FTV without Board of Directors, Šabić illegitimate: SBB not appointing its director because SDA doesn't want to relinquish control?

The Commission for Elections and Appointments of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at its session held in March 2016, decided that changes to the Law on Public Radio-Television Service, specifically Article 65, should be initiated, which means that after the changes to the Law, the ruling coalition of SDA, HDZ BiH, and SBB will appoint the FTV Board of Directors according to their wishes, which will then appoint a new director of this television house, reports the Patria agency.

At that time, members of the Commission Mahir Mešalić and Dževad Adžem, both from DF, opposed such changes to the law, i.e., handing FTV over to the ruling parties.

To this day, the proposal to amend the Law has not been submitted to the Parliament of FBiH, and as confirmed to the Patria agency by Commission member Jozo Bagarić (HDZ BiH), the entire procedure has been halted due to the lack of a clear stance from coalition partners regarding FTV, and sessions have ceased to be held.

- FTV has been discussed on several occasions, but there is no clear procedure for electing the members of the Board of Directors. We will likely have this on the agenda at the autumn sessions – Bagarić said.

Bagarić confirmed that the position of FTV director belongs to Bosniaks. It is now clear that there is no agreement between SDA and SBB. The position of FTV director belonged to SBB, as SDA and HDZ BiH received the positions of FENA (Federal News Agency) director and editor-in-chief.

Džemal Šabić has been performing the function of director since August 2008, and his five-year term expired in August 2013.

From then until today, due to the absence of the RTVFBIH Board of Directors, Šabić, who is close to SDA, continues to perform the function of director without any legitimate election. Otherwise, according to the law, the term of the general director lasts for five years, and a member of the same constituent people cannot be appointed as general director for two consecutive terms.

During his "second term," Šabić distributed contracts generously, and numerous journalists who had worked for fees for years left FTV in recent years, while those who were deemed suitable were hired and given contracts.

We remind you that, according to the still valid law, members of the FTV Board of Directors were elected in such a way that one member of the Board was elected each year, so no political party could control the Public Service. However, with the new legal solution that the coalition is expected to implement, the ruling parties will appoint the Board of Directors, and thus a suitable director.

The official website of FTV states that Goran Samardžić is a member of the Board of Directors, although his term has also expired.