By: Sara Rančigaj
The municipal organisation of the Social Democrats of Ilirska Bistrica issued a decision on the proposal to expel Emil Rojc from the Social Democrats, submitted by the SD Youth Forum. They name that the proposal is procedurally incorrect and based on erroneous and unsubstantiated allegations, thus they consider it offensive. The municipal organisation cannot accept that the proposers, who humiliate their own people with fascist labels, allow themselves to be placed in a position of an assessor of moral principles. “Just as our MPs do not want to cooperate with people who insult them with fascists, members of the SD from Ilirska Bistrica are wondering if we still want to cooperate with people labelling us as fascists?” The municipal organisation appealed to the SD Youth Forum. And the SD Supervisory Board was proposed to reject the proposal to expel the mayor of Bistrica Emil Rojc.
The mayor of Ilirska Bistrica, Emil Rojc, has long been a thorn in the side of the central SD party, as he openly opposed illegal migration with which he faces every day in his municipality, and at the same time he praises the current government, which is able to solve problems. Meanwhile, he also openly admits that his long-time client has long been distanced from what it was supposed to be. Therefore, he incited the hatred of the head office from Ljubljana, and the Youth Forum initiated an expulsion procedure against him. However, in his efforts he was supported by the central committee of SD Ilirska Bistrica, resulting in a war breaking out.
The municipal organisation Ilirska Bistrica states in the decision that the proposal for exclusion of mayor Emil Rojc by the SD Youth Forum is procedurally wrong. First, they state that the document of SD Youth organisation is missing a header. As they say from the letter it is not clear who sent the document, nor is it clear to whom it is addressed. They consider the letter to the Supervisory Board to be pointless. They further point out that the letter was not signed and, in their opinion, is a pointless piece of paper on the basis of which the Supervisory Board cannot start the exclusion procedure. They conclude that the Supervisory Board started the procedure on the basis of an unreliable document, which is contrary to the third paragraph of Article 9 of the SD Statute. They went on to explain that one document contained a proposal for expulsion, while the signature of the president of the Supervisory Board was attached as an image in another file. They wonder if Jure Meglič is even aware of the letter and that such a letter should not be valid at all.
The municipal organisation of Ilirska Bistrica further explains that in its proposal for expulsion, the proposer misinterprets paragraph 3 of Article 9 of the Social Democrats Statute, which states: “The explained written proposal for expulsion may be submitted by any member of the party or each body of the parties.” This means that the proposer SD Youth Forum cannot submit a proposal, or cannot be a proposer for the expulsion of a member of the SD, as it is considered as a forum not as a party body in the SD Statute. They further claim that in their proposal the proposer does not name specific occasions where Rojc allegedly violated the said provision. “It is common knowledge that Rojc did not do this,” they define. They point out that the proposer does not say which party body is supposed to warn Rojc. According to their information, so far no party body has issued any disciplinary warning to Rojc. “From what is explained above, it follows that the claim is unfounded, untrue, and therefore offensive,” they wrote.
“The articles in Primorske novice are not credible evidence for any claim. From the mentioned article is not possible to make out that Emil Rojc would label the journalist of Primorske novice as a journalist “with chicken syndrome”,” they further explain. They believe that it is not possible to make out that Rojc stated that the articles of the journalist of Primorske novice are “at the level of an egg laying hen”. In his answer, Rojc wrote that in his opinion (he used the term: “as I know it”) only certain journalists are contentious, those whose articles are “at the level of an egg laying hen”. They say that in his answer to Primorske novice, Rojc did not speak critically about any specific journalist. He only spoke critically about journalistic work. “It follows that the proposer simply made up his accusation,” they added.
The Youth Forum blames Rojc for not apologising for the inappropriate reactions, while they themselves said that Rojc was organising a “fascist rally”
The Youth Forum thus states that Rojc did not apologise for his inappropriate reactions, while they are forgetting about their own statements and their own apology. “The municipal organisation of SD Ilirska Bistrica has not forgotten the statement of the SD Youth Forum on April 24th, 2019, in which among other things they wrote: The mayor, who is supposed to be a member of the Social Democrats and considers himself a Social Democrat, is organising a fascist rally.” Although the mentioned statement does not state the name of the mayor and the place of the fascist rally, it is clear to them that the only announced protest rally in Slovenia was on April 27th, 2019 in Ilirska Bistrica, and that the statement refers to Rojc.
During a conversation with Tanja Fajon in Ilirska Bistrica on September 30th, 2020, where Andreja Katič, Aleksander Jevšek, Matjaž Nemec, and Živa Živkovič were also present, members of the municipal organisation of SD Ilirska Bistrica said that the majority of SD members from Ilisrska Bistrica attended the aforementioned protests. Therefore, they recognise the statement of SD Youth Forum as an insult to the entire membership of the SD Ilirska Bistrica. The contradiction to the statement of SD Youth Forum was illustrated by one of their members, who said at the conference that the authors of the statement deserve “an educational smack around the ear”. They say that “interestingly, none of those present in the hall objected to this statement at the time, probably justifiably.”
Double standards within a party when someone labels someone a fascist
They point out that when the members of SD from Ilirska Bistrica were labelled as fascist, the party reacted completely differently compared to the recent event in the National Assembly, when MP from Levica, Miha Kordiš, stated: “Because Social Democrats collaborate with a fascist government of Janez Janša, in order to legalise personnel corruption in the Slovenian Army.” At the time, the leader of the SD parliamentary group, Matjaž Han, said: “I do not want to cooperate with people who insult my collaborator, their fascist. I do not want to cooperate! Kordiš, please apologise to me, to me personally, I do not know for others, to me personally or our parliamentary group that we are collaborators, and also to others that they are fascist.”
Finally, they point out that it is visible from the statement that the labels of fascism are not pleasant to the top of the party, or more specifically, that their MPs strongly reject them when they are addressed to them personally. Moreover, they demand an apology for such a statement. “Just as our MPs do not want to cooperate with people who insult them with fascists, members of the SD from Ilirska Bistrica are wondering if we still want to cooperate with people labelling us as fascists?” They concluded in the response to SD Youth Forum.
