Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa dismissed on Friday reports on his cabinet's and his own verbal war with reporters, saying that old structures and lobby groups were adding fuel to the fire trying to misrepresent his government as autocratic and one that stifles media independence.

He reiterated that his government would not renew funding for the national news agency STA until it received the requested business documentation from its leadership.

He accused the agency’s director Bojan Veselinovic, on whom he recently called to step down, of provoking conflict for other reasons, saying that Veselinovic doesn’t think of the employees of the agency, “where there are many good journalists,” and that he has a salary “higher than those of the prime minister and government ministers.”

The Slovenian Journalists’ Association (DNS) this week condemned Jansa’s call on Twitter for Veselinovic’s resignation as political pressure on media independence and “another unacceptable step in political interference and aspirations to destroy STA” which has been left without its legally guaranteed funding.

Because of conflicts on with leading media agencies in the country, and verbal assaults on reporters by media outlets close to Jansa’s political party, Slovenia was, together with Poland and Hungary, on the agenda of the European Parliament’s plenary session on Wednesday, when media freedom in those countries was discussed.

The debate did not end with a resolution, but European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova said that there should be no political pressure on the media and that those trying to silence critical voices were making a mistake.

“In democracy, independent media should do their work and ask questions without fear or favour. Our job, as politicians, is to answer with facts, not with attacks,” Jourova said.

She added that worrying trends were emerging in Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia, mentioning verbal attacks against reporters and the denial of funding for the STA agency.