In a joint visit to Albanian Government and Parliament, the EBU director general Ingrid Deltenre and the Ambassador of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Florian Raunig called on authorities to create a proper working environment for the country’s public service broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH).

They underlined the importance of public service media for the democratisation of the country and the accession process to the EU when speaking with Ilir Meta, speaker of the Parliament, Niko Peleshi, Deputy Prime Minister, and Genc Polo, chair of the Committee of Education and Media.

Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Peleshi acknowledged the challenges of public broadcasting in Albania, which crucially require the support of the Government.

Ingrid Deltenre and Ambassador Raunig explained that RTSH provides indispensible services to all citizens in Albania, but in order to fulfill this remit it needs strong political commitment and support from the Albanian Parliament. A way of strengthening this would be through the selection of an RTSH Supervisory Board, which can take strategic decisions to complete Albania’s switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting by June 2015. This change requires substantial investments and government support which will bring dividends to the state in the long run.

Speaker of Albanian Parliament Mr Meta said that the current stalemate caused by the boycott of the opposition will be overcome and the Parliament will select the RTSH Supervisory Board. The Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Education and Media shared the hope that the opposition will come back to the sessions and participate in the selection of the Supervisory Board. At the same time, Mr Polo expressed his concern about the respect of the Rule of Law and the need for establishing a sound media regulatory body and media institutions.

Over the last two years, RTSH has generated a solid financial income and work to improve programme content to better serve audiences. A beneficiary of the EBU’s Partnership Programme, RTSH hosts a regional workshop on “Public service media and the trust with people” on 20 to 21 November. 50 representatives from more than 10 countries will discuss and exchange experiences on how to increase the trust of audiences and be accountable to them. The workshop is organised by the EBU in cooperation with the OSCE Presence in Tirana, in the framework of an EBU-EC Action plan for support of public service media in the EU accession countries.