German newspaper quotes company president as saying: ‘Southeast Europe is not a market in which we see a future for us’
TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, Aug. 4 – WAZ media group, which since 2008 owns part of Albania’s Vizion Plus television station, says it is pulling out of the region entirely due to political pressure on the media.
The regional media reported that German media group WAZ is prepared to pull its operations out of the Balkans, quoting what the company’s director has told German daily newspaper Handelsblatt.
Bodo Hombach said, “South-East Europe is not a market in which we see a future for us,” blaming abuse of power and collusion between governments and oligarchs for hampering the media group’s business operations, according the regional news agency Balkan Insight.
The company had denied earlier rumors of departure from the Balkans.
“Claims that WAZ Media Group had decided to withdraw Šamount to intentional disinformation and falsification,” the company said in a statement last month.
However, Hombach voiced sharp criticism of abuse of power and collusion between governments and oligarchs throughout South-Eastern Europe, writes German daily Handelsblatt, which will lead to divestment in the Balkans.
Hombach, who has held senior positions in the German federal government and is a member of the Social Democratic Party, was EU Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe , 1999-2002, before becoming the head of WAZ.
Handelsblatt also mentions worsened advertisement markets in the region as a motive for a WAZ pull-out, mentioning a 70 percent drop in the Romanian newspaper advertisement market in 2009.
Hombach further expressed worries about the economic and political development of Serbia, as well as its EU accession, styling the WAZ conflict there as a “test case.” He vowed to inform relevant EU commissioners of what WAZ experienced in Serbia, reports Bulgaria’s Novite news agency.
EBRD will need to be consulted in any departure as it owns part of WAZ’s operations in the Balkans.
