BRUSSELS – Maja Kocijančič, European Commission’s spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, reacted on the dismissal of the Director General of the national public broadcaster in Montenegro (RTCG), Ms Andrijana Kadija, stating that it “goes against freedom of expression and media which is a fundamental value of the European Union”.
According to Kocijančič, freedom of media are “a crucial element of Montenegro’s EU accession process and an important interim benchmark to be fulfilled under chapter 23.”
“The Montenegro authorities are bound by their commitments to European values and standards. It is also completely unacceptable that an EU-funded grant which supports the professionalism of RTCG has been misused as an argument to dismiss RTCG’s management.”, said Kocijančič in her statement.