During the Biden administration, several socio-political ventures from Slovenia received funding from the USA. Among these are well-known fellow travellers of the left, such as the investigative web portal Oštro, the Pride Parade, the NGO umbrella network CNVOS, the investigative web portal Pod črto, as well as the independent – at least on paper – Slovenian Press Agency (STA).
The Trump administration has wasted little time in implementing its pre-election programme. Among other things, it undertook a review of the United States Agency for International Development – USAID’s operations, thereby drawing the attention of the world public, including Slovenian public opinion, to the publicly available records of funding for programmes abroad.
Among the smaller recipients in Slovenia is, for example, the web portal PodČrto. According to records available on Usaspending.gov, the portal received USD 9,550 in 2021. The funding was earmarked for training journalism students in investigative journalism. We recently reported on the portal when it was listed as a recipient of funding in a call for proposals for the development and professionalisation of NGOs. The call was launched by the Ministry of Public Administration, and the portal is expected to receive 70,000 euros.
This same tender also included Oštro, a web portal known for its so-called “fact-checking”. During the Biden administration (2023), it received an incomparably higher amount of funding than Pod črto, namely – 100 thousand US dollars. In this case, too, the US taxpayers were paying for the development of journalistic capacities.
We have already reported on this web portal several times before. Some experts have assessed it as an active political participant. Nova24TV reported that the organisation sometimes presents itself as a media outlet and sometimes as an NGO in order to raise funds.
100 thousand dollars for the Slovenian Press Agency
The Slovenian Press Agency also received substantial funding from the USA. The USA Spending website shows a transaction of 100 thousand dollars for 2024. “The aim of the project was to raise awareness about disinformation, empower people to identify and combat disinformation, and improve political discourse,” the objective of the funding is stated. This funding is likely to have been used to co-fund the project Ne/Ja, the myth-buster.
As can be read on their website, they have also received funding from the European Commission, the Ministry of Culture and the Government Communications Office.
The NGO umbrella network CNVOS has also received funding from the USA in three different transfers. In 2019, they received three thousand dollars, in 2021, 5.8 thousand dollars. The Director of CNVOS, Goran Forbici, is also known to our readers as the President of the Council of Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS). This Council is the management team and control body of the national media outlet, which was created after the adoption of a highly controversial amendment to the Radio-Television Slovenia Act during the Golob government. The law has been the subject of much harsh criticism, and many people believe that it has enabled the usurpation of the public media by the political left.
The Left party parades at events (co-)financed by the USA
The Pride Parade Association, which organises the Pride Parade event, also received funding. In 2024, they received 25 thousand dollars from the USA.
The Pride Parade is an annual event to promote the LGBT movement and also acts as a mobilisation event for the political left. The Left party (Levica) also likes to take part in the event, apparently in order to win the sympathy of the electorate and promote their political programme. Ironically, it is their political programme that is distinctly anti-American. Among other things, they advocate withdrawal from NATO.
Ž. K.
