The Chairman of the Independent Media Commission (IMC), Mr. Jeton Mehmeti, hosted Mr. Jarmo Feliks Helppikangas, Head of the Rule of Law and Human Rights Section at the EU Office in Kosovo.

Chairman Mr. Mehmeti in his introductory speech, thanked the officials from the EU Office for the continuation of the inter-institutional cooperation and expressed his willingness to deepen this cooperation between the institutions.

Following his speech, Mr. Mehmeti presented the most important current work and activities of the IMC in fulfilment of constitutional and legal obligations. The participants in the meeting discussed some issues of common interest in the field of media, with particular emphasis on the work being done regarding the process of amending the Law on the IPC with the aim of harmonizing it with the new AVMS Directive.  IMC is working on the drafting and amendment of three regulations that are foreseen within the National Program for European Integration 2023 as an obligation for IMC as well as with the aim of following the trend with new developments in the media market. In this aspect, for the IMC the support from the EU with external expertise or other forms of support is crucial. It was also discussed about the challenges of the IMC, firstly the financial difficulties as a result of the budget cuts, the necessary need to increase the technical and human capacities, the delays in the appointment of the members of the Commission and the Board for Complaints in the IMC, the delays these have caused inability to make decisions for certain periods.

On the part of the EU officials, it was emphasized that they appreciate the work of the media regulator and expressed their commitment to support the IMC in the implementation of the highest standards in the field of regulation of audio-visual media services.