After Marta Kos withdrew from her announced candidacy for the position of President of the Republic of Slovenia, we in the media speculated what might have motivated her for that decision. Until today, when we received a hint that Robert Golob, after an intervention by Milan Kučan, had promised her one of the most prestigious political appointments in exchange for her withdrawing from the candidacy – the post of Ambassador to Washington.
But there is, of course, a big flaw in this plan. And that is that the ambassadorial post in Washington is not empty. It is occupied by Ambassador Tone Kajzer, who is now being pressured with lots of force to resign early, long before the end of his term in office. Namely, he was only appointed to the post of Ambassador in November of 2020.
And as we can see from the story unfolding, Prime Minister Robert Golob is the biggest loser in this poor deal. The resignation of his flagship candidate in favour of Milan Kučan’s candidate, Nataša Pirc Musar, was mainly perceived by the media as his first political defeat, but unlike him, the resigned candidate will at least receive a consolation prize. And what a prize it is! Becoming Slovenia’s Ambassador to the United States of America is surely the highlight of any diplomat’s career. The country recruits only its best diplomats for these posts, and certainly not diplomats who have been burdened with serious affairs and even accusations of impropriety in their work.
She was not good enough for Bern, but she will do for Washington!
Let’s keep in mind that the godfathers from the background did not decide on Martina Kos’s resignation for nothing. The candidate for the position of President of the Republic never correctly addressed the reasons that led to her resignation as Ambassador of Switzerland in the first place. According to the official explanation, she resigned on her own because of disagreements with the foreign policy of the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anže Logar. This is, of course, a made-up excuse. Marta Kos was subjected to an extraordinary inspection after she was reported for inappropriate behaviour by her own staff. It should also be noted that this is not the first time she has faced such accusations. Her work was also subject to inspection during her time in charge of the Embassy in Berlin.
Later, investigative journalist Bojan Požar wanted to find out the details of the inspection but was unsuccessful. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did send him documentation on the inspection, but it was almost completely censored, apparently in order to keep the findings of the said inspection hidden.
In general, it is strange that it was Washington that Kos wanted. The circles to which she belongs, as well as her public positions, place her much closer to Russia in geopolitical terms than to the United States of America. It will be difficult for observers of domestic politics to forget how, at a time when Russia was threatening the West with nuclear weapons, she declared that we must not close the door on Russia.
An informant for the State Security Administration of Yugoslavia
Her adolescence is also a special story. The archival documents on the State Security Service clearly prove that she was an informant for the State Security Administration of Yugoslavia, which she tried to deny in the past, saying that the documents in question are not authentic. This is, of course, a lie. Marta Kos had a file with the number 0014000-05448 in the Central Register of the State Security Administration, and the documents stating this have been confirmed as authentic both in courtrooms and by the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia.
Another man who got the short end of the stick
In this poor deal “par excellence,” we have been informed that there is another man who got the short end of the stick. And that man is Vojko Volk, a long-time diplomat and international relations expert who is now a State Secretary in the Prime Minister’s office. He also wanted to get the position of Ambassador to Washington, but political interests apparently prevailed. He is said to have been extremely offended by this.
Gal Kovač
