By: Sara Kovač (Nova24tv.si)
“I took the opportunity to have a brief exchange of views with Commissioner Věra Jourová during the meetings, in particular on Radio-Television Slovenia. As expected, when asked whether she was following the developments regarding RTV, I was told that she was waiting for the Constitutional Court’s decision. Apparently, Jourová “does not know” how one of the most notorious cases of a political takeover of the media in Europe in 2023, in which she was personally involved, has unfolded. And now she will apparently write an opinion on it in the Rule of Law Report?” said MEP Romana Tomc.
Immediately after the short conversation, Romana Tomc sent another formal letter to Commissioner Věra Jourová on the developments in Slovenia. As a reminder of what they had discussed and “so that tomorrow she will not make excuses about forgetting something or even not knowing something,” Tomc said of her conversation with Jourová. They knew what was happening and what was going to happen with Slovenia’s national media outlet Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS), and they had been warned about it loudly and repeatedly. But because the rule of law in Slovenia is being violated by a government that is politically close to the Commissioner, they suddenly did not want to hear anything about lots of things.
Such unacceptable ignorance and not knowing cast serious doubt on the credibility of the Commissioner and the European Commission as a whole. How she will be able to produce a quality Rule of Law Report on the 5th of July with such a lack of knowledge is, of course, another question. It is, therefore, all the more clear that the Rule of Law Report is, above all, a political document, which is expected to direct its criticism at familiar targets. It is a game of diverting attention and blaming others for one’s own sins, MEP Tomc was critical.
“After many years of experience in the European Parliament, I am well aware that seeking the protection of the rule of law and media freedom at the European Commission is indeed a challenging business. But I will persevere. Not least because of Commissioners who make a mockery of professionalism, rules and impartiality and, above all, their politically incorrect behaviour, which destroys the reputation of and trust in the European institutions.”
However, Edvard Kadič believes that Brussels is not untouchable and that the shameful involvement of Commissioner Jourova in the RTV story shows that there are global progressivist, and above all coordinated, currents that are heavily involved in EU countries, this time specifically in Slovenia. “The current Golob government, and apparently also the Constitutional Court, belong to these same currents, to which RTV is also being dragged. Aggressive takeovers (we tried everything we could, but it didn’t work) and the destruction of anyone who thinks differently from them is their hallmark,” he added.
RTV Slovenia is a pilot project by certain groups in the EU to see how it would work if elected politicians, who are the only ones who have democratic legitimacy, were removed from the National Assembly and all the levers of power were left to civil society to negotiate under the table, according to Peter Gregorčič, former chairman of the RTVS Programme Council.