A European Parliament delegation from the Civil Liberties Committee and from the Committee on Budgetary Control travel to Slovenia to take stock of the rule of law situation, media freedom and the fight against corruption. MEPs meet an extensive list of state and civil society. Statements by Katarina Bervar Sternad, Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy, Žiga Turk, professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, University of Ljubljana and former Minister, Nataša Posel, Director of Amnesty International Slovenia, Matej Avbelj, Professor of European Law and Tomaz Vesel, President of the Slovenian Court of Audit.

meeting

EP delegation

EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights (T)

EU - Slovenia (T)

Slovenia

EP LIBE delegation to Slovenia, Ljubljana: meeting with Representatives of the Civil Society and Tomaz VESEL, President of the Slovenian Court of Audit

European Parliament liaison office in Ljubljana

Views of the meeting with Academia (13/10/2021)

SOUNDBITE (English), Katarina Bervar Sternad, Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy, The reports show that the situation in Slovenia for us is extremely worrying. The space for engagement of civil society is narrowing. This is also what shows in the report on Rule of Law in Slovenia, and we believe that these are not conditions in which democracy can thrive.

SOUNDBITE (English), Katarina Bervar Sternad, Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy, I think in such situation, it is of extreme importance for the civil society organisations and other institutions to have an open communication and dialogue with EU institutions in order to resolve situations and problems that we face.

SOUNDBITE (English), &#381;iga Turk, professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, University of Ljubljana and former Minister, I think it's important that the parliamentarians  see things first hand. I think there are a lot of simplifications going around in Europe, you know, trying to kind of put a country in a mould of like Slovenia in the mould of Hungary or Poland, etc. I think situation is much more complicated.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nata&#353;a Posel, Director of Amnesty International Slovenia, There are several areas of human rights that are of great concern to us. One is the freedom, the right to protest, the freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly in Slovenia. We've had a really long blanket ban on protests starting from last October until April this year, with individuals being severely penalised financially for participating in an individual acts of protest, although they were not violating or interrupting any health precautions

SOUNDBITE (English), Nata&scaron;a Posel, Director of Amnesty International Slovenia, I think all the monitoring mechanisms and all, you know, events, discussions that bring to the attention to the to the eye of the public, the importance of rule of law of human rights standards are crucially important.

SOUNDBITE (English), Matej Avbelj, Professor of European Law, New University, Ljubljana, Essentially Slovenia is still a country in transition. It has imported a lot of systemic problems from its communist past, which still haven't been resolved, and those systemic problems are mirrored in the functioning of the judiciary, in the functioning of the judicial system.

SOUNDBITE (English), Matej Avbelj, Professor of European Law, New University, Ljubljana, In general, it is for these transitional countries typical that they feature a low level of political culture, a low level also of legal culture. And this then impacts, of course, on the way the rule of law is practised in concrete, in concrete life out there.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tomaz VESEL, President of the Slovenian Court of Audit, The situation, the last two years, I might say very complex. It's difficult to work. It's not easy work, but also the challenges of the situation regarding the Covid, the public finance situation, not just in Slovenia, but in Europe and elsewhere as well. It's difficult by itself. Of course, we are facing a lot of troubles, a lot of difficulties. There's a lack of communication between the public institutions, and I'm very much afraid that the immunity system, which actually represent as independent institution, is under threat.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tomaz VESEL, President of the Slovenian Court of Audit, It's actually a chance to discuss openly about the difficulty that we have in Slovenia and in Europe itself, of course. And I'm looking forward to see the situation when we will have an opportunity to discuss about other topics as well, which are important for all citizens. European Union.