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Vitaliy Shevchenko, The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting's Chairman The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting's Chairman Vitaliy Shevchenko believes that creation of a public radio and television broadcasting system depends on the parliament.

Shevchenko announced this at a press briefing.

"It is in the competence of the parliament today," Shevchenko said.

According to him, the Cabinet of Ministers has drafted a concept for a public broadcasting system, and it is presently being considered by the relevant government agencies.

Shevchenko said that the council would consider the draft concept at its next meeting.

He noted that the concept would require the parliament's approval, but he declined to forecast whether the parliament would be able to approve it under the current political situation inside the parliament.

Shevchenko believes that the active law on the public television system could facilitate significantly faster creation of a public television system.

"No matter how one criticizes the previous law that is presently active, it could open the way for the process of creation of public broadcasting to become irreversible," Shevchenko said.

According to him, the active law has only one requirement for creation of a public television broadcasting system - creation of a public broadcasting system on the basis of the National Television Company and the National Radio Company.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Cabinet of Ministers planned to submit a bill on the concept for a public broadcasting system to the parliament, but it never submitted it.

Parliamentary Deputy Andrii Shevchenko of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, who chairs the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech and information, forecast in July that a public radio and television broadcasting system would be created before the 2010 presidential elections.