The debate started with the Chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Information and Media, Branko Vuksic of the Labour Party, presenting the view of the Committee. He said that the Chairman of the Hina Steering Council, Damir Boras, had told the Committee last week that the report had been expanded at the request of Parliament and the government and that it covered the activities of the Steering Committee during its present and previous term.
The previous Steering Committee adopted a strategic development plan for the agency for the 2011-2014 period, analysed the successfulness of its news services and the performance of its organisational units as a basis for restructuring, and endorsed the restructuring programme proposed by the Management Board.
The report says that the present Steering Council discussed the work programme and financial framework of Hina for 2012, and approved the restructuring programme, the proposed rules on the organisational structure, the proposed financial plan for the January-March 2012 period, and the work plan for 2012. It says that the Council was incomplete, because Parliament appointed four of five members, while a member representing Hina's employees has not been appointed to date.
Vuksic said that the Committee heard during the discussion last week that Hina had been operating at a loss for three years and that most members of the Committee had agreed with the government's opinion that the Hina Steering Council had not taken the necessary steps to ensure reorganisation and restructuring of the agency and business rationalisation and to reverse the negative trends in its overall business performance. The Committee concluded that those responsible should be brought to account, and that Hina itself should decide what it wanted to be in the future.
Vuksic also mentioned the opinion expressed in the debate that there existed certain circumstances that could not have been influenced, such as unpaid claims, the debt of Vjesnik newspaper to Hina, the 25% VAT rate paid by Hina, as opposed to 10% paid by other media, and the Hina Act that has not been amended for more than a decade.
Vuksic said that the Information and Media Committee was recommending that the annual report by the Hina Steering Council be rejected and that the Steering Council undertake to relieve the director-general of Hina and appoint an acting director-general.
Earlier this month the government gave a negative opinion on the report, saying that Hina Steering Council had failed to take the necessary steps that would have enabled reorganisation and restructuring of the agency, business rationalisation, and financial consolidation.