“Dear Commissioner, today is the first time we are talking about Slovenia. Today’s debate on media freedom in Slovenia is a successful export of the domestic political fight of Slovenian socialists and liberals to the European Parliament. The debate is misleading, as it is not a fair presentation of the Slovenian media space and is detrimental to Slovenia, which is preparing for the presidency of the EU Council,” MEP Franc Bogovič said in the debate on Hungary, Poland and Slovenia that was held in the European Parliament.
In his speech at the March plenary session of the European Parliament, during the debate on the governments’ attempts to silence the media in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia, Franc Bogovič (SLS / EPP), a member of the Slovenian People’s Pary (Slovenska ljudska stranka – SLS) in the European Parliament, warned that as far as Slovenia is concerned, this was an export of a domestic political fight of Slovenian socialist and liberals to the European Parliament and that this is a misleading debate and an unfair portrayal of the Slovenian media space.
He pointed out that it is clear to an average expert on the Slovenian media space that at least 80 percent of domestic political redactions of the Slovenian media, including at the public RTV, are predominantly in favour of the centre-left political parties. This means that the Slovenian media space is by no means balanced, and the people in Slovenia do not have equal access to media content of different political views.
The masters of the media are left-wing transition economists
According to Bogovič, freedom of speech or the media in Slovenia cannot be considered threatened by approximately 20 percent of the media with a centre-right editorial policy, even if some of these media outlets are foreign-owned, which includes Hungarian owners. In its report, the European Commission drew attention to the problem of non-transparent media ownership in Slovenia, and according to Bogovič, the key problem of the media space is that it is owned by transitional businessmen who protect their economic interests through their media and openly support the centre-left parties in all parliamentary elections, with the common goal of preventing Janez Janša from winning the elections.
“Dear Commissioner, today is the first time we are talking about Slovenia. Today’s debate on media freedom in Slovenia is a successful export of the domestic political fight of Slovenian socialists and liberals to the European Parliament. The debate is misleading, as it is not a fair presentation of the Slovenian media space and is detrimental to Slovenia, which is preparing for the presidency of the EU Council.
The vast majority of Slovenian national media outlets are owned by transitional businessmen, who protect their economic interests through their media and openly support the centre-left parties in all parliamentary elections, with the common goal of preventing Janez Janša’s victory in the elections, and they are now trying to overthrow his government.
It is immediately clear to an average expert on the Slovenian media space that at least 80 percent of the domestic political redactions of the Slovenian media, including at the public RTV, are predominantly in favour of the centre-left political parties. I would also like to invite the representatives of the European Commission to Slovenia, so they can make sure that media pluralism is not threatened by 20 percent of the right-wing media, even if some are Hungarian-owned. Until then, I would like for Slovenians to please stop exporting domestic political issues to the European floor, and our Prime Minister can write a tweet or two less.”
Sara Kovač
