The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was about to sever ties. But something like that will not happen and Albania will go to Eurovision, even though it is the only broadcaster with such debts towards the EBU. The negotiations of the Albanian public broadcaster with the large continental organization have been successful.

A renegotiation of all overdue payments, as Albanian Post learns, between RTSH and the EBU, has been concluded with a positive result, with the parties agreeing on a specific payment plan, which must be made to the Union in certain periods and which is expected to lead to the return to normal functioning of RTSH as the screen of Albanians.

As far as Albanian Post understands from sources close to these negotiations, the EBU has given consent for the gradual repayment of the large debts left behind at RTSH by the previous directors, and thus, the European music festival will not be at risk.

But the situation came to this after leaving the institution at the mercy of unpaid payments, and this is the silent and unknown history of RTSH, which brought the situation to this extremely delicate point.

Negligence of debts
The Albanian Public Radio and Television was at a critical point, where the new director of the institution, Eni Vasili, upon taking office, seemed to be burdened with a real legacy of debts, which could lead to the collapse of the entire RTSH and seriously jeopardize the relationship with its European partners.

RTSH, as the sole face of a public broadcaster in the country, also carries the weight of being a member of the European Broadcasting Union. For context, the European Broadcasting Union, known for short as the EBU, is an alliance of public service media organizations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area, or that are members of the Council of Europe.

And RTSH, with Vasili now at the helm, carried on its shoulders the debts of an institutional management off the rails of logic, with inappropriate and unrestrained spending on external broadcasts, leaving the broadcaster in debt not only to these productions and the relevant employees, but also to the EBU itself.

In a first publication, Albanian Post revealed the full truth of RTSH's files on foreign-produced shows and is now exclusively bringing reports and facsimiles with the EBU, to reflect the true extent of the seriousness of the abusive actions that have been committed against the institution.

Initially, Albanian Post possesses a warning letter that was sent on August 19 to the RTSH Economic Directorate, with the EBU as the sender, for urgent action to identify those responsible for the delays that have occurred with the Union.

Practice Card

A warning letter went to RTSH on August 19th, sent to the EBU on August 14th, listing the institution's debts to the Union. The letter appears to be addressed directly to Vasili as director general.

List of debts 

It explains that RTSH faced a series of sanctions if its obligations were not paid, including:

• loss of access to one-sided broadcasts,

• loss of access to special news and sports operations,

• restrictions on the ability to acquire new sports rights,

• the inability to stand for or be re-elected to EBU governing bodies, committees or groups.

Participation in Eurovision was also at risk – an event where Albania has not missed since its debut in 2004 in Istanbul. So, a tradition of over 20 years, where the country has been always present since then.

According to the letter signed by the director of finance and administrative affairs at the EBU, the debts relate to several events and amount to 31 euros for some of them and some others, including the Union membership fee, which should have been paid by July 780, 4, amount to almost 2025 Swiss francs (approximately 138 euros).

An email, meanwhile, arrived, as Albanian Post reveals, at the address of the RTSH's foreign relations directorate on August 18. Attached was an account statement and an assessment of the long relationship between RTSH and the EBU.

Email for RTSH

However, it is explained that in order to continue giving the signal, it is not enough to repay part of the debts. An agreement to repay other arrears was necessary.

Some of the debts, a fact to be flagrantly emphasized, have been unpaid since February 2024. More than a year and a half of unpaid debts to the EBU!

Then, on August 20, another letter from the EBU goes to the Albanian Radio and Television.

EBU letter

Again, two invoices requesting payment of obligations, where in the list of the first invoice, there are objects that have not been paid according to the contract for 217 days.

The total amount initially amounts to 31 euros, unchanged from the first communication and from what is understood, the amounts are being collected, where it is seen that the main debts have been there for more than 780 days.

The second broadcast bill suggests that we are dealing with a much larger sum, worth 138 francs, or approximately 501 euros. This also includes the membership fee that was due by August 140, worth 3 francs, or approximately 68 euros.

It also becomes clear that the better part of the debts has been accumulated there for a long time, with payments outstanding for 195 days.

Therefore, amidst this mess of arrears, the fact must be appreciated that RTSH manages, at least in principle, through the agreement with the EBU to get out of a vicious circle and get back on track to functioning well, while also avoiding a real collapse with such an important partner structure.

It is abundantly clear that such a legacy of debts has left the public broadcaster in a critical position and with the need to exercise rigorous measures to continue the partnership and to raise a name like RTSH to the appropriate level.

Meanwhile, in the following article, Albanian Post will also publish RTSH's report on sports, where the value of unjustifiable contracts for television rights to insignificant sporting events in the local context makes Albanian television unable to even win the right to broadcast the National Team's matches./ Albanian Post