International community insists on independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina's broadcast regulator

SARAJEVO/VIENNA, 23 December 2009 - The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina must refrain from undermining the independence of the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA), leading representatives of the international community warned in a letter to the Chairman of the Council Nikola Spiric today.

In the joint letter, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, the Acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vadim Kuznetsov, the High Representative and the EU Special Representative, Valentin Inzko, and the Acting Head of the European Union Delegation to BiH, Boris Iarochevitch, expressed their concern over attempts by the Council of Ministers to re-interpret the Law on Communications by introducing ethnic and political appointment criteria with respect to the composition of the CRA Council.

Haraszti, Kuznetsov, Inzko and Iarochevitch emphasized that members of the CRA Council and its Director should be appointed exclusively on considerations of integrity, knowledge and professional merit. Noting that the Law on Communications and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina sufficiently provide for the ethnically-balanced composition of the CRA Council, the authors of the letter recalled that the legislation explicitly calls for the absence of any ethnic or political appointment criteria.

The letter also urges the Council of Ministers to speed up the process of appointing the CRA Director General "This pending appointment has hampered the effective functioning of the CRA for over two years now," said the authors.