Elena Sánchez defends her appointment and does not rule out adjustments to RTVE’s organization chart
Without the support of the News Council, the trade unions, the lawyers of the Congress or the workers consulted by this media, the new acting president of RTVE has appeared this Wednesday at the Budget Commission, held at the Congress of Deputies in her institutional debut, to answer the questions of the parliamentary groups. The formations, except for the Socialist Group, that of Unidas Podemos and the Mixed Group, have also expressed their rejection to the legislative shortcut of Moncloa to grant full powers to Elena Sánchez, without the need to be submitted to a vote in the Congress of Deputies, as the advisors of the Chamber warn.
These advisors already argued in a 2011 report that the statutes of RTVE cannot be modified in order to change or amend the corporation’s law, which is the one which determines that an acting president cannot hold executive powers without the qualified majority of two thirds of the House. Asked about this controversial issue, Sánchez has defended that that report does not contemplate “exactly the assumption in which we are today”. “I ask you to read the report carefully”, she answered.
RTVE will receive in 2023 a state contribution of 530 million euros, of which, 490 will be channeled through the Law of the entity and the remaining 40 through European funds. Discounting this last injection from Brussels, the state public funding in this item increases by 47 million with respect to 2022 to reach the highest budget of 2011.
An increase which, according to the acting president, responds to the purpose of “improving contents and services, since there are still uncovered programming needs”, “promoting interactive services” such as RTVE Play or facing “broadcasting costs, which are increasing due to the rise in energy costs” or “the increase in personnel expenses” due to the revision of the remuneration.
The budget for television, radio and digital programs amounts to 382.9 million euros. A growth on which Mr. Sánchez points out that “in spite of the improvement, it is a lower figure in the programming from 2008 to 2011, where it exceeded 400″.
RTVE’s staff is made up of 169 directors and deputy directors, of which 27 are directors who receive 106,000 euros a year between salary and allowances; 54 are area directors who receive 87,000 euros and 88 are deputy directors who receive 75,000 euros, as stated by Vox’s spokesman, Manuel Mariscal, to whom the president admitted that “it will probably be necessary to make adjustments in the organization chart”.
The Audiovisual Law modifies the ways of entry
One of the main novelties of this budget is the General Law on Audiovisual Communication, which will come into force on January 1st, and which modifies RTVE’s sources of income. As from next year, the broadcaster will no longer receive the contribution from telecommunications operators, and at the same time, the contributions from the streaming platforms will be incorporated. Sánchez acknowledges that, although this change reinforces “a commitment to the film industry and the audiovisual sector”, he also points out that “it generates some uncertainty”, since this process will be managed by the Tax Agency. “This requires time and adjustments”, he states.
RTVE’s debt is expected to rise by 61.5% in 2022, to approximately 600 million. On this, the interim president has referred to the modification of the VAT Law 9/2017 approved five years ago, which, in her opinion, has originated a “legal insecurity, which has as a consequence an increase in the VAT debt” and adds that “if it were not for this situation, the Corporation would not have any debt, but a financial surplus”.
Sánchez considers that the 2023 budgets are “balanced” and “allow us to continue with the recovery of financing, assume cost increases and advance in the transformation of the public service, which has to be intensified in recent years”.