EU delegation concerned about underfunding of Ukraine's public broadcaster

"We share concerns of civil society over the underfunding of a public broadcaster," the EU Delegation to Ukraine wrote on Twitter.

"Full funding provided by the current legislation is of great importance for the independence of public broadcasting," the European diplomats said.

Thus, the EU Delegation supported the appeal of the experts of the "Reanimation Package of Reforms" (RPR) and partner organizations that foster media reform for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to lay down full financing of public broadcasting in the state budget for 2018.

Read alsoUkrainian broadcasting in Crimea: do Crimeans need it and how Russia will respondEarlier, representatives of civil society expressed concern over an alarming situation caused by significant underfunding and inherited debt of the public broadcasting in Ukraine. In particular, due to the expected submission of the draft state budget for 2018 to the Verkhovna Rada on September 15, the experts of the RPR Media Reform group urge the government to provide the financing of PJSC National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine in full, guaranteed by the law "On Public Television and Radio Broadcasting," i.e. in the amount of UAH 1.535 billion.

Read alsoTurchynov inspects Russian TV jamming system along contact line in DonbasIn addition to the minimum funds, guaranteed by the law, RPR also requires that the Cabinet envisage a one-time additional budget financing that would cover the costs of servicing the debt of the National Television Broadcasting Company of Ukraine before Euronews SA, inherited by the public broadcaster from the former state television