Slovenia’s EU Council Presidency: the hour of the right-wing populist?

Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janša attacks journalists and the judiciary – and has even wanted to show a propaganda video in the European Parliament. A foretaste of the approaching EU Council Presidency?

Donald Trump falsely declares himself the winner after the US presidential election? The Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša congratulates him on the alleged election victory. As the only European head of government. A ARD-Journalist reports on freedom of the press in Slovenia? Janša compares this with the anti-Semitic weekly newspaper “Der Stürmer”. The Slovenian news agency STA? A “national disgrace” for the Prime Minister. And those were just excerpts from Janša’s Twitter timeline.

The right-wing conservative politician has been involved in Slovenian domestic politics for over 30 years and has been Prime Minister again since March 2020. Since then there have been repeated demonstrations against him in the country, and at the end of May more than 20,000 people called for his resignation. He no longer has a majority in parliament and has repeatedly had to face motions of no confidence. Again and again he verbally attacks media workers, discrediting their work. The organization Reporters Without Borders warns of restrictions on the freedom of the press in the country.

Pressure on freedom of the press

A mood that is also noticeable in the daily work of journalists, says Mojca Zorko. She works for the national press agency STA, which has its money cut again and again: “The pressure is there – above all, of course, from the cut in our funds. We don’t know whether we will keep our jobs if it doesn’t get better. And it’s hard to work with such uncertainty. But there are other pressures as well: It comes from the government trying to discredit us on social media. ”

Allegations about which the ARD studio Brussels would have liked to talk to the Slovenian government, but they refused both an interview request and a written request for a statement: There was no time so shortly before the EU Council Presidency and that was one of the reasons why they did not comment on domestic political issues.

“Friend Viktor Orbans”

Verbal attacks on journalists, restrictions on the freedom of the press – this does not go unnoticed in Brussels either. At the end of March Janša was supposed to provide information on the state of press freedom in the EU Parliament, but it caused a scandal. He refused to answer the questions and instead wanted to show a propaganda video. He was forbidden to do so – he later tweeted the video anyway and spoke of “censorship”.

MEP Katarina Barley (SPD) warns of these developments: “Janez Janša is a friend of Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, and he is preparing to follow in his footsteps,” she says.

This can be seen most clearly when it comes to the media landscape, but Janša also tries to eliminate effective controls in the judiciary – as is the case with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, for example. The new authority is supposed to expose corruption with EU funds. Janša declared the nomination of two Slovenian public prosecutors null and void: they did not meet the legal requirements. So far, however, there are no new candidates.

Contradiction to European values

For the political scientist Florian Bieber, Janša’s politics strongly contradict European values: The Slovenian Prime Minister only advocates the diversity of opinions of those who share his ideological position.

“Together. Resilient. Europe.” Under this motto, Slovenia wants to set the tone as part of the EU Council Presidency from July 1st. The agenda includes topics such as digital security, the expansion of the EU to include the Western Balkans, and strengthening European resilience. As in previous presidencies, migration is on the list – an issue on which the EU has not yet been able to agree on a common line.

Through the Council Presidency, Janša and his government will present themselves on the European stage: a good time to take a close look at the central European values ​​of freedom of justice and freedom of expression.

You can find out more about this on Sunday, June 27th, 2021 at 12.45 in the ARD “Europamagazin”.