The rule of the SD party has led Slovenia to the loss of Teran. The European General Court will announce its decision in Slovenia’s lawsuit against the European Commission on Wednesday. According to our sources close to the court, Slovenia is the loser in the dispute. Former Minister of Agriculture and President of the Social Democrats Dejan Židan is to blame for the loss of Teran protection, after the European Commission adopted a delegated act in 2017 to grant an exception to Croatia for the use of the name Teran. This is Židan’s fault and the fault of the administration under his leadership, which, at the time when Slovenia was a member of the EU and Croatia was still negotiating the accession, categorically refused to talk with the European Commission.
On Thursday, September 3rd, the editorial board of Škandal24 addressed a series of questions to Židan, who is currently an MP of the SD party, in which they wanted to know whether he would take responsibility for losing Teran, and how. At a time when he should have been fighting for domestic winemakers, he refused to do so, and then, when filing a lawsuit, he said some strong words about Croatia and the European Commission. The Slovenian Press Agency had summarized his statement on September 15th, 2017, quoting: “We have insisted, from the very beginning, that the Croatians reached an agreement with the European Commission behind our backs before joining the EU, and this cannot be part of the functioning of a country or a union.”
The loss of Teran is only the latest in a series of blows to Slovenian agriculture
Unlike Židan’s faking of ignorance and attempts at distancing himself from responsibility, in 2017, before filing a lawsuit, Klemen Šavli, a farmer from Primorska, pointed to those responsible, when he said: “The loss of Teran is only the latest in a series of blows to Slovenian agriculture that history will remember as one of the major Slovenian national catastrophes. It is appalling that the data on Croatia’s request for an exemption for Teran from a year and a half ago has only now come to light. This is an incredible coincidence, which I find hard to believe. I suggest that the Slovenian law enforcement authorities investigate whether anyone from the Ministry of Agriculture received a small plot of land or a small island on the Croatian coast, as compensation for our Teran.”
In addition to the State Attorney’s Office, German lawyer Roland Knaak also had to be involved in conducting the proceedings. However, the SD party used Teran for lots of their toasts, and they bragged about it in video clips on their social networks.
If we take the current events surrounding the promotional activities of the current Minister of Agriculture Aleksandra Pivec into account, it will be interesting to see the bills that Židan and his companions from the SD party paid for drinking Teran.
Sara Kovač