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Wednesday, December 11, 2024

(KUL FILE, part 1) The role of Gregor Golobič – an operative of Milan Kučan’s deep state – in the wannabe KUL coalition

by Peter Truden, Janja Stran

When Stojan Pelko appeared next to Jože Damijan at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and NSi President Matej Tonin, the last doubt disappeared: the overthrow of the center-right government is led by Gregor Golobič, and the chief of the deep state, Milan Kučan. Stojan Pelko is a former prominent politician of the LDS and the Zares party, who has been a loyal cadre and an ally of Gregor Golobič for many years.

Who is Gregor Golobič, who very reluctantly appears in the public eye and does not want to be exposed since the miserable end of the party Zares? Who is the man who in 1992 (together with Jožef Školč and Tonet Anderlič) already overthrew the Demos government, and who in a similar manner is now fighting against the current team on Gregorčičeva ulica in Ljubljana? Let’s relive the memory of who he was and what he was doing. And how he met Jože Damijan?

Golobič and Damijan
When Golobič testified before the parliamentary commission of inquiry in the TEŠ6 case, Jože Damijan could not hide his enthusiasm and adoration of Golobič. “He was perfectly prepared, armed with facts and documents and in the mood to directly name the culprits by name and surname and to clearly highlight their primary interests,” he wrote on his blog and sharply attacked Matej Lahovnik.

Kučan and Golobič allegedly recommended Damijan to become a kind of the party economist of Levica. Luka Mesec’s party is malnourished when it comes to economic knowledge, thud Kučan, who has long praised Levica, was looking for a suitable economist for them. Damijan, transitioning from a young economist (liberal in economic terms) to an advocate of purely socialist ideas (he is a fan of former Greek Finance Minister Ioannis Varufakis) years ago, became the perfect fit. He is a man without charisma who knows how to take care of himself financially, but is perfectly suited to play the role of Marko Voljč from 1992. Voljč, a banker and economist from Washington, where he headed the department for Central America and Panama, was nominated as the formateur in February of 1992 by a group of independent “members of Parliament” (he iswas expected to replace Lojze Peterle from the Demos government). Directors of this maneuver were the at the time President Milan Kučan, the leadership of the LDS and the renegades of Demos (for example, the Hribar couple). But Voljč was only a cannon fodder, an introduction to another no confidence vote with which the transitional left succeeded the third time, when Janez Drnovšek appeared as the candidate for the new Prime Minister. Golobič became the general secretary of the LDS, Voljč was richly rewarded for this “game” – in September 1992 he became the president of the management board of Nova Ljubljanska banka. Jože Damijan now has a similar role- he is being “pumped” by the media while they are also loosening the ruling coalition led by Janez Janša. How Damijan will be rewarded when he drops out is not yet known.

But now let us focus on Gregor Golobič.

Golobič’s influence on POP TV

Gregor Golobič never gave up politics nor the influence he has had. Officially, he has not been anywhere for a long time, as he considers himself to be an entrepreneur, but as an operative of Milan Kučan, he still leaves his fingerprints everywhere. One such area is the mainstream media, which he still controls – including the private POP TV, although he is allegedly a bit nervous after the change of ownership. But for now, POP TV is very supportive of Jože Damijan and is very anti-government. In other words, POP TV has always done what (regardless of who was in charge of it or was the editor) what Gregor Golobič instructed.

This was nicely illustrated, for example, years ago, when POP TV dared to report on the story of Ultra and the lie of Gregor Golobič. Disciplining quickly began, and on Golobič’s orders, they even canceled the show Trenja. Golobič’s rethoric about Kanal A as a “sewer” was effective with at the time boss Tomaž Perovič and other leaders – only people who did not threaten the interests of the transitional left and who consolidated power in the at the time Pahor’s government came to the commercial television. Tomaž Perovič, completely under the influence of Golobič, played a very dirty (political) role. As the time of the early elections in 2011 approached, POP TV strongly supported Zoran Janković as the “product” of Milan Kučan, Zdenek Roter and Gregor Golobič and were constantly reporting on him. The disqualification of SDS and Janez Janša, on the other hand, was understandable. In the end, they “achieved” Janković’s victory, but were not successful in making him Prime Minister, although they were urging both Karel Erjavec and Gregor Virant to join the “winning” option of the left bloc. Golobič has a similar influence on RTV Slovenia, Delo, Dnevnik and Večer.

Staffing in parties

As an operative of Milan Kučan, he also has a great influence in the formation of “new faces” and new political parties.

We should thank Golobič that many Zares MPs landed in Janković’s party, Positive Slovenia. This is completely logical given that he helped create Zoran Janković – both at the local and national level.

Together with Milan Kučan, he participated in the formation of the party Verjamem, led by Igor Šoltes (he later became an MEP and was in the game for the new Prime Minister for some time), and in possible collaborations with other smaller parties before the parliamentary elections. He was also involved in the formation of the party of Miro Cerar, Alenka Bratušek and Marjan Šarc (LMŠ).

What does Zdenko Roter say about Golobič?

The influence of Gregor Golobič is great. It has always been. Because this influence is not transparent and is far from the public eye, it is all the more sinister, which is also described in the book Fallen Masks by Zdenko Roter, a former adviser to Milan Kučan.

“I advise and participate in the export of technological solutions in the field of mobile transaction systems,” Golobič often replies to questions about how he makes a living. At one time, this was the infamous Ultra, which went bankrupt in November 2015 after the decision of the District Court in Ljubljana. And it was Ultra who years ago almost shook the foundations of Gregor Golobič’s apparent principles. After the late Janez Drnovšek said goodbye as Prime Minister, Golobič was employed by Ultra between 2003 and 2008. He was also a co-owner after of Ultra through the Dutch company Ultra SUM. Regarding this period, he later said that they were constantly harassed by the government of Janez Janša and that the SDS was behind the later Ultra affair. Which makes no sense at all when we look at the numbers – the company was doing its best at that time. Profits were not large, but according to the results, they probably accumulated in companies abroad for which data is not publicly available.

If Ultra did not perform well with any of their companies, they found a suitable state-owned company or a company in which the state has a decisive influence, to buy it. One such company was En Plus, founded by Ultra, which was later taken over by the aforementioned Hram Holding. The company, in which Janez Kopač was the procurator for some time, was operating at a loss at all times. But look at the strange miracle, suddenly a benefactor in the form of Mercator appeared, who saw in the loss-making company a business opportunity. At the time, it was led by Žiga Debeljak, who bought En Plus for two million euros in August 2011, when Golobič announced his resignation as a minister. There are still a lot of state-owned companies that were in favour of Golobič’s (business) ideas, but we will discuss them some other time.

In the following sequels of the KUL files, you will be able to read, among other things:
On the estate of which entrepreneur (far from the public eye) do conspirators meet and why is this entrepreneur important for the deep state?
Which coalition MPs are being controlled by lower-ranking deep-state operatives and what are they offer them in exchange for giving up support to the center-right government?
Who is the narrow group of current and former politicians, entrepreneurs and managers who are working on scenarios on how to overthrow the government of Janez Janša?
Which party presidents Milan Kučan talks to on the phone on a daily basis?

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