After nearly three years of fighting for transparency, the European Court of Justice has forced the European Commission to disclose the long-concealed third point of the memo called “What we want from Accetto.” This document was created during the visit of the then-European Commission Vice-President, Věra Jourová, to Slovenia in 2022, at the time of the debate on the new law on the national media outlet, Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS).
The European Commission refused to disclose the third point of the document for almost three years, but now, following the decision of the European Court of Justice, the document has finally been made public. The document states that then-European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová should “seek an opportunity to verify the views of the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia on the new Radio-Television Slovenia Act.”
It has now been proven that the European Commissioner came to Slovenia on behalf of the European Commission to influence the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia on the final subordination of RTV Slovenia to Robert Golob‘s coalition. This constitutes a gross interference in the sovereignty of the state, according to initial comments on the court’s decision.
The worst suspicions of political interference in the Constitutional Court have been confirmed
As the Slovenian Member of the European Parliament, Milan Zver, recalled in his statement, the Radio-Television Slovenia Act was still under review by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia at that time, and the proceedings were temporarily suspended. “At that time, as you know, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia suspended the amendment to the Radio-Television Slovenia Act, mainly because of certain concerns that were written into the law. At that time, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia considered it appropriate to temporarily suspend the legislative process. However, a few days after Jourová’s famous visit to the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, the court changed its position, lifted the suspension, and sent the draft RTV Act for further proceedings. The consequences were drastic – many people from the management team, as well as editors and journalists, lost their jobs. In short, this law severely infringed on their rights,” he said, adding that the President, as well as Vice-President and Commissioner of the Commission, were responsible for transparency, “so we thought the story would be resolved relatively quickly without any problems. But it wasn’t.”
After the disclosure, MEP Zver also said that the document confirms the worst suspicions of political interference: “This confirms exactly what we feared from the beginning – that Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová, in collaboration with her political ally Robert Golob, came to Slovenia with the aim of influencing the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia to enable the implementation of the law by which the government took over the national media outlet, Radio-Television Slovenia.”
MEP Zver pointed out that the events following Jourová’s visit are consistent with this thesis – after the visit, the Slovenian Constitutional Court suddenly changed its position, lifted the temporary suspension of the law and allowed it to come into force, which led to a complete replacement of the RTV management. “This document is proof that the European Commission acted politically, that it tried to influence the judicial branch of a Member State, and that it then delayed the disclosure of the truth for two years,” Zver emphasised.
Demands for accountability and action
In light of the above, MEP Zver has publicly called for more concrete measures:
– an immediate review of the constitutionality of the Radio-Television Slovenia Act;
– the resignation of Judge Accetto, who, in his opinion, should have refused to attend such a meeting;
– accountability of Commissioner Jourová, who “should never again hold public office”;
– and a public apology from the European Commission to the Slovenian public, journalists, and editors of RTV Slovenia.
“The truth has finally been revealed. Although the European Commission tried for almost three years to cover up the truth and hide evidence of political influence on the Slovenian Constitutional Court, we finally revealed it through a hard fight in the European Court of Justice,” concluded Zver.
In a press release, he added that this was not only his victory, but also a victory for the European Union, because at least two EU institutions had acted correctly: the Ombudsman and the European Court of Justice. “It is true that a long time has passed since the court’s initial decision – almost a thousand days in total, which is a little too long for a Commission that has a special department for transparency. Nevertheless, we can say that the European Union has also proven that it is sufficiently resistant to such things.”
Opposition leader Janez Janša also responded to the decision by asking Constitutional Court judge Matej Accetto about his resignation – namely, he wrote on X: “Has Constitutional Court judge Matej Accetto resigned yet?”
A. G.
