Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, in a written answer on 22 June 2026, expressed the European Commission's concern over the financial crisis at Bosnia and Herzegovina's state-level public broadcaster BHRT, warning that the situation threatens media pluralism and the country's EU accession prospects. The answer, responding to a parliamentary question from MEPs Delara Burkhardt (S&D) and Tineke Strik (Verts/ALE), reiterates the Commission's longstanding call for a sustainable and independent public broadcasting system.
The question, submitted on 9 April 2026, highlighted BHRT's debts of around EUR 51 million, including EUR 11.5 million owed to the European Broadcasting Union, and disputes over licence fee revenues with the broadcaster in Republika Srpska. Kos's answer reaffirms that ensuring BHRT's political independence and sustainable financing is a key priority identified in the Commission's 2019 opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU membership application, and has been reiterated in subsequent annual Enlargement Packages and country reports, including the 2025 report. The commitment is also part of the country's Reform Agenda under the Growth Plan.
The Commission's response is largely declarative, restating existing positions without announcing new financial support or concrete measures. It commits to continued monitoring and raising the issue in policy dialogue with Bosnian authorities. The answer signals that the Commission views the BHRT crisis as a governance and rule-of-law issue tied to accession requirements, but offers no immediate intervention or new funding mechanism.
For BHRT and its employees, the Commission's stance provides political backing but no immediate financial relief, leaving the broadcaster's operational survival uncertain. For Bosnian authorities, the answer reinforces pressure to reform the public broadcasting financing model as part of EU accession obligations. For the European Broadcasting Union, the EUR 11.5 million debt remains unresolved. For EU policymakers, the answer underscores the limits of enlargement tools in addressing domestic governance crises without stronger conditionality or dedicated media support programmes.