By: Sara Kovač / Nova24tv
“These three or more MPs must be offered the same conditions as they have today, they must be given a future beyond 2022. These MPs will decide to join a new coalition only when it is clear how DeSUS MPs will decide. The transition to a new coalition can only take place together, as a block of both parties,” Jože P. Damijan revealed his plans for commercial television. He talked about how he would put unnamed deputies on his side.
In early October, the presidents of LMŠ, SD, Levica and SAB confirmed the start of talks with the aim of creating an alternative to the government of Janez Janša. The starting point for integration is the initiative of the Coalition of the Constitutional Arc, addressed to them by the opponent of the euro, Jože P. Damijan, who intends to become a formateur of a coalition government. The parties agreed that the proposal was a good basis for continuing the talks. Several members of the coalition parties have already been engaged in the coalition of the constitutional arch, as they themselves do not have enough votes to file a constructive vote of no confidence. The Minister of Economy and President of the SMC, Zdravko Počivalšek, refused to cooperate and said that at the moment there was no alternative to the current government. The Minister of Health and the interim leader of the coalition party DeSUS, Tomaž Gantar, expressed his opinion on the cooperation with KUL, namely that the matter is not worth commenting on. Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti was not invited to participate, but he believes that because it is clear to them that the SNS is not the party that jumps from one side to the other, thus hinting at DeSUS. Matej Tonin, the Minister of Defence and the president of the NSi party, also refused to participate. To sum up, to date, the KUL coalition has not had a single vote more than it had at its inception.
Jože P. Damijan and the members of the KUL coalition obviously think according to the principle; in war everything is allowed. The opposition’s goal is to gain additional votes to vote no confidence in the government and form a new coalition. The opposition currently counts 39 votes, and an additional thirteen could be won at the expense of DeSUS and SMC, where they themselves see an “alliance”. Alenka Bratušek also hinted at this some time ago, when she said: “In the opposition, we frequently and seriously talk about forming a new center-left government, but we currently have too few MPs to carry out this project. Those who are missing are now in a coalition.” With this statement, she hinted mainly at the DeSUS party, but the SMC party remains in the game. The question arises as to what the opposition is willing to do to gain votes or MPs.
By Christmas, we might already have a new coalition, Damjan announced
Regarding constructive distrust, Damijan said in an evening news show on commercial television yesterday that many people imagine collecting votes in a very homely way, as if calling around and asking MPs for support. So far, fragile relationships and trust are being built, he explained. He said: “A coalition can only be formed when both parties, DeSUS and SMC, decide to do so at the same time.” No one will jeopardise their position, he stressed, saying the DeSUS party congress must be patiently awaited. He also emphasised that he expects talks on joining the new government to continue in the event that Karel Erjavec is elected party president at the December congress. “By Christmas, we might already have a new coalition,” Damijan announced optimistically.
The opposition is considering how to buy MPs
“These three or more MPs must be offered the same conditions as they have today, they must be given a future beyond 2022. These MPs will decide to join a new coalition only when it is clear how DeSUS MPs will decide. The transition to a new coalition can only take place together, as a block of both parties.” The opposition is considering how to buy MPs, MEP Romana Tomc warned months ago, pointing to the possibility of a transfer for the sake of gain. “Corruption, great corruption,” she wrote. Even then, Dnevnik wrote that they did not agree on how to obtain the votes of SMC and DeSUS MPs or what to offer them. So it is not yet entirely clear how both parties will win on their side, whether it is really a strong coalition agreement, a promised position or even monetary rewards. This political replay of the opposition is reminiscent of this year’s transfers of SMC deputies, where there was a suspicion of rewarding deputies for joining the opposition party, where the transfers of Jani Möderndorfer and Gregor Židan resonated the most, as our media has already written.
Financing the transfers of MPs is clearly not a problem, the only question is if someone is for sale. And in what currency the offer will be.
It is not noticeable that the KUL coalition has a serious programme. The only thing Damijan said was that Janša’s government lost control of the epidemic. He explained that in such a situation it is necessary to take very strict measures to restrict socialising, but it turned out that the crossings between municipalities do not require restriction of movement, and the closure of schools is problematic, this could be relaxed. Where and how this was supposed to turn out, he did not say. He gave an expert opinion that the possibility of infection in the open air is really minimal, so it seems to him that caterers, at least outdoors, could still operate normally. The measures should have been implemented, he commented, adding that he did not understand why things were not going faster, especially when it came to state aid. He also believed that there should be no conditions, help should be available to everyone and so everything would go much faster than now, when people have to prove that they are entitled to certain help. He also did not explain where he would get all this money from, so that he could offer unlimited help. But if this does not pose any problem for him, the financing of the transfers of deputies for Jože P. Damijan will certainly be a cat’s cough. However, warnings are already appearing on social networks that MPs should rather check beforehand that Damijan’s offer will not be accidentally in Swiss francs.