By: Sara Kovač
When NSi MP Aleksander Reberšek called Minister Alenka Bratušek the “queen of annexes”, a coordinated wave of attacks was launched against him on the social network X and in parts of the media. Instead of addressing his accusations about multi‑million‑euro cost increases in infrastructure projects, they shifted the focus to his past as a sole proprietor and restaurateur. Suddenly, the problem became the fact that he once had a small business, that he ran a bar, and that his company did not generate high profits.
The most direct blow came from Reporter, with the headline: “Reberšek is selling fog: as a sole proprietor he ran losses, while employees were on minimum wage.” The article attempts to create the impression that the MP who now criticises the government’s economic policy behaved differently during his entrepreneurial years, because his employees received minimum wage. They also highlighted that his hospitality sole proprietorship, Pub Sedmica, recorded losses in its final years of operation, and that he closed the business after being elected to the National Assembly.
What they deliberately left out is the fact that hospitality is a sector with extremely high costs, low margins and heavy tax pressure. Many small entrepreneurs in Slovenia operate on the edge of profitability, especially in smaller towns. Yet the very people who actually created jobs and carried entrepreneurial risk are now portrayed as morally questionable individuals.
Aleksander Reberšek also responded to the accusations, saying: “It is really stupid that a person has a sole proprietorship. Whatever little business you do with the state, that is it. You just have to be in Svoboda. They sucked up 750 grand for nothing. And they are dealing with me.”
With this, he pointed to the obvious double standards. While the media and political opponents focus on a former small‑town bar owner, far less attention is given to the business ties between people in the ruling politics and state contracts funded by public money.
Svoboda MP co‑owns a company that received nearly €750,000 from the state
Reberšek highlighted the case of Svoboda MP Aleksander Prosen Kralj, co‑owner of the company Dobre zgodbe. According to publicly available data, the company received almost €750,000 from the state, much of it during Robert Golob’s government. According to Erar, its clients include numerous ministries and state bodies, including the Government Communication Office, ministries led by Svoboda and Levica, and the state forestry company.
Zvone Černač previously pointed this out, writing that Prosen Kralj is “almost as entrepreneurial as his boss Golob”. Economist Matej Lahovnik described the case as a symptom of a state with double standards, where some are considered problematic simply for having a small family business, while others remain practically untouchable despite close ties to state finances.
The entire story diverts attention from the essential questions, while some media try to create the impression that the biggest problem in Slovenian politics is a former bar owner with a few employees on minimum wage. In reality, far more attention should be paid to companies that have seen a sharp rise in state contracts and public‑money inflows under the current government, as well as to the multi‑million‑euro cost overruns in infrastructure projects that have marked the Robert Golob administration.