They say that the lie is the immortal soul of communism. For Robert Golob, the son of a prominent communist energy executive, these words sum up his short political career very well. Namely, Prime Minister Robert Golob seems to be a pathological liar, or at least an incompetent one, who does not know where to get the correct information, and then he makes a fool of himself at meetings, interpellations, international conferences… Worst of all is the fact that none of the left-wing media ever tap him on the shoulder or call him to account. If, during the Janša government, they dissected every sentence of the then-government officials, looking for errors in their statements and possible illogical connections between individual words, under the government of Robert Golob, they are appallingly deaf and dumb.
During the recent interpellation of the government, Prime Minister Robert Golob absurdly claimed that inflation in Slovenia was lower than in our neighbouring countries, only to be corrected by opposition MPs – with figures – in their tweets during the government session itself. Italy and Austria have lower inflation than Slovenia. He also claimed that inflation is going down.
Lies about inflation – the media are silent
He had made a similar claim a few days earlier at the coalition summit, where he had said that “Slovenia has reversed inflation trends faster than the euro area with a determined and deliberate policy. Today, we are happy to say that when this government took office, annual inflation was 10.8 percent, while today, it is 9.9 percent. In the same period, inflation in the euro area has risen from 8 percent to almost 11 percent, which means that Slovenia has reversed inflation trends faster than the euro area with a determined and deliberate policy. This is the best proof that our actions have been timely and effective,” Golob boasted.
“Golob is being deceitful with his statements! His government took office on the 1st of June. Inflation was 8.1 percent in May, 10.4 percent at the end of June, and peaked at 11.5 percent in August. The high jump in inflation in June was the result of his ill-advised relaxation of energy prices in June (chaos at petrol stations),” economist Matej Kovač has already warned. What happened after the coalition summit and after the interpellation, when Golob heard that he had lied and was proven to have made false claims with concrete figures? Nothing. He was silent about the topic. And the media too.
Lies about injustices against the protesters – the media were silent
Boris Tomašič, the host of “Who Is Lying to You” (“Kdo vam laže”), highlighted Golob’s interpellation rhetoric about “righting wrongs” (he was, of course, talking about overturning all the mandated sentences for the anti-covid protesters), saying “if we accept the logic that we respect some things and not others, and that Robert Golob and this coalition determines what is fair and what is not, then we can say goodbye to the rule of law. Because when Golob and this coalition are long gone from politics, what will the next government be able to say? We are righting the wrongs of the Golob government. And then they will be able to just abolish everything. That is your logic. That is your God complex. In reality, you were just lucky that your daddy sent you somewhere and that you had the opportunity to do electrical work for the deep state and earn a lot of money doing it. That is the whole truth of Robert Golob.”
Golob knew, of course, that there was no “righting of wrongs” involved, as the legal experts in the government (including from the Government Office for Legislation and the Legislative and Legal Service of the National Assembly) had made it clear to him. But that did not stop him. What happened after Golob heard that the legal experts also thought that there was no “righting of wrongs”? Nothing. He was silent. And the media were silent too.
Lies about pay ratios – the media were silent
When asked within his own coalition ranks why he had agreed to a 7:1 wage ratio between the highest and the lowest wages regarding the new public sector wage reform, he said that this had been proposed by the public sector unions. The very next day, the unions themselves pointed out that he was lying, saying that this was never their claim. What happened then? Nothing. Golob was silent, and so were the media.
Lies about the Balkan affair – the media were silent
But Golob does not confine his lies to the domestic sphere. He also lies in the European area. In his infamous speech in the European Parliament, he claimed that he had created the (state-owned) company Gen-I “from scratch.” Everyone in Slovenia knows that this did not happen. And what happened after he told this lie? Nothing. Golob was silent, and so were the media. He also lied about his salary and his 2-million-euro bonus, but the media never questioned him about it and never shared the truth with the public. He has also lied all the time about a bank account in Romania and avoided explaining the Balkan affair, in which Gen-I is deeply involved.
Lies about personal security – the media were silent
Last year, in response to a parliamentary question, he said that he had decided to get himself a “different” type of protection (he was protected by a “private security detail,” Miloš Njegoslav Milović) – but he only revealed this on the 27th of June 2022, when a picture of him with his underage son, taken in Brussels, was published. This, of course, meant that he at least indirectly incriminated the security guards who were with him, and implied that this was their job. But the Acting Director-General of the Police, Boštjan Lindav, clearly stated in his report that the decision to provide “different” security for Robert Golob had already been taken on the 31st of May 2022, when Golob was already Prime Minister, but the government had not yet been appointed to the National Assembly. At that time, he was called to a meeting at the General Secretariat of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, where he was informed of the decision. Another verifiable lie. And what happened? Nothing. Golob was silent, and the media were silent.
Golob lies, and the media defend him
It is clear from all of the above that Golob is systematically lying. Former State Secretary in the Janša government, minister, and long-time MEP Vinko Gorenak says Golob lies whenever he can. There have even been cases where it was practically impossible for him to not have the right information, and he even lied about matters that concern him personally and of which he was certainly aware (the case of “private” security). In any case, in other countries, a high-ranking official who systematically spreads untruths does not stay a high-ranking official for very long. Meanwhile, Golob is still here, because the media do not expose his blatant and notorious lies, do not write about them and do not confront Golob with the facts.
But when a journalist from the ever-smaller circle of media that does not belong to the pro-government umbrella does so, Golob either does not answer the question or makes a fool of himself while the rest of the media pretend not to have heard anything. This is the only reason why Golob is still politically alive. If the media had dissected him the way they dissected Janša’s officials (where they themselves often lied and took things out of context in their haste to prove a contradiction), we would now be in the middle of an election campaign in search of Slovenia’s fifteenth government. However, our media is hijacked, and Slovenia is being held hostage by a shameless liar. And it could very easily happen that Golob is replaced by … the next Golob.
Andrej Žitnik
