By: Ž. K. (Nova24tv.si)
Two ministers in Golob’s government are pushing Slovenia into a constitutional crisis. Both Asta Vrečko and Emilija Stojmenova Duh no longer feel responsible for answering questions from members of the National Assembly. The responsibility for the current situation and their unacceptable behaviour lies with NSi, where, ironically, they have been publicly expressing outrage over the conduct of the two ministers in recent days.
First, Culture Minister Asta Vrečko walked out of a session of the Commission for the Oversight of Public Finances (KNJF). The Court of Audit found that a payment of a reward to Svetlana Makarovič was made in violation of the Public Finance Act. Although Minister Vrečko attended the session, she left once the questions became too uncomfortable.
Digital Transformation Minister Emilija Stojmenova Duh then followed suit, not even attending the KNJF session she was invited to. She excused herself by stating that the session lacked a quorum. “Although I came to the session, because the KNJF was not quorate, I could not participate. In accordance with Article 52 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, a non-quorate session cannot take place,” she explained in her defence on the social network X.
In a country where the people hold power (Article 3 of the Constitution), the government is accountable to the National Assembly. The behaviour of both ministers is incompatible with parliamentary democracy.
How NSi party turned KNJF into a toothless tiger
But how did we end up in this situation? To answer this question, we need to go back to the beginning of Robert Golob’s government, when NSi took control of the Commission for the Oversight of Public Finances. They succeeded with the help of votes from the Gibanje Svoboda party, even though the most important oversight commission in the National Assembly should have gone to the largest opposition party, SDS. As a result, today the opposition no longer has a majority in the KNJF, contrary to the rules of procedure.
SDS President Janez Janša reminded us of this yesterday in his response to NSi MP Janez Cigler Kralj. Cigler Kralj had written: “In Slovenia, we are witnessing the erosion of democracy. The Gibanje Svoboda party is carrying out an attack on it before our very eyes. That is why today I informed the President of the European Parliament in a long letter about the state of democracy. This is the only way to alert the EP to the attack on democratic institutions and the opposition.”
Janša responded: “True. And not just since yesterday. I hope you also described in the letter how you took control of the KNJF with the help of Golob’s supporters. To the detriment of SDS, which has 27 MPs, while NSi has only 8.”
Since SDS refused to appoint its MPs to the KNJF in protest, and since coalition MPs can opt out of sessions whenever their ministers are under scrutiny, NSi is left alone at these sessions, making them non-quorate.
Although NSi long denied the under-the-table deal with the Gibanje Svoboda to take over the most important oversight commission, despite all evidence to the contrary, today this agreement has come back to haunt them. The victims of this deal are NSi themselves, the entire opposition, and democracy as a whole.