The European Parliament condemned the Slovenian government for “attacking, discrediting and slandering” journalists and critics. This vote underscores people’s growing vigilance against threats to media freedom.
Members of the European Parliament supported a resolution condemning the Slovenian government for “an atmosphere of hostility, mistrust and severe polarization” and for trying to weaken independent prosecutors and interfere with state-sponsored media.
The resolution did not name Slovenian Prime Minister Jan Sha, but it was clearly aimed at right-wing nationalist politicians. He called reporters Liars and “Prostitutes”, Attacked investigative reporters and promoted conspiracy theories.
Although the resolution is not binding, it made people feel uneasy in the final weeks of Slovenia’s six-month EU presidency.
Members of the European Parliament from the European People’s Party of the European People’s Party (listing Jansha as a member) of the center-right European People’s Party in the parliament voted against the text to a large extent, although a few abstained.
The resolution was passed with 356 votes in favor, 284 votes against, and 40 abstentions. It won the support of center-left, liberal, radical left, and green groups. An amendment drafted by members of the Belgian Nationalist European Parliament congratulated Slovenia on its “success” as the chairman of the European Council, and pointed out that its institutions have been functioning well and failed to win support.
The parliamentary investigation was triggered by Slovenia’s delay in nominating a prosecutor to the committee. European Prosecutor’s Office, A new agency responsible for investigating EU budget fraud. Two people were nominated in November last year, but the government has since described them as temporary and tried to change the rules regarding the appointment of prosecutors, which means they may be fired.
Slovenia’s Covid emergency rules have also been reviewed, and members of the European Parliament have expressed concerns about the “continued rule of law” that has not been reviewed by the parliament.
After the government put pressure on the Slovenian News Agency (STA), one of the most worrying issues was freedom of the press. The Janša government withheld state subsidies required by law for most of 2021, bringing the institution on the verge of bankruptcy. According to the European Parliament, most of the funds have been disbursed, but at least 507,000 Euros have not yet been disbursed.
Similarly, members of the European Parliament called on the Slovenian government to ensure “sufficient funding” and “stop all political interference and pressure on the Slovenian public television network RTV.”
Follow the model The Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán, Janša tries to curb the independence of publicly funded media. He called the Slovenian News Agency a disgrace to the country and tried to remove its director general. On Twitter, he accused an RTV Slovenian journalist of lying when comparing medical expenditures with military expenditures.
Unnamed Slovenian public figures and government members have also been accused by the European Parliament of defamation campaigns, defamation of critics and use of lawsuits to suppress public interest news.
Slovenia ranks 36th in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a drop of four places from the 2020 ranking. The NGO expressed concern that politicians’ defamation and “defamatory verbal attacks” were criminalized, and the organization stated that this trend has worsened after Jan Sha became prime minister in March 2020.
Jan Sand, who attended the EU leaders summit in Brussels on Thursday, has yet to respond to the vote.When members of the European Parliament conducted a fact-finding visit to Ljubljana in October, Jansha described some people as “Soros Puppet”, Mentioned the Hungarian philanthropist George Soros in a tweet, which is consistent with anti-Semitism conspiracy theories.
The image embedded in the tweet, which was later deleted, is said to come from a radical hate blog and portrays several prominent European Parliament members from the Netherlands, including Sophie in’t Veld, who led the parliamentary fact-finding mission. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte condemned the tweet “in the strongest terms”, and the Slovenian ambassador was summoned to hear the same message.
Janša’s response was to call on Rutte and In’t Veld to “protect your reporter from being killed in the street”, which obviously refers to criminal reporters Peter de Vries He was shot dead in the center of Amsterdam in July.
