By: Edvard Kadič
The bone of contention between the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior was his interference in HR matters at the Ministry of the Interior. More precisely, putting pressure on Tatjana Bobnar, now former interior minister, to “purge” personnel from the time of Janša’s government. First of all, it was the opposition to the appointment of Boštjan Lindav as the director of the General Police Administration, a few other proposals (who should be the head of the NPU, etc.), and even a specific request to replace a person in the leadership of one of the police administrations.
Truth be told, ministry in itself is not something one does with one’s left hand. To us, who observe the events from afar, it all seems quite easy. A little in front of the cameras, a little in meetings and offices, and it is over. Of course, it is not like that. All the time these journalists are holding microphones under their noses and asking you for statements and answers for new and new problems all the time. It is never right and fine. In no government. We can easily agree with the minister and her central argument for her resignation, that you have to have people around you that you really trust, and not people that others put there for you. That is why it is all the less understandable that Bešič Loredan, who heads the Ministry of Health, operates in two (!) institutions in addition to being a minister. Unbelievable.
But let’s go back to Golob and Bobnar. Robert Golob showed his muscles in the dispute with Tatjana Bobnar. He made it clear to her that what he said will happen, or the appointment of the minister’s proposal, i.e., Boštjan Lindav for a regular term, will not happen. He therefore granted Lindav an extension of the “trial period” in order for him and Bobnar to carry out the required personnel “cleaning”. Only in six months will Golob judge whether everything is in accordance with his requirements. If it is, Lindav will be confirmed for a permanent mandate, if not, we will see. Let me mention in passing that it is actually a classic mafia method. The boss of the mafia family asks the young members of the mafia group to e.g., kill someone and thus prove themselves and gain the boss’s favour. When they do it, they have his favour, and the boss also got something to keep the youth in check, namely evidence of their murderous deeds. There is no way back for young people. I agree that this comparison is a bit exaggerated, but it is illustrative. You “clean” this and that personnel, so you have my favour, and I also have evidence that they were cleaned in a questionable way. Why do I say questionable? Because Bobnar reported him to the state prosecutor and sent a report to the CPC.
Bobnar clearly resisted this way of working. Especially since in the report of Acting Police Director Boštjan Lindav, we were also able to find a person who, since the end of May 2022, has presented himself as Robert Golob’s head of security. It turned out to be the former security guard of the president, Janez Drnovšek, who, according to the prime minister, has no business relationship with him or the government. This is strange.
The Republic of Slovenia, like all regulated countries, regulates this type of security systemically. In its short history, it has thus successfully protected many local and world presidents of countries and governments, meeting e.g., Bush and Putin, etc.
Against whom and why does Golob, in contrast to his predecessors, suddenly feel so threatened? Who is threatening him? Are existing security guards untrustworthy? I hope not and I am crossing my fingers that it is just Golob’s whim. If it is just a whim, we will somehow survive. If it is not, we are all indirectly at risk.
All of this shows a much more worrying trend, which took on an even worse tone with the departure of Marta Kos, once the vice-president of Golob’s party and the spearhead candidate of Golob’s Gibanje Svoboda party for the presidency. On her exit, she said: “The conditions that led to the circumstances that caused me to withdraw from the candidacy for the presidency of the country, which later led to my resignation as vice-president of the party, have not changed. On the contrary, they remain the same and tighten.” She added that her resignation is also a direct support to the Minister of the Interior, Tatjana Bobnar. Interesting.
Golobism is a way of operating, where on the outside with the help of rich PR and marketing campaigns you distort reality and create the appearance of the best, while on the inside there is revanchism and a shallow pool of personnel without knowledge and experience. The spiral of chaos, as Boštjan M. Turk expressed recently about Golob’s rule, is slowly showing itself in society as well. The collapse of the health care system before our eyes, the complete un-criticalness of the central media and civil society towards the government, the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and her reports of Golob to the CPC and the State Prosecutor’s Office are probably only the tip of the iceberg. What we can already see. We can only imagine what comes next. At the same time, we are entering an economic crisis.
Now is a good time to ask where we are going as a country. You do not have to be a top analyst to figure out that Golob’s reign is about to collapse like a house of cards. You need to be even less perceptive to find out that instead of Golob, after Cerar, Šarec and Bratušek, a new… Golob will enter the political scene. How many more times?