Two minutes Vasilije

WRITING: SRĐAN ČOVIĆ AND ČASLAV VUJOTIĆ EMPLOYED AT RTCG
The Government of Montenegro and internal cover-ups

Eight legal candidates for the general director of RTCG recently asked European institutions for clarification of the motivation, procedure and the very voting of the amendments which, under the brand "IBAR", have become the backbone of media legislation.

We remind you that the sudden and extraordinary amendments to the Law on the National Public Broadcaster were proposed ostensibly on behalf of the European Commission, derogating at the same time from the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and Media, Minister Vujović and Director General Rudović. Who, after two years of work, came up with a very good proposal. Suddenly canceled "inside the house itself".

Five is more and more beautiful than ten

The proposition of the proposer of the adopted amendments that the requirement of 10 years of work experience is limiting was launched "from the side", which is nonsensical, unnatural, and inconsiderate of the intellect: that those who would be directors in the public sector need less. Such an explanation leads to the abolition of the need for experience in general. So, in order not to bid, in the end, with a year, two ... five, it will be enough just to express your desire to try it out? Anyone from the street tomorrow will be able to conduct the highest informative, cultural, educational and nationally representative institution against this backdrop.

Traditionally (and we are a people of tradition, I guess?) regular schooling and even serious studying imply the acquisition of academic status by the mid-30s, and the concept of a successful student and expert does not characterize the one who wants to be a director after a quarter of a century of pulling 30 exams at the Faculty of Law. Or the one who would like to preside over the RTCG Council by copying state documents in attempts to obtain a fraudulent doctorate.

The woes of young Vasilij

The review of the press testifies that there was a noise, to put it mildly, in the communication within the Government in May of this year, when the Law on Public Service came to the Parliament. Because the PES parliamentary club, through Vasilij Čarapić, tried to bypass the Ministry of Culture and Media and their working group. On April 30, that Club sent its separate amendments through the cabinet of Minister Maida Gorčević. So through a completely different ministry, not the one that dealt with media law. What the young current hero of social networks, Čarapić, tried to present at that time as non-disturbing and natural. Precisely with the help of Raonic's portal RTCG, twice in one day, 29.05.2024, ("twice is twice"), but the manipulation, no matter how repeated, cannot become the truth since it produced consequences that burden prosecutors and courts even today.

Čarapić: Rudović is deceiving the public for the sake of the interests of certain private media

"We will not be silent on manipulations, Rudović owes the citizens his resignation"

Čarapić may in the future change the sports, art, or National Parks Act through the famous Ministry of European Affairs (Minister Gorčević) in the same way. For now, he can be. Then, however, a member of the same Government, Neđeljko Rudović, Acting Director General of the Directorate for Media, came forward in revolt, stating that he had only seen these previously unknown changes to the media laws on May 20, on material with the RTCG logo. He was angry but not angry enough. To resign.

By comparing the two documents, Čarapić's and Rudović's, an amendment was introduced and adopted that corresponds to Boris Raonic, the twice illegally elected General Director of RTCG. It concerns lowering the criteria for work experience and led to his lobbied re-election. Čarapić's version lowered the criteria for a general from 10 to 5 years of work experience with a higher education diploma. With his excuse "to increase competition". And here it increased, so that out of the 9 applicants, eight had over 10 years of experience with a diploma, two as many as 35. However, Raonic was chosen with almost an apprentice experience compared to them.

We remind you that public officials are not allowed to lobby, and in case it is done in writing or orally, they are obliged to inform the competent authorities about the meetings. And correspondence, of course. Because who would be ashamed of logical changes for the benefit of the public interest. But lowering the criteria is a public interest that is difficult to explain. For any complex function. In this case, for the first in the Public Service. Will Vasilije soon receive a Supreme Court judge with three years of work experience with a similar excuse? Some fighter for the rule of law, from the Civic Alliance. Just let them wish.

Lost in translation, but also before it

Due to social responsibility, we do not want our addresses to be a source of misunderstanding between the European Commission and our Government. As experienced media workers, we are trying to get official answers, so far in vain. As experienced analysts, we feel, in the sea of ​​activity, that the prime minister is not an absolute address from which we should expect an answer. But someone among the many collaborators. Maybe unknown, maybe malicious, maybe just accidentally sinful.

The mystery remains as to who wrote to Brussels from the Ministry of European Affairs (the Čarapić - Gorčević connection, nothing Rudović) and who replied from the European Council (European Commission).

Do they suspect in Brussels and Strasbourg that the initiator of the amendment was an illegal director? He is known for falsifying that body, when, for example, he gave "fake" information to the Council of Europe that he was a law graduate back in 2010. So it is unclear who adjusts the information to the required person regardless of the truth, because the European Commission expressed concern about Raonic's illegal mandate. in November 2023, in the progress report.

Čarapić's amendments to the media laws adopted in this way, which were not dictated by the EC but were at least his butter, went together with the IBAR Laws on the State Prosecutor's Office, the Special State Prosecutor's Office, ... prevention of corruption, ... confiscation of property benefits acquired through criminal activity and ... on criminal procedure.

It is these laws that will be tested in the validation of the criminal reports submitted to the prosecutor's office by the eight legal candidates for general director.