Prime Minister Robert Golob announced a new separation in front of the Constitutional Court after he and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, demanded that their conduct should not be reviewed by Constitutional Court Judge Klemen Jaklič, because he is not “theirs.” They wanted to have him disqualified. The judges then quite politely informed them that they were abusing the instrument in question. Golob did not initiate a further divorce from his wife, Jana Nemec Golob. He is already divorcing her. He is already accompanied at state receptions by his new partner, Tina Gaber. Now, he is separating from the health insurance companies, because they are allegedly giving too little and taking too much. To make profits. This separation may also end up before judges who are not all subordinate to the government. That may delay and complicate matters.
Golob and Klakočar Zupančič tried to disqualify the Constitutional Court Judge Klemen Jaklič because, as they explained, he had defended the RTV Slovenia Act decades ago, which is still in force, and he had been elected to the RTV Slovenia Supervisory Board under that law in the past. The claim that Jaklič would thus be speaking out on the amendment of the law, which Golob and Klakočar Zupančič are trying to use to remove the supervisors, directors and, consequently, the editors at RTVS overnight, is madness. Jaklič could not have known at the time about the plans of those in power today. Unless he is a prophet, who can see far into the future. Which even Constitutional Court judges are not.
At the same time, the Director of RTV, Uroš Urbanija, tried to oust the President of the Constitutional Court, Matej Accetto, for welcoming the liberal European Commissioner Věra Jourová, who had arrived in the country after the Constitutional Court judges stopped Golob’s attempts at impeachments. Earlier, Jourová had publicly supported Golob’s purge of the top of the national media outlet RTV Slovenia.
Golob and Klakočar’s request on behalf of the government and the National Assembly was based on made up reasoning, aimed only at getting rid of a judge who is not on the government’s side. The Constitutional Court was quite diplomatic in its explanation of the rejection of the two motions, stating that this was an abuse of the instrument. The rejection (rather than dismissal) is an embarrassment for the legal services of the executive and the legislative branches of power. It shows us that they are legal amateurs. But above all, it is a disgrace for the current ministers and MPs. Because the reason for the error was surely political and not a lack of knowledge of when to propose disqualification. Similarly, because his arguments were also made up, the RTV Slovenia Director, Uroš Urbanija, also failed in getting Constitutional Court Judge Accetto disqualified, because, with the courtesy of welcoming European Commissioner Jourová, the Judge in question did not take a position on the Commissioner’s unusual policy of opposing media butchery, unless it is Golob from her political group doing the butchery, in which case it is suddenly quite ‘European’ and worthy of support. To mitigate the bad impression, when the Constitutional Court gives the current government a slap on the wrist, this Commissioner even sneaks into our country and immediately visits the Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court judges have disqualified Judge Neža Kogovšek Šalamon, the former director of the Peace Institute (Mirovni inštitut), who still works for the Institute as a Constitutional Court Judge one-fifth of her work time. It was not widely known that she was still doing extra work. Working for an additional employer was confirmed to me two weeks ago by the Secretary-General of the Constitutional Court, Sebastian Nerad, when I checked whether the Judge had the permission of President Accetto for her additional work.
Peter Jančič, Spletni časopis
