VRT board of directors blows back at unions: ‘Flemish Parliament cannot replace the board of directors’

There has been unrest at the public broadcaster for some time now. First there was the fuss surrounding the postponement of the documentary about the transgressive behavior of television maker Bart De Pauw and then questions arose about possible political interference. The new TV series Clever minds would according to it The standard come in consultation with the cabinet of Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA), which was also responsible for the financing.

Opposition parties Groen and Vooruit have been wanting for some time that the VRT leadership, and in particular CEO Frederik Delaplace, provide explanations about the incidents in the Flemish Parliament. The ruling party N-VA in particular held off. Last week, a new attempt to summon the VRT top yielded no results. N-VA and Vlaams Belang did not show up for an extra session of the Media Committee.

“Employees are increasingly asking themselves how independent the course we are still taking is,” the two unions say in a letter to the members of the VRT board of directors.

ACV and ACOD consider it “an important signal” when a managing director “defends his policy choices in one of our most important democratic institutions”.

To trust

In a press release, the members of the board of directors expressed their support for management and employees on Monday evening. “The directors express their confidence in the internally initiated processes and express their support for the managing director, the board of directors and all employees who work every day to lead VRT through a difficult transition period towards a future-oriented media company,” it said.

Moreover, the Flemish Parliament cannot replace the board of directors, the press release states. “To prevent politicians from exercising direct control over the management of public broadcasters, as is currently threatening to happen in other European countries.”

The board of directors of the public broadcaster, composed of eight representatives of the political groups and four independent directors, says it is “concerned about how the political independence” of the VRT is being handled.

“To safeguard the proper functioning and independence of the public broadcaster, it is of the utmost importance that all parties adhere to the agreements made in the media decree and the management agreement. The council exercises control over management, while parliament controls the Minister of Media.”