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Slovenian Leader Launches Twitter Clash With Rutte Ahead of EU Summit

Slovenian Leader Clashes With Dutch Colleague Ahead of EU Summit

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, picked a fight with one of the bloc’s most influential leaders only days before a high-profile summit in Brussels.

Jansa lashed out at Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte with a post on Twitter in which he called him “Mark,” and urged him not to “waste time with ambassadors and media freedom in Slovenia.” Instead, Rutte and European lawmaker Sophie in’t Veld, who is visiting the country to examine rule of law issues and corruption, should “protect your journalists from being killed on the streets.”

The Slovenian leader sent a tweet, which has since been deleted, accusing some European Parliament members of being “puppets” of liberal financier George Soros. 

Nationalist premier Jansa has long been waging a self-styled “war with media,” entering disputes with institutions including Slovenia’s state STA news service and the EU’s new prosecutor’s office. Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries died in July after being shot in Amsterdam.

Rutte blasted Jansa for a “tasteless tweet” and condemned it “in the strongest possible terms,” adding that the Dutch government conveyed this same sentiment to the Slovenian ambassador in the Hague.

Jansa also lashed out at David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, who had appealed to him to cease “provocations” against European lawmakers. Jansa charged that Sassoli’s “political comrades” control part of the media in Slovenia. 

Charles Michel, who will chair the next Oct. 21-22 summit of European leaders in Brussels, sought to calm things down, posting that European lawmakers should be able to do their work free of any pressure. “Mutual respect between EU institutions and within the European Council is the only way forward,” he added.

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