Ukraine passes new media law to satisfy EU membership prerequisite

The Ukrainian parliament has passed a new law for regulating the media. 

Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak posted the vote count on Telegram. Among the deputies present, 299 voted in favor of the bill and none against it. Two deputies abstained, and 30 more did not participate.

The new law expands the powers of the National Radio and TV Broadcasting Council — possibly too much, according to its critics in the media and among the political opposition.

Among the rights granted by the new legislation to the National Broadcasting Council is a right to block access to an unregistered publication without a court decision, for up to two weeks. A court order is still necessary to block a publication permanently, as pointed out by Yevhenia Kravchuk, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada’s committee on information policy.

Ukrainska Pravda points out that the new legislation should satisfy the European Commission’s criterion of media regulation — one of requirements that must be met by Ukraine in order to join the EU.

On June 23, the EU leadership resolved to grant European candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky petitioned for Ukraine’s entry into the EU several days after the start of the Russian invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is not against Ukraine’s entry into the EU.

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