REM and media regulation

Serbia's media regulator has had no functioning Council since November 2024, when the previous mandate expired. Two selection attempts and a third, partial one have failed to produce a legitimate, complete Council - a process kept unlawful and, at each turn, bent to preserve control over the media. With only four members, REM cannot meet, take decisions, or elect a president, leaving the media space without effective oversight. A legitimate, functional Council is a condition for Serbia's EU accession - but the goal is not simply to fill the seats: it is to halt the backsliding in freedom of expression and secure genuine media pluralism. CRTA documents the selection process and the departures from the law that have kept the regulator paralysed.

Electing a new REM Council: what went wrong

July

On 20 July 2026, the REM Council held its constitutive session but failed to elect a president: the two candidates, Miloš Garić and Mileva Malešić, received the same number of votes. Until a president is elected, the Council's oldest member, Dubravka Valić Nedeljković, chairs its sessions - and, as she noted, the Council cannot begin resolving REM's substantive issues until a president and deputy are in place. She expects that at the next session, by the end of the month. The Council remains incomplete, without its ninth, minority-nominated member, and faces a heavy backlog.

REM process

On 14 July 2026, the governing boards of both national public broadcasters lost the numbers needed to function: five RTS board members' mandates expired on 13 July, cutting the board to three of nine, while five RTV members' mandates also expired, leaving that board with fewer than half its seats filled. The boards cannot be replenished because the REM Council - which by law appoints board members and calls the competition to fill their seats - has not been constituted for over a year and a half.

On 12 July 2026, the four independent REM Council members who resigned in December - Dubravka Valić Nedeljković, Ira Prodanov Krajišnik, Mileva Malešić and Rodoljub Šabić - published a letter announcing they would take up their seats, after parliament adopted an authentic interpretation of the media law on 10 July reviving their mandates. They placed responsibility for REM's long non-functioning on the authorities and argued that refusing to serve would let the majority shift the blame onto them.

Update

Governing boards of RTS and RTV lose quorum due to the REM blockade

From 14 July, neither public broadcaster's board has the members needed to decide - a direct consequence of the still unconstituted REM Council.

Update

Independent REM members return after parliament’s disputed reinterpretation of the law

After parliament adopted an authentic interpretation reviving their mandates, the four independent members announced they will take up their seats - putting the blame for the deadlock on the ruling majority.

Update

How Serbia was left without a functioning media regulator

A new interactive tracker maps how nearly two years of unlawful, manipulated selection have left the REM Council paralysed - and why simply electing members would not restore an independent regulator.

Update

Committee for Culture and Information suspends election of REM’s minority-nominated member

Citing minority council elections due to be called in late August, the ruling majority halted the election of REM's ninth member and pulled the two-candidate list from parliament - while urging four members who resigned in December over that same seat to return, on the grounds that the Assembly never verified their resignations.

Update

Third attempt to complete REM Council fails – regulator remains non-functional

After no candidates came forward in response to a new public call, the Committee on Culture and Information annulled the process, leaving Serbia's media regulator with four members and no prospect of functioning in the foreseeable future.

Update

Parliament elects incomplete REM Council – four independent members resign within weeks

After months of procedural obstruction, parliament elected eight of nine REM Council members in November 2025, deliberately leaving the ninth seat vacant on political grounds. Within weeks, four independent members resigned, leaving the regulator with only four - all close to the authorities.

Update

Mass withdrawal of candidates and nominators stalls second REM Council selection

After the Committee on Culture and Information repeatedly refused to address objections raised by legitimate nominators, 78 nominating organizations and 16 candidates withdrew from the process, leaving its outcome in serious doubt.

Brief

Draft amendments to the electronic media law offer cosmetic fixes and leave regulatory independence ...

The draft amendments to the Law on electronic media enter parliament in May 2025 without prior publi...

Brief

Proposed amendments to the public broadcasting law tighten political control and leave key reforms u...

The draft amendments to the Law on public media services introduce some formal improvements but fail...

CRTA.Plus is part of CRTA’s work to document developments related to democracy, the rule of law, and accountability in Serbia.

Key Issues

Slučajevi

Other pages

Slučajevi

REM and media regulation

At its constitutive session, the REM Council failed to elect a president after the two candidates tied on votes.

The RTS governing board is reduced to three of nine members and the RTV board to fewer than half, leaving both public broadcasters without the quorum required for decision-making.

The four independent REM members announced they would take up their seats after parliament’s authentic interpretation revived their mandates.

Governing boards of RTS and RTV lose quorum due to the REM blockade

Independent REM members return after parliament’s disputed reinterpretation of the law

How Serbia was left without a functioning media regulator

Committee for Culture and Information suspends election of REM’s minority-nominated member

Third attempt to complete REM Council fails – regulator remains non-functional

Parliament elects incomplete REM Council – four independent members resign within weeks

Mass withdrawal of candidates and nominators stalls second REM Council selection

Draft amendments to the electronic media law offer cosmetic fixes and leave regulatory independence ...

Proposed amendments to the public broadcasting law tighten political control and leave key reforms u...