By: Andrej Žitnik (Nova24tv.si)
European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders is currently on a visit to Slovenia. While here, he met with our Minister of Justice, Dominika Švarc Pipan. According to the press release about the meeting, where the two interlocutors apparently agreed that “it is essential to ensure the independence of judges in the reform of the judiciary,” it is clear that the EU Commissioner has no idea about what is happening in Slovenia and how much the Golob government has messed up all the postulates of the rule of law.
Reynders, like some kind of an NPC, spoke of “notable progress on reforms in the areas of legislation and resource allocation.” Regarding the latter, according to the Commissioner, who is expected to share more about the topic in question in July, it is important to allocate more money to the digitisation of the justice system, so that changes in the justice system can be tracked and best practices can be used. “Investing in human resources, such as rewarding judges and recruiting new prosecutors to replace those who will retire, is also important,” Reynders said. The European Commissioner has therefore been relegated to the role of public propagandist for the current government coalition.
Reynders has obviously come to Slovenia as a promoter of the current government. Whether or not he knows what is going on behind the scenes is actually irrelevant. As a European Commissioner, he should know. After all, the world is a global village, and information has never been so close at hand as it is today. So, Reynders does not know how the current authorities are pressuring the Constitutional Court Judges and offering them jobs in European legal institutions (even with the collaboration of the European Commission). He does not know that two Constitutional Court Judges have apparently “changed their minds” in a never-before-seen situation regarding the temporary suspension of a seriously controversial amendment to the Radio-Television Slovenia Act, and that they may thus – bypassing legal norms – help the current coalition completely subjugate the national media outlet RTV Slovenia.
He does not know that on the 16th of May 2023, the Slovenian government, in a correspondence meeting, repealed the Slovenian Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communist Violence, which Slovenia commemorated on the 17th of May. The correspondence session denied the victims of post-war killings a day of remembrance, just as it denied them decent burials. Is this a reflection of the rule of law?
He also does not know that the Minister for Culture, in the course of her duties, visited Čebine in April this year and gave a solemn address there on the anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Slovenia, which is co-responsible for more than 600 killing sites of post-war crimes. She was there to celebrate the anniversary of communism, which is condemned by European institutions.
He does not even know that the Minister of the Interior resigned some time ago because of the Prime Minister’s interference in the police force.
Nor does he know that his host, Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan, recently hugged the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, who is the subject of a number of legal proceedings.
Nor has he probably heard the statement by the Slovenian constitutional lawyer Jurij Toplak, who wrote a severe criticism of the Constitutional Court, saying that “the Slovenian Constitution, given the current composition of the Constitutional Court, apparently allows everything. It allows the introduction of communism. Last March, the Constitutional Court concluded that any advocacy of communism and communist expropriation is compatible with the Slovenian Constitution.” He was referring to the Constitutional Court’s decision that the Left party (Levica), which advocates the abolition of property rights, is not unconstitutional (although private property is directly protected by the Constitution).
Reynders deserves to know
Because we believe that Commissioner Reynders deserves to know these facts, we sent him the following questions:
Dear European Commissioner Reynders!
On the occasion of your visit to the Slovenian Minister of Justice, we would like to ask you whether you are aware of the following facts:
- That the Slovenian Government has cancelled the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism, and that the Minister for Culture, among other things, has officially travelled in her capacity as Minister to the commemoration of the founding of the Communist Party of Slovenia?
- That Slovenian Constitutional Court Judges are being put under severe pressure to rule on the constitutionality of the amendment to the Radio-Television Slovenia Act in the way that the current government wishes?
- That the Minister of the Interior has resigned because – according to her – the Prime Minister was putting her and the then-Director-General of the Police under illegal political pressure in relation to personnel decisions in the Police?
- That the government has repeatedly sent inspection services (which have found nothing illegal) arbitrarily and without reason over to the management of RTV Slovenia, which is an outright abuse of institutions?
- That your host, Minister of Justice Dominika Švarc Pipan, recently hugged the Mayor of Ljubljana at a communist commemoration, who is the subject of a number of legal proceedings relating to extortion and corruption?