Prime Minister Robert Golob’s statement at the end of this year’s Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), which, unlike last year, was much more actively reported on by the mainstream media outlets, confirmed that Golob is not up to the job. He admitted it himself, and his statement also provoked a huge reaction on Twitter.
“… Don’t do it,” was Robert Golob’s reply to the question of a Bled Strategic Forum presenter, who wondered “what surprised him most about the transition from the private to the government sector?” With his response, Golob made it clear that he is not up to the job, which is only a confirmation of what we all know already, given all of his past empty promises, the failures in the fight against energy and food poverty, his advice on “sea therapy” as a cure for coronavirus, and all other “Golob-isms.” And given the question that was asked, apparently, the presenter did not know that “running a 100-percent state-owned company is not a private sector activity,” as the tv show host Boris Tomašič also pointed out on Twitter.
Andrej Hoivik, a Slovenian Democratic Party MP, also responded to Golob’s statement, commenting that “Prime Minister Golob has made it clear that his move from the private sector to politics was a bad decision. The conclusion of a panel is definitely not something we could be proud of.” Meanwhile, Jelka Godec, head of the SDS parliamentary group, pointed out the repetition of past mistakes when it comes to the election of “new faces” and wrote: “If at the next elections you feel tempted to vote for Golob or for another ‘new face,’ just repeat Golob’s phrase: ‘Don’t do it.’”
Last year, when the government was led by Jaenz Janša and the Minister of Foreign Affairs was Anže Logar, the Bled Strategic Forum was attended by 17 Heads of Government and Heads of State. This year, however, when the government is led by Robert Golob and the Minster of Foreign affairs is Tanja Fajon, the story is completely different. Namely, there are five Heads of State or Government attending the Bled Strategic Forum. This fact could not be overlooked even by the journalists at the BSF, so they asked Prime Minister Robert Golob himself about the “modest” attendance. “We also have a question for Prime Minister Golob regarding the attendance of presidents and prime minister at this year’s Bled Strategic Forum, which is smaller than last year – was this intentional, or did they simply not respond to the invitations?” the reported from the N1 media outlet asked. The Prime Minister’s answer may have come as a surprise to some, but it certainly did not surprise everyone: “What can I say to that… It was not intentional.” This was a clear demonstration for Golob about how he is viewed abroad and also how his government is viewed. Namely, attendance is proportional to the reputation of the government, as was pointed out by international lawyer Miha Pogačnik.
And yet, Golob’s statement is not surprising, given his work in the period of time since he has become the Prime Minister. The fact that he came from a successful state-owned company, where he was in a managerial position, did not mean that he would be equally successful in his role as head of state. As the former President of the Management Board of the Gen-I energy company, he ran a monopoly company at the expense of taxpayers’ and state money and did not create new value, which is something that truly successful managers do. However, his way of managing and dealing with problems quickly became clear to everyone when he took over as Prime Minister, as one failure after another soon followed.
Ever since Golob came to power, chaotic situations have been ongoing
Keep in mind that since the new government has taken over, Slovenia has been in chaos several times due to the reckless communication of the Prime Minister. First, he caused chaos at the petrol stations with his politically naïve and completely ruthless announcement, which was aimed at Slovenian consumers about the regulation of fuel prices. Later, in that same reckless manner, he announced the purchase of all Slovenian grain, but not the price, the quality required, from whom exactly the state would purchase the grain, nor the financial terms of the purchase. This then also created chaos in the food chain. And not to mention the “indicative basket of 15 foodstuffs, with information on prices,” which will result in additional people being employed in order to count and compare products amongst themselves. There has been no end to the reckless statements and empty promises made by Golob – namely, he promised the volunteer firefighters an allowance, but then nothing came out of that, and his statement about curing coronavirus with some “sea therapy” and his claims that “people do not need more money, because they only spend it on nonsense” are also worth being mentioned. If anyone was surprised that Golob has now admitted even to himself that he is not up to the task, it is now clear why.
Tanja Brkić
