Madrid, October 22, 2024.- The Council of Ministers has today approved a royal decree-law to renew the Board of Directors of the RTVE Corporation and thus overcome the situation of interinity of its current composition. The rule pursues the triple objective of strengthening the pluralism of the public entity, ensuring its stability and guaranteeing the professionalism of its board of directors.

“Over the past four years, RTVE has had a single administrator and three presidents. An instability in management that is not desirable in any public or private company. In addition, at present, of the 10 seats on the Board of Directors, six should have already been renewed,” said the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, Óscar López, at the press conference following the Council of Ministers.

López has been in charge of explaining the content of this royal decree-law that seeks “to overcome the situation of blockage and paralysis in the management body of a company of the transcendence of RTVE”. The public entity, he stressed, “provides an essential service in the promotion of knowledge and the dissemination of constitutional principles and civic values. It is a fundamental channel of communication for the citizens, and, therefore, this Government is going to ensure that it carries out its functions normally.”

The royal decree-law has been prepared by the Ministries of the Presidency, Finance and for the Digital Transformation and Public Service. The Government will immediately begin negotiations with the parliamentary groups with a view both to their validation and to the election of the new Board of Directors.

A more plural Board of Directors

In order to strengthen pluralism in the governing bodies of RTVE, the Board of Directors will have 15 members, all of them people with sufficient qualifications and professional experience. Of the 15 members, 11 will be elected by the Congress of Deputies and four by a two-thirds majority by the Senate. The composition of the Council shall respect the principle of the balanced presence of men and women, as laid down in the law for the effective equality of women and men and the law on parity.

To avoid anomalous situations such as the one currently experienced by the entity, without a presidency appointed by the Congress of Deputies and with several advisers with their mandate expired, the Royal Decree-Law incorporates an unblocking formula for the election of the Council by an absolute majority, when a two-thirds majority is not reached in either of the two chambers.

With this formula and with the current Parliament, Óscar López has assured that “the next Board of Directors of RTVE will be the most plural in the history of the public entity”.

Greater stability

The second objective of the reform is to ensure stability in the governance of the corporation. Thus, the advisers will be elected for a six-year term and may be re-elected only once.

The General Courts will approve the Corporation in full framework in which the general objectives of the public service function entrusted to it will be realized. These -framework will be valid for eight extendable years. The objectives approved in the framework-mandate will be developed every four years in the programme-contracts agreed by the Government with the RTVE Corporation.

Exclusive dedication

The royal decree-law guarantees the professionalism of the members of the Board of Directors. It is again established, as has already happened in the past, that they have exclusive dedication.

In addition, they will be subject to the regime of incompatibilities of the senior officials of the General Administration of the State and to that established in the commercial legislation for the administrators. In any event, their role will be incompatible with the parliamentary mandate.

In order to promote as soon as possible the election of a new Board of Directors of RTVE in accordance with the provisions of this royal decree-law, it is established that the Presidencies of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate will have to initiate the procedure of election of the 15 members of the Board of Directors within fifteen calendar days from its entry into force. This process will have to be concluded within 15 days of its beginning, so that the new Council is elected within a maximum period of 30 days.