Brussels is ‘close to breaking the rule of law’, PM Janša tells Euronews

 

Brussels is ‘close to breaking the rule of law’, PM Janša tells Euronews    By Euronews Brussels bureau /07 October  2021 Is the European Commission breaking the law by ensuring compliance with the rule of law? That seems to be the conclusion of Janez Janša, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, who has been the target of Brussels for his attacks on independent media and, in particular, the country’s news agency. In a lengthy interview with Euronews following the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brdo pri Kranju, Janša didn’t mince words about his feelings towards the executive led by President Ursula von der Leyen, which he sharply castigates for entering into “political battles” of member states and failing to be an “honest broker”. “We have the UN Charter of Human Rights. We have a European charter of human rights, but in political language, especially in the European Parliament, everyone can add to this list whatever he or she wants. So it's a politically abused term and used for political battle,” he told our colleague Efi Koutsokosta. Janša took aim at a new mechanism that makes receiving EU funds contingent upon respecting the bloc’s fundamental values. The Commission is preparing to activate the never-used scheme by sending a recommendation to the EU Council, which has the power to approve the suspension of EU payments with a qualified majority vote. This, Janša says, amounts to institutional overreach. “The European Parliament is a political body. It's a place for political debates and also for political conflicts. But it's not the same with the European Commission and the European Council. According to the treaty, the European Commission should stay out of the political battles, which was the case till the Juncker Commission. And then this changed,” the prime minister said. “I think this is close to breaking the rule of law because the Commission has to be an honest broker.” According to the EU treaties, the Commission must ensure the correct application of EU law and is entitled to open infringement procedures in cases of wrongdoing. In response to the democratic backsliding in countries like Hungary and Poland, Brussels has recently stepped up efforts to reinforce the rule of law by introducing new tools, like the conditionality mechanism and an annual report. Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for values and transparency, has become the public face of this renewed mission, attracting the fury of Budapest, Warsaw and now also Ljubljana. “Věra Jourová is, according to my opinion, issuing statements which are a clear violation of the treaty. But she's supported by the European press. So she is continuing with this,” Janša said, without going into specifics about which statements he was referring to. “If this had happened 15 years ago, I think she wouldn't have stayed as a member of the Commission for one week. At that time, the rules were clear.” Throughout the interview, Janša refused to endorse the concept of “liberal democracy” and instead engaged in a chronological reflection of political power, from the ancient Greek polis to the premiership of Winston Churchill. “The biggest achievement of the Western civilisation is that we succeeded through history, through the tragedies in that history, to come to some kind of agreement that, as Churchill said, democracy is not the ideal thing, but it's the best we know and we have to stick with it.” Janša’s conversation with Efi followed a special summit hosted by Slovenia with the aim of giving new impetus to the stalled enlargement process of the Western Balkans. The high-level meeting didn’t yield any major breakthrough, apart from a €9-billion investment plan for the region. “It's not only about investments in infrastructure, economic cooperation and so on. OK, we are doing this. The European Union is the biggest investor in the region. It's very important they appreciate it. But in those areas, we have competitors. There is also China, Russia, Turkey. They are also coming with the investment and they are not conditioning this,” the prime minister said. “We are conditioning this with European standards, the rule of law reforms, which is OK, if there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But if the EU membership perspective is not granted, then I think we will start to lose this battle.” Janša also discussed two of the most contentious topics on the EU agenda: migration management – “There is no place in Europe for 10 million Afghan people,” he bluntly said – and strategic autonomy, the push to make the bloc more self-reliant and independent. “Even the countries which are not members of NATO admitted they do need NATO. But NATO and the United States will not solve the problems and conflicts in our backyard, in our neighbourhood, in the Western Balkans, in the Mediterranean. This is our duty,” he remarked. “Africa is our backyard. It's not the backyard of the United States.