On Tuesday, Prime Minister Robert Golob publicly admitted that he had ordered former Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar to “purge” the Slovenian police of all sympathisers of former Prime Minister Janez Janša. This led MEP Dr Milan Zver to address a priority parliamentary question to the European Commission on the Slovenian Prime Minister’s public admission of blatant discrimination on the grounds of political opinion, and he also called on the Commission to initiate a more serious review of the rule of law in Slovenia.
On Monday, the National Assembly’s Commission of Inquiry questioned former Minister of the Interior Tatjana Bobnar and former Acting Director-General of the Police Boštjan Lindav. Bobnar pointed out that she had been subjected to political pressure from Prime Minister Robert Golob, which subsequently led to her resignation, and Golob confirmed at a press conference that he had given the former Interior Minister “only one task, and that is to cleanse the police of the Janšaists”.
Following the Prime Minister’s comments, MEP Milan Zver wrote to the European Commission that the Employment Relationships Act (ZDR-1) clearly defines unjustified grounds for a regular dismissal. A person’s preferred political opinion is also listed among the unjustified grounds for dismissal. Such a practice is also contrary to the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of political opinion in Article 21, and cites equality before the law in Article 20 and the right to work in Article 15.
Zver has therefore addressed a priority parliamentary question to the European Commission and an initiative for a more serious review of the rule of law in Slovenia. He posed the following questions:
- How will the European Commission, as the guardian of the Treaties, protect the rule of law in Slovenia in light of the Slovenian Prime Minister’s public admission of blatant discrimination on the basis of political opinion?
- How will the European Commission protect the victims of the actions of the Slovenian Prime Minister who have had their fundamental human rights violated?
- What levers and mechanisms does the European Commission have to more seriously review the rule of law in Slovenia and to put an immediate stop to the massive human rights violations committed by the top of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia?
A. G.
