Roose says ERR funding bill fails to guarantee adequate budget

Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) board chairman Erik Roose says proposed changes to the broadcaster’s law do not ensure it will receive adequate funding. ERR reported his comments from an interview published by Postimees on Friday.

The bill, approved by the government and sent to parliament, is intended to make ERR’s funding more transparent and predictable. But Roose said it lacks the most important element: a guarantee that the funding will be sufficient.

He said the proposed four-year agreement with ERR leaves unclear whether the broadcaster would receive a fixed amount or simply be told not to worry about funding during that period. The bill also does not provide for linking ERR’s budget to measures such as consumer price inflation or economic growth, and contains no indirect reference to indexing its budget.

ERR’s budget was 23 million euros when it began operating in 2007, after the merger of Estonian Television and Estonian Radio. The newly completed state budget allocates 44.76 million euros to the broadcaster for next year. Since 2007, Estonia’s gross domestic product has grown nearly 2.7 times and the state budget 4.4 times, while ERR’s budget has increased 1.8 times, according to the Postimees article.

Roose said that if ERR’s budget cannot keep pace with changing needs, the broadcaster may eventually be unable to fulfil its statutory duties. He said it would be more honest for politicians to acknowledge a funding shortfall and decide which responsibilities the broadcaster should no longer have to meet.

Roose said he could not predict what would happen if the revised law is passed.