Member of the European Parliament from the ranks of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), Branko Grims, was recently interviewed by The European Conservative, and in the interview, he presented his views on the functioning of Brussels, the rule of law, etc. He specifically pointed out that the European Union will only be as strong as democratic nation-states that are integrated into it.
In his interview with the European media outlet, SDS MEP Branko Grims began by referring to the ongoing campaign to discredit the opposition leader Janez Janša that is happening in Slovenia. The journalist Álvaro Peñas began by asking who was behind the campaign. Grims pointed out that there had been no lustration in Slovenia since the fall of the former regime, not even in the judiciary, where it would have been urgently needed due to the permanent judicial mandates. This, in his view, is the reason for the existence of the deep state.
As a result, Slovenia is developing much more slowly than, for example, Poland, or the Visegrad countries in general. The deep state has, in his opinion, been using the judiciary for 30 years to settle scores with the winners of the war for an independent Slovenia, i.e. the current opposition. The key objective is to obstruct and frustrate the activities of the largest opposition party, the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). The latter won four of the nine seats Slovenia is entitled to in the last elections to the European Parliament. Grims added that they want to draw the attention of the European Commission, other international institutions, and the public to the obvious judicial abuses.
Politically motivated trials against Janša and SDS are initiated before the elections
The politically motivated trials against Janša and the SDS party are initated just before each election. After the election, the process is stalled, and then revived again before the next election. This has been going on for three decades, so the political motivation for the abuses cannot be hidden. Grims highlighted the Patria case from a few years ago, when Janša received a completely “unknown promise”, made “in an unknown way”, “unknown where” and “unknown when”. On the 20th of June 2014 (i.e. just before the national elections), Janša was convicted and imprisoned on the basis of this absurd process.
About a year later, the Constitutional Court overturned the verdict in its entirety. It also clarified that the whole procedure constituted a violation of human rights. Janša was also unjustly deprived of his parliamentary mandate (despite the fact that this was contrary to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights), which had been granted to him by the people in the parliamentary elections, and which was subsequently returned to Janša in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Court. Grims then noted that the current court case “Trenta” is very similar to the Patria case and that elections are coming up again. The Trenta trial is even more blatantly political than Patria. This is further demonstrated by the fact that this is a case that is almost 20 years old.
Misguided tax policy, green transition and bureaucracy are destroying entrepreneurship
And the court sessions for the case in question are “accidentally” convened on the birthday of Janša’s wife, Urška Bačovnik Janša, or even on Janša’s own birthday! Grims went on to explain the fallacy of the accusation itself, and also reminded the readers of the development- and economy-damaging government of Robert Golob and the misguided European green policy, its insane bureaucracy and misguided tax policy, which is destroying entrepreneurship, development and prosperity. Grims noted: “EU GDP grew by only 116 euros per capita between 2008 and 2022; the US GDP grew by 27,829 euros per capita over the same period – which is 240 times more!
This and the announced closure of car factories in Germany and elsewhere in the European Union says it all.” Grims believes that the purpose of the Trenta process is to destroy the reputation of the SDS party and Janša himself. The matter will be escalated, and eventually, it will become time-barred, leaving only doubt and media discrediting. When it comes to the question of abuse of justice, Grims has already asked the European Commission how it will prevent this and, above all, what it will do to ensure that citizens receive a fair and impartial trial within a reasonable time. The journalist went on to recall another letter that the MEP sent to the European Commission – about the prosecution’s attempt to discredit a judge (the case of Zvjezdan Radonjić).
Radonjić is a judge who did not want to succumb to politically motivated pressure. And it is in his case that the extreme politicisation of a large part of the judiciary has been demonstrated. Radonjić, among other things, made the public aware of the illegal pressures he was subjected to, and was therefore subjected to retaliation – prosecution by the media and the authorities. He was eventually forced to leave the judiciary and suffered serious health consequences. Among other things, several indictments were also filed against him by the prosecution, and we even saw his conviction on the 10th of October 2024 for allegedly defaming a judge and a prosecutor in a trial.
Brutal violation of personal liberty and constitutional rights of former judge Radonjić
On the day of his sentencing, former judge Radonjić was forcibly brought to court, despite obtaining a medical certificate that he was unable to attend, even though his presence was not even mandatory at this stage. In the end, the handcuffing and forced detention of a seriously ill man, who did not resist at all, was described by Constitutional Court Judge Jan Zobec as a “brutal violation of the right to personal liberty,” which is also a constitutional right. The obvious purpose of such abuses is to intimidate other judges and thus to achieve the complete subordination of the judiciary to the politics that has dominated the Slovenian judiciary throughout the period of Slovenian independence.
We should judge those who flooded Europe with illegal migrants
The judiciary is therefore a tool of the deep state for the settling of political score, just like in socialism. Such leftist (and fundamentally Marxist) abuses are also increasingly common elsewhere in the European Union (for example, the trial of former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for strictly respecting his own country’s laws on border protection and security for his own people). Grims believes that those who flooded Europe with illegal migrants should be tried. Something similar is happening in Poland, where Donald Tusk‘s government is trying to stifle the opposition PiS party with the false explanation of “defending democracy”.
The European Union has been weakened by the imposition of left-wing ideologies and cultural Marxism
While there are many such attempts at judicial discrediting in Poland, the key aim is to disable the country’s largest political force. MEP Grims also recalled the visit of the European Commissioner Věra Jourová to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia in March 2023, which was a clear case of illegal interference in the competencies of nation states, and of double standards (political interference).
There have been several similar cases of interference recently, for example against Hungary and Poland. Brussels has not yet responded to concrete calls, said Grims, who believes that imposing left-wing ideology and flooding its institutions with cultural Marxism has made the European Union look weak.
Let’s resist the EU’s attempts to centralise and usurp powers
This must be stopped, and those responsible must be brought to justice, Grims believes. Only a strong nation state is an effective bulwark against such abuses. Therefore, all attempts to centralise and usurp the powers by the EU institutions must be firmly opposed. We must also say no to double standards and censorship.
Domen Mezeg
