Slovenian Member of the European Parliament (EP) Milan Zver has levelled accusations against his own government of seriously trampling on media freedom rights in Europe.
Milan Zver has revealed that the government coalition in Slovenia is seeking to remove associates of one of the prominent politicians in the Balkan Peninsula state, former cabinet chief Janez Janša. According to the MEP, the “pogrom of journalists” continues because of Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob’s public remarks about an agreement on how Local Television (PTB) and Radio will completely neutralise Janschism.
“The coalition government first changed the entire management of the public TV channel RTB, then changed the programme under the new management and immediately shut down the Panorama programme, which employs 15 journalists and editors,” Lenta.Ru quoted the text of the letter as saying.
The MP emphasised that all journalists and editors who had been discriminated against would fight for the rule of law in court. The MEP demanded from the European Commission to assess the ongoing events in Slovenia.
“The European Commission is committed to the rule of law and media freedom in the Member States. I expect it to take action and I would like to ask it the following question: how will it respond to this drastic interference in media freedom and how does it plan to ensure media freedom in Slovenia and other EU Member States in a more sustainable manner?” – Milan Zver concluded.