By: Peter Jančič (Spletni časopis)
An emergency session to swiftly pass a package of six laws, including an amendment to the Property Mass Valuation Act that grants additional benefits to Robert Golob’s company, Star Solar, was requested yesterday by MPs from the coalition parties Svoboda, SD, and Levica. Notably, Miha Kordiš was not among the signatories.
Urška Klakočar Zupančič has already scheduled a meeting with her colleagues for Friday, which could lead to an extraordinary parliamentary session next week to legalise additional benefits for a private company owned by the prime minister, created while he was running a state-owned enterprise in the same field. In addition to Gen-I, where he was rewarded well beyond the limits for heads of state enterprises, Golob also established Star Solar, which was long officially owned by his former spouse. The speed of the government coalition is evident from the fact that they proposed this new measure immediately after the parliamentary recess, aiming to complete the “regular legislative process” in just over two months. This pace would be exceptionally fast, even for an urgent procedure typically reserved for situations of war or natural disaster. The stated reason for the urgency is to ensure the measures take effect by the new year. The package includes amendments to six laws: along with mass property valuation, they are revising laws on personal income tax, VAT, tax procedure, corporate income tax, and the tax certification of invoices.
Where is the additional benefit?
As reported earlier following a Spletni Časopis reader’s tip, Golob has operated a solar power plant in Ptuj since 2012, with a rated output of around 700 kW, along with three smaller plants in Ruše and Maribor, each just under 50 kW. For solar plants below 50 kW, there are fewer administrative and financial obligations for business owners. Now, the government is proposing a change, and MPs are moving swiftly to approve it. They plan to raise the threshold twentyfold, to 1 MW – just enough for Golob’s solar plant in Ptuj to fall under the “more favourable” category, along with all his other plants combined. The exact value of this solar plant, located on a thousand square meters of barns in Ptuj, is undisclosed, classified as a trade secret. Such information is not available to the public.
However, it can be determined that Star Solar’s business – selling electricity to the state-run Borzen, whose executives are appointed by Golob’s government – is highly profitable. Star Solar’s 2023 annual report shows a profit of €71,789 on a quarter-million revenue. The previous year, when the owner was still the prime minister’s former spouse, profits were even higher:
The Finance Committee reviewed the mass property valuation law in its second reading late Friday night before the autumn school holidays, with MPs voting after 8 p.m. There was no discussion about how the law might affect the prime minister’s solar plant. SDS attempted to obtain an explanation as to why the limit was raised in a way that benefits the head of the government, but unsuccessfully. Slovenia’s largest opposition party announced they would vote against the entire coalition’s package of laws, citing the lack of clarity on this and other issues.
The coalition justifies the reasons for changes and the extraordinary urgency of all these laws as follows: