By: I. K. (Nova24TV.si)
Due to confidential sources that infiltrate our editorial office (and others) from within the Gibanje Svoboda party, we know a lot more about Urška Klakočar Zupančič than we did a few months ago. Apparently, the party saw that the desperate President of the National Assembly needed a concrete PR push, as she rapidly transforms into the Vladimir Žirinovski of Slovenian politics. Therefore, she appeared on the Arena show, where she once again got entangled and started spreading untruths, prompting the leader of the SDS parliamentary group, Jelka Godec, to point this out.
As we have reported before, according to some sources, Klakočar Zupančič recently experienced a physiological-psychological collapse – something she denied on the Arena show, claiming she was sick. However, during the show, she also made an obvious untruthful statement that is so glaring that it is almost unbelievable that such a thing could come from the President of the National Assembly.
A meeting that Klakočar thinks did not take place
The collapse reportedly happened after a closed-door leadership meeting, during which the head of the legislative-legal service, Nataša Voršič, insisted on her service’s opinion that coalition MPs in May and June violated the constitutional principles of the separation of powers. She told Klakočar Zupančič that, as a former judge, she should know that what Janja Sluga, Mojca Pašek Šetinc, and others from the coalition were doing in Parliament was unacceptable. They were trying to take on the role of judges, condemn people, and remove RTVS program council members through such political trials to gain influence over the media with the most money in the country.
On top of that, Klakočar Zupančič later concealed this opinion of the legislative-legal service for several months. She later explained the events as follows: “A lot of words were spoken, especially by the SDS parliamentary group, which then obtained this opinion based on the Access to Public Information Act. I would like to emphasise here that the sessions of the Mandate and Election Commission, where the removal of programme council members would be discussed, were not held. They were cancelled, which is also correct. And the opinion of the legislative-legal service is actually completely irrelevant because it never happened. So, at that time, I requested, on the initiative of the SDS parliamentary group, this opinion, but I cancelled my request before obtaining the opinion. For reasons unknown to me, the legislative-legal service did not take into account my cancellation and prepared this opinion. But when I issued the cancellation because the sessions of the Mandate and Election Commission were also cancelled and there was no explanation from the legislative-legal service as to why they did not accept the cancellation, the matter was concluded for me.”
In this statement, Klakočar Zupančič apparently got caught in a lie, which was pointed out by Jelka Godec, the head of the SDS parliamentary group. It is not true that she cancelled the request for the opinion of the legislative-legal service because the sessions of the Mandate and Election Commission, for which SDS requested the opinion, were cancelled. The 14th extraordinary session did take place, and that was the reason SDS insisted on obtaining a legal opinion.
Godec provided a screenshot of the National Assembly’s website as evidence, showing that the session took place, and a record was made.
Did Klakočar Zupančič knowingly lie, or was it a mistake?
What is the reason behind this? Did she consciously lie in Arena by claiming that the disputed session did not take place? Or is it a mistake or even ignorance about the session? The second possibility is even more frightening than the first, as the President of the National Assembly should certainly be aware of all the sessions that take place in the seat of democracy. She apparently firmly believed that the session had never taken place since she based her entire argument about cancelling the opinion of the legislative-legal service on the (false) fact that the session had been cancelled, and therefore the opinion of the legislative-legal service was irrelevant. In any case, it is clear that the current composition of the National Assembly is led by a person who either does not speak the truth or is completely incompetent in performing her duties.
We are receiving interesting reports from within the party that relations between the staff in the President’s office and also between the office and the professional associates of the National Assembly are often tense. This is evidenced by the fact that several employees who were hired in the National Assembly based on Klakočar Zupančič’s trust have already left their positions.
We have sent the following questions to the President’s office:
How do you comment on the statement of the President of the National Assembly in the Arena show, where she stated that the session where they were removing programme council members was cancelled or not held? MP Jelka Godec provided evidence of the session’s execution, supported by minutes.