By: Gašper Blažič
After the presidency of the Social Democrats (SD) withdrew support for the Minister of Justice, Dominika Švarc Pipan, she met with Prime Minister Robert Golob. However, it is apparent that what we predicted is happening: Golob is protecting the minister, whom her own party has disowned, and Švarc Pipan is holding onto her position with Golob’s support.
There is a possibility that Dominika Švarc Pipan might resign just before the debate or vote on the interpellation, which is likely to happen in about a month. However, the former cover star of Mag (under the name Nika Švarc, with the popular nickname “Giraffe”), who rejected a handshake with SDS leader Janez Janša and embraced the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, is certainly not the most intelligent person, as she would have withdrawn from politics long ago otherwise.
Trojan horse in SD and Pandora’s box
Regardless, Prime Minister Robert Golob has apparently confirmed only that Švarc Pipan was indeed a Trojan horse in the Social Democrats (SD), who infiltrated the government, where, according to our information, they initially wanted Andreja Katič as the minister. By rejecting SD’s decision not to support their minister, Golob is undoubtedly opening the Pandora’s box of coalition disputes. In other words: a butchery, a slaughter between Svoboda and SD awaits us.
As reported by the media, Minister of Justice Dominika Švarc Pipan emphasises that she takes objective responsibility for the purchase of the judicial building on Litijska Street. However, she warned that if she were to resign at this moment, similar stories would continue, and nothing would change. The final decision will be made by Prime Minister Robert Golob, and she will respect his decision, she announced. Regarding the purchase of the judicial building on Litijska Street, after the replacement of the Secretary-General Uroš Gojkovič and the review of all available documentation at the Ministry of Justice, Švarc Pipan stated before the government session that there was no negligence involved. On the contrary, according to her, it is increasingly evident that it is a carefully planned, unlawful operation, a deliberate deception, and falsification of documentation by an organised group with the aim of gaining unlawful benefits. This involves individual officials of the ministry, as well as members of the SD party. The entire documentation has already been handed over to law enforcement, and today they also revoked the authorisations of the heads of professional services who were involved in the controversial procedures, emphasised the minister, who is now targeting the General Secretary of the SD, Klemen Žibert.
“Yesterday, the party president, Tanja Fajon, said that it is normal and apparently even expected for the party’s general secretary to interfere in the work of ministries. And as I have found out in recent days, that is exactly what he did in this case as well. I am horrified by this statement from the party president, as such practice is illegal and unacceptable; it opens the door to systemic corruption, which must be fought against by all means,” she warned. As a minister, she takes objective responsibility since she signed the contract in good faith, believing that the competent services performed their work professionally, legally, and with due diligence. “Today, I know that they lied to me and deliberately concealed and manipulated data. But if I resign at this moment, similar stories will continue, and nothing will change,” she emphasised.
It seems that the situation has become downright disgusting, as Švarc Pipan will apparently “move” to the Gibanje Svoboda party, similar to Emilija Stojmenova Duh. As Bojan Požar says, Golob and Vesna Vuković would prefer to keep Dominika Švarc Pipan in the position of the Minister of Justice for a little longer, saying that the media campaign against both the SD and the opposition SDS should last as long as possible. When the story achieves its purpose, they will withdraw her.
However, this will undoubtedly take a few weeks. Švarc Pipan made such statements just before the government session, so we can expect today’s government session to be very “hot”, opening up the front between the Gibanje Svoboda and the already quite tired SD. At this moment, the self-discredited Minister of Justice is no longer part of the SD but her opponent.
This is, of course, a lot of pretence since both Prime Minister Golob and Minister Švarc Pipan, as well as Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič, are among those responsible for the scandalous purchase of the building at Litijska Street 51 – and the government was in a terrible hurry. Some negligence was also intentional, if the government did indeed deal with incomplete materials, but it is downright childish to now attribute blame to the opposition SDS, claiming it was an “internal conspiracy”.
In any case, a show awaits us where we can wait, munching on popcorn, for when the political bodies will float down the river.
ŠVARC PIPAN IS ATTACKING TANJA FAJON. WILL SHE JOIN ROBERT GOLOB’S GIBANJE SVOBODA PARTY?