Finland’s Minister of Communications, Suvi Lindén, appears to be backing down from a statement last week, in which she suddenly announced that a hotly-debated bill reforming the funding model for public broadcasting would be postponed until a new government took office. Yesterday she said that talks might continue after all.
Her announcement to push back a decision came as a shock last week to both politicians and YLE, as a resolution of the hot-button issue has been seen as crucial for the stability and financial planning of the national public broadcaster. But speaking on a current events talk show A-studio, Ms Lindén said that work on the broadcasting law - which determines how YLE is to be funded and how much money it gets - might continue.
“Preparation of the law will continue if it has enough unanimous support,” she told A-studio. For her, this means that the parliamentary groups have to stand behind proposals for reforming YLE’s governance and funding models. Her comments come right before a planned meeting of Parliamentary group heads on Wednesday, when they are to discuss the fate of the broadcasting law.
YLE’s Director General Mikael Jungner says that the matter should be taken away from the Ministry of Communications and handed over to the Parliament at large for handling. He added that Ms Lindén’s sudden decision to shove the broadcasting law into the lap of the next government was a panic reaction in the face of upcoming Parliamentary elections. “Obviously there are individual MPs and citizens who are going to disagree. But to give up in the middle of the process and postpone the who issue for the next government is irresponsible,” he said.
(Source: YLE)
Related story:
