European Union: Slovenia takes over the Council Presidency

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Janez Janša

Photo: Sadak Souici / dpa

Seldom has there been so much criticism of an EU Council Presidency in advance: Slovenia has taken over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, accompanied by warnings.

Under the motto »Together.

Resilient.

Europe «the conservative government of Prime Minister Janez Janša wants to promote the economic recovery of the EU from the corona crisis.

Critics fear, however, that Slovenia will not act neutrally during the regular six-month presidency.

Janša are accused of being very close to Hungary's right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and attacks on civil rights and freedom of the press.

(Read more about this here.)

The Slovenian Council Presidency succeeds the Portuguese EU Presidency.

According to the official website for the Council Presidency, the government in Ljubljana intends to work for the »strengthening of the rule of law and European values« in the EU over the next six months.

Janša attacked critical journalists from home and abroad in tweets

Janša's government itself is accused of not being so strict about basic European values: in the dispute over a Hungarian law restricting minors' rights to information about homosexuality, only Ljubljana and Warsaw backed Orbán in the EU.

From the EU's point of view, there are also worrying developments in Slovenia itself: Brussels recently criticized the decision of the Janša government to suspend funding for Slovenia's only news agency STA - and the fact that Slovenia has not yet appointed its own investigators for the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) Has.

In recent months, Janša tweets not only attacked critical journalists from home and abroad, but also EU representatives, especially from the European Parliament.

"We owe nothing to the EU," wrote the 62-year-old head of government in May, whose third mandate began in 2020.

"At a time when the protection of basic European values ​​of the rule of law and democracy is at the top of the agenda, Orbán-Fan Janša is a heavy burden for the EU," said the Vice President of the European Parliament, Katarina Barley (SPD), the editorial network Germany .

"The fact that Janša and Orbán are brothers in spirit also shows their shared disdain for the control of their power by an independent judiciary and free press."

The Green European politician Franziska Brantner accused Janša of dragging the EU Council Presidency "in the dirt" by "targeting the press, the judiciary and civil society and stopping the sending of prosecutors to the European Public Prosecutor's Office."

The EU institutions must act urgently.

The EU presidency changes every six months between the member states.

The Council Presidency has a decisive influence on the main topics and timetables when the member states take decisions.

For Slovenia it is the second EU Presidency since the country joined the EU.

At the start of the Council Presidency, which is now beginning, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected in Ljubljana.

The presidency of the Council will pass to France at the beginning of 2022.

Germany held it in the second half of 2020.

asa / AFP