The Slovakian government led by left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico has approved the dissolution of the public broadcaster RTVS.
The three-party government on Wednesday adopted the controversial bill proposed by nationalist Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová.
Opposition politicians and journalists critical of the government have been accusing the coalition for weeks of wanting to replace the media organization, which is considered objective and trustworthy in opinion polls, with a compliant propaganda broadcaster for the government.
The final decision can only be taken by parliament, in which the governing parties have a sufficient majority.
Fico told the news agency TASR that he expects a parliamentary decision in June.
Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) announced that they would be writing letters to the European Commission and the European Parliament in order to obtain support from Brussels to block the government's plans.
Tens of thousands of people had already protested against the impending dissolution of RTVS in the two largest cities of Bratislava and Košice in mid-March.
President Zuzana Čaputová, whose term of office ends in June, also criticized the plan.
Both Šimkovičová and Fico have repeatedly criticized the RTVS leadership as being biased against them. However, they were unable to remove the director general and his team, who were elected for a term of office until 2027, due to the existing legal situation.
The government wants to circumvent this obstacle by simply dissolving RTVS with its new law and replacing it with a new broadcaster called STVR.
The revised bill at least dispenses with the creation of a council controlled by the government and parliament, which would have been able to directly influence the programme content of Slovakian radio and television.