European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova has again called on Slovenian authorities to resolve as soon as possible the problem of financing the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), which occurred due to the Janez Jansa government suspending its financing since the beginning of the year.

In a letter to Minister of Culture Vasko Simoniti, Jourova, who is EC Vice-President for Values and Transparency, said that the Slovenian Supreme Court had confirmed that the government was obliged to pay for STA’s work as a public media service, regardless of the issues concerning the new contract for this year, calling on the government to do so.

Public media have a key role in democratic societies, and European Union member states must refrain from any kind of attempt to exert direct or indirect pressure on the media, including suspending its financing, Jourova said in the letter published by Slovenian media outlets.

Although €2 billion has been earmarked for STA in Slovenia’s budget for this year, which is the funding the agency should receive as a public media service, the current Janez Jansa government refuses to do so, citing the alleged refusal of the agency’s management to submit documentation on other sources of financing. The agency’s leadership considers that an excuse and sees it as an unacceptable attempt to influence editorial policy in the government’s favour.

Several Slovenian and international journalists’ associations have called for resolving the problem of financing STA, protesting also against political pressure on Slovenian journalists in general.

Calls for the situation to be resolved as soon as possible have also been coming from representatives of other European institutions, but even the recent mediation attempt by President Borut Pahor, who organised a meeting between STA director Bojan Veselinovic and Government Communication Office (UKOM) head Uros Orbanija, in which they were seeking a compromise to end the suspension of financing, has not yielded any results yet.

The Slovenian Press Agency said that due to the situation they blamed the government for, they could become insolvent within a matter of days, which put salaries in question.

A few months ago, the agency raised donations for its financing, but the funds are now running out.