By: Sara Kovač / Nova24TV.si
After the election and swearing in of the government in the National Assembly, the current Prime Minister Janez Janša handed over government affairs to his successor in the Prime Minister’s Chair, Robert Golob. With 53 votes in favour and 28 against, the MPs of the National Assembly confirmed the ministerial team of the new government, which will be led by the president of the Gibanje Svoboda party, Robert Golob. Slovenia thus gained the 15th government, which will consist of the Gibanje Svoboda, SD, and Levica parties.
The government team was supported by the MPs of Svoboda, SD, Levica, and the MP of the Hungarian national community Ferenc Horvath. The MP of the Italian national community Felice Žiža did not take part in the vote.
The approximately two-year term of the third Janša’s government was marked, among other things, by the fight against the covid-19 epidemic and mitigation of its consequences, the presidency of the EU Council.
Janša’s government built Slovenia
“In two years, we have achieved many victories that will accompany Slovenia on the path of the largest investment cycle in history. The fruits of our work will soon be seen in every place, in many they are already visible. The budget for 2022 and 2023 allocates money for schools, kindergartens, hospitals, apartments, old people’s homes, roads, water supply systems in the amount of investments that have not yet been made in Slovenia for these purposes,” said Prime Minister Janez Janša at the end of his term.
“In difficult circumstances, which are not comparable to any post-independence government, the coalition partners have done a really good job. Our cooperation and trust have only been strengthened and deepened through difficult situations. Despite pressure, threats, and a media lynching at a time when we also declared an epidemic in Slovenia with a delay in March 2020, the coalition partners showed their statehood and did not leave the nation in the lurch. The epidemic, the presidency, the energy crisis, the war in Ukraine and many other challenges have required tremendous efforts from all of us in two years,” he added.
So, what awaits us, what can we expect from the new government? Certainly, higher taxes, but obviously also socialist restrictions on freedom and democracy. Representatives of the SDS and NSi, Anže Logar and Vida Čadonič Špelič, today in a discussion in separate presentations of the positions of parliamentary groups, among other things, expressed criticism of some of the ministerial candidates of the new government. Among other things, they accused them of lacking professionalism. Opposition MPs also devoted much of their attention to the issue of the competence of the new ministers.
Golob is in a hurry
The first session of the government after the handover will be devoted to personnel issues, including the appointment of state secretaries and the director of the government’s communications office (Ukom), director of the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency (Sova), and director general of police. Handovers at individual ministries will mostly take place on Thursday.