The parliament voted in the first reading to finance National Public Television Company for 50%

On November 14, the Verkhovna Rada voted in the first reading the draft law of Ukraine “On State Budget of Ukraine for 2018”, ignoring the amendments regarding proper financing of JSC “National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine”. This draft was supported by 260 MPs, 24 abstained, 27 did not vote, Suspilne movlennia reports. MPs did not amend the draft to increase the financing of the National TV company. According to the draft, the expenses under the program “Financial support of the National Public TV company” in 2018 is set by the Ministry of Finance at the level of 776 million hryvnias, while the financing stipulated in the Law of Ukraine “On Public Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine”, the amount of financing of public broadcasting for 2018 should be approximately 1.54 billion hryvnias. The National TV company administration stated before that it takes the situation with insufficient funding of the Company as an attempt to get control over the broadcaster before the start of the election campaign. The company will be forced to reduce its broadcasting across the country, as well as in Crimea and in Donbas. The office of the European Union in Ukraine shares the concern of the civil society of Ukraine about the lack of financing of the public broadcasting company.