By: Nova24tv.si
The story of the rejection of the law on pension bonuses for artistic achievements in the referendum is far from over. On the contrary – it has triggered a wave of pressure demanding that Minister of Culture Asta Vrečko take political responsibility for proposing an ill-conceived piece of legislation and for mismanaging the state budget. After the referendum slap in the face – in which voters clearly rejected the law championed by Minister Vrečko herself – MPs from the NSi party and the group of unaffiliated Democrat MPs opened a new front: they filed a motion of no confidence (interpellation) against the minister in parliament. Janša criticised the Democrats for acting “post festum” – too late, after the fact.
The accusations go far beyond the controversial law. Among other things, Asta Vrečko is accused of mismanaging public funds, violating cultural heritage legislation, and even of “systematically destroying the values of Slovenian independence.”
MPs claim that the minister acted negligently and unlawfully with unjustified payments from the budget, which allegedly undermines trust in state institutions. Furthermore, she is said to have led cultural policy without expert analysis, without public debate, and to the detriment of citizens and employees in cultural institutions. The accusation is particularly sharp that by equating the history before and after independence, she is undermining the foundations on which independent Slovenia was established.
By submitting the interpellation – the eleventh against members of Golob’s team in this term – the opposition is clearly signalling its intention to hold the minister politically accountable. Although NSi alone does not have enough MPs to initiate the interpellation, this time they received support from unaffiliated MPs of the Democrats.
Opposition leader Janez Janša commented on the interpellation filed by Logar’s Democrats: “We are looking for any public call from the Democrats party, which has a stolen name and stolen mandates, urging voters to participate and vote in the referendum. Does anyone have one? Because after the referendum victory, they strangely came back to life. Before that, they considered the referendum unnecessary.”
There are plenty of reasons for Vrečko to leave
Recently, we have witnessed numerous absurdities from the Ministry of Culture under Asta Vrečko’s leadership. We recently reported that taxpayers have to pay contributions for the artistic elite – already over 450 euros per month. Now Minister Vrečko also wants to pay for the “invisible” work of self-employed cultural workers. Let us also recall the bizarre media law that rescues failing transitional-era media and introduces repression against online influencers.
The question is no longer whether Asta Vrečko will survive the interpellation but how long political reality will allow her to remain at the helm of the ministry. Will she resign before the vote takes place? Will Prime Minister Golob remove her to obscure the impression of a political defeat? Or will they find another reason to quietly remove her and save face? Whatever happens, all signs indicate that her days in the current government are slowly but surely coming to an end.