By: Peter Jančič (spletnicasopis.eu)
Since Dimitrij Zadel did not accept the replacement parliamentary position, the State Election Commission proposed to the parliament that Branko Zlobko be confirmed as the new Gibanje Svoboda MP. Zlobko will be confirmed in the session of the National Assembly, which starts today. Monika Pekošak resigned as an MP because she is moving to the state-owned DARS, which is now controlled by the Gibanje Svoboda party after they got rid of NSi personnel. Last week, Pekošak received her final parliamentary salary for work up to April 26th, amounting to a gross of 4,110 euros. Zlobka is a retiree, the head of hunters in the Kočevje area, and has had a career as a policeman and a soldier.
Recently, there has been a series of parliamentary “resignations” from the Gibanje Svoboda party. Dejan Zavec and Martin Marzidovšek resigned, and, after resigning from the ministerial position, Danijel Bešič Loredan also gave up his parliamentary seats.
After Zlobka is confirmed, the Gibanje Svoboda will have 40 votes in parliament again. They initially won 41 seats in the election, but Mojca Pašek Šetinc left the parliamentary group after being expelled from the party, with party leader Robert Golob explaining that she was “playing for the wrong team”. However, Pašek Šetinc did not resign as an MP.
There has also been a series of resignations and replacements in the government. Besides the previously mentioned Bešič Loredan, who failed to reform healthcare, the Gibanje Svoboda also lost another key figure, the Minister of Public Administration, Sanja Ajanović Hovnik. Her attempt to raise salaries for officials failed when it was revealed that she was more focused on directing funds for allegedly promoting NGOs towards her family and friends. There is now chaos regarding public sector salaries. After her resignation, she secured a better-paid position at the state railways. The Prime Minister also dismissed his Minister of Agriculture, Irena Šinko, in the National Assembly, which paved the way for Uroš Brežan, the Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, who had to leave the government earlier and was receiving compensation for politicians unable to find a job. He found a new position as a replacement MP for the new Minister of Agriculture, Mateja Čalušić, who, upon being elected by MPs, was found to lack particularly high scientific credentials.
The latest resignation in the government occurred at the Ministry of Justice, where Dominika Švarc Pipan from the Social Democrats (SD) had to step down. Before her resignation, she managed to get the government to dismiss her deputy, former head of the Court of Audit and MEP Igor Šoltes. Since then, both have been receiving compensation for politicians unable to find a job. They both received these payments last week as well, with Švarc Pipan receiving 4,725 euros and Šoltes 4,387 euros. The political activity of heads of the Court of Audit is further evidenced by Tomaž Vesel, whom Gibanje Svoboda leader Golob is already presenting as a candidate for European Commissioner in his campaign for the European elections, although the commission (government) is usually formed only after the elections.