Janša suggests meeting MEP ‘t Veld on 26 March

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša is suggesting the European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group have discussion with him and Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti on 26 March, after the EU summit as they would not be able to attend the discussion in Brussels in person this Friday, the PM’s office has announced.

The group, headed by MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew/D66) as part of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, will conduct a virtual hearing on the situation in Slovenia on Friday afternoon. The discussion will be open to the public.

Janša and Simoniti have been invited to take part in the discussion tomorrow, but they will not take part.

The pair have recently said they would be happy to take part in the discussion, but believe the exchange of views should be public and held in-person in the European Parliament. There should also be enough time to comprehensively present all the discussed topics.

In further dialogue with in ‘t Veld, the prime minister suggested the group conducted discussion with him and the minister on 26 March, after the European Council meeting, since their in-person attendance in Brussels tomorrow was not possible logistically, also because the invitation came at short notice.

For 26 March, Janša suggests holding exhaustive in-depth discussion on the state of democracy, rule of law and basic human rights in Slovenia, with his office noting that he is glad to accept an invitation for a public exchange of views on the situation in Slovenia within European institutions as he has been aspiring for such an exchange of views for a decade.

According to the European Parliament, today’s debate will see European Commission representative Emmanuel Crabit, and several invitees from Slovenia, expectedly including Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina, NGO association CNVOS director Goran Forbici, the heads of the journalist associations Petra Lesjak Tušek (DNS) and Matevž Tomšič (ZNP), investigative journalist Lenart J. Kučić and Marko Milosavljević, a professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Studies.

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