By: Anita Gužnič / Nova24tv
Dimitrij Rupel, a long-time foreign minister, wrote a letter to German Liberal President Christian Wolfgang Lindner over Alenka Bratušek’s efforts to exclude the SMC from the ALDE European Liberals. He called on them to encourage an independent investigation into Bratušek’s proposal, as what she demands is in no way in the least similar to liberalism.
Let’s recall that the SAB party sent a letter to the management of the Alde Group proposing the initiation of proceedings to exclude the SMC party from this group. This step was announced due to developments related to the STA and European delegated prosecutors.
At the beginning of the letter, Dimitrij Rupel emphasised that he appreciates the policy of the FDP party (also a member of Alde), led by Christian Wolfgang Lindner, as he had taken it to the very top of the political establishment. “German liberals and their distinguished members enjoy high respect from Slovenian liberals, and I am convinced that this will continue. Let me draw your attention to a dramatic misunderstanding regarding Slovene-German and Slovene-European political relations,” Rupel wrote in the letter. He outlined the political situation in Slovene politics, which became complicated after 2008 and difficult for external observers to understand.
Bratušek wants to harm the SMC
After the death of Janez Drnovšek, who was the president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDS), his successors lost the elections and later merged or even formed parties with more socialist orientations. Today, we have two parties in Slovenia that are considered liberal and both are included in the Alde group in the European Parliament, Rupel explained to the president of the German party FDP. “One of them is the SMC, which is trying to avoid extreme politics and is also part of the coalition, and the other is the Alenka Bratušek party (SAB), which is in opposition and has signed an agreement with the Social Democrats (originally the League of Communists) and two other extreme left parties”. There is nothing dramatically wrong with this, Rupel pointed out, except that Bratušek decided to propose the exclusion of SMC from the Alde group. Her purpose is nothing else but to harm the election result of the SMC party and its president Zdravko Počivalšek.
Rupel also told Wolfgang Lindner that he probably remembers Bratušek after the catastrophic failure of her wish and intention to become a member of Juncker’s European Commission.
Rupel is convinced that Bratušek’s intention is only to harm the election result of the SMC party and its president Zdravko Počivalšek. He therefore called on the President of the German Liberals and encouraged a neutral investigation into the case. You can read Rupel’s letter in full below.