With the recent revelation that MEP Tanja Fajon’s accredited assistant was involved in the exported affair of sullying Slovenia in Brussels, there is absolutely a need to react to what happened. This is a scandal without precedent that cannot simply be swept under the rug – but the question is whether the majority media will do anything about it and what the consequences will be, says the vice-dean of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. “I believe that what needs to happen as a consequence here is that Tanja Fajon must resign. Not only did this harm her personal integrity and the integrity of the cabinet she represents, but she also hurt Slovenia’s reputation.”
The vice-dean of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Dr Boštjan M Turk, sees an analogy with Zoran Thaler in what happened. Namely, Thaler also damaged the reputation of the Republic of Slovenia with the action, with which he tried to gain financial benefits – but the damage he caused was collateral and, in a way, passive, while Tanja Fajon is actively causing damage to Slovenia and its reputation, on the basis of completely tendentious and made-up untruths – Jančar would call this a delusion. Exporting affairs with the aim of politically destabilising the situation in the country, however, is the most shameful thing that transitional politics have shown us recently – namely, its imagination is very strong in this area. “The direct consequence of this must therefore be the resignation of Tanja Fajon and an apology to the Republic of Slovenia and its state bodies. Any persistence from Fajon in her current position would also be extremely detrimental when it comes to her constituency, which will not be able to accept something like this. This is an act without precedent and a step beyond anything we have experienced in Slovenia so far,” Turk added.
Two days ago, the web portal of a commercial television “completely impartially” published another article full of untruths and misleading claims, entitled “MEPs Express Concern Over Hostile Atmosphere in Slovenia.” The article states that the delegation of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs had expressed deep concern over the climate of hostility and deep polarisation in the country – according to a draft report based on the findings of a mission, which was sent to Slovenia to review the rule of law in our country. We all still remember how good they were at “reviewing” the situation in Slovenia on their mission. “The report is not credible. MEPs’ opinions differed. The content of the report should have been confirmed by all members of the mission. As a member of the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, I have not even seen the document yet, let alone approved it. The document was prepared behind closed doors, apparently with the intention of discrediting the Government of the Republic of Slovenia,” commented MEP Romana Tomc.
“Despite the fact that she was not a member of the mission, Tanja Fajon was apparently still involved in the preparation of the report – and her assistant left traces on the document. It has been clear for a long time that this story has its origins in Slovenia and that this is not about establishing the facts at all but about attacking the government! Caught in the act!” Tomc wrote on Twitter today, adding a photo of a document as proof, in which the name of Jure Tanko appeared, who is Fajon’s assistant. The fact that the draft report of the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group was being edited by Tanja Fajon’s assistant, despite the fact that Fajon is not even a member of the mission, is clear proof of the real purpose of this mission. As we have known all along, this was not really a matter of establishing the state of the rule of law, freedom of the media and the fight against corruption – instead, the mission was abused in order to attack the government of the Republic of Slovenia.
At the time when the commission, headed by MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld was sent to Slovenia, it was already clear that the whole thing was actually directed by our left-wing opposition, which has been trying hard to sully the reputation of its own country for quite some time now – even on the European floor. Fajon was particularly active in this endeavour. She also did not care at all how her actions might be perceived in the eyes of foreign politicians, who would not even think about slandering their own homeland.
“The story was exported from Slovenia with the intention of damaging or overthrowing the current government. We have been talking about this for a long time, and we have also been drawing attention to this for a long time. What I noticed in the material is a pretty reliable piece of proof that everything we are talking about is actually true,” Tomc explained. She pointed out that the amount of attention dedicated to this topic in Slovenia is enormous, as this is a planned attack on the current Slovenian government – in the Slovenian political space, this, of course, benefits the so-called Constitutional Arch Coalition – the left-wing part of the opposition. According to Tomc, this story is also supported by the media. Namely, analyses have shown that the media were mostly on the side of the Constitutional Arch Coalition. “However, the story resonates quite differently in the European Parliament, or even more broadly – in the European Union. Most Members of the European Parliament do not know about this story at all. It is only known to the deputies who are dealing with this in more detail, with the help of the instructions from left-wing MPs from Slovenia, of course. In a broader context, this story is completely uninteresting and unrecognisable. Nobody knows about it,” said Tomc, according to the web portal Siol, adding that there is a huge difference between how much time is dedicated to this story in Slovenia and how much in the European Parliament. This only goes to show how politically motivated this story really is. Those who are trying to overthrow the government in Slovenia are trying to do so with the help of the European Parliament or the European Union. After all, there is obvious evidence that this is just another internal story that they are trying to present as the European Union pressuring Slovenia.
The mission of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) was supposed to check the situation in the field of the rule of law, freedom of the media and the fight against corruption in Slovenia on its visit here from the 13th to the 15th of October. A report on this mission is currently being prepared, which was supposed to be discussed on Thursday, but it was still being revised on Wednesday. Or – as Tanja Fajon would say, it was still being checked for spelling and grammatical errors. It is interesting, however, that Tomc, who is a member of the commission, has not even seen the draft yet, while Fajon has obviously been coordinating the matter from the background, and the Social Democrats party (SD) even “proofread” the document. The SD party got several new nicknames on social media due to this affair, namely – the party of changing documents and grammatical complementing (both of the phrases in Slovenian begin with the letters SD – as in, the SD party). However, it is more than obvious that their proofreading is, above all, of a substantive nature.
By now, Tanja Fajon has also spoken out about the affair, claiming that the fact that Tomc stated are mere lies. “Romana Tomc is trying to destroy the credibility of the report, which is very critical of the situation in Slovenia and the government’s responsibility for it. Unfortunately, this report is a reflection of the real state of democracy, as we are all currently experiencing it, and which has been pointed out not only by the European Parliament, but also by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission, Reporters Without Borders, the European Association of Journalists, and others. As part of the coordination of political groups, my accredited assistant only made grammatical corrections to the report, which did not change the contents of the report in any way,” Fajon wrote on her website and also in a tweet.
In the conclusions of the draft report, obtained by the Slovenian Press Agency, which may still be amended, members of the mission expressed, among other things, their deep concern over the climate of hostility, mistrust and deep polarisation in Slovenia, which undermines trust in various public bodies and also trust among the bodies themselves, Slovenian Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
Sara Bertoncelj
