By: Peter Jančič (Spletni časopis)
Guitarist of the band Šank Rock, Bor Zuljan, has been taking care of Urška Klakočar Zupančič for more than a year now, and Svoboda pays him 3,000 euros per month for it. This has reportedly caused serious issues at home with his wife and daughter, as revealed this week by Bojan Požar, who also published a Facebook message from Zuljan’s daughter, Lia Zuljan, which she later deleted: “You lie, you cheat on my mom with the Speaker of Parliament…”
When I merely commented on Požar’s post on the X network, stating that this might not be good for Svoboda, all sorts of reactions poured in – including personal discreditation. Even though what I wrote was just a cautious assessment.
We had already reported in the media earlier this January about the collection of information regarding Klakočar Zupančič’s alleged lovers. Prosecutor Mateja Gončin revealed on TVS’s Tarča that alarm bells went off when she found out not only that police officers – who were supposed to be ensuring her safety – were collecting information about her, but that security personnel of other protected individuals were also allegedly gathering data for suspicious purposes. She stated: “Due to disagreements within the coalition, data was supposedly being collected about Speaker of Parliament Urška Klakočar Zupančič, specifically regarding her personal friendships with various individuals and when and where she allegedly met with them.”
Now, part of that information seems to have leaked. Although Požar’s story about Klakočar Zupančič’s friendship with Zuljan caused a stir among the public, it did not make its way into major media outlets. Not even to the extent of being denied. On POP TV, RTV SLO, Siol.net, Delo, and Večer, there was complete silence. Even the less intimate and sensitive part of the story – that Zuljan had supposedly been Klakočar Zupančič’s personal videographer and producer for social media posts for over a year, receiving 3,000 euros a month from Svoboda – did not interest them enough to inform the public. Or to deny it. We only learned from other media that Svoboda refuses to comment on the matter, claiming it is their private affair whom they pay and how much.
Those who dared to write anything about it were immediately attacked on social media by government supporters, accusing them of invading privacy, of not writing the same way about right-wing politicians, and various other criticisms.
The event was promptly and extensively covered by Planet TV, Domovina, and Nova24TV. However, more tabloid-style media, including those under Martin Odlazek’s network, did not. I, too, had not written about it in Spletni časopis – at least not yet.
Those who did write about it attracted significant attention, as people in the country are interested in what is really happening – not just official propaganda. Especially considering that we have a prime minister who only revealed, after the elections when he could no longer avoid it, that he had long been separated from his wife Jana Nemec Golob and was in a relationship with Tina Gaber, with whom he now lives along with two of his three children and is in the process of divorcing. This divorce had significant business consequences. Golob transferred ownership of Star Solar, a company producing electricity from solar power in Styria, from Jana Nemec to himself. A rather lucrative business, given that the state – now led by Golob – subsidises the production. These subsidies are distributed through Borzen, a company where Golob appointed Mojca Kert, a former colleague from GEN-I and an unsuccessful Svoboda candidate in the parliamentary elections.
Following Golob, Klakočar Zupančič also announced after the elections that she was divorcing. However, unlike in his case, no new partner was revealed. She only stated that she still dreams of a prince on a white horse. It remains unclear whether Zuljan is that prince or merely a friend managing her social media presence. Or something in between.
When it comes to top politicians, their romantic relationships are not just private matters, as critics of reporting on such topics try to claim. Everyone can see that Tina Gaber accompanies Prime Minister Robert Golob on international trips. In France, she even briefly chatted with Donald Trump in a hallway. She also travelled to the U.S. last year – though in a more unofficial capacity.
Officially, the first gentleman, who receives a monthly state salary for this role, is Aleš Musar. However, he is not the sweetheart of President Nataša Pirc Musar alongside her husband. He is the true first gentleman.
Sweethearts often bring serious problems. A prime example of significant problems was the mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, who is considered the behind-the-scenes uncle of the current government. He arranged advantages in the city for his mistress, Katarina Ravnikar, to enjoy the pleasures they had. He intervened with the director, Marjan Sedej, who, with the help of Spomenka Sluganović, the human resources assistant, arranged a permanent job for her in pharmacies owned by the city. This even echoed in Austria. Major media outlets in the neighbouring country reported on the scandal more extensively than the major media in Ljubljana. This speaks volumes about the courageous journalism and media landscape in our country.
The decline of Slovenian journalism became further evident later when, at the suggestion of the left-wing private institution March 8th by Nika Kovač, who was briefly employed by Janković, the honourable court of the Journalists’ Association decided that the public should be kept in the dark about Ravnikar’s failed lawsuit against a criminal investigator, claiming that he wrongly depicted her as being forced into sex by the mayor. She claimed it was voluntary. The mayor allegedly never said anything like “I want this”. She knew what all men want, she stated in court. And Janković was just a man.
The journalists’ organisation had me rate that Ravnikar, also known as a pharmacist, was a victim of Janković’s violence. They imposed the obligation to conceal her name and surname in reports about the trial when she sued the criminal investigator due to an official note. This name and surname had already been revealed earlier by other media, with Bojan Požar being the first to do so. Before suing the investigator, about which I reported, Ravnikar even changed her name and no longer uses it.
The disgraceful stance of the journalists’ association, which calls for hiding such information from the public, never even crossed my mind. The motto of this type of journalism is that the public should not find out about mistresses who receive benefits arranged by politicians. More is revealed in Vienna than in Ljubljana.
For now, there is no logic that Bor Zuljan could be a victim of sexual violence by Urška Klakočar Zupančič, because he needed extra income, as journalists fighting to conceal information from the public have not yet used this angle.
Moreover, Janković is also in trouble as a major supporter of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, against whom there have been large protests in Serbia, as well as among Serbs in Slovenia. Our media, however, have mostly forgotten that just five years ago, regular sessions were held between the governments of Slovenia and Vučić’s Serbia. Similarly, they had only genuine and sincere relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
A vow of silence has been maintained among the media, more aligned with the government, but after several days, only the Ljubljana newspaper Dnevnik broke this silence. In a more sensational part, they picked up Požar’s story and headlined it that Urška Klakočar allegedly had a lover. They also published, as did other media reporting on the events, that Klakočar Zupančič responded to “lies, discreditation, so low that they take my breath away”. However, in this response, Klakočar Zupančič does not specify what exactly these lies and discreditations are. Is it a lie that Zuljan is her lover? Is it a lie that this is the reason for the disputes in Zuljan’s family? Is it a lie that she first tried to employ him through the National Assembly, but was stopped by the Golob party? Is it a lie that Zuljan is paid three thousand euros per month via Svoboda? Are the spicy details about Zuljan’s orders of champagne in the president’s office at the expense of the National Assembly a lie?
This is the message she published:
“I thought it could not get any lower, but then I realise that I was wrong.
I have long since realised that a special destruction machine has been prepared for me. Just because I am who I am. Lies, discrediting, so vile that they take my breath away. I have gotten used to it. But it is always hard when the people around me are hurt – those who unwaveringly stand by my side and those who just happen to be near me. When I ask myself if it is worth persevering, I always repeat to myself that it is. For all the people who are good. And there are many of them.
From the book: Gretin greh:”
That the president would not be able to clearly communicate what are lies and what is true is rather unlikely.
A recording of Zuljan as an artist at the ceremony in the National Assembly, where he was introduced by Urška Klakočar Zupančič, appears on Facebook as follows:
Now we are just waiting for Zuljan to receive the Prešeren Award for his outstanding artistic activity and, unless stopped by a referendum, to gain a privileged pension supplement that will guarantee him at least three thousand euros net per month for life. At least, that is as well-deserved as many other award recipients in recent decades.
So that the money does not come only from Svoboda while he works there for Klakočar Zupančič. If he really works.
And as compensation for all the hardships he has endured in the media and within his family.