“Dear President! You must really have courage to praise yourself with unfinished projects!” wrote European Commissioner Violeta Bulc on the Twitter social network, to President Borut Pahor.
No one expects ordinary people to respect their president and to not criticize him. This cannot be expected even from his political and ideological opponents. In any case, it is expected from the European Commissioner Violeta Bulc, in principle a non-party European official, that she would not publicly attack the President of Slovenia.
However, that is exactly what Violeta Bulc did – she placed herself directly against the elected President of the Republic of Slovenia. This is a first-class (diplomatic) scandal.
Borut Pahor wrote on Twitter: “On this day, 9 years ago, I signed an Arbitration agreement with the Croatian Prime Minister Kosor in Stockholm. It has ended the 18-year-long period of incidents on the border, which no longer occur, while the neighboring countries greatly strengthened their economic cooperation. In accordance with the agreement, the arbitration tribunal determined the border between the two countries. Irrespective of different opinions on its fairness and its refusal by Croatia, the border thus established will sooner or later be enforced. The agreement was signed in the midst of the worst economic crisis, limiting the danger of mixing social and national unrest. In my opinion, it will be implemented in similar conditions and with similar incentives. I said it was a fantastic day, at that time, and I am equally confident of it today.”
Bulc answered by attacking the President: “Dear President! You must really have courage to praise yourself with unfinished projects!”
The position of the European Commissioner is not a function owned by Violeta Bulc, it is not her personal success or trophy of a high position, but the privileged mission of a Slovenian representative of the Slovenian state in Brussels. Violeta Bulc is therefore a Slovenian representative in a kind of European government, she is in the highest position of the Brussels administration. That is why she should have a respectful attitude towards the elected representatives of the people, especially the president of her country of origin, not contradict him publicly and through a social network.
The economist Matej Lahovnik commented Bulc’s attack on Pahor: “Our Euro Commissioner, who has denied the existence of a favorable legal opinion for Slovenia, relating to the arbitration agreement, is now attacking the president of her country, Borut Pahor. What if she tried to get more EU funding for the doubling of the Slovenian railway instead?! “