By: Lea Kalc Furlanič
Double standards: Pivec was torn apart by the central media for a similar case, but Golob, as it seems so far, is untouchable.
On Sunday, the day after the national holiday, the Twitter page of the user Government of Republic of Slovenia, which publishes official notes on government activities in fairly administrative, serious language, was flooded with many comments. Commentators reacted rather critically to the government’s explanation of why Prime Minister Robert Golob had taken part of his family with him on a business trip the day before and that he paid the expenses himself. The portal Siol.net previously sent a journalistic question on this topic. “The function of Prime Minister requires considerable adjustments in private and professional life. Due to his many trips abroad, the Prime Minister will occasionally take family members on the trip,” they wrote.
In this some telling details are disrupting. For example, why does the government answer journalistic questions via Twitter on Sundays, which are, on top of that, of a semi-private nature? On its official Twitter profile, this triggered a flood of popular, offensive, indecent notes, which do not belong either to the genre or to the level of official posts. The Prime Minister’s behaviour is also disturbing, as the average citizen thinks it is more appropriate to attend the Statehood Day ceremony instead of the European Council meeting in Brussels (there will probably be more), especially this year, when he is the Prime Minister for the first time.
The fact that the Prime Minister took one of his three children with him to Brussels (source: Požareport) is not exactly a scandal, especially if he paid for his plane ticket and accommodation himself (as claimed by the government via Twitter). It would be better to warn if this applies to the newly minted Prime Minister, who otherwise already has a few complaints on his shoulders (from the high salary or awards). And to think whether – considering the accompanying child – he performed his function at the meeting in Brussels as he should have. Was he sufficiently prepared, focused, productive, efficient? That he did not just go on a trip with his family.
The following is related to the criteria: Pivec was torn apart by the central media for a similar case, but Golob, as it seems so far, is untouchable. One tweet and a press release on STA, however, solved the otherwise questionable matter! The sub-questions and the statement of accounts are, of course, “not intended” (he would say). This is the behaviour of an autocrat, wrote one of the commentators under the government’s tweet.