By: Peter Jančič (Spletni časopis)
As of March 31st, Vesna Vuković, former journalist for Dnevnik, Siol.net, and Necenzurirano, will step down from the position of the general secretary of the Gibanje Svoboda party.
As announced by Svoboda yesterday, the withdrawal was agreed between Robert Golob and Vesna Vuković. This happened in the days when the National Council was deciding whether to demand an investigation into Golob’s businesses, part of which included transfers of €103,000 to Vuković’s parallel company from the state-owned GEN-I when she was still a journalist for the state’s Siol.net. In total, over a quarter of a million euros were transferred to Vuković’s company, including related entities. After the elections, when Golob took over the reins, Vuković initially managed public relations for the Svoboda party. However, she likely did not turn down more significant roles in the government due to her lack of formal education, which is characteristic of many politically active journalists in Slovenia. It would not be impossible for Vuković to assume an important position in the government, as there are already two ministers without a university education: the experienced politician Matjaž Han (SD), who leads the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, and newcomer Mateja Čalušić (Svoboda), who recently took over the agriculture department.
This is the second departure of a general secretary from a government party in a short period. Prior to this, Klemen Žibert, the general secretary of the Social Democrats (SD), resigned due to the scandal involving the purchase of a dream building for the Ministry of Justice. The affair was triggered by the Necenzurirano portal, which Vesna Vuković has been associated with throughout. This portal holds significant influence in left-leaning and pro-government media.
As the general secretary of the party and a close associate of Golob, Vuković had a substantial impact on personnel purges in state-owned enterprises and media. She was also involved in numerous internal conflicts within the Svoboda party. Allegedly, she played a role in the expulsion of Mojca Pašek Šetinc from the party and was involved in the conflict with former Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar. Among other things, after the premature change in the leadership of SDH, Telekom, and TSmedia, carried out by the ruling coalition, she sought a new editor-in-chief for Siol.net, which became Mihael Šuštaršič, one of the signatories of a petition by 571 journalistic activists against Janez Janša (SDS). Šuštaršič had previously worked at the state-owned STA.
Unofficially, it is heard that Vuković could be employed in the media network of Martin Odlazek, where former President of the Court of Audit Tomaž Vesel is already working. Vesel was considered a potential new face after Zoran Janković, Alenka Bratušek, Miro Cerar, and Marjan Šarec, but ended up at the top of Dolenjski list. Part of Odlazek’s empire is also the Necenzurirano media, which Golob likely financed as his propaganda portal with transfers to Vuković’s company from GEN-I.
As announced by Svoboda, in a meeting held yesterday at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, the new general secretary (party director) will be Rok Marolt. In the past, he worked for the now-defunct Adria Airways, where he served as one of the directors under the leadership of the current Finance Minister, Klemen Boštjančič. Later, he led the Civil Aviation Agency for seven years. The government dismissed him from this position in June 2022, immediately after taking office, and appointed him as the acting general secretary of Boštjančič’s Ministry of Finance. Boštjančič, alongside Golob, was part of the group of state and para-state companies that had historically financed the company of Vesna Vuković. However, Marolt is not currently the general secretary of the Ministry of Finance; on March 23rd last year, he assumed the position of director of air traffic control.