Members of Parliaments and top Public Service Media managers from South- Eastern Europe gathered in in the capital of the newest member of the European Union, Zagreb, on 24-25 September to discuss how two important democratic institutions can co-operate better.

Experts from the EBU, Council of Europe, European Parliament, Inter-Parliamentary Union and the wider media emphasised the role of Parliaments and public service media (PSM) in strengthening democracy and sharing European standards. HRT, BBC, RTVSLO and EuroParlTV all presented their experiences covering parliamentary sessions as examples of best practice.

The two day conference was opened by the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Josip Leko, Eleni Theocharous, Member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs at the European Parliament and former Vice-President of the Cyprus Radio and Television Authority, the EBU’s DG Ingrid Deltenre (via video), Prof.Dr. Gvozden Flego, Member of the Croatian Parliament and Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Goran Radman, Director General of HRT.

Participants including MPs and PSM Directors general and executives with experience of dealing with parliamentary coverage in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey and Serbia (including the province of Vojvodina) shared experiences and common challenges.

The participants adopted a set of conclusions and recommendations, including:

• Parliaments and PSM are two indispensable institutions for democracy, which have to be independent, credible, open, transparent and accountable to citizens.
• Independence and financial stability of PSM are vital for the fulfilment of their remit and role in society, there is no one model that fits all parliamentary broadcasts.
• The way the work of the Parliament is presented to citizens should reflect the specific political culture and traditions in each country.

The Chair of the conference Former EBU Vice-President Boris Bergant said that: “it was a good opportunity to inform each other and promote good practices. The strengthening of both parliaments and PSM can best be achieved, and provide better results, if both sides respect and promote each other’s independence.”

The EBU Partnership Programme’s Senior Project Manager Radka Betcheva says that the conference was a breakthrough:  “It brought together parliamentarians and PSM managers from South-Eastern Europe to discuss their roles and their work, exchange experiences and acknowledge common problems. It proved to be more than necessary.  It was even suggested that we should broaden the scope of such dialogue and invite MPs and PSM managers from other European countries.”

The EBU's Head of Regulatory Issues Richard Burnley also contributed to the event: "Independence is crucial to PSM’s democratic role in society," he said. "The conference provided senior broadcasting managers and politicians from the enlargement countries with a unique forum to discuss PSM governance and editorial issues, focusing in particular on the relationship between PSM and parliamentary independence. Participants were able to share experiences, learn from each other and hear about best practices from all over the EBU area.”

Those present agreed on continuing a dialogue through the close cooperation of all relevant organisations.

The conference was organised by the EBU and the European Parliament Pre-Accession Actions Unit and hosted by the Delegation of the Croatian Parliament to the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and the Committee on Information, Computerization and Media of the Croatian Parliament with the support of the European Commission and Croatian Public broadcaster, HRT.