Socialists asks Democrats to take part in media commission

TIRANA, Sept. 29 – The governing Socialist lawmakers have sent a letter to their main opposition Democratic Party colleagues asking them to end their boycott of the media parliamentary commission because their absence has led to deadlock in the operations of two important national media regulatory bodies.
The letter noted that the Media Audiovisual Authority and the Albanian Radio Television Supervisory Board are not operating due to lack of votes in the commission to nominate the boards’ members. Parliament must fill vacant seats in the boards with the consensus of the opposition. Unless the Democrats return, the commission said they will proceed on their own, making law changes in order to fill the vacant places without the opposition.
The opposition Democrats have been boycotting the parliament since July, complaining of the physical violence perpetrated against one of their lawmakers. They said this week would not end their boycott unless a series of conditions were met, including the removal from parliament of MPs with a criminal record, which the Democrats say are among Socialists in parliament. The media commission says that the two official bodies are implementing the television digitization process with a deadline to finish next year.