Director of the Government Communication Office, Uroš Urbanija, commented on the Supreme Court’s decision to annul the temporary suspension of the government’s decree on the provision of public service by the Slovenian Press Agency on Twitter. Namely, he wrote that the court had apparently accepted the Government Communication Office’s arguments. However, false news is spreading in the media and on social network profiles of the left-wing politicians, claiming that the government now has to enable the financing of the Slovenian Press Agency due to the decision of the Supreme Court, which is not true.
The Slovenian Press Agency (Slovenska tiskovna agencija – referred to as the STA) has managed to temporarily suspend the government decree on the financing of the STA and thus made it impossible for the government to finance it. Now, the Supreme Court has annulled this suspension, and the STA has declared it a great victory, saying that the court has now demanded funding for the STA – which is what the Siol editor Peter Jančič commented on the manipulations regarding the court’s decision on the STA.
“The Slovenian Press Agency has requested a temporary suspension of the decree on the financing of the STA public service. The Government Communication Office appealed against the said decree. Today, the Supreme Court apparently accepted the Communication Office’s arguments and annulled the temporary suspension of the decree on the financing of the STA,” Uroš Urbanija wrote on Twitter. He also responded to a tweet posted by the president of the SD party, Tanja Fajon, who, following the decision of the Supreme Court that was published recently, shifted the blame for the embarrassment on Urbanija and called on him to resign. According to Urbanija, it is hard to understand why Fajon is demanding his resignation, “given the fact that the Government Communication Office has proven once again – legally, in court – that the arguments for withholding the decree requested by the STA director are not valid. The Government Communication Office has so far won in all of the court proceedings, so the summon probably applies to Veselinovič,” he replied.
Even the Speaker of the National Assembly does not understand the decrees
Prime Minister Janez Janša also responded to a tweet, published by the speaker of the National Assembly, Igor Zorčič, who wrote that he hopes that the Supreme Court’s decision would help the government stop its shameful financial exhaustion of the STA and ignoring of the decisions made by the National Assembly. Janša replied that it was “a shame when the Speaker of the National Assembly does not know what he is saying and calls for illegal conduct.”
The General Secretariat of the Government announced today that the Acting Secretary-General of the Government, Janja Gravas Hočevar, has adopted a decision on the appointment of BDO Revizija, an auditing company from Ljubljana, as a special auditor to verify the implementation of the STA’s legal and other prescribed obligations.
The government adopted a decision on this matter on the 30th of June, and Janja Garvas Hočevar selected BDO Revizija on the basis of public procurement, which was divided into two parts. The auditor selected for the first part will verify the implementation of STA’s legal and other prescribed obligations for the period from the 1st of January 2019 to the 30th of June 2021 during the special audit, the resolution reads. The auditor will be required to prepare a special report on the audit findings.
Sara Kovač
