By Sara Kovač (Nova24tv)
After the holidays, it is time to start formal coalition negotiations between the winner of the recent parliamentary elections, Robert Golob, and future coalition partners, the SD and the Levica. Although the mainstream media presented Golob as a kind of political refreshment, which will bring “freedom” and “democracy” to the country, the names of the cadres who appear as the most likely ministers of Golob’s government show that they are mostly old cadres of KUL. Voters told LMŠ and SAB that they did not want them anymore and took them out of parliament. Apparently Golob sold a pig in a poke to the voters.
The will of the people in the parliamentary elections is clear: the KUL coalition is the biggest loser, as it has halved and weakened, which means that people want change. However, the candidate for Prime Minister flatly ignored the will of the voters, as he intends to build the government from the big “losers” of the LMŠ and SAB, who landed outside the parliament. Robert Golob has thus not only shown that he has a shallow cadre pool, but he also speaks openly with all cadres of the left – from the deep state to KUL. The challenges of the future will be difficult for the ministry team and bureaucracy, many of which have already proven themselves and proved not to be the most competent.
In the Gibanje Svoboda party, president of which is Robert Golob, they present a proposal for a coalition agreement. Its content, as well as the programme of the Golob’s party, was coordinated by Sanja Ajanović Hovnik. During the government of Marjan Šarec, she was the Deputy Director of the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy and was once considered a prominent member of the SAB party, which achieved the worst election result among KUL parties in this election.
Police officer of Damir Črnčec
It is not yet known how many ministries will belong to each party. However, even before the elections, Golob let it be known that in case of victory, the Ministries of Health and Finance will be in his hands. According to N1, he is also supposed to have control over the Ministry of the Interior, currently headed by Aleš Hojs. Former director general of the police Tatjana Bobnar is supposed to be the one who will take over the management of the mentioned Ministry. Bobnar, who was appointed to the position of Director General of the Police by Damir Črnčec, is probably remembered by many. It is known that at the time when the Commission for the Supervision of Intelligence and Security Services requested a list of insights from Bobnar during the police inspection, she almost shouted that the commission headed by Žan Mahnič had exceeded its powers. At the time, Bobnar was supported by the then Prime Minister Šarec and the Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar.
Let’s remember. As Minister Hojs revealed after his term began, there was a shocking number of insights during Šarec’s government, which some MPs warned about. Even before that, suspicions about the unusual behaviour of Minister Poklukar, Šarec, and also Bobnar in contacts with individuals at the level of the population arose among the highest politicians, MPs, and others. Prior to any such contact, they most likely unauthorisedly and illegally inspected individual files of persons at the Police, with whom they then came into contact. It was also interesting to reveal that during Bobnar’s time, daily police reports were sent to Poklukar. As a result, he was informed of all police interventions in the field, including the personal data of those involved. It was a practice that could not be seen before Poklukar and during the time of the current Minister.
A month ago, it was speculated that Bobnar was joining the Golob’s party. She denied it. She said that she was not a member of any political party and that she did not intend to become one. Asked whether she would run for a position, such as Interior Minister, in the event of Golob’s victory, she said she was not considering any possible candidacies for jobs or post-election tasks. “But if I do, the public will be informed in a timely manner,” she added. Many people at this point are wondering if Bobnar might want revenge on Mahnič, who called on her to resign in the past. Among other things, he defended the belief that by introducing pre-trial proceedings, Bobnar had in fact acknowledged that there was a well-founded suspicion of espionage for politicians. Information Commissioner Mojca Prelesnik confirmed in 2020 that the police had introduced an inspection procedure to verify whether police officers had indeed unjustifiably inspected the records of certain MPs or politicians.
Loyal cadres of the deep state to the post of Minister of Economy?
Former President of the Management Board of Luka Koper Dimitrij Zadel is emerging as a potential candidate for Minister of the Economy. Far from being the only possible name. In Tanja Fajon’s SD, they want former SD MP Milan M. Cvikl to take this position. He is considered a loyal cadre of the deep state, as he represents one of the main actors in the Patria affair. After this staged affair, he was first appointed Secretary General of the Pahor Government, and then a member of the European Court of Auditors, where he received monthly financial inflows of around 20 thousand euros. Despite the embarrassment he suffered in the Patria affair, this did not prevent him from running for vice-governor and then governor of the Bank of Slovenia. He was unlucky in both.
Just before the elections, the SD party introduced Cvikl and sold him externally as a financial expert, although in the past he approved loans from Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB) contrary to the principles of optimal risk. Cvikl, who was a member of the LDS until 2008, was known not only for lobbying for TEŠ 6, but also for the failed group Viator & Vektor, for which he lobbied through his second wife. In the past, a prominent member of the SD presented himself as the author of the book, although he copied its contents from Wikipedia. We have already written that he is also known for not paying alimony to his daughter from his first marriage. But it also turned out that he is extremely indebted with incredibly high monthly loan instalments.
The former rector of the University of Ljubljana, Igor Papič, is mentioned as a name from the ranks of Golob’s party, who could take over the management of the higher education department. The president of the SD party, Tanja Fajon, who has so far held the post of MEP, is mentioned in the role of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. If anyone might have thought that Fajon would follow the example of party vice-president Jernej Pikalo and resign (a quarter of a million votes less than in 2008), he was wrong. Fajon obviously wants a ministerial post too much. Former Minister of Defence Andreja Katič, during whose time the Slovenian Army faced staff malnutrition, poor social status of soldiers, crumbling boots and uniforms, outdated equipment, and insufficient assessment of the army’s readiness to act in the war, could take the position of the new Defence Minister, according to the MMC.
After the news that former judge Urška Klakočar Zupančič will take over the position of President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, the name of SD Vice President Dominika Švarc Pipan is mentioned in connection with the leadership of the Ministry of Justice. Švarc Pipan’s candidacy for MP failed. During the election campaign, where she called for freedom, respect, and dignity, she raised a lot of dust when she refused to shake hands with Prime Minister Janez Janša and proved that she has great problems with etiquette in practice.
At the time when the Ministry of Justice was headed by Andreja Katič, Švarc Pipan held the position of State Secretary. At that time, she made a notorious statement that she would like to take us back to 1991, the time of communism, when citizens’ and political rights were violated. For herself, she likes to say that she worked in the EU with the prosecutor’s office against war criminal Vojislav Sešelj. She is much less happy to mention that she also collaborated with the law firm Drolec Sladojević, which defended war criminal Radovan Karadžić.
Bratušek and Šarec to the position of state secretaries?
At the SD, they want four Ministries, and in the Levica, three. N1 sources state that the Levica is interested in running the Ministry of Culture, Labour, and Education. Coordinator Luka Mesec and his deputy Asta Vrečko appear as possible names for future members of the government. The MMC mentions Levica MPs Nataša Sukič and Matej Tašner Vatovec as possible candidates for Ministers. According to Televizija Slovenija, the presidents of the outspoken KUL parties SAB and LMŠ, Alenka Bratušek and Marjan Šarec, are not expected to have a ministerial position, but it is quite possible that they will hold the positions of state secretaries.
The latest candidate for Finance Minister in the new government is Igor Stebernak, a former member of Petrol’s management board and a long-time senior employee of various banks and insurance companies. Požareport reminded of the fact that Stebernak is being tried at the District Court in Ljubljana on suspicion of illegal conduct. On April 22nd, last year, the state-owned company Petrol filed a lawsuit for damages against the entire dismissed Petrol management, i.e., against Tomaž Berločnik, Rok Vodnik, and Stebernak, requiring, inter alia, compensation for just over 8 million in damages.
Golob, Mesec, and Fajon assessed Tuesday’s coalition negotiations as successful and pointed out that they want to form a government by June 3rd. Political scientist Dr Miro Haček assessed the announcement as speaking by heart. “Until June 3rd, a Prime Minister may be elected, but certainly not a constituent government. There are some procedures and annoying deadlines somewhere in the Constitution and it would be good to take them into account,” he said. According to Golob, the names of individual candidates have not been discussed yet. By the end of the week, a clearer outline of the government around the division of ministerial posts is expected. Golob did not want to comment on whether Bratušek and Šarec will also be part of the government but said that talks on cooperation with parties that failed to reach the parliamentary threshold would begin in the coming days. As he claims, the chosen names are supposed to be professional. Although Golob has not yet taken over the leadership of this government, he is already talking about how they have two mandates in the plan. “If we want to seriously address development challenges, we need to look beyond one term,” he said, proving that appetites for government on the left are high. Golob said that until 2030 we will live in a country, we will be proud of and want to continue living in. How to believe that it will really be so if he is offering the transmission of a deep state.
