The unregulated financing of the public broadcaster Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS), which has been the subject of heated warnings since last month by leading left-wing activists of the national media outlet, who are apparently not happy with the salary increase, was one of the few serious criticisms of the current Slovenian government made by the European Commission in its recent annual report on the rule of law. The report, which even concludes that the independence of the public media has been increased, was described by MEP Branko Grims, MSc, as a blatant mockery of Slovenian citizens, as well as all citizens of the European Union, for whom it is intended.
The European Commission has issued a report on the rule of law with a delay of at least three weeks, in which it can be seen calling on the Slovenian authorities to complete implementing the measures to increase the salaries of judges and prosecutors. However, after the Golob government’s usurpation of the public media through the Radio-Television Slovenia Act, which was even revealed to the public by the Prime Minister himself in one of the RTV shows, many were particularly bothered by the Commission’s comment stating that “the new governance model of RTV Slovenia has contributed to its independence.” The Commission also did not forget to point out that the public media is facing a financial crisis, which they believe necessitates a change in funding.
It is very telling that the European Commission’s realisation of the need to regulate the financing of public service broadcasting was the result of discussions with various stakeholders in Slovenia. It is not known with whom they were discussing the financing, but unofficially, the main informant is said to have been the left-wing Peace Institute (Mirovni inštitut). This fact was pointed out in the newspaper Finance by lawyer and professor Matej Avbelj, who explained that since Juncker, the European Commission has been a political body that issues political acts written by officials with a “clear value, certainly policy, and perhaps also political tendency.” As he pointed out, the report is produced in close cooperation with those who are supposed to be supervised, that is to say, it is produced within the interest-ridden branches of the executive and the judiciary. In his view, the matter is incestuous in our country. “Not only is the content of the report largely fed to the Commission from the mouth of a single institution – the Peace Institute, which is apparently – even though there are three law faculties in Slovenia – the Commission’s only credible source on the rule of law. The report also blindly trusts our dominant civil society, which, for the purposes of the political mandate of the current government, has been quite openly politically engaged,” he critically pointed out, adding that its credibility as a trustworthy source is, therefore, zero.
The report is completely politicised, biased and unacceptable
We decided to ask Member of the European Parliament Branko Grims, MSc, about the report, who told us that on Wednesday, at the meetings, MEPs discussed the report on the so-called migration pact and the report that the European Commission had prepared in the field of law. “It is interesting that it was not possible for just any of us to take the floor. Only one representative of each of the parliamentary groups was given the floor – if that were not the case, I would have had my say on both controversial issues,” he pointed out in his introduction.
Regarding the report on the so-called migration pact, he said that this was clearly not what people expected, because people had voted for a different policy at the last elections, not for a continuation of the current policy. What is happening, he said, is that in the meantime, the vast majority, including most of those who have been in the European Parliament so far, are only trying to continue the current policy. “The same is true of this report by the European Commission on the rule of law. The report is, of course, completely political, biased and unacceptable, especially when it comes to Slovenia and some other countries, like Poland, Hungary and so on,” he was critical.
The abuse of European institutions is totally unacceptable
According to MEP Grims, there is a lot of political pressure and political reckoning going on here. “This abuse of the European institutions is totally unacceptable, and I strongly reject it. I have said this publicly on several occasions before and after the elections,” he made it clear, expressing his expectation that there will be a fundamental change in this kind of behaviour, and if it continues, he hopes that no one in this world expects him to support it. “I guarantee that I will be strongly opposed to this,” he stressed, explaining that this is also contrary to the rule of law, because the law requires that there are equal standards for all and that the law applies to all without exception and in the same way.
According to MEP Grims, the imposed game, in which the European Commission also supports the ideas of the current government in the subjugation of the management of the public RTV Slovenia, which should be the media outlet of all citizens, and not only of the left-wing NGOs, who are – in reality – the pro-government people, is exactly what the legendary President of the German Constitutional Court and later the President of Germany, Dr Herzog, warned about in his visit to the Slovenian National Assembly years ago. Namely, he said that he had never imagined how deeply the claws of the left were planted in public broadcasting under the guise of civil society, i.e. NGOs, and how biased such programmes then became. “That is to say, this is nothing new, the rule of the unelected, which was already criticised by a German Constitutional Court Judge at the time, is being implemented again today, and it is proving to be destructive of any pluralism and of any democracy, and must be rejected in its entirety,” the MEP stressed.
“To talk about the fact that the current way of running Slovenian broadcasting, which has been completely subordinated to a left-wing ideological concept, has contributed to its independence is, of course, to make a mockery of Slovenian women and men, of Slovenian citizens. And not just Slovenian women and men, but all citizens of the European Union, because that is who this report is really aimed at,” MEP Grims said, adding that such a policy must end and that, as already said, he would not support such a policy in any way.
Ž. N.
