Professor and the head of the Journalism Department at the University of Ljubljana, Marko Milosavljevic, spoke to the Euronews TV about the various ways in which he said Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his associates threatened media freedom and democracy in the country, drawing a parallel with what Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic did in his country.

He said that the entry of Hungarian funds and owners was increasing in Slovenia, with the help of some party financing, Jansa’s Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) had founded more than 20 media in the last few years.

„Those are relatively small media, but they only repeat and reinforce the messages that the party wants to convey. They also control the largest website in the country, which Slovenian Telecom owns. Here we see a similar pattern, as in Serbia, for example,“ Milosavljevic said.

He added that „Vucic in Serbia, as is well known, uses Telekom Srbija for many of his media plans, including the obstruction of the opposition media, such N1.“

Milosavljevic said that a similar pattern exists in Slovenia, „with the sale of the largest website, which was stopped last week because Hungarian investors made a weak economic offer, only two million Euro.“

„On the other hand, the offer was also made by the multinational corporation United Group, which operates in Serbia, and is not exactly friendly with Vucic. So, it was clear that Vucic and his ally Jansa would not support the sale of that website to such an owner and would not allow the website to be sold to anyone other than Hungarian investors. That is what happened,“ he added, describing the media situation in Slovenia as „poor.“