ROMANIA / The EBU calls on the government to save TVR

In early March Ingrid Deltenre, Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), sent a letter to the Romanian Prime Minister, Dacian Cioloş, asking for a “rapid response” from his government to save the country’s public broadcaster, TVR.

She highlights the “significant debt” faced by the organisation, which she believes is threatened by “financial collapse”, and adds that despite the many letters sent to the Romanian government over several years, “the situation is unfortunately getting worse.”

While welcoming the discussions which took place recently between the government and Parliament to find solutions to the crisis at TVR, Ingrid Deltenre also stresses the need for “reform and new legislation to meet all the key questions about the financing, governance and functions of public service broadcasting.”

Last July, the tax authorities temporarily blocked TVR’s accounts because of the size of its debt: €160 million at the end 2014. In particular TVR owes €15 million to the EBU, a debt which has already been rescheduled once.

Sources : UER, Telecompaper, Romania Insider