“At least politically, she should be correct and impartial. She does not even fulfil this condition,” Slovenian Member of the European Parliament, Dr Milan Zver, recently criticised the Slovenian European Commissioner, after she allowed herself to interfere in Slovenia’s internal politics by saying that she did not want the next government to be led by the leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) and the man who has been the Prime Minister several times before, Janez Janša.
In an interview for the special summer issue of the left-wing Mladina magazine, Commissioner Marta Kos said that she “does not want Slovenia to have a Janez Janša government again”. “This is a biased statement, which means direct interference in the political scene in a Member State in order to influence it,” warned MEP Dr Milan Zver.
Breaking her own rules
According to MEP Zver, there are at least two legal frameworks that prohibit such a thing. These are Article 17 of the Treaty on European Union, which requires full independence and restraint of European Commissioners in making any political statements, especially those that could influence or undermine democratic processes in individual Member States. “What she said in the interview is in exact contradiction to this article,” he stressed, recalling that all Commissioners of the European Commission have signed a code which prohibits the expression of personal preferences in EU Member States, meaning that they should not engage in political partisanship. “At least twice, the Slovenian Commissioner has made a big mistake. So, she broke her own rules,” MEP Zver stressed, noting that he had addressed a parliamentary question to the European Commission, asking, among other things, whether the Commission intends to take action in the case of Kos.
When asked whether he believes that the Commissioner’s actions showed that she is not fully fit for the post she holds, he stressed that she should at least have been politically correct and impartial. “She does not even fulfil this condition,” he noted, adding that this could happen to other Commissioners as well. “Interesting. It happens more or less to left-leaning Commissioners who, obviously, if we take Jourova’s case, interfere in the political situation in EU Member States,” he pointed out, adding that he was convinced that Kos was probably aware of his story with Věra Jourová – a former EU Commissioner against whom Zver filed a lawsuit as she refused to reveal important documents about her visit to Slovenia.
In light of the General Court of the European Union’s recent decision on the case, MEP Zver believes that Kos should be much more correct and intelligent in her statements. “The European Court of Justice is aware that the European Commission should be a completely non-political body and should not interfere in the political situation in EU Member States, but some people still overlook this,” he pointed out, adding that he expects more trials in the future. “I did not want to go to court with former Commissioner Jourová at the beginning, because I requested some things through administrative procedures, access to the documentation that the law allows me to have, but they did not want to do that and made it so complicated that I had to go to court.”
The European Commission should take action
“This is quite a sensitive subject, especially when it comes to the relationship between a European institution and an EU Member State. There are many things that are not Brussels’ responsibility. The principle of subsidiarity applies, and this should be respected by the Eurocrats, especially those at the highest levels,” said the MEP, who believes that the European Commission should take action regarding Kos. “I don’t know what mechanisms they have to control and supervise their commissioners, but there is certainly something, so the President of the European Commission should be very, very attentive here,” he added.
Ž. N.
