One year before the regular elections to the National Assembly, the ruling Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) introduced significant changes to the allocation of donations and sponsorships in state-owned companies, increasing the limits for donations threefold. While the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH) claims that these changes are aimed at promoting social responsibility, an analysis by the media outlet Preiskovalno.si (Investigative.si) shows a different picture.
The primary objective of sponsorship is allegedly to improve the visibility of companies, which, in turn, could have an impact on the funding of certain media and political preferences.
In December, Slovenian Sovereign Holding changed the rules and eased the cap on donations from 0.3 percent to 0.1 percent of a state-owned company’s revenues, a threefold increase and, with revenues in the millions, this is a significant increase in public funds. The main focus is supposedly on improving the business objectives of companies, which is also directly influenced by the media, which raises questions about the actual use of these funds, in particular the funding of the media in the run-up to elections, where there could be hidden political favouritism.
Changing the rules could allow public money to be channelled to selected media outlets, which has not been clearly argued by the Sovereign Holding, but it is clear that relaxing the rules could lead to politically motivated distribution of funds. There is a risk of money flowing to organisations linked to the ruling party or to media that return favours through positive reporting.
Gen-I energija (Gen-I Energy), one of the country’s major energy companies, does not disclose detailed data on its spending, and sponsorship data is mixed with other financial items such as consultancy and intellectual services.
The SID bank also did not disclose details of the recipients of the donations, but only indicated the total value of the sponsorship contracts, which amounted to 64,122 euros in 2024. Meanwhile, Slovenske železnice (Slovenian Railways) has more transparent disclosures on sponsorships and donations, which are mainly made to Slovenian sports clubs, amateur associations and humanitarian organisations. They donate 900,000 euros a year, with individuals in need also being among the recipients.
At Luka Koper (the Port of Koper), sponsorship and donation funds are distributed through the Living with the Port Fund public tenders, but exceptions can be made, which means a certain degree of discretion in allocating funds.
T. B.
