During the plenary session (5-8 July 2021) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs discuss with Janez JANSA, Slovenian Prime Minister and President in office of the Council of the EU, on the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council. Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission and MEPs warn Janez JANSA about the rule of law, the independance of the justice system and media freedom.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

KELLER, Ska (Greens/EFA, DE)

IN 'T VELD, Sophia (Renew, NL)

GARCÍA PÉREZ, Iratxe (S&D, ES)

EU - Slovenia (T)

JANŠA, Janez (SI)

Slovenian Presidency of the EU (T)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Slovenian Presidency: extracts from the debate

Title: Presentation of the programme of activities of the Slovenian Presidency: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (Slovenian), Janez JANSA, Slovenian Prime Minister , When it comes to the issues of the rule of law, we have to understand that if we are talking about the rule of law, the independent justice system has to decide what is right and what is wrong, not a political body. The quality of the judiciary is also very important. The judicial system has to be based on an independent, impartial and indiscriminate judiciary. In every member state, the justice system has to focus on providing justice, legal protection without delay and without unreasonably long deadlines.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, The way of how we leave this crisis behind is also linked to the question of trust. Trust, investors and businesses can have in good governance, trust that sound measures to fight corruption and fraud are in place, trust in free media and independent courts. I mean, this is also important for European taxpayers because they ultimately finance the recovery.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, I count on the Slovenian government to continue the important work on the rule of law files. We will present our second edition of our rule of law reports in the coming weeks. In these reports, we scrutinise the situation in each and every member state according to the same criteria. And I look forward to the discussions of these reports, because our last meeting with leaders demonstrated how central values and the rule of law are.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Let me be very clear. Any problem related to the rule of law is not an internal affair of a member state. It is not just a problem for the member state concerned, but a problem for all Europeans. And even more importantly, this rule of law should be a self-evident political principle, especially in view of our common European history.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), The most urgent thing in this point is that we must bring the European prosecutor as quick as possible to make it workable, that they can start the work. That's why this is an urgent demand to immediately nominate the Slovenian representative on this.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), This is not a good sign what happened last week in a meeting you had with the European Commission discussing about the rule of law where it was used to attack the opposition in your country. You know, that respect is a fundamental in our task regarding the difference of opinion to be able to advance united in diversity,only in this way is Europe built and respect for the truth not having press freedom as an indispensable pillar for the democracy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN &apos;T VELD (Renew, NL), Mr Jansa, this house has expressed grave concerns about your attitude towards these values. There are no misunderstandings, as you call it. Attacks on journalists of free media, pressure on the judiciary and your interference in the nomination of a prosecutor to EPPO are intolerable.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN &apos;T VELD (Renew, NL), In March, when we met online, the rule of law monitoring group of this house addressed a series of questions to you regarding the situation in Slovenia. And unfortunately, we have not received an answer. And I realise that you're very busy. So I used this opportunity for a little reminder. And for your convenience, I have brought a paper copy of the questions which I will leave in your trusted hands and I'm looking forward to a prompt act.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE), On rule of law, Prime Minister Jansa, you seem to have been following and taking a look into a course, but on a liberal democracy, and that is dangerous for the European values. Your presidency is claiming to uphold. Smear campaigns and intimidation of free media, civil society and looking for scapegoats. Those are not the acts we expect from a European government.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE), Why Slovenia is the only country in the entire European Union that has not yet nominated its prosecutors to the European public prosecutor's office. What is the message that you are sending? Interfere with judicial nominations? And you've just said how important judicial independence is. Interfering with judicial nominations that are supposed to shed light on fraudulent use of public money in our Union? That is rather strange to me with the rule of law being one of the priorities that you have said.