A European Commission move to make media freedom a pivotal condition of EU accession bids is a "signal" that should be heeded, EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre has said.

Last week the Commission published its annual enlargement strategy, which says Brussels will consider the independence and sustainability of public broadcasters and other media outlets as a key element in the overall assessment process.

Under the section Ensuring freedom of expression in the media, the report reads: "It is essential that the enlargement countries guarantee open and pluralistic media landscapes, which allow for a culture of critical and independent journalism (...) The Commission will closely monitor developments in the framework of existing agreements and structured dialogues with the enlargement countries. It will further integrate these issues into accession negotiations."

"This is the clearest signal yet from Brussels that EU hopefuls in the Western Balkans must renounce their old ways and allow national media organizations including, crucially, public service broadcasters, to operate freely if they want full membership of the bloc," Ms Deltenre said Wednesday at an EBU meeting to discuss the report's implications.

The EBU has Members in all of the aspiring EU countries, and has had to intervene on numerous occasions when their governments have tried to cut their funding, undermine their autonomy or influence their editorial output.

In a keynote speech at the first Organization for Security & Cooperation (OSCE) South East European Media Conference, in Sarajevo, on October 14, Ingrid Deltenre cautioned that the road to Brussels would now hinge more than ever on non-interference in the media.

"The European Union recognizes that there can be no sustainable pluralistic democracy without a functioning and independent public service broadcaster," she said. "It will not allow any more members into the club unless the respective governments permit and sustain media freedom."

The top EBU executive also stressed that Balkan governments must do more than just pay lip service to unshackling their public service broadcasters, as empty promises to carry out media reforms would be disregarded.

Citing frequent government attempts in the Balkans to reduce or curb the autonomy of public service broadcasters, the EBU Director General called for a common "focus on the role that sustainable public service media can and should play in South East Europe".

Ms Deltenre added that there had been recent "bad experiences" with "many regrettable examples, in this part of the world, of government interference, nationalism, hate speech and so on."

In November, the EBU, the European Commission and the Regional Cooperation Council will meet in Sarajevo to launch an ambitious regional scheme that will focus on creating free, sustainable and independent public service media and protecting freedom of expression in South East Europe.

Click here to see the full text of the speech.