The European Parliament, concerned about the situation of the Rule of law in Slovenia (see EUROPE 12756/1), organised an observation mission to the country. This mission ended on Friday 15 October, leaving the participating MEPs somewhat concerned.
“The institutions work well. But there are also sufficient reasons for concern”, Sophie in ’t Veld (Renew Europe, The Netherlands), Chair of the European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, told reporters on Friday.
The parliamentary delegation was composed of seven members of the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and one member of the Committee on Budgetary Control (BUDG).
They met with, among others, NGOs, the Human Rights Ombudsman, academics, journalists, the Supreme State Prosecutor, officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture, members of the National Assembly, and the Presidents of the Constitutional Court and the Court of Auditors.
From these meetings, Ms in ’t Veld explained that she retained three problematic points, the first being the “tone of the public debate”.
“It is very striking that members of the government are also engaging in a kind of debate, which I think is unfitting for a civilised and democratic society”, she said. “If you are in power, you have a special responsibility for the tone of public debate”, she said, adding that this meant ensuring that trust in institutions was strengthened, not undermined.
Incidents on Twitter
The MEP clarified that she was not referring to what may have been said on Twitter in the margins of the visit. “This was not part of our exercise”, she said.
Slovenian Prime Minister, Janez Janša, who has already been condemned for his abusive social media posts (see EUROPE 12661/23), made another series of provocative tweets on Thursday 14 October.
“It’s Netherlands where the last journalist was killed in the EU. In Slovenia, such attempts were executed only during a regime of your comrades [from the Social Democratic Party]”, he retorted to the Social Democratic Group in the European Parliament, which had also expressed regret via Twitter that Mr Janša had not wanted to meet the European Parliament delegation.
The Slovenian Prime Minister’s latest outbursts were strongly condemned by his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, as well as by the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli. “MEPs should be able to do their work free from any form of pressure”, reacted European Council President Charles Michel, also on Twitter.
Press Agency and European Delegated Prosecutor
The second problematic area identified by the parliamentary delegation concerns procedural obstruction by the government. “Decisions to make appointments or to grant funds or budgets”, more precisely.
Sophie in ’t Veld was referring to the refusal of the Slovenian government to pay the funding owed to the Slovenian Press Agency for the year 2021 (see EUROPE 12785/27) as well as the persistent blockage in the appointment of two European Delegated Prosecutors (see EUROPE 12807/3). The MEP called on the Slovenian government to address these two issues quickly.
Finally, the Dutch Liberal MEP described as “very worrying”the warnings issued by the Ombudsman, the Court of Auditors, the Commissioner for the Prevention of Corruption and the Commissioner for Data Protection. The latter, she said, feared “risks of pressure and possible threats to their independence”.
Sophie in ’t Veld will prepare a written report which she will soon submit to the LIBE Committee. The report, she said, will also cover the delegation’s missions to Slovakia (see EUROPE 12796/14) and Bulgaria (see EUROPE 12798/4). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)