The UDR invites the parties to publish on the website and at the headquarters the contracts entered into for advertising in the press or for propaganda, including any additional documents. Also, according to the legislative initiative submitted on Thursday, the popularization of parties should be celebrated on television.

TV room Photo: Nicolas Nicolas Meesyasz / Sipa Press / Profimedia Images

At the same time, during election campaigns, the costs of pre-election campaigning on radio, television, print media and the Internet should not exceed 40% of the total amount of subvention received from the state.

More precisely, the UDR proposed amendments to the law on the financing of parties and election campaigns and the law on audiovisual support.

Proposed changes:

  • Political parties will be required to publish on the website and at their headquarters in a prominent place the contracts entered into for promotion in the press and/or for propaganda, including any additional documents.
  • The amounts received by the parties as subsidies, as well as all contracts on the basis of which they are spent, will be considered information of public interest within the meaning of Law No. 544/2001 on free access to information of public interest, without the possibility of invoking commercial secrets .
  • A political contribution will be considered any contribution to the financing of a media service for the purpose of popularizing the party, its members or their activities.
  • Programs created with such contributions must be labeled as such to clearly show the party or politicians for whose promotion the funds were paid.
  • The expenses of parties for pre-election campaigning on radio, television, print media and on the Internet cannot exceed 40% of the total amount of subvention received from the state.

“A free, objective press that asks real questions and conducts investigations is a fundamental pillar of democracy in Romania. In Romania, political parties that give the press millions of euros a year try to behave as if the press is put up for auction: whoever gives more money is better represented to the citizens. USR cannot accept that the press is treated as an asset to be auctioned. Therefore, today I submitted a legislative project, which, after implementation, will protect the freedom of the press that we all need,” said Ukrainian Ukrainian SSR deputy Diana Buzoianu, the initiator of the draft law.

On August 1, Hornews.ro wrote that in January-June 2022 PSD provided at least 5.3 million euros from the money received as a subsidy from the state for press and propaganda expenses. And the PNL ordered According to the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP), 3.6 million euros were spent on the same in the first six months of the year.

And USR redirected more than 1.5 million lei to propaganda, which is 13.41% of the funds spent in the first six months of the year. According to AEP, AUR did not spend any part of the subsidy received.

  • The PNL and PSD allocated huge amounts of state subsidies to the press and propaganda. How much they spent in the first six months