Text file: 8054.txt
author: Rakkaus
downvotes: 4
end consideration date: 2017-02-16
id: '8054'
number comments: 12
number views: 2944
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Culture\nThe task of the public service broadcaster\
  \ is to meet the democratic, social and cultural needs of the population, citizens,\
  \ Slovenians abroad and minorities in Slovenia. The public service broadcaster must\
  \ provide a wide range of content and programmes and a varied programming offer,\
  \ and enable the public to access these programmes, without discrimination and on\
  \ the basis of equal opportunities, through a variety of channels and services.\n\
  In order to be able to carry out its mission in a way that is in the interest of\
  \ all (public or general interest), public service broadcasting must be institutionally\
  \ and editorially independent and have financial resources for its operations that\
  \ are independent of political influence. The Constitutional Court has also pointed\
  \ out in several decisions that the RTV contribution is an appropriate form of financing\
  \ for public service broadcasting. The constitutional provision on freedom of expression\
  \ in Article 39 requires the State, as the founder of RTV Slovenia, to ensure, inter\
  \ alia, adequate financing of the public service RTV Slovenia. The funding from\
  \ the RTV contribution and commercial revenues (advertising and other commercial\
  \ activities), and partly from budgetary resources (to the extent not funded from\
  \ the contribution), ensures that RTV Slovenia enjoys an adequate degree of independence,\
  \ which is indispensable in order to prevent political and economic influences on\
  \ its programme content. If RTV Slovenia were to be financed entirely from the budget,\
  \ this would constitute an interference with its autonomy, since the budget of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia is implemented by a law (the Law on the Implementation of\
  \ the Budget of the Republic of Slovenia) adopted by the National Assembly of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia. In addition to the above, the State would have to introduce\
  \ a new tax. The existing budgetary resources cannot provide the funds for the operation\
  \ of RTV Slovenia, which is approximately EUR 75 million per year (this is the amount\
  \ collected through the annual RTV contribution).\nIn the light of the above, the\
  \ Ministry of Culture considers that the proposed arrangement, whereby the operation\
  \ of RTV Slovenia would be financed from the State budget instead of from the RTV\
  \ contribution, is not suitable for further consideration.\nWith regard to the proposal\
  \ to abolish RTV Slovenia's programme 3, we would like to point out that the scope\
  \ of the public service in the field of radio and television activities is defined\
  \ by the Law on Radio and Television Broadcasting of Slovenia (ZRTVS-1). Article\
  \ 3(2) of ZRTVS-1 thus stipulates that the public service, in addition to the programmes\
  \ defined by Article 3(1) of ZRTVS-1, also includes a special national television\
  \ programme intended for the live transmission of the sessions of the National Assembly\
  \ of the Republic of Slovenia (NA of the Republic of Slovenia) and of the sessions\
  \ of its working bodies. RTV Slovenia must therefore perform its public service\
  \ in the manner and to the extent provided for by the RTVS-1, and therefore the\
  \ 3rd programme cannot simply be abolished. In addition to the above, Programme\
  \ 3 plays an important role for the democratic social order, as it enables the public\
  \ to follow the work of the National Assembly or its working bodies, as well as\
  \ its work in the context of international activities, the work of the National\
  \ Council and activities related to the exercise of the constitutional powers of\
  \ the Slovenian Parliament.\n "
response date: 2017-03-14
response due date: null
sent date: 2017-01-18
title: Abolition of RTV licence fees
upvotes: 34
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/8054
