By: Vida Kocjan
The Prime Minister of the future, 15th Slovenian government, Robert Golob, has triggered the inflation of ministries. The government will consist of 20 ministers, one of whom will be without a portfolio. This is the highest ever in an independent country and the highest in the European Union, both in absolute terms and per capita. At the same time, they are planning three deputy prime ministers.
The current Janša gvernment had 14 ministers and three ministers without portfolio, i.e., a total of 17. The second Janša government had the fewest ministers among previous governments in 2012, when it reduced the number of ministers to 11 and one without a portfolio, a total of 12.
Promises disappeared
Robert Golob promised professionalism, but with the names known so far, it seems to be anything but that. He now states that the names are a mixture of political experience and professional enthusiasm. He is proud that the government will have the most ministers so far. According to Golob, they will strengthen the areas of climate policy, intergenerational solidarity, digitalisation, and regional development.
Inflation of ministries
The most likely new Prime Minister has announced three new ministries, and two existing government offices without portfolio will grow into a ministry. The Ministry of Solidarity Future, the Ministry of Climate and Energy, and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation will join the existing ministries. The candidates are Luka Mesec, Bojan Kumer, and Igor Papič.
The Government Office for Digital Transformation, headed by Mark Boris Andrijanič in Janša’s government, will grow into the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy under the current Minister Zvonet Černač will also be transformed into a ministry. The only ministry without a portfolio will be the Ministry for Foreigners Abroad, which will be taken over by Matej Arčon.
The new government can change the number of ministries only by amending the government law, which must be approved by the National Assembly. It is not yet known whether the law will be approved, as the opposition may even demand a referendum.
Employment inflation
It is not known how much the increased number of ministries will cost taxpayers. Golob says that the three new ministries will be filled with existing staff in the public administration, but in the past, it often happened that the new ministries, in addition to the distribution of staff from other departments, also hired new people. In the current case, this also means that Golob’s government will retain all the staff of the Marjan Šarec’s LMŠ party and Alenka Bratušek’s SAB party, which is incomprehensible. The parties remained below the parliamentary threshold, and Golob offered the two presidents ministerial posts and announced that they would keep (hire) all their current staff.
For the first time in the history of Slovenia, Golob ignores the election results. It has never happened before that the new government includes losers, members of political parties, to whom the voters have shown the door in the elections.
Let us just recall the events when the DeSUS party withdrew from the coalition of the current government, and even earlier from this party, Aleksandra Pivec, who was also the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food at the time. What a hue and cry there was in the media and in the then KUL opposition, there were questions about when the minister would be replaced. Jože Podgoršek became a minister from the DeSUS party, and when the party left the coalition, the story repeated itself. All this has now been forgotten in the transitional left-leaning media.
Coalition of Hungry Mouths (KLU)
At the left pole, there is a rapid consolidation of parties, while LMŠ and SAB are rushing to join Golob’s Gibanje Svoboda party. They are also in a hurry to betray members (and voters), as Šarec and Bratušek are desperate for ministerial seats. In KUL, things have changed so much that we can now call it the Coalition of Hungry Mouths (KLU) instead of the Coalition of the Constitutional Arc (KUL). These are fighters, because otherwise the leaders would be left without jobs, and above all without jobs at the expense of all taxpayers.
A traitor to retirees
Alenka Bratušek is considered to have built her political agenda on retirees. She will now take over the Ministry of Infrastructure, as she is suddenly no longer interested in retirees and pensions. Bratušek had already played a double role before that. Her mouth was full of worries about retirees, but she just wanted to get them for the vote. In 2018, she succeeded, but not this time, so the political fighter ventured into other waters. She talked a lot about healthcare. She has now “forgotten” that too. Her betrayals and hypocrisy seem to have no end.
Šarec and his lights
The next person who has nothing to look for in this government is Marjan Šarec. However, Golob offered him one of the state-forming ministries and Šarec demanded the Ministry of Defence. He intends to take his faithful son-in-law Damir Črnčec with him, which provokes many negative reactions in the public. Experts say that Šarec will be just a puppet at the Ministry of Defence, while Črnčec will have full power. During Šarec’s government, he controlled the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency (Sova), and he also played a major role in the employment of Šarec’s friend Nataša. It was the Lepa Nataša affair, which ended badly for Šarec. Experts also state that Šarec “likes lights”, which means a car with protection and lights. He likes to drive like a protected person. It is also characteristic of Šarec, who was sent from the parliament by the voters, that he does not speak fluent English, and this is necessary for the work of the ministry.
Stojmenova Duh affair
According to Robert Golob, Emilija Stojmenova Duh will take over the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Stojmenova is a Macedonian living in Slovenia, which is not wrong, but it turned out that she still does not speak fluent Slovene, even though she is employed as a research associate at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana. She is also considered to be a political fighter ascent. Initially, she was a member of the Strategic Council for Digitisation, and when she found out she will not lead it (Mark Boris Andrijanič became the leader), she left the council. She immediately joined the SD party and ran in the elections in Maribor. When she was not elected, she left the party and joined the Gibanje Svoboda party, and Golob nominated her for Minister of Digital Transformation. The worst thing is that Stojmenova Duh’s act was greeted by Tanja Fajon and some prominent members of the SD party. By the way, it is boiling in the membership of SD.
Overjoyed Fajon
Although the SD party led by Tanja Fajon failed in these elections and lost many votes and seats, Tanja Fajon is overjoyed. She has been appointed Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and is also expected to be Deputy Prime Minister. As such, Fajon also gets “lights” and security guards. Golob also attached European affairs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it was Fajon who slandered our country abroad the most during the government of Janez Janša. She even advocated that the European Commission prevent Slovenia from drawing on European funds. Now the deep state has rewarded her with the post of minister.
Advocate of Karadžić
Dominika Švarc Pipan will be the Minister of Justice in Golob’s government. This is a lawyer who trained at the law firm in The Hague, which defended the criminal Radovan Karadžić, accused of genocide in Srebrenica. That is why they are on their feet in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to Delo, Švarc Pipan, who is also the vice-president of the SD party, is said to be talking about the position of the Minister of Justice past the party’s headquarters and the parliamentary group. She lost the election, then was supposed to immediately reach an agreement directly with Golob. Švarc Pipan denied this, blamed her party colleagues for the information, and wrote that she had been stabbed in the back within her own party ranks. Either way, she is far from suitable for the Minister of Justice.
Few fit
According to Peter Gregorčič, commentator and political analyst, the expertise can be attributed to Igor Papič, candidate for Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, and candidate for Minister of Health Danijel Bešič Loredan. “I think that the candidate for Minister of Health is an extremely professional staff. Doctors have great respect for him. I have high hopes for this candidate, I like his way of rhetoric. Some say that he will leave first,” Gregorčič told Planet TV.
Boštjančič and Han
It seems that Matjaž Han, a long-time member of the SD party and a trader by education, will also be in the government. This is not the worst thing, as the minister is a political function, but he does not enjoy a great reputation in public, among young people and abroad. The Minister of Finance is said to be Klemen Boštjančič, Borut Jamnik’s man. Peter Gregorčič estimates that it is exclusively a question of what will happen to state property. So, it is about privatisation. Matjaž Han is supposed to become the Minister of Economy because he is the only skilful politician among the partners in the coalition to counterbalance Borut Jamnik, so that he will not “squander” all state property. “I will not be surprised if we experience the privatisation of all hotels in the country in the coming months,” Gregorčič said.
A government with interests
The emerging government is intertwined with interests. Political analyst Miran Videtič estimates that Golob made up only 30 percent of the team. The rest was made elsewhere. The role of Gregor Golobič, who is considered to be behind the Levica, is also important.
He will not let go of energy
In all this, it is interesting that Golob has secured the field of energy. This is now called the Ministry of Climate and Energy, the candidate is Golob’s man Bojan Kumer.
Bojan Kumer is considered a friend of Robert Golob and Alenka Bratušek. During Šarec’s government, when Bratušek was the Minister of Energy, her companion was also at the World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi. Kumer is the director of Elektro energija, a subsidiary of Elektro Ljubljana. Prior to that, he was Secretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure and as such was in close contact with Golob. Kumer is also a close associate of Andrej Ribič, former President of the Management Board of Elektro Ljubljana and current leader in Golob’s party. In Demokracija we recently announced that he was involved in the controversial sale of an apartment in Ljubljana, which involved two of Golob’s men – former president of Elektro Ljubljana Andrej Ribič and director of Elektro energija Bojan Kumer. Kumer bought the apartment of Elektro Ljubljana in an allegedly controversial way and at a very low price, so a criminal complaint was filed against Ribič and (now a former) lawyer of this company Martina Pohar. Elektro Ljubljana is said to have been damaged by tens of thousands of euros.
Ministry for mixing fog
Luka Mesec is supposed to head the Ministry of Solidarity Future, he is supposed to take care of the apartments, which are supposed to be built with the money of citizens, saved in bank deposits. That is why some are already withdrawing their money from bank accounts.
List of ministries and ministerial candidates:
Gibanje Svoboda party: 13
Ministry of Finance: Klemen Boštjančič (GS)
Ministry of Health: Danijel Bešič Loredan (GS, Deputy Prime Minister)
Ministry of the Interior: Tatjana Bobnar (GS)
Ministry of Defence: Marjan Šarec (GS)
Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation: Igor Papič (GS)
Ministry of Education: Amalija Žakelj (GS)
Ministry of Digital Transformation: Emilija Stojmenova Duh (GS)
Ministry of Infrastructure: Alenka Bratušek (GS)
Ministry of Climate and Energy: Bojan Kumer (GS)
Ministry of Nature Protection and Spatial Planning: Uroš Brežan (GS)
Ministry of Public Administration: Sanja Ajanović Hovnik (GS)
Ministry without portfolio – Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenes Abroad – Matej Arčon (GS)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food: Irena Šinko
SD party: 4
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs: Tanja Fajon (SD and Deputy Prime Minister)
Ministry of Justice: Dominika Švarc Pipan (SD)
Ministry of the Economy, Tourism, and Sport: Matjaž Han (SD)
Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development: Aleksander Jevšek (SD)
Levica party: 3
Ministry of Solidarity Future: Luka Mesec (Levica, Deputy Prime Minister)
Ministry of Culture: candidate not yet known (Levica, unofficially Asta Vrečko)
Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities: candidate not yet known (Levica)
Golob triggered ministerial inflation
According to the data, Slovenia will have one minister per 105,000 inhabitants with the new Golob’ government. Poland has a population of 38 million and 17 ministries, which is one minister per 2.2 million inhabitants. They have the fewest ministers in neighbouring Hungary, with a population of 10 million, only 8 ministries, or one minister per 1.25 million.
In recent years, neighbouring Croatia has been the record holder in the number of ministries. With a good 4 million inhabitants, they had 20 ministries (one ministry per 200,000 inhabitants). Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković reduced the number of ministries to 16. In Slovenia, Robert Golob used a different tactic. He increased the number of ministries.