By: Moja Dolenjska
NSi has persistently denied for some time that they were negotiating with the government coalition (Svoboda, SD, and Levica) for support on certain government projects in exchange for positions in state-owned companies. Recently, NSi President Matej Tonin reiterated this, but now he has been contradicted by former State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Tilen Božič.
In an interview for Delo’s podcast, Božič confirmed that NSi had indeed negotiated with the government coalition, specifically with Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič, regarding changes to tax legislation.
“When I was still there, when this correction was being prepared, which is different from what we initially anticipated, mainly because at that time the minister agreed on certain things with NSi, whatever they may be,” Božič said. Surprised by his statement, the host asked him again about the agreement between Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič and NSi, to which Božič responded: “These were agreements made at a high level, it was expected that there would be some result, which, in my opinion, did not happen in that way, but regardless … the law came into force, poorly formulated as initially anticipated, due to certain limitations,” he said.
So, NSi, in exchange for keeping its personnel in the leadership of certain state-owned companies, secretly negotiates with the government for support on specific government projects. The result of this negotiation is also evident in NSi’s decision not to contribute signatures for the establishment of an investigative commission on the outflow of money from Gen-I during Robert Golob’s tenure, despite a previous promise.