Parliament submits media bill for repeated first reading

16:19, 19.05.2020 1 min read

The Verkhovna Rada has sent for the first repeated reading bill No. 2693 on media.

Some 278 deputies voted for such a decision, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.

The authors took the initiative to send the bill for a repeated first reading.

"We received dozens of requests from media representatives, had a three-day video conference with the Council of Europe. At the moment, many structural amendments are needed. It's better to submit it [draft law] for a second first reading. The changes relate to the powers of the National Council and the regulation of online media, and bringing many provisions, including on broadcasting communities, to the rules of the European Directive on Audiovisual Media," said author of the bill and chairman of the Rada's Humanitarian and Information Policy Committee Oleksandr Tkachenko.

The author of an alternative bill, MP of the European Solidarity faction Mykola Kniazhytsky, supported the idea on the basis of two documents and, taking into account the existing proposals, to write a new bill.