by Domen Mezeg
We have a new lobbyist in Slovenian politics, who, in his public speeches, likes to say that politics should not interfere in sports and vice versa, but as it turns out, the UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin says one thing but does another. It is also not clear how, while being a leader in such an important position in the world of sports, he still has enough time left to get involved in the internal political affairs of his home country. In recent days, Čeferin supposedly called the SMC deputies Janja Sluga, Branislav Rajić and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Igor Zorčič, asking them to join the camp of the left-wing opposition – the Constitutional Arch Coalition, consisting of the LMŠ, SD, Levica and SAB parties, led by the economist Jože P. Damijan.
An interesting phenomenon is emerging on the Slovenian political left, of persons who are willing to fight in the war against the Prime Minister Janez Janša due to their enthusiasm, despite their prominent jobs abroad. One of such people is the operative Gregor Golobič with his “army” of helpers, which includes Bogdan Biščak, Drago Kos, Matjaž Han, Martin Odlazek, Zoran Janković, Stojan Petrič and Tomaž Vesel. As we have been noticing lately, a similar engagement is also being shown by someone who supposedly has nothing to do with politics.
That person is Aleksander Čeferin, the prominent lawyer and UEFA president, who has made it clear in the past himself, that politics should not interfere in sports, and sports should not interfere in politics. It seems that he gave up on his own virtues and has started to actively participate in the tearing down of the current centre-right coalition, which is doing good work for the benefit of all Slovenians, both left-wing and right-wing, at a time when the country has found itself in the grip of an epidemic that threatens our health, our lives and our economy.
Many Slovenian media outlets have already reported on the fact that Čeferin is a kind of new influence, new “uncle from the background,” and it is clear that he is not working alone, but rather, with another “uncle,” who is known as the main operative of the deep state – Gregor Golobič. And though such subversive feats are not completely understandable when it comes to Čeferin, they are very much understandable for someone like the failed politician Golobič – who is not good at politics or entrepreneurship and, in order to maintain some power, forces himself to various international meetings of the Trilateral, to where he is not, in fact, invited. However, the main thing here is that, according to unofficial information, both Čeferin and Golobič have recently been harassing the deputies of the coalition party SMC.
We have learned that Golobič and Čeferin are harassing three SMC party deputies over the phone
Recently, their annoying calls have been received by three deputies: Janja Sluga, Branislav Rajić and Igor Zorčič. Apparently, Čeferin and Golobič see them as the weakest members of the coalition. All three of them are so scared because of the phone conversations, that they do not want to talk about the whole thing at all, so it is not clear what exactly the threats or blackmail were really about, but we can only hope that it wasn’t something reminiscent of “Cosa nostra.” It seems that both “uncles” want these deputies to betray the current government and join the self-proclaimed, Eurosceptic Prime Minister-designate Jože P. Damijan and his “archery” Constitutional Arch Coalition.
Their efforts are an attempt to overthrow the completely legitimate centre-right Janša government. They want to replace it with some sort of an alternative coalition, which has been “patched together” by the lobbyists of the transitional economic and political bourgeoisie, and it consists of the not exactly friendly left-wing opposition parties. What is most bizarre about this whole thing, is that the alternative would consist of the same parties that were already part of the previous coalition, which failed miserably with the resignation of Marjan Šarec, due to their inability to cooperate. The former coalition cannot come to terms with the fact that it was removed from being latched on to the state budget, so we had to listen to it “roar” every Friday, and sometimes even on other days, since the spring. At the same time, the question arises – how can Čeferin’s interference be in line with the integrity of the UEFA President’s office? We addressed a few questions to the individual national football associations, asking them what they think about this whole matter and whether they will initiate a discussion about it at UEFA. We will publish the answers when we receive them.
However, Čeferin’s alleged interference in domestic politics is not the only stain on his public image. Months ago, at the beginning of the first wave of the epidemic, he became known as the person who values the football spectacle more than people’s health and lives. When the Belgians decided to end the season in the spring, due to the epidemic of a new coronavirus, UEFA President Čeferin threatened to exclude all their clubs from the European competitions. As we already reported on Nova24TV, an outraged Belgian fan addressed a letter to Čeferin, asking him, among other things, whether he would let his daughter attend a public event in the current situation. As president of UEFA, Čeferin should, according to the fan, be an intelligent man. Many also blame UEFA for the rapid spread of the new coronavirus – for the city of Bergamo, for example, the Champions League football match was the biological bomb that caused the epidemic to spread rapidly.