Joveva for Jezikovni Pogovori: ”We have to keep pushing and be tenacious”

On Monday, 18 April 2023, MEP Irena Joveva appeared as a guest of the Jezikovni Pogovori (Language Talks) programme on Slovenia’s Radio Ars. She talked about how important it is that the Slovenian language is present in the digital world and about her fight in this respect, stressing that this should not be an ideological issue, and that it requires pushing and tenacity.

Responding to the first question of why and how she had managed to reach Apple’s management, Joveva replied that she had first written to online streaming platforms and then extended the call to the said company, because although the issues are similar, the considerations differ from provider to provider.

“The Slovenian legislation is about to be revised and might introduce changes that will compel companies to move faster with the localisation into Slovenian, which they have been promising.’’

Regarding her meetings with representatives of Netflix, Disney and Apple, Joveva said that the latter had shown the greatest degree of earnestness, as they were well familiar with the subject-matter. Although they prefer not to disclose a specific timeline, the MEP believes that it was due to the pressure from different sides that the companies increased their level of engagement.

Asked whether companies were simply trying to buy time by taking this approach, the MEP replied that one will simply need to insist.

“Anyhow, we share the same goal. Theirs is to stay in Slovenia and reach people through the Slovenian language, and ours is to ensure the equality of Slovenian in the digital world as an official language of the European Union.’’

Joveva was very clear with the representatives of Apple that she will keep a close eye on the progress and that they will stay in touch. She remains optimistic because of the companies’ fear of negative publicity. As to whether the initiative could be supported by the entire political spectrum, she replied:

“I hope – and at the moment it seems so – that this topic will not be used for ideological or political battles. After all, the Committee on Culture (in the National Assembly) consists of representatives of different parties, and they unanimously adopted the resolutions of the meeting.’’

Joveva also spoke about the importance of linguistic diversity for the European Union.

“We have already established that linguistic diversity is a fundamental value of the European Union. This is clearly demonstrated by the European institutions, where all 24 official languages of the European Union – including Slovenian – are on an equal footing. In the European Parliament, the MEPs from larger countries acknowledge the significance of this..’’

Joveva pointed out that linguistic diversity, in its general meaning and purpose, is highlighted by and incorporated into different pieces of European legislation, wherever possible. She explained to the multinationals that current pressure could be followed by a hearing in the competent committee of the European Parliament, the Committee on Culture.

“The issues and challenges are not limited to languages only. In the event of a hearing, these companies would need to explain many other things.’’

In her closing remarks, she said that she is glad that so many people are flying the flag for the Slovene language and, above all, that their initiatives have been taken up by politicians. She is determined to keep pushing, to be tenacious and to work on legislation – including at the European level.

In addition to the MEP, the programme also hosted Lenart J. Kučić, Media Adviser to the Minister of Culture. You can listen to the full programme in Slovenian here and on Spotify, and read an article about the conversation on RTVSLO.