“Everything is ready! Keeping our fingers crossed for the system to work,” Jonathan Corner from the European Parliament’s Information Technology Department told a representative of the government office more than an hour and a half before the presentation of the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša. Moments before Janša’s performance, Corner once again confirmed that the video was ready. But then, Chairwoman Sophie in’ t Veld’s arbitrary withdrawal of the video happened instead.
Planet TV exclusively revealed the communication between the competent services of the European Parliament and the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, which proves that ahead of the Prime Minister Janša’s appearance before the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, as part of the discussion on the rule of law and media freedom in Slovenia, everything was set up and ready for the video to be played, but the video was then arbitrarily removed by the Chairwoman of the discussion, Sophie in’ t Veld.
The arrangements for the broadcast of the video were initially being made through the Slovenian ambassador in Brussels, Iztok Jarc, who passed on an internal note with the confirmation of the Chairwoman In’ t Veld that they would also allow video and other graphic presentations.
“In’ t Veld confirmed that the time for each discussion is limited – initially, Prime Minister Janša and Minister of Culture Simoniti would have some time for the introductory presentation, which should be no longer than 10 to 15 minutes, followed by questions from the working group on a question/answer basis. If anyone wants to use graphic presentations in the discussion, that will also be arranged,” reads the internal note between ambassador Jarc and the government office.
Everything was arranged, and then the Chairman lied and withdrew the video
As we were able to see at the event itself, at the request of Prime Minister Janša to play the video, the Chairwoman faked ignorance: “Thank you to the Prime Minister, I do not know exactly what is in the video, but we received it at the last minute.”
Even Prime Minister Janša’s response did not help: “You received the video three hours ago. I am sure that the services of the European Parliament are paid well enough to be able to prepare such a short video for the screening in no time.”
“But we cannot play it at the moment because the interpreters will not be interpreting the video. It was sent to us just before the meeting, and we were extremely flexible, we tried to please you,” In’ t Veld lied, as evidenced by the correspondence between Jonathan Corner of the European Parliament’s IT department and the Prime Minister’s Office, in which Corner confirmed more than an hour and a half before the session that everything was set up and prepared for the video. Just before Janša’s introduction (at 3:18 p.m.), Corner once again confirmed that the recording was ready, and the Prime Minister’s Office asked him to play the video after Janša’s introductory speech.
Sara Kovač
