Brnabic meets with OSCE mission chief

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic met with the head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Jan Braathu in the Serbian government building on Wednesday to discuss the adoption of a media strategy.

Brnabic thanked Braathu for the years-long OSCE support and discussions about adopting the strategy.

Brnabic said it had been important to meet with Braathu before the start of a public debate on media laws - a Law on Public Information and Media and a Law on Electronic Media, the Serbian government said in a statement.

She said working groups set up to prepare bills on public information and electronic media had completed their work on the significant media legislation.

She said a public debate spanning several weeks was planned for next month.

Braathu said adopting the legislation would be a step in the right direction and that OSCE fully supported the strengthening of the independence of media through passage of quality laws.

Brnabic said the bills had been prepared in a committed manner and over a long period of time and discussed as part of dialogue on the media strategy that had involved journalist associations, NGOs and civil society representatives.

She said the public debate would be broad and comprehensive and held in other Serbian cities besides Belgrade.