(LJUBLJANA) - The press in Slovenia enjoys complete freedom, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said on Monday, rejecting recent accusations of government censorship and political pressure on the media.

"If you measure freedom of the press by the capacity of the press to criticise the government, there is full freedom of the press," Jansa told a news conference here.

Slovenia currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

Slovenian journalists have drawn up a petition, with more than 500 signatures or around 25 percent of the total number of journalists in the country, accusing the government of censorship.

Last week, the journalists urged the government to set up an independent commission to investigate the allegations.

Jansa urged people not only to look at the petition, but also take into account what other people were saying.

"It's difficult to answer general accusations", he added, claiming that there had been no specific allegations made about his government in terms of pressure of the media.

The petition's authors accuse Jansa's centre-right government of weeding out the directors and chief editors such as Ljubljana's Delo, via state-owned investment funds with controlling stakes in the newspapers.

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