Milan ZVER

What Milan ZVER has said (6)

• 2025-10-23 “E-004185/2025 Answer given by Mr Šefčovič on behalf of the European Commission The former Vice-President mentioned in the subject of the question was in charge of values and transparency, and all the key issues related to the rule of law, including the independence of the justice systems. It was part of her mandate to meet with the highest representatives of the judiciary and constitutional courts in the Member States. The meeting with the President of the Slovenian Constitutional Court covered issues related to the Rule of Law Report. The former Vice-President for Values and Transparency made it clear publicly that she did not discuss the matter of RTV Slovenia with the then President of the Slovenian Constitutional Court. This was also confirmed by the Constitutional Court 1 . The respect of the independence of the courts is crucial to the Commission. However, the Commission is not aware of any elements suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of the former Vice-President in that regard. 1 https://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/ustavno-sodisce-accetto-in-jourova-nista-govorila-o-nobeni-odprti-zadeviustavnega-sodisca/761172.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions · EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• 2025-06-30 “E-002641/2025 Answer given by Mr Šefčovič on behalf of the European Commission Article 17(3) of the Treaty on European Union provides, in particular, that the Commission shall be completely independent and that the members of the Commission shall neither seek nor take instructions from any Government or other institution, body, office or entity. They shall refrain from any action incompatible with their duties or the performance of their tasks. The Code of Conduct for the Members of the Commission 1 further details these rules. In this context, Article 2(5) of the Code of Conduct provides that members shall respect the dignity of their office and shall not act or express themselves, through whatever medium, in a manner which adversely affects the public perception of their independence, their integrity or the dignity of their office. Within those limits, neither the treaties nor the Code of Conduct prohibits the members of the Commission from expressing their personal opinions. In the reply to the question raised by the Slovenian weekly Mladina, with regard to the outcome of the Slovenian upcoming elections, the Commissioner for Enlargement duly explained that she limited herself in the context of her reply to express her views in her personal capacity, which she is entitled to do. Therefore, the Commissioner’s position as member of the Commission is not affected by her personal views concerning Slovenian elections. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32018D0221(02).”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• 2025-03-17 “E-001120/2025 Answer given by Mr Síkela on behalf of the European Commission The EU and South Africa (SA) have a Strategic Partnership based, among other, on democratic values and human rights, as exemplified by the recent EU-SA Summit, where the EU announced the Global Gateway Investment Package with South Africa to which the Honourable Member refers. This package will mainly support projects promoting SA’s clean and just energy transition. In the context of this partnership, the EU and SA are engaged in a regular human rights dialogue. With Global Gateway, the EU aims to embed democratic principles, and transparency in all investments. The EU assesses in each country whether the required pre-conditions for investments exist, including regarding human rights. When the Commission becomes aware of any suspected cases of fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the EU budget, it takes all measures deemed fit and informs without delay the European Anti-Fraud Office and, where applicable, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The new Financial Regulation (Article 6(3)) 1 makes an explicit reference to the EU values, including human dignity, freedom, democracy, and the rights of minorities, and requires that the EU budget be implemented in full respect of such values. In cases of serious human rights violations, the Commission may take precautionary and/or corrective measures such as suspending or terminating contracts, carrying out internal or external audits, verifying expenditures, and applying other relevant controls. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2509?utm_source.”
  EU policy on African region · EU development aid (migration conditionality)
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to thank the speaker for the presentation on monetization. That is something new for me as well. Well, algorithmic manipulation and foreign interference are real threats, especially when they target elections and public debate. But just as important is how Europe responds. Strong, informed society is much more resilient than any paternalistic measures than any regulation. My first question is, uh, for our guest, EU funded fact checkers now play a growing role online. Have you seen real improvements from their work, and how should the European Union ensure that fact checkers operate with genuine neutrality and transparency? Thank you.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you very much for the floor. In my career here in the European Parliament, I have already been a member of special committees, for instance, for the fight against terrorism two terms ago. This was a well managed committee and outstanding experts came to Parliament and we finished our work with an excellent report. Right now we have a similar special committee on the Democracy Shield. The leading of the committee was not that good. Participation was catastrophic. There were too many presentations by various NGOs and too few presentations by true experts. And that is why the report that we'll be dealing with is in this vein. Allow me to share this thesis in the EU. There is more and more of this dangerous thought that digital challenges should be answered by more control, more sanctions, and more bureaucratic pressure. I believe this is the wrong path. We Europeans do not need some sort of authority that is going to decide what is permitted and what is not permitted to be said. Also, the question arises regarding so-called independent sensors, which we have in individual countries and that are very ideologically biased, especially in my country in Slovenia. And this leads to the selective silencing of legitimate political opinions and a delegitimization of democratic discussion. We have experienced that totalitarian systems did not work out because they silenced free speech. Let us not repeat these historical mistakes which many of us lived through. Thank you.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Yes. Thank you very much, chairman. When anthem was adopted, I wasn't really expecting that it would be, uh, that it would achieve such an echo in the public. Uh, the goal of this legislation was to ensure the safety of journalists. But. The objective should have been objective, to provide objective information to service the user. When we read this legislation, we get the impression that, uh, the tail is wagging the dog and not the other way around. There are a few good aspects in this legislation. For instance, owner transparency. This is very important, especially in, uh, countries in transition where a lot of media are under the influence of the left and some sort of hidden societies and so on. But in the last few years there have been two groups, basically a group that is for legislation and another group that want media freedom and as little regulation as possible. And media is not a joint European policy. And the arguments for amfAR in this direction are very weak. Uh, so I think this legislation is problematic, but I think we'll have to wait for a few, a few years for it to be implemented in Slovenia. We do have a left wing government that is not capable of starting to implement this law. And I have a question for Professor Barton. What does this predictions by Zuckerberg and Musk mean that they will and censorship on their platforms. What does this mean in practice? I think that this is a good aim to pursue, and I think that we need to have a balance between media regulation and other aspects. Thank you.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms