Irena Joveva, MEP, spoke to TV IDEA on Friday, 25 February 2022, about the current developments both at home and in the EU. Among other things, she expressed her position on the Russian aggression on Ukraine, the rule of law and the state of the media, and presented her views on this year’s super-election year in Slovenia.

Joveva started by strongly condemning Russia’s invasion of and aggression against Ukraine, but added that condemnation itself will not help people but rather that decisive action was needed. She advocated all-encompassing sanctions that would also reach Russian president Vladimir Putin, his cronies and oligarchs, as that would render him the most isolated. At the same time, she commended the EU’s swift and unified response.

“It must be made very clear to the Russian president that no one is almighty. That not even he is almighty, despite leading a country such as Russia. That we live in the 21^st century where there are international law, treaties, commitments, memoranda, and agreements, and that no one can simply do whatever they want. Most certainly not someone who is nostalgic for old times.”

The speakers went on to touch on the area of the rule of law and the recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissing the appeals by Hungary and Poland against the new EU legislation on the conditionality linking the disbursement of EU funds to the respect of the rule of law. In so doing, the Court reaffirmed the validity of the European rules allowing for the suspension of payments of EU funds in the event of non-compliance with the rules regarding the rule of law. Joveva stressed that suspension of funding over rule-of-law issues is a measure of last resort, yet necessary for those Member States or leaders who do not respect the rule of law and who misuse European taxpayers’ money for their own personal or spurious interests.

When asked about the influence of Hungarian capital on developments in Slovenia, Joveva replied that it was primarily the result of close links between the Slovenian and Hungarian Prime Ministers. She sees the situation as a potential returning of favours between Janez Janša and Viktor Orban. She stressed the importance of a change of power in the upcoming election so that Slovenia does not join the likes of Hungary and Poland.

In response to the question about the state of the media in Slovenia, Joveva expressed concern that the situation in this area had been poor for a long time, but with the current government coming to power it had deteriorated drastically. Independent media are thus subject to smear campaigns, attacks and pressure. To counter that, the EU is drafting the European Media Freedom Act, which will equip MEPs and the European Commission with stronger tools to act in this area.

At the end, the two interlocutors touched on the current “super-election year” 2022. Joveva said it is indeed a pivotal election because Slovenian citizens will be deciding on whether we continue sliding into illiberalism or step back onto the path of liberal democracy. She believes that people are aware of the importance of this election, which she sees as a kind of a referendum.

Take a look at the video (in Slovene) of the conversation, where Joveva also spoke on other topics, such as the recent visit to Ljubljana of the President of the Renew Europe political group in the European Parliament, the health crisis, and the latest Eurobarometer survey.

On Friday, 18 February 2022, MEP Irena Joveva hosted Nika Kovač, the Slovenian Woman of the Year and Director of the 8 March Institute, on her Instagram profile. Among other things, they answered questions on how to deal with insults on social media. Kovač stressed the importance of community and the fact that such comments have to be challenged: “Because you decided to do so, a girl named Nika noticed it and when she was going through a tough time, she remembered and did the same.”

Nika Kovač is currently studying and living in New York, but right at the start of the conversation she declared that she would always choose Slovenia. According to her, the US is remarkable in the sense of what you can see there and who you can meet, but at the same time the US is a highly individualised society. They do not have free health care, free higher education, communities… These are the basics that we do have and we have all the opportunity to secure a very beautiful society for ourselves, she said.

She won the title of Slovenian Woman of the Year a few days ago, which, as she said, means a great deal to her, because it shows people’s support for her and for the values of the 8 March Institute: hope, solidarity, desire for change.

She and MEP Joveva could not avoid the question of how they deal with various negative comments on social media. Kovač recalled that Joveva, too, had spoken out publicly and sincerely about her experience in this regard: “I believe that we serve as an example to each other. I am very grateful to you for doing so back then.”

They concurred that it is important to fight such comments, as their only purpose is to hurt you, make you doubt yourself, confuse or weaken you on your way.

Nika Kovač also responded to questions about what she likes to do in her leisure time, what music she likes to listen to, whether she has a role model, what she is currently reading and why she loves writing so much. Joveva added that she, too, very much likes to write, to which Kovač responded that she considers this to be very important and the right thing to do, as politicians also have to inform people about developments by means of in-depth but at the same time clear communications that do not underestimate readers.

The two women also spoke about the coming weeks and the parliamentary elections to be held in April. According to Kovač, we are about to take a big decision about which course Slovenia should take. “In the past, everything happened at the abstract level of empty promises and it did not seem worthwhile getting engaged. Now, we are trying to show that our voice does matter, and even if we fail at times, it serves as a message that it is possible to build a different world and that we need to build it together. Only community can move things,” the Slovenian of the Year concluded.

You can watch the recording of the conversation on MEP Joveva’s Instagram profile.

Today, on the day of the announcement of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the actions of Hungary and Poland brought against the EU’s rule of law conditionality mechanism, the Večer newspaper published a column by MEP Irena Joveva. Joveva writes about the paranoid illiberal politics and certain lack of power of the EU, as well as about the possible levers of pressure on those Member States that do not respect the fundamental values of the EU. Read a brief summary of the column below.

Joveva begins with a quote from a feature aired on Polish public television, which used a Swedish Netflix series to manipulate the migrant issue. The column goes on to explain the modus operandi of illiberal populist and authoritarian governments, to which the EU often needs to respond with certain legislative proposals, one being the upcoming European Media Freedom Act. The political subjugation of the media is, however, not the only segment that disintegrates societies in countries with populist authoritarianism, “The same can be observed in the judiciary, prosecutors’ offices, regulatory agencies, cultural institutions … Anything to maintain a corrupt regime. All the while authoritarian elements are only a means to an end, which is most usually kleptocracy and clientelism.”

In continuation, Joveva focuses on paranoid illiberal politics that, according to her, can never be compatible with democracy. She highlights the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation on the basis of which EU funds can be frozen for certain countries. The Court of Justice of the EU has just announced today that this regulation is in line with the EU acquis, which means that the respective legal challenges by Poland and Hungary were dismissed.

Joveva expresses her firm conviction that, following the Court’s ruling, the European Parliament’s pressure on the European Commission will gradually increase because MEPs simply cannot accept that EU funds are disbursed to illiberal regimes which will then use them to undermine the foundations of the EU. Joveva underscores, however, that the freezing of EU funds is a measure of last resort.

She concludes the column by criticising the paradoxical actions of post-communist countries, while being aware that liberals (in a broader sense) must improve on their ability to address tensions.

You can read the column in full in today’s printed or online edition of the Večer newspaper (in Slovene).

Today, MEP Irena Joveva (Renew Europe/LMŠ) hosted a virtual round table on “Mental Health – Issues and Challenges Facing Adolescents”.

In an interesting discussion on this pressing issue of contemporary society Joveva was joined by Maria Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, MEP and Co-Chair of the European Parliaments’ Coalition for Mental Health and Wellbeing and member of the European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup, Assist. Prof. Andreja Poljanec, psychologist and psychotherapist, Head of the Psychology Department at the Ljubljana Branch of Sigmund Freud University Vienna, Assoc. Prof. Andrej Naterer, professor of anthropology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor and co-author of the Mladina 2020 (Youth 2020) survey, Klemen Selaković, author of the Slovenian podcast Aidea, where he meets and communicates with many young people; Marjan Šarec, Deputy and President of the LMŠ party, and Aljaž Kovačič, LMŠ Deputy who also moderated the event.

Marjan Šarec began by stressing the importance of the mental health of young people, who were already subjected to many pressures even before the epidemic: “The LMŠ is certainly not oblivious to this. Rather, our party’s political programme sets out the goal to regulate the mental health sector in a systemic manner. This means that it should be governed by appropriate legislation and that a mental health service or office should be set up in the relevant ministry.”

Similarly, Irena Joveva focuses most of her work on young people, who, she says, are equal, fully-fledged and indispensable members of a developed and modern society and deserve to be treated as such. “There are more and more young people who regularly experience loneliness and stress. Experts point in particular to stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression, but also to eating disorders, anxiety disorders and behavioural and emotional disorders. The pandemic and the measures taken as a result of it merely compound all of them,” she said, also mentioning the impact and pressure from parents and social networks. As a shadow rapporteur on behalf of Renew Europe, Joveva will contribute to the report on the impact of COVID-19 closures of educational, cultural, youth and sports activities on children and young people in the EU, and make sure it includes the need to provide timely help to young people in mental distress and to improve society’s awareness of mental health issues.

Soraya Rodríguez Ramos highlighted, among other things, the most extreme manifestation of mental health disorders that we have seen in recent months   ̶ suicide among young people. “It is heartbreaking that every year in Europe, 1,200 children and adolescents aged between 10 and 19 take their own lives, which is the equivalent of three young people every day. It is imperative that we attend to young people’s mental health from their earliest years and in the settings where they spend most of their time. Schools can serve as platforms that help to raise awareness of specific illnesses and fight the stigma and bullying that continues to surround them,” she said, outlining a range of actions that Renew Europe is working on to address young people’s mental health, including digital solutions and online counselling.

Andrej Naterer presented the results of the Youth 2020 survey, which revealed worrying trends: “Stress among young people has more than doubled, young people say they feel it most days. The proportion of young people who are lonely has tripled. COVID has contributed to loneliness, but not significantly, as loneliness was already increasing before COVID and will persist and increase once the pandemic is over. And there is also a growing presence of anxiety among young people.”

Andreja Poljanec mentioned the distorted expectations and experience of maturity, as 18-year-olds tend not to be as mentally mature as their physical appearance might suggest: “As adults, we too often neglect the needs of young people because we experience them as too insignificant to deal with, when in fact the neurological stress response in young people is greater because of this overall immaturity.” It is important that adults listen to young people and gain their trust. “The fact that there is so much depression means that young people are losing hope for the future,” she added. She and Aljaž Kovačič mentioned the modern trend of parents’ high expectations, which later manifest themselves as anxieties in children.

Klemen Selakovič spoke about the fact that in today’s world, change is greater and faster. “It is becoming more and more difficult for adults to understand young people and young people feel it. I would agree – the world expects a lot from us, but in reality, we expect a lot from ourselves, and I feel the same myself. I constantly get cues as to what I should be and what I should have.” He sees the solution in changing the social values that influence young people. “We need to move away from performance metrics and ask ourselves if these are really the goals we should pursue in life,” he summed up.

Andreja Poljanec also touched on the aspect of environment and peers, as being close to family and friends goes a long way towards adolescents not developing mental disorders. She would like to see changes in the curricula at all levels of education and that those who work professionally with young people would be equipped with the modern knowledge and skills needed for working with young people. Andrej Naterer also mentioned research showing that our sensitivity to stress has increased, while at the same time societal pressures are mounting.  Activities that worked against stress in the past now add to it: “They, too, have a competitive element nowadays. If you do sport, there’s always someone better, if you do yoga, there’s always someone doing more asanas.” The findings show that good family relationships are the first line of defence, followed by good relationships within the extended family, in the neighbourhood and with friends. It is the spread of egoistic behaviours that we have been witnessing in recent years that is tearing us apart and increasing stress. The solution lies in improving relationships and in consciously withdrawing from stress-inducing impulses, including constant online presence. Klemen Selaković confirmed that depression is a disease of difficult personal relationships, but also stressed the importance of one’s own engagement: “One has to ask oneself if it really is the parents, mother, capitalism who are to blame for everything? If you believe that, then you are not taking responsibility for your own life.”

Photo: Matej Špehar

On Thursday, 27 January 2022, MEP Irena Joveva was invited to take part in an online dialogue with young people held under the rEUral Europe project. They discussed the work of the European Parliament, equality of women in politics, youth engagement and other topical issues.

The young participants raised many interesting questions, with the usual icebreaker being the one about the reasons for her entering the world of politics. Joveva explained that she had followed politics with her father from early age. As a journalist, she experienced, saw and heard many things which made her feel angry and disappointed. When she was invited to go into politics, she couldn’t refuse, as it meant an opportunity to try to do things the way she thinks is right. Her primary focus is on young people and on the situation in the media and journalism, where pressure has been growing over recent months: “What is happening is alarming. Regrettably, the institutions do not have enough appropriate tools to react, and the usual answer is that this matter falls under the responsibility of Member States, which indeed is largely the case.” This is why she believes that the European Media Freedom Act will be crucial, as it is the first piece of legislation in this area.

In her work in the European Parliament, Joveva does not feel gender inequality or unequal treatment based on sex, but the two are more pronounced on social media: “You are judged on the basis of gender, origin, previous occupation, youth. There is quite a number of comments that I think would not have been made if I were a man, ”  she said, adding: “This is widespread, especially on Twitter, which is a cesspit of anything you can imagine. There is also a lot of patronising.” She even receives threats on social media, mainly anonymous, and she feels that the negative trend has grown worse in recent months. She attributes this to the change in the general social climate, because some politicians who are in power afford to make comments that should have no place in public discourse and, as a result, people are emboldened to say or do more. Joveva believes that the under-representation of women in politics is mainly due to stereotypes and social conditioning: “The profession of a politician is among those that are perceived as pertaining to men, which is why far fewer women decide to enter politics. In addition, the conditions are not particularly conducive to family life, especially if you have or intend to have small children. It is not sufficiently understood that genders are interconnected and not disconnected.” Joveva supports gender quotas, because without them the number of women in politics would be even lower, but believes that the solution for the future lies in neutral quotas and education.

The MEP also spoke about the negative aspects of Brussels: “What bothers me the most is that many of my colleagues have lost touch with reality.” The Parliament is a huge system and a kind of bubble, where it is difficult to keep in touch with reality, but for herself, she is very mindful of “keeping both feet firmly on the ground”, as she put it. She finds the two seats of the European Parliament, one in Brussels and one in Strasbourg, utterly absurd, but regrettably has no influence on the matter. Still, she is happy to be able to do a lot in other fields: “With amendments, reports, lobbying and forging friendships one can achieve and get a lot. This journey is not in vain. Some of my expectations have crumbled, but others have been consolidated.”

Joveva’s priorities for the second part of the term include two key objectives. She sees the European Year of Youth as an opportunity to raise awareness about young people’s problems and to develop projects linked to Slovenia: “I intend to set up a website where young people can submit their ideas and, on this basis, I will decide what can best be done — perhaps to put a question to the Commission, send a letter to the relevant authorities, draft a report, or submit an amendment to a legislative proposal.” She also wants to be actively involved in the drafting of the European Media Freedom Act. At the same time, she is linked to a smaller group of MEPs who are seeking to ensure that the European Parliament retains the possibility of teleworking in certain segments, which is particularly important for women Members who are or are about to become new mothers, as the office of an MEP does not provide for maternity leave: “We want to make it easier for women to decide to have children, because working conditions for them will be friendlier, if we maintain the current teleworking method.”

Joveva also believes that young people are not taken seriously enough when they participate in public debate. “We all talk about the future of Europe and refer to the next generation, we are even holding a conference where young people are supposed to have a leading role, and then the Committee consists of people who are not even my age, but much older. And when conferences on youth are organised in Slovenia, the speakers are in their 70s,” she added, alluding again to the patronising attitude which abounds in politics. According to her, young people would not perceive politics as something negative if most politicians were to set a good example. But if the people in power think that they can do whatever they please, this influences the young who then think that all politicians are the same.

“What should be done? A lot can be done, but some politicians will never change, so it is up to people to remove them from office. And this is done in elections.”

Joveva also answered a question about the absurd situation of the balance of power between the European Parliament and the Council: “This is indeed a tremendous problem, but, regrettably, it is almost never spoken about and nothing is done. The Council and the Parliament are co-legislators. We pass laws by a majority. In the Council, however, decisions are normally taken by consensus, and this is the main problem because all Member States need to be in favour.” She highlighted some legislative solutions, such as the Pact on Migration, which are victims of the partial political interests of individual Member States, which have for a long time not acted in line with European values. “I think that at least two Member States should no longer be members of the EU at all, but the European Parliament is not able to change this singlehandedly,” she concluded.