By: Dr Metod Berlec
The cover of Demokracija magazine features Minister for Digital Transformation Emilija Stojmenova Duh, Minister of Justice Dominika Švarc Pipan, and Minister of Health Valentina Prevolnik Rupel. The first minister embarrassed herself with the purchase of laptops (without an operating system and antivirus protection), most of which are still sitting unused in a warehouse in Logatec. There are even reports suggesting that all 13,000 laptops may not be there. In response to this, the SDS parliamentary group filed an interpellation against her last week because her actions symbolise the “irresponsibility, lack of transparency, and corruption of this government”. Additionally, she has yet to establish mechanisms and criteria for distributing these computers to the public. Instead of addressing specific problems, the minister is more focused on congress tourism, as seen in her recent trip to Davos, Switzerland, for a meeting of the World Economic Forum.
The SDS parliamentary group submitted an interpellation on Monday against the Minister of Justice, Dominika Švarc Pipan, due to the “clientelist purchase of a degraded (decaying) building on Litijska Street in Ljubljana at the expense of Slovenian taxpayers”. SDS pointed out that the building’s purchase was confirmed at the government level with a decision made during a correspondence session. Several circumstances surrounding the purchase are problematic; the building was bought for €7.7 million, even though the seller acquired it five years ago for €1.7 million. The ministry did not conduct its own appraisal of the building before the purchase, nor did it perform its own survey or a careful inspection of the property, as there is no record of it. The purchase contract was not notarised before the payment, which hypothetically could have left the ministry without the building and without the money. SDS MP Dejan Kaloh characterised it as “hasty criminal behaviour,” and commented that the minister, being a lawyer, consciously signed the contract while neglecting all due procedures and security measures before finalising the deal. SDS accuses the minister of suspected criminal negligence in office, embezzlement of public funds, suspected abuse of official position, and misleading the public regarding her actions in the building’s purchase.
THERE ARE A RANGE OF MINISTERS IN THE GOVERNMENT WHO ARE RIPE FOR RESIGNATION. BUT THE BEST IS ROBERT GOLOB, WHO WAS NOT EVEN APPROXIMATELY MATCHED FOR THE FUNCTION OF PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT.
The accusations against her are so serious that even the presidency of the Social Democrats (SD) called on her to resign on Monday evening. Before this, Prime Minister Robert Golob surprised everyone by stating in response to parliamentary questions that he still has not been able to find out who selected this project. In response to this, former state official Matej Kovač commented on the X network, stating that every document discussed in the government or government committees indicates who prepared the document. “Golob is either evading or lying, which would not be the first time. If what he says is true, he should ask himself what kind of fool he is to allow an anonymous third-tier officials to push through multimillion projects for approval in his government.” Kovač also warned that ministers in the past had never shifted blame onto ordinary officials. “I do not know if those in power now have reached the moral bottom, but they are very close.” Political scientist Miro Haček made a similar statement: “The purchase is prepared and literally extorted by the closest associates of the minister (whom she appointed herself, and she has also dismissed the general secretary), the minister sends letters to the Ministry of Finance and asks for money, in the end, she signs the contract, and then our glorious prime minister declares that the blame lies with the most ordinary officials who happened to be slightly higher officials during the previous government, claiming that they deceived the minister (who is, on top of that, a lawyer). Let the last fool turn off the light; this country and the coalition it is ‘led’ by have completely gone astray.” This means that we have a prime minister who is not only non-sovereign, as Borut Pahor from the transitional left stated in the show “We Read for Prime Ministers” (with the exception of Janez Drnovšek), but also entirely incompetent for the position.
Of course, the Minister of Health, Valentina Prevolnik Rupel, also “deservedly” found herself on the cover of Demokracija. During the doctors’ strike, she went on a trip to Paris, I correct myself, to the “international conference on innovations in healthcare”. The Minister of Culture, Asta Vrečko, who prepared a scandalous draft media law aimed at completely subordinating the media, restricting editorial freedom, and limiting free economic initiative, is also ripe for resignation. Not to mention Tanja Fajon and Matej Čalušić at this point…