SLOVENIA: Parliamentary inquiry into NGO financing adds to political pressure on civil society
On 22 October, Slovenia’s National Assembly announced a parliamentary inquiry into the country’s financing of NGOs. The inquiry was requested by Prime Minister Janez Janša’s Democratic Party (SDS) and the NSi–SLS–Fokus group. While the inquiry is framed as being primarily about the management of state-owned energy companies, it also aims to scrutinise the allocation and use of public funds by civil society organisations (CSOs). The government’s stated objectives include investigating potential conflicts of interest, non-transparent use of public money, and whether individual organisations acted in the interest of certain political or interest structures. The inquiry will cover the period from 1 January 2014 onwards.
This inclusion of civil society financing in an inquiry aimed at establishing the political accountability of public office holders, which NGOs are not, raises concerns about politically motivated attacks against civil society, particularly organisations critical of state policies and which work on advocacy and state accountability, as well as the potential politicisation of public funding. The inquiry also contributes to a wider decline in public trust and stigmatisation of civil society, undermining its legitimacy. The development is part of a broader attack against civil society funding carried out by the new Janša government, including the recent dismantling of the NGO Development Fund, the main source of civil society funding in the country.