's quite normal that the Finance Ministry should have its people in such a stockholder company's management, board of directors as well as the supervisory board," claimed the premier. According to Fico, there's also a need to usher in a stricter supervisory mechanism. "What's happening in Slovak television is outrageous," he claimed, referring to a question that a RTVS reporter asked him during a press briefing in Prague. In Fico's view, the reporter attacked him with lies. He added that he doesn't care about the content of programming on privately owned television channels and instead finds alternative media and communication via social networks as well as meetings with people to be more important. Fico remarked wryly that the coalition's decision with respect to RTVS will cause "political trauma" to the opposition. mf/df