By: Miro Petek
We are living in a paradox: the top of Slovenian politics is occupied by people who are leading the country toward ruin. Whether this is intentional or merely the result of incompetence is beside the point, the outcome remains the same. What we are witnessing is a political class devoid of responsibility and any vision for the country’s development. We are watching a parade of the current political elite, for whom appearance and media presence, especially on social networks, are the top priority and sole concern. A pathological display of ego.
We have a Prime Minister, a Speaker of Parliament, and a President who treat politics like a family business, a four- or five-year, well-paid vacation during which they travel a bit at home and abroad, showing off with their partners. For some time now, we have been watching the soap opera of Robert Golob and Tina Gaber, whom certain media outlets have described as having a rather promiscuous past. She has now become Golob’s wife and proclaimed herself the First Lady. Not to be outdone, Speaker Urška Klakočar Zupančič has taken up with an aging rocker. President Nataša Pirc Musar, burdened by a deep moral bankruptcy, is constantly seen with her husband, whose business past raises serious questions. Despite their ostentatious wealth, he has not even renounced the spousal allowance granted to the President’s partner. Among the quartet of Slovenia’s top officials, only Marko Lotrič, President of the National Council, seems to understand his role and behaves like a statesman, not like a character in a tawdry political cabaret.
Even a brief glance into the past shows that Slovenia’s highest-ranking politicians, those who could rightly be called statesmen, carried out their duties seriously. Some were more successful than others, but they rarely showcased their spouses, and when they did, it was typically at major state ceremonies. Today, Prime Minister Golob is rarely seen without Gaber, and Klakočar Zupančič has traded late nights in parliament for front-row seats at public events. Both have chosen to share their private lives with the public, satisfying curiosity but reducing politics to a reality show, further eroding trust in political institutions.
Gaber has taught Golob that politics is a stage. She writes the scripts, they perform together, and both clearly enjoy their roles, while the audience silently watches this hollow spectacle. To be fair, Tina Gaber Golob understands one thing well: appearance matters, and substance is secondary. Their obsessive pursuit of attention and visibility at any cost outweighs credibility. The arrival of Bor and Tina into Slovenia’s political landscape has added an element of entertainment. For some time now, the country and its media have been preoccupied with the romantic entanglements of the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament. The line between private and public has been erased. Protocol seems to have lost all meaning, and personal indulgence has overtaken the dignity of office. It may all be one elaborate media spin: the trivial antics of these three figures cleverly distract the public from recognising the deeper truth, that we are dealing with incompetent politicians who, in a serious country, would belong somewhere between psychiatry and prison.
Visibility has always been recognised as a key element of power. For a politician, it is more important to appear successful than to actually be successful. Image and impression are central to politics. And here arises the crucial question of the maturity of Slovenia’s electorate: is it capable of recognising the tricks and deceptions spread by compromised media and journalists, who use every visual technique to portray the current political elite as successful?
