Minister Popovski meets EFJ’s Schroeder

After a decade, a new political image is emerging in Macedonia where media outlets operate in a new professional environment cooperating with the state institutions, Director of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Renate Schroeder said in a meeting Wednesday in Skopje with Robert Popovski, Minister without portfolio responsible for communications, accountability and transparency.

Schroeder congratulated Popovski on the government’s declared commitment to transparency and to establishing open and transparent communication with the public and the media, the government said in a press release.

The government of Macedonia, Popovski said, has been setting standards for all coming administrations not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

“Therefore, the open government concept tops the political agenda of the government, which supports free and professional journalism,” Minister Popovski said, according to the press release.

Schroeder said she supported Minister Popovski for his pledge that the incumbent government would advocate for ‘zero tolerance for any attempts to attack, pressure or intimidate journalists and the media, and to threaten freedom of speech and expression.’

Schroeder is at the helm of Europe’s leading organization of journalists, which represents more than 320,000 journalists from 71 journalists’ associations in 43 countries.

Both Popovski and Schroeder will take part in the fifth annual conference of SEE media on May 10-11 in Struga, organized by the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the OSCE Mission to Skopje.