The Commissioner for the information of public importance passed the decisions today by which it ordered television studios RTS (National Television) and Studio B to submit to Transparentost Srbija which had requested the information, that is, to make public the data that relate to the financing of the election campaign for the presidential elections that had taken place in February of this year.

This concerns the data that relate to the price for the rendered services that had been agreed with the presidential candidates, the amounts that had been paid, that is, those that had remained as a debt, and the manner of payment, that is, whether they had been paid from special accounts for the financing of the campaign or in some other way.

In connection with that, the Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic stated:

“At first sight it may seem unusual that the Commissioner for Information is ordering the media to make information public. According to the standard logic, the media, particularly the public services, are expected to make information public even when nobody is requesting that. Nonetheless, in this case it was not so, which therefore made the passing of these decisions both necessary and legally justifiable.

The Radio Television of Serbia and Studio B are, pursuant to Article 3 of the Law on the Free Access to Information bodies of the public authorities. In line with that, in principle, all the data created in the course of their operations or related to their operations represent information of public importance. I think that in the concrete case the obligation to provide information is strengthened by the fact that the subject of the request are information for which there is a particular interest of the public.

Even if there hadn't been any formal legal obligation, the public domain of these information would be supported by at least three important points. First, the need to preserve the legitimacy of the democratic election process whose initial and basic supposition is legal financing of each and every election campaign. Second, the need to change something in connection with the present and growing disbelief of the citizens concerning the legitimacy of the financing of various election processes which is constantly fed by the low level of transparency. The third reason is the need to achieve far better results in the fight against corruption. It's a well known thing that these results could be achieved, along with applying all other available means, primarily by enabling as wide control of the public as possible. It is for this reason that we need to do everything in order to make all the information, which are or could be relevant in the context of corruption, maximally available to the public.”