BOSNIA - PUBLIC BROADCAST REFORM: BAD NEWS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 001599

SIPDIS

EUR (JONES),EUR/SCE (FOOKS, STINCHCOMB),EUR/PPD,
EUR/PPD-PA, INR/R/MR; NSC FOR BRAUN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR PHUM KDEM KPAO BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA - PUBLIC BROADCAST REFORM: BAD NEWS
AND...MORE BAD NEWS

REF: A. SARAJEVO 1068

B. SARAJEVO 1193

Classified By: MICHAEL J. MURPHY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary: Public Broadcast Reform, though a
prerequisite for the signing of the Stabilization and
Association Agreement (SAA),remains incomplete, and recently
suffered two notable setbacks. On September 17, Croat and
Serb parliamentarians joined forces and passed over the
objections of Bosniaks an initiative directing the Council of
Ministers (CoM) to draft legislation creating a new
Croat-language public broadcast channel, boosting, at least
temporarily, longstanding Croat hopes for such a channel.
Separately, the Board of Governors of the state-level public
broadcaster BHRT dismissed the reform-oriented Director
General Mehmed Agovic, blaming him for BHRT's financial woes.
Agovic has publicly linked his dismissal to ongoing efforts
by Republika Srpska (RS) politicians to undermine BHRT and
then use its problems as a justification for its elimination.
End Summary.

Croats Score a Psychological Victory
--------------


2. (U) Though a requirement for the signing of an SAA,
public broadcast reform remains incomplete, and Serb and
Croat politicians continue to undermine it. On September 17,
Croat and Serb members of the BiH House of Peoples joined
forces and voted in favor of an initiative by (Croat) House
Speaker Ilija Filipovic (HDZ BiH) directing the CoM to create
a Croat language channel despite strong Bosniak opposition.
OHR contacts characterized the Filipovic initiative as
misguided, noting that in calling for an exclusive Croat
language channel, the Croats (and their Serb allies) are
contravening existing legislation, which foresees the
creation of new channels but requires that these channels
carry programs that are in roughly equal proportions in
Bosnia's three official languages. The move, coming just
ahead of the October 5 municipal elections, was a boost to
longstanding Croat efforts to obtain their own channel. Bozo
Ljubic, the Minister of Transport and Communication and
President of the Croat political party HDZ BiH 1990, has
promised to prepare the proposed legislation, while Bosniak
parties have vowed to block the legislation in the House of
Representatives if the CoM sends it to Parliament.


3. (C) OHR contacts have expressed concern that the joint
call by Serbs and Croats for a Croat language channel is a
diversion from the real issue at hand: the need to implement
public broadcast legislation, particularly at the
state-level. The state-level public broadcast legislation,
though passed by Parliament in 2005, has been blocked by a
Croat VNI veto which must still be ruled on by the BiH
Constitutional Court. They noted that the Federation's
public broadcast law must also still be implemented. It had
been blocked by separate Bosniak and Croat "Vital National
Interest" (VNI) vetoes, but finally became law in July after
the Federation's Constitutional Court ruled that the VNI
provision did not apply to the law. OHR contacts also
expressed concern that the CoM may not take seriously the
requirement that they conduct an "independent, transparent,
and comprehensive analysis" to justify a new channel, and may
approve the creation of a Croat channel that is not
financially viable.

BHRT Director Gets Axed
--------------


4. (U) The push for a Croat channel followed closely the
mid September dismissal of BHRT Director General Mehmed
Agovic by the BHRT's Board of Governors. Nikola Deretic, the
Board's chair and a close ally of RS PM Dodik, and two other
board members blamed Agovic for financial losses amounting to
25 million KM (approximately 17.46 million USD) in 2006,
which were detailed in a State Auditor's Report (Ref A). In
a lengthy September 18 interview in the weekly magazine Dani
and in a separate exchange with us, Agovic portrayed himself
as the scapegoat in a plan by Deretic and his cohorts to
advance PM Dodik's ongoing campaign to destroy BHRT and to
scuttle public broadcast legislation (Refs A and B). Agovic
acknowledged BHRT's financial losses but maintained that he
had inherited them and that they were structural in nature,
and that he had managed to significantly reduce BHRT's
long-term liabilities and cut costs. His commitment to

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reforming BHRT and to improving its performance and his
support for public broadcast legislation, he said, are the
real reasons behind his dismissal. Finally, Agovic
catalogued the Board's alleged efforts to obstruct BHRT's
operations, including: interfering with editorial policy and
hiring practices; failing to assist efforts in parliament to
reform BHRT; and, insisting that BHRT's by-laws be re-written
from scratch. (Note: Most observers agree with Agovic's
claims about his effectiveness as a manager, saying that,
while Agovic could have done more for BHRT as Director
General, the Board of Directors is actively obstructing
BHRT's operations. End Note.)

BHRT Director Says His Ouster Illegal
--------------


5. (U) Agovic has charged that his dismissal is illegal
because the mandate of a board member who had voted against
him had expired. The allegation prompted a BiH House of
Representatives committee reviewing the matter on September
23 to recommend placing a moratorium on the hiring of a new
Director-General. OHR lawyers maintain, however, that this
issue is a moot point -- the board member in question has a
technical mandate until her successor is appointed. The BiH
Ombudsman Office also issued a statement declaring Agovic's
removal to be contrary to local and international legislation
on the grounds that he did not have an opportunity to defend
himself. Despite these criticisms, the Board of Governors is
staying the course and has rejected Parliament's
recommendation to refrain from looking for a successor for
Agovic.

BHRT's Board of Governors Gets its Way
--------------


6. (C) Croat politicians continued support for a third
channel makes clear that they are prepared to place narrow
ethnic interests above their professed commitment to
fulfilling the obligations associated with EU accession, in
this case to complete a reform that remains part of the EU
Partnership Agreement with Bosnia. Serb support for the
Croat position is a politically transparent attempt to split
the Croats from the Bosniaks and at the same time undermine a
state-level institution and a reform with which they are
unhappy. Agovic's dismissal and the ensuing public spat over
BHRT's management problem will likely play into Dodik's hands
as well. Dodik has made BHRT's management problems central
to his broader effort to discredit the broadcaster and to
justify his calls for its disbandment. The Europeans' tepid
response to these negative events underscored once more the
need for them to have a more hands on approach in Bosnia
particularly in areas they deem a priority.
ENGLISH