OPEN LETTER TO EMMA NICHOLSON Dear Baroness Nicholson,

We are writing to express our support fost the stance you and your colleagues have taken in defence of human rights and the rule of law in Romania in the recent debate of the Commission for Foreign Relations of the European Parliament. We would also like to suggest that you introduce an amendment in the forthcoming debate in the European Parliament Plenary Session requiring the Romanian government to demand payment the latest by 31 May 2004, of all re-scheduled outstanding debts (arrears) to the state budget by all private media companies in Romania since these re-scheduled debts are gravely compromising media independence as well as breaching Chapter 6 of the acquis communautaire on competition which Romania is currently negotiating. We strongly encourage you to include in the amendment a provision that if the Romania government fails to take this step by the due date (as well as the other stipulated steps), this world: (1) be taken as evidence of its grave lack of seriousness in applying the acquis communautaire inevitably calling into question its true commitment to joint the EU in 2007, and (2) which would consequently have the regrettable result that the EU Commission would be very likely to be forced into a position of having to re-think the projected timetable for Romania's accession.

As you are probably aware, all major private TV stations owe large sums of money to the government in the form of unpaid taxes and other public contributions (e.g., employer & health insurance payments). By all normal free-market commercial criteria, the government should have demanded payment or instituted bankruptcy proceedings. Instead, it has preferred to apply the law selectively, to suit its political purposes. TV stations have been allowed continuously to reschedule their debts, with the general concensus being that this was done in exchange for political compliance. By failing to demand payment of all public debts in accordance with normal free-market commercial principles, the government is effectively using public funds to subsidise the private media and buy control. This is a flagrant violation of the principles under which an independent media should operate, a gross abuse of the democratic process and a misuse of taxpayer's money, in breach of Romanian and European law.

The effects on media independence have been well documented by a number of NGOs. For example, the recent Policy Warning and Forecast Report for 2004 issued by the Romanian Academic Society, page 11 - (please see http://www.sar.org.ro/ files_h/PWR_4_forecast.pdf) has demonstrated that Tv stations have imposed self censorship, avoiding criticism of the authorities as part of a tacit quid pro quo. The report points out that "criticism of the government, President or Prime Minister in prime time has de facto become impossible", while the Media Monitoring Agency (MMA) www.mma.ro has published a detailed study of the allocation of air time, demonstrating that opposition figures are discriminated against in news broadcasts. In addition to self-censorship by TV journalists, direct phone calls by politicians to editors to influence content are common. Private stations have started to focus on tabloid type news, leaving the public TVR with a virtual monopoly invariably report the activities of the government uncritically, conduct interviews with ministers in a highly deferential style, and if embarrassing news is reported at all, it is given scant attention, often buried in the last few minutes of a story without the focus is deserves. These abuses give all the more cause for concern in an election year.

Further, this illegal subsidy of the private media, through failure to demand payment of public debts is a clear demonstration that Romania continues to fall well short of the standards of a "functioning free market economy" and the terms of Chapter 6 of the acquis communautaire on competition. It is also a violation of existing Romanian legislation on unfair trade market practices as the debt rescheduling is a patently anticompetitive practice.

We sincerely appreciate that there might appear to be dangers in encouraging the Romanian government to take a tough line against the media. However, the purpose should not be to close down private TV stations, but merely to require them to operate according to free market commercial principles. These would include the possibility to seek private market financing where appropriate, to help them settle their debts to the state, so avoiding the need to cease broadcasting. There is consequently no reason why between now and the 31 May 2004 deadline the Romanian state cannot take urgent and immediate action to comply with the existing law ant those obligations it has and will undertake as part of its accession negotiations.

The issue of debts to the state by private TV stations is merely one of many problems affecting the Romanian media and the country's EU accession process. But it is one which can be resolved very simply through the amendment we have suggested. It would provide a concrete first step toward a true functioning free market economy, and an independent media in Romania which would not be subject to hidden pressures from the state.

Dr. Mark Percival,Managing Director, Romania Think Rank (RTT)

www.rtt.ro

Bucharest, 24 February 2004