”If we don’t sort this out, we’ll soon have nothing left to sort out.”

On Tuesday, 9 May 2023, MEP Irena Joveva spoke to the Primorske novice daily about the public use of Slovenian and her fight to safeguard it in the digital world. She emphasised that the size of the market should not justify discrimination against a culture or language, and that this digital gap must be closed as soon as possible: “Otherwise, the cost of catching up will only grow over the years or – even worse, in the most extreme case – we will no longer have anything to sort out.”

The MEP maintained that the Ministry of Culture now has a great opportunity to overhaul the domestic legislation and hoped that they will seize it. It has become more than obvious that the rules need to be spelled out explicitly, obliging platforms and companies to use the Slovenian language on their devices and services provided.

In her opinion, the Public Use of the Slovenian Language Act is already clear enough and allows for action to be taken. At the same time, it is also true that the Act was drafted almost two decades ago, and has not been able to keep pace with technology, a point also acknowledged by the members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

‘‘Technology will continue to evolve, whereas the Slovenian language must survive and continue to exist, both in the physical and digital worlds. It is our right to be able to choose to use our mother tongue in our homeland.’’

Joveva also mentioned her letters to the CEOs of Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and Apple, calling for the use of Slovenian on their devices and in the provision of services. She explained that she had met with most of the companies and that they had responded promptly to her letter. At the meetings, representatives of Netflix and Disney told the MEP that they were aware of the issue, but that they had no plans to act on it in the near future. Joveva stated that she could not accept the companies’ claims that offering a language (so-called localisation) is technically and financially demanding, given that many other companies and platforms have proved that it can be done if the companies are willing to do so.

‘‘It is unbecoming for such multinationals, with so many subscribers and so much revenue, to even utter such a thing. The size – or smallness, if you like – of a market does not justify discrimination against a language and culture.’’

Since no one is “forcing” these companies to respect the Slovenian language, she is determined to do everything in her power to change this. Nevertheless, Joveva was able to feel more optimistic after her meeting with Apple, where she was assured that they were already dealing with the issue but did not wish to share an exact timeline. She expressed her understanding that the matter cannot be resolved overnight, but at the same time assured the company’s representatives that she intends to press on with her efforts. She and the company agreed to keep in touch about the progress, while she is adamant about taking further steps to safeguard the use of Slovenian in the digital world, if necessary.

Read the full interview in Slovenian here.