By Sara Bertoncelj (Nova24tv)
“If the loot is too little, it must be shared. That is why the future prime minister is inventing new ministries without any in-depth discussion. If he had to, he would invent even more. Ministry for Intergenerational Cooperation – what is it? For retirees? For demographics? For the family? Without a billfold or a budget? If the Levica were to drop out, Golob would probably add the Ministry of Solar Administration to the four new ministries. In any case, we have probably never seen a case in the history of our planet where the government is made up of parties that dropped out of parliament after the elections,” commented journalist and editor Tino Mamić on Robert Golob’s staffing.
We currently have 14 ministries and three ministries without portfolios, the president of the Gibanje Svoboda party, Dr Robert Golob recently said that he intends to add four more departments, listing the areas of climate policy, intergenerational solidarity, digitalisation, and regional development. According to him, they want to strengthen the listed areas to help them manage crisis times. However, the course of events shows that Golob will open four new ministries mainly to employ “heretics” who did not get enough votes to enter parliament.
Regional development is expected to be taken over by Marjan Šarec, who was said to be a candidate for Minister of Defence, and Alenka Bratušek is expected to take over the ministry of intergenerational solidarity – although perhaps Ljubo Jasnič, who at confrontations with Bratušek argued about which of their parties had done more for retirees, would be a more logical choice. However, it is also true that we do not really know what the ministry or the department of intergenerational solidarity means at all, so it is difficult to judge who is suitable. Let us recall (especially Golob), the President of the General Assembly immediately after the elections emphasised that they are open to staff according to the criteria of professionalism, but not to political staff. Whether Šarec and Bratušek meet this criterion should be judged by each of them. By the way, it is not yet known who will take over the regulation of tides with the climate department.
New ministries for people who have been told “no” by people in elections
According to the Vice-Dean of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Boštjan M. Turk the question of whether the additional four ministries will mean added value for the Republic of Slovenia is very simple and accurate. Given that the government of Robert Golob will not be an added value for Slovenia, also four additional ministries cannot contribute anything. “It is just hiring people who have been told no by the electorate and are now coming through the back door to the forefront,” said Turk, who said it was very bad. But obviously the Slovenian voter has not matured to such an extent that he understands what a state is and what state governance is. “So, it seems that Golob can do whatever he wants, given his election result – the correctness of which is questionable” Turk commented, adding that this is, of course, to the detriment of the Republic of Slovenia.
Namely, the four new ministries mean additional bureaucratisation of the state administration, i.e., steps in a direction that is currently inappropriate. We are in a very critical time and the current “infrastructure”, i.e., the current number of ministries, ministers, officials, laws, etc., is enough to deal with the crisis or respond to the challenges that are coming,” said Turk, who reiterated that the current time is incredibly demanding, as we woke up from the epidemic to war, which then, among other things, is also shown in euro area inflation. “And this recruitment of people, politicians who have lost their jobs, in this way is a very inappropriate response to the challenge of the times,” was a critical professor from the Faculty of Arts.
They will take money from pensioners, workers…
There was a lot of outrage in the public at the expense of Golob’s choice of staff. “Golob will “strengthen” the Ministry of Economy with a new Ministry of Regional Development, which will replace the Directorate for Regional Development,” commented a Twitter user, who also added the CVs of Šarec and acting Director of the Directorate for Regional Development Dr Robert Drobnič. It is also clear from Golob’s words that the additional ministries are intended only for the employment of unelected staff and the sucking of budget money when he admitted that he did not count on 41 seats at all and that he does not have staff. “How many flats, DSOs, free meals and holidays could Slovenia have on this account,” they ask on social networks, but of course they do not get an answer. Maybe we should additionally tax those who chose this option in the elections, this new face, after all they prefer to pay a little more – just so that it is not Janez Janša – and they will not waste money on nonsense.