In 2026, Preiskovalno.si will launch an investigative project titled The Invisible Generation of Europe. The project will encompass a series of in-depth investigative articles focusing on the 65+ population, which now represents 21.6% of the European Union. This demographic group is frequently overlooked and forgotten. It represents the voices of those who built the Europe we know today. A Europe grounded in human rights and peace. These are the voices of individuals who now watch quietly as Europe undergoes profound changes and edges closer to geopolitical instability: an increasingly militarized Europe, a Europe engaged in foreign conflicts, and a Europe that risks neglecting the very generation that enabled the free movement of people, services, and goods.
At Preiskovalno.si, we are launching a project that – given an aging society-, will require the EU to commit to ensuring that, after 40 years of work, this generation can age with access to the best and most advanced healthcare, the right to funding for education, work, and travel for those who wish it! In short: a life that is dignified and enriched, not reduced to mere survival. For this reason, we will propose the appointment of an EU Commissioner for Older People, who would safeguard our golden generation.
Our previous research has uncovered a striking fact: across the EU, many older people live completely alone. In some countries, the numbers are enormous, and the data is already 10 years old.
Eurostat data
- In Romania, 33% live alone — more than 1.3 million people.
- In Italy, nearly 30%; the percentage exceeds 40% among those over 75.
- In Estonia, 37%.
Behind every percentage is a person with a face, a life story that we understand only when we come closer. And we will bring these faces closer to your screens. These voices are the quietest in Europe. To hear them, we at Preiskovalno.si have committed to a project in which we will present the lives of this most vulnerable generation through articles, video features, and a documentary film, for which we have applied for EU funding.
This work requires time, analysis, research, calls, conversations, persuasion, fact-checking, and above all, journalistic dedication. Independent journalism disappears when it is not financed by business or politics. At Preiskovalno.si, we have no regular income and rely entirely on the work we earn in the market. Our financial inflows are uncertain. If we are to tell your stories, follow political stories, and produce major investigations like these stories that can change the world, so we need you. We need you to help protect our independence, to ensure that no one can dictate what we may or may not report.
This is why we ask for your support.
This is not a project about the past. It is a project about the future. It is a project that cares—solidarily—for a part of society that is often invisible. It cares for those who once cared for us. This is not a story created for clicks or instant results. It is an in-depth study that will show, using available data, how the EU provides for those living far from urban centers, health facilities, or care homes. Who brings them a glass of water or medication from the pharmacy? These will also be stories of solidarity within small communities where human connection still lives. We will begin our story in Slovenia.
Project start: January 2025
Funding target: €50,000
Institute for Investigative Journalism and Research
Nanoška 3
1000 Ljubljana
Nova Ljubljanska banka
Account number: SI 56 0284 3026 6324 932
Donation
Here we will publish the amount of funds collected:
Donors and supporters who agree will be publicly acknowledged at the end of the project in articles and in the film.
JOURNALISTS
Barbara Pance is a linguist, journalist, and Master of Science who spent many years as an editor at the newspaper Delo, helped establish the news program at Planet TV, and later worked as an editor at Svet on Kanal A. She is also a proofreader and musician with an exceptional sense for language and justice.
Nataša Markovič is also a Master of Science. For the last 11 years she worked at RTV Slovenia and began her journalistic career on commercial television. She is the first Slovenian journalist to receive the European Press Prize. Together with Barbara, she received the EU Commission Award for a health-related article on tobacco. Barbara and Nataša first met during auditions for Svet on Kanal A, where both were later selected. Although their careers took them on different paths, they remained friends. In 2023 they founded Preiskovalno.si, which has achieved remarkable readership and popularity. They continually pursue further training, most recently with the Dutch investigative group Bellingcat.
In their work they follow the Code of Journalists of Slovenia, and they also adhere to their own ethical code, available on our website under the “About Us” section.
*translated with AI
