Culture Committee

The Sofia Municipal Council accepted the proposal to move the Monument to the Soviet Army from the center of Sofia.

With 41 votes "in favor", 13 "against" and 1 "abstention", the proposal with the report was adopted. This happened with the support of the votes of "GERB-SDS", "Democratic Bulgaria", "Patriots for Sofia" and the independent municipal councilors.

Ljubljana – RTV Slovenija journalists continued on Monday the strike they first staged on 23 May, ending the day with a rally protesting against political interference. The public broadcaster’s heads meanwhile ordered that news shows be radically short or cancelled today, a move the staff see as an attempt to undermine the strike.

Ljubljana – The parliament passed the resolution on the 2022-2029 national culture programme on Tuesday. The coalition expressed its support for the strategic document, which comes after the last of its kind in 2017, while the centre-left opposition was against it, saying it does not offer solutions to address the status quo in this field.

Ljubljana – The parliamentary Culture Committee reviewed the report of the Broadcasting Council for the past year at a session on Monday, including the council’s recommendation to set down sanctions for fake news in a law. Some of the participants in the debate maintained that would be in contravention of the freedom of speech.

Ljubljana – The parliamentary Culture Committee got acquainted on Monday with the Slovenian Press Agency’s (STA) annual report for 2020. The debate mainly revolved around ongoing suspension of STA funding and the new government regulation that details how the STA should perform its public service.

Ljubljana – The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), an initiative funded by the European Commission that monitors violations of press and media freedom, will be on a virtual mission to Slovenia over the next two weeks to examine alleged deterioration in media freedom in the country. The findings are to be released in July.

The Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (USR PLUS) alliance backs the need for the reform of the statutes of the National Public Television Broadcaster - TVR as soon as the regular Parliament session begins, chairman of the Lower House Culture Committee Iulian Bulai told a debate today on the situation of TVR with journalists and civil society representatives.

Ljubljana – The parliamentary Culture Committee voted 10:8 in favour of amendments to the act governing the STA that would require the STA English Service to report on the work of NGO as a legal requirement, amidst warnings that the STA has still not received overdue payment from the government for the performance of public service.

Evgenia Zhivkova, designer and granddaughter of communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, daughter of Lyudmila Zhivkova,the Chair of the Culture Committee during the socialist era, revealed to NOVA details about the lessons she learnt from politics, her mother's dreams and her grandfather's ambitions.

Ljubljana – The STA’s staff urged Speaker Igor Zorčič on Tuesday to ensure the resolutions adopted by the parliamentary Culture Committee about STA funding be honoured. The committee called on the government twice to meet its legal obligations and pay its overdue bills for the STA’s services, as well as to provide the agency’s stable financing.