Freedom of association
As previously reported by the CIVICUS Monitor, the Freedom Movement coalition, in power since 2022, has increased dialogue with civil society, introduced new mechanisms for consultation, and incorporated civil society input to reform the public broadcaster RTV Slovenia. While this marks a departure from the previous government’s openly hostile stance, civil society organisations (CSOs) continue to face funding challenges, including cancelled tenders and limited support for migration and environmental causes. There have also been reports of discreditation campaigns orchestrated by politically affiliated media outlets.
Discreditation of CSOs
In a report to the European Civic Forum, Slovenian CSO PIC - Legal Centre for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment - noted one incident of disruption and vilification directed at civil society actors working with refugees. On 19th April 2024, members of the 1st October Institute (Inštitut 1. oktober) and the Pensioners’ Initiative (Ljudska iniciativa Glas upokojencev) physically disrupted a press conference held by several organisations, including PIC, which was advocating for safe and complementary pathways for Palestinians. The disruptors shouted loudly, insulted NGO representatives, and interrupted the speakers. Other organisations present at the event included the Palestinian Rights Movement (Gibanje za pravice Palestincev), the Peace Institute (Mirovni Inštitut), and Amnesty International Slovenia.
PIC also reported that, despite there having been no reported physical attacks on NGO workers, human rights defenders or migration activists, smear campaigns against CSOs persist. In July 2024, the commercial TV station Planet TV attempted to discredit PIC’s director, Katarina Bervar Sternad, a candidate for the next Slovenian Human Rights Ombudsman. Planet TV misrepresented an incident from 2018, depicting Bervar Sternad’s act of informing the police about the whereabouts of a group of foreigners in the Črnomelj area to ensure their safety as “assisting” foreigners who had “illegally entered Slovenia.”
According to PIC, NGOs, activists, and other civil society representatives are frequent targets of malicious reporting and attacks by Nova24TV, a media outlet closely aligned with the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), headed by former Prime Minister Janez Janša.
Funding challenges
The actions of the Ministry of Public Administration regarding an annulled public call for tenders for the projects of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) continued to cause concerns about the sustainability of civil society funding. As previously reported by the CIVICUS Monitor, Sanja Ajanović Hovnik, a prominent member of Prime Minister Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement, resigned as Minister of Public Administration in October 2023 in the wake of a controversy over a possible conflict of interest related to the allocation of funds to NGOs through a public tender worth more than ten million EUR.
Following her departure, the ministry annulled the tender despite NGOs having already been notified of their selection for funding. The official reason cited for the annulment was “lengthy audit procedures.” This decision prompted some NGOs, including PIC, to file a lawsuit with the Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia in February 2024. Furthermore, civil society warned that such practices could set a precedent for cancelling tenders that do not align with the authorities' preferences.
In its contribution to the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) Rule of Law Report 2024, the Peace Institute (Mirovni Inštitut) relayed that the controversy surrounding the tender had undermined public trust in the NGO sector. They noted that Slovenian NGOs became “scapegoats”, despite the fact that they did not issue the public call, make the decision or distribute the funds.
According to PIC, NGOs working in the environmental sector faced severe financial difficulties beginning in 2020, after the government of Prime Minister Janez Janša took office. These challenges arose due to a sudden funding shortage, as existing tenders were cancelled, contracts were left unsigned, and no new tenders were issued. This situation persisted even after Prime Minister Robert Golob's government took office, lasting until the end of 2023. Many NGOs were unable to secure funding through national tenders, and some even faced the risk of closure, relying heavily on EU funding to survive. CSOs also report a systemic lack of funding programmes or national financing mechanisms for NGOs working in the field of migration.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
COVID-19 fines reimbursed
On 20th September, the Slovenian National Assembly passed a bill that would see those fined on the basis of COVID-19 regulations which were later declared unconstitutional reimbursed and their police records cleared.
The previous administration had imposed tight restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly. In 2021, the Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy (PMVD) reported that in the first few months since its establishment, almost 40 per cent of people who turned to the PMVD for legal support faced legal proceedings for exercising their right to peaceful assembly. Between March 2020 and May 2022, more than 62,000 fines totalling 5.7 million EUR were imposed, of which 1.7 million EUR had already been paid before enforcement was suspended in June 2022.
Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan emphasised that the bill fulfils an important election promise of Prime Minister Robert Golob’s government, and would help to rebuild Slovenians' trust in the rule of law, “which was significantly undermined by the use of excessive and unconstitutional repression during the pandemic.”
Ljubljana Pride passes with some incidents
On 15th June 2024, Ljubljana Pride, Slovenia's largest annual event highlighting LGBTQI+ rights, took place in the capital. Following violent homophobic attacks at the 2023 Pride parade, the organisers intensified their cooperation with the police to ensure greater security. According to N1 Slovenija, police received reports of minor incidents and provocations during the event. Simona Muršec, president of the Pride Parade Association (Društvo parada ponosa), reported incidents of participants being insulted, pelted with eggs, and targeted with pepper spray. Muršec expressed particular concern over the involvement of minors, including elementary school students, among the aggressors.
According to media reports, one incident occurred within the parade area at Congress Square, where a man and a woman approached a group of drag performers, initially verbally abusing them before spraying them with pepper spray. In a press release, the Ljubljana Police Administration stated that officers worked to prevent criminal acts to the greatest extent possible and ensured the protection of constitutionally guaranteed rights, including freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The police also emphasised their close and constructive cooperation with the event organisers both before and during the parade.
In 2023, both the Ljubljana and Maribor Pride Parades were marred by violence. Ahead of the June Pride in Ljubljana, unknown perpetrators vandalised an LGBTQI-friendly bar displaying a rainbow flag. During and after the parade, participants faced threats, insults and physical attacks, including one instance where a youth wrapped in a rainbow flag was assaulted. Protesters also threw eggs and cans at participants, and flag burnings were recorded and shared online. LGBTQI+ activists reported that the level of violence was unprecedented since the first Pride in 2001.
Freedom of expression
According to Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, hostility towards journalists has decreased since the end of Prime Minister Janez Janša’s government in mid-2022. However, the watchdog noted that journalists are subject to political and, increasingly, economic pressures. Slovenia improved its ranking on the 2024 Index, climbing eight places to 42nd, compared to 50th in 2023.
In its contribution to the Liberties Rule of Law Report, Mirovni Inštitut highlighted that, in 2023, the government failed to adopt any measures against media concentration nor any measures for the protection of professional journalism, autonomy and the safety of journalists.
One challenge within Slovenia’s private media landscape, identified by the European Commission in its 2024 Rule of Law Report, is cross-ownership in the media market which stems from inadequate national rules regarding the disclosure of media ownership. The report also highlights stakeholders’ calls to abolish the 5% minimum threshold. Article 12 of the current Media Law (2001) requires media register entries to include information on individuals holding at least “5% of the ownership, management, or voting rights in the assets of the publisher of a general-information daily or weekly newspaper, as well as radio or TV programmes.” However, according to reports, the Media Law is soon expected to undergo amendments, with the draft of the new act including measures to increase the transparency of ownership structures.
Ongoing problems with the financing of public broadcasting
In August, Slovenia’s government approved a 10% increase in the licence fee for public broadcaster RTV Slovenija (RTVS), raising it to €14.02 per month starting in January 2025. This marks the first fee adjustment in 12 years, a period during which inflation outpaced the broadcaster’s revenue. While the funding increase provides some financial relief, both RTV SLO leadership and the government acknowledge that it is insufficient to fully resolve the organisation’s financial instability or modernisation needs.
Under previous governments, RTVS faced political interference and funding insecurity, with programming and leadership often manipulated to serve political interests. As previously reported by the CIVICUS Monitor, following the election of Prime Minister Robert Golob’s government in 2022, a public media law enacted in June 2023 introduced safeguards against political influence and prioritised restoring public trust.
Press freedom violations
The Media Freedom Rapid Response consortium has identified three violations of press freedom in Slovenia between the beginning of 2024 and 31 October 2024:
On 16th January 2024, unknown perpetrators vandalised the cars of a TV crew from Italian public broadcaster Rai near Podpeč, south of Trieste. Journalist Andrea Romoli and his team were filming a report on the “foibe” massacres in Slovenia. Upon returning from the filming location, they discovered their vehicles damaged, with the Rai-branded car sustaining the worst damage, including a broken windshield and smashed mirror. Equipment inside the cars was untouched. Italian journalist associations condemned the attack and urged Slovenian authorities to investigate.
On 2nd April, the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) criticised independent investigative outlet Oštro and its founder, Anuška Delić, during a press conference, calling her “the censor that no one elected.” The attack followed Oštro’s fact-checking of false claims by SDS youth vice president Zala Klopčič about left-wing indoctrination in schools and accusations against MEP Milan Brglez. Delić and Oštro faced online harassment and smear campaigns, which Delić linked to SDS leader Janez Janša.
On 11th June 2024, non-profit student radio programme Radio Študent criticised the University of Ljubljana's Student Union (ŠOU) for restricting journalistic freedom by banning recordings of its meetings, previously live-streamed for three years. Citing personal data protection laws, ŠOU formalised the ban in November 2023 and employed security to enforce it. Radio Študent condemned the move as a significant limitation on journalistic work, while the Slovenian Association of Journalists called it an abuse of privacy laws, stressing the public interest in covering the union's activities.
In the same period, the Slovenian Journalists’ Association (DNS) recorded four additional incidents through its platform:
Following critical reports published by the online portal Lokalec.si about the real estate transactions of the municipality of Ruša, the municipality contacted the portal and invoked the right of reply, which the editor refused. After the municipality sued for the right to have its response published, the court of first instance ruled in favour of the portal, agreeing with the editor’s assessment that the municipality wanted to protect its reputation and not the public interest. However, on 18th September 2024, the High Court in Maribor overturned this decision and ruled that Lokalec.si must publish the municipality's response, citing the public interest. The Slovenian Journalists' Association criticised the ruling as incompatible with the Supreme Court's case law, which emphasises that the right of the state authorities to reply must be carefully weighed against freedom of expression.
In June 2024, RTVS journalist Rosvita Pesek received an email from RTVS Council member Barbara Brezavšček Stegeman criticising her questions to Culture Minister Asta Vrečka during a discussion on the resignation of RTVS board chairman Zvezdan Martič and the broadcaster’s financial issues. The council member objected to Pesek’s remarks about the Council's work, prompting Pesek to publicly respond on X (formerly Twitter), asserting that Council members should not interfere with journalistic autonomy. She also addressed her concerns to the news editor, who raised the issue with the RTVS director.
Barbara Verdnik, a columnist for the Megafon newspaper, was invited by a politician from the local party Lista Aleša Bržana (LAB) to discuss her column, which he claimed contained “intentionally misleading statements.” The invitation came from the secretary of the LAB party, to which the mayor of Koper belongs. Verdnik rejected the invitation, stating that participating would compromise her journalistic independence and professionalism. She emphasised that if the party disagreed with her column, they should use the legal right of correction rather than engage in a meeting about its content.
Ahead of a demonstration in front of the RTVS building on 16th February 2024, Pavel Rupar, former mayor of Tržič and member of the SDS party organising the pensioners' protests, called on journalists in an open letter to stay inside their premises during the demonstration and avoid direct contact with the protesters. He warned that journalists would be responsible for any incidents. Rupar’s letter was interpreted as a veiled threat, as journalist Larisa Daugul was attacked by protesters during an earlier rally on 31st May 2023 in front of the RTVS building. After she reported the incident on the DNS platform, Rupar labelled it a false report.