Parliamentary Chairperson on public broadcaster

I'm saddened when I see the half-empty building of the public service broadcaster Radio and Television Slovakia, RTVS, and its own production being suppressed while there is a huge number of external contractors. Parliamentary Chairman and leader of the Slovak National Party Andrej Danko told a news conference held on Thursday following a decree award ceremony for RTVS Council members. "I respect RTVS director Václav Mika, who set the basic economic rules for running the broadcaster under crisis conditions. However, the new RTVS director will have to answer the question as to where the line between public and commercial character is," said Andrej Danko. As he added, he certainly isn't reluctant to engage in a debate on whether RTVS should only be financed from the state budget. Asked whether he can confirm a statement made by Slovak National Party vice-chair Anton Hrnko that the current RTVS director Václav Mika is unacceptable for this party, Danko said that this is a matter of political debate and that the party hasn't yet adopted a key decision on this issue. Mika's term in the post ends this summer.