The European Commission is facing serious allegations of violating the fundamental rules of the rule of law, on which the entire legal order of the European Union is based. Despite the finality of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Commission has been delaying for two weeks the disclosure of documents that would shed light on the purpose of former European Commissioner Věra Jourová’s visit to Slovenia. In a document more than 100 pages long, only one point has been redacted – the subject of her conversation with the then-President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, Matej Accetto.
The matter is controversial because, just ten days after this visit, the Constitutional Court, led at the time by Matej Accetto, lifted the suspension of the new law, thereby enabling one of the largest political purges in the history of the national media outlet, Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS). Although the European Court of Justice upheld the complaint of Slovenian Member of the European Parliament, Dr Milan Zver, in just eleven months, the European Commission has not yet enforced the judgment. MEP Zver demanded disclosure of the hidden agenda of former Commissioner Věra Jourová‘s visit to the Constitutional Court.
“The judgment should have been enforced without delay, but two weeks after it became final, we still have not been given access to this controversial third point. Unfortunately, this is nothing new – the European Commission has been delaying this disclosure for two years. The fact is that it will have to disclose this document, and soon. If the Commission can ignore the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, then the question arises as to why Member States should respect it,” MEP Milan Zver told the media outlet Planet TV.
The paradox of transparency
The whole affair is particularly unusual, as Jourová was the commissioner responsible for transparency, respect for the rule of law, and ensuring the democratic nature of the system. One point remains hidden in the extensive document – the topic of conversation during her visit with Accetto. The minutes also include a reminder that the Constitutional Court initially suspended the implementation of the amendment to the Radio-Television Slovenia Act. This decision was controversial because it meant that the new appointments would not take effect until the court made a final decision on the matter.
“The European Commissioner arrives with a bag that says that a certain decision of the Constitutional Court is controversial. What do you think she said in that conversation – that it’s okay not to interfere? Then why did she put it in the memo? Why is she hiding it?” said opposition leader Janez Janša last year when the lawsuit was announced.
After her visit, former President Accetto, who initially voted to suspend the law, changed his position, and under his leadership, the Constitutional Court lifted the suspension of the law in question. Meanwhile, it has been almost 1,000 days since the Constitutional Court gave absolute priority to the RTV Slovenia Act, which we all know it does not want to rule on.
In his interview with Planet TV, MEP Zver described this as a dangerous precedent: “This means that the Vice-President of the Commission has directly interfered in the legislative and judicial process in Slovenia. If this is accepted as normal, it means that tomorrow, any commissioner could come to any capital city and dictate decisions to constitutional court judges or government ministers. Therefore, accountability must be demanded. First, Matej Accetto must resign, as he should not have had such a meeting in the first place.”
Political purges and accusations of media influence
With the adoption of the law, one of the largest politically motivated purges began at RTV Slovenia, as desired by Prime Minister Robert Golob, who admitted his wish for ideological cleansing of the public RTV on the show Odmevi (Echoes), when he told journalist Tanja Starič the following: “If anyone knows, it’s you. We at RTV have also committed ourselves – all of us together, that we will purge ourselves of Janšaism, and I know that you know exactly what that means.” The video of the moment is available here:
📢 Se spomnite, kako je predsednik @vladaRS Robert Golob novinarko Tanjo Starič opomnil, kako so se skupaj zavezali, da bodo @rtvslo “očistili janšizma”? ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Danes pa ista Tanja Starič vabi predsednika @JJansaSDS na soočenje z Golobom. Soočenje naj vodi nekdo, ki je že… pic.twitter.com/t5kkLeQQqG
— SDS (@strankaSDS) July 15, 2025
According to MEP Zver, this was, in fact, a takeover of the media by personnel loyal to the government: “The so-called depoliticization was in fact one of the most brutal political purges in the history of RTV. This has nothing to do with media freedom; it is the exact opposite.”
I. K.
