Clarification on the alignment of regulatory restructuring with EU legislation

Question for written answer E-003023/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová (Renew)

The Slovak Ministry of Culture has issued preliminary legislative information proposing significant changes to the Council for Media Services (Rada pre mediálne služby). These changes suggest transitioning the Council from a collective statutory body to a single-person statutory authority, which the Ministry claims is necessary to implement the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA)[1].

• 1.Could the Commission clarify whether the EMFA explicitly requires such a transformation of national regulatory bodies and whether the proposed transformation aligns with the objectives of the EMFA?
• 2.Does the proposed centralisation of this authority in Slovakia align with the requirements of the Digital Services Act[2] concerning the role of Digital Services Coordinators?
• 3.Could the Commission clarify whether the proposed structural change aligns with the requirements of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive[3] concerning the role of regulatory authorities?

Submitted: 18.12.2024

• [1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1083 of 11 April 2024 establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market, OJ L, 2024/1083, 17.4.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1083/oj.
• [2] Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services, OJ L 277, 27.10.2022, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2065/oj.
• [3] Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of 14 November 2018 amending Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services, OJ L 303, 28.11.2018, p. 69, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/1808/oj.