The number of politically appointed seats on the board of directors of the VRT drops from twelve to eight. This is reported by Minister of Media Benjamin Dalle (CD&V).
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In practice it will come down to CD&V, N-VA, Open VLD and Vlaams Belang losing a seat. As a result, the latter party, like CD&V, Open VLD, Vooruit and Groen, only has one representative, while Vlaams Belang is larger in parliament.
Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken already announced via Twitter that he did not agree with this adjustment. He believes that it does not follow the election results. Putin would be proud of this move to limit the democratic influence of the opposition.
Dalle disagrees. ‘That has of course been taken off the table,’ he said on Radio 1 on Thursday morning. ‘Vlaams Belang will indeed go from two to one seat on the basis of the current election results. We do not invent that, those are the systems of proportional representation. That also applies to my own party: CD&V is also going from two to one.’
‘As politicians we should be less concerned with ourselves,’ says Dalle. ‘It’s about the future of our media landscape.’ He wants to see a modern, high-performance media company.
Four independent directors
In addition to the eight directors nominated from the groups of the Flemish Parliament, there will be four independent directors, according to the preliminary draft decree. These will be persons with relevant expertise in the general management of the broadcaster or experts from the audiovisual media sector and media policy. There will be an open call for which anyone can apply.
The chairman of the board of directors is, as is the case today, elected from among the ‘political’ members of the board. The Vice-President will be provided by the independents.
The decree introduces several other changes. For example, there will be a stronger involvement of the board of directors in the appointment and dismissal of the managing director. Drivers are also asked for more discretion. Dalle believes that the internal discussions on the board of directors have been in the media too often in the past.
After approval in parliament, a new council will be formed.
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