On midnight, Croatian Radio Television will be left without management.
Croatian Radio Television (HRT) management has ensured the payment of salaries to employees of the public broadcaster on the eve of a management crisis which will start at midnight, when the term of acting director general Siniša Kovačić will expire, reports tportal.hr on September 30, 2016.
According to unofficial sources, on the last day of Kovačić’s term, HRT management urgently demanded from all the heads of divisions to report the monthly hours worked for more than 2,800 employees, so that they could receive salaries for September.
The possible non-payment of wages was the first potential result of the impending management crisis, since Kovačić will at midnight lose the right to sign official documents, including bank payments. “Please be advised that the HRT leadership has taken all the necessary steps to ensure the regular payment of salaries to workers, and they will be paid, as usual, no later than on the fifth workday of a month”, announced the Croatian Radio Television.
HRT management added that “HRT is a public institution founded by the Republic of Croatia”, and therefore all questions about the management crisis should be directed to “decision makers in the government or the Ministry of Culture”. According to sources, the HRT leadership sent earlier this week an appeal to the Ministry of Culture to find a solution for the impending management crisis, but there was no discussion about the issue on this week’s session of the caretaker government.
They expect a response from the Government Legislative Office which should state its position on the legal uncertainty. It is not possible to further extend the term of the current acting director general.
On the other hand, the HRT Supervisory Board, which oversees the legality of operations of the public broadcaster, announced a meeting for next week where it would “adopt appropriate legal solutions”. It is possible that the Supervisory Board will use a provision in the law which gives it right to name as HRT legal representatives persons who do not have such an authority under other laws.
The permanent solution would be for Parliament to appoint a permanent director general, or a different acting director general. However, the first sitting of the new Parliament will take place on 14 October, and it is not clear how long the Parliament will need to appoint someone, so it is certain that the legal vacuum will last for several weeks.
