Robert Golob, the likely future Prime Minister and winner of the parliamentary elections, recently said that in the second round of coalition negotiations at the level of party presidents, the presidents had agreed on an approximate division of departments. However, the departments will apparently not be cut but instead expanded – which, of course, means there will be more money allocated to them. Given that we are practically already in a crisis, this does not sound like the most rational or economical idea. Would it not be more economical to have only one Constitutional Arch Coalition ministry that they could share with the non-governmental organisations as well? Of course, Golob does not know how to save other people’s money, so the talks for the future coalition will continue next week when the names of the ministerial candidates will also be known.
The President of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje svoboda) apparently believes that the new government will need even more ministries – four more, to be exact. Whether these new ministries are intended for Marjan Šarec, Alenka Bratušek, Ljubo Jasnič and Marta Kos– the latter’s position of Minister of Foreign Affairs will supposedly be taken over by Tanja Fajon – is not clear yet, as Robert Golob, the likely future Prime Minister, has not shared this information with the public yet. However, he explained that they want to strengthen the areas of climate policy, intergenerational solidarity, digitalisation and regional development, the Slovenian Press Agency reports. “I believe that we are living in a time when we will have to start implementing change because time is pushing us to do so. However, you cannot implement changes in politics without investing in them,” Golob commented on the increase in the number of departments. We have seen exactly how accustomed Golob is to investing, among other things, in the stories with Istrabenz – he prefers to invest other people’s money.
“We are in a state of emergency, and therefore, we want to strengthen the state and the public administration in the future, so we will strengthen four departments, namely, in the field of climate policy, digitalisation, intergenerational solidarity, and regional development,” Golob said. He also announced that on the 3rd of June, Slovenia will already have a new government. Golob also said that the Freedom Movement had already talked about the possible cooperation with the Party of Alenka Bratušek (Stranka Alenke Bratušek – SAB) and the List of Marjan Šarec (Lista Marjana Šarca – LMŠ), which did not manage to get into parliament, but that they had not yet reached a final agreement. All possible staff of these two parties will supposedly be part of the Freedom Movement’s quota for the ministerial positions. “The new government will therefore have as many as 21 ministries, which is three times more than Switzerland,” Dr Matej Lahovnik commented on what is happening on Twitter. Some are surprised that the future government did not consider a ministry for dance, while others wonder how it is possible that they overlooked the need for the Ministry of Combating Misinformation.
According to the latest information, the Social Democrats party (Socialni demokrati – SD) will have four ministries, while the Left party (Levica) will have three. President of the SD party, Fajon, is expected to take the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the coordinator of the Left party, Mesec, could become the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and the Housing Policy – and, according to unofficial information, long-term care could also be included in this ministry. The left also wants to head the Ministry of Culture, and they are also interested in the Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, in addition to the Foreign Ministry, the SD party is also expected to take over the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Justice. However, certain divergences have already emerged in regard to the question of who should take over the position of Minister of Justice. It has been rumoured that Šarec wants to become the Minister of Defence, but since he “dropped his weapon” so quickly when he was still the Prime Minister, he might not be the most suitable man for this position. It is not yet known who will take over the department for climate change, but Ema Kurent hinted on Facebook that it was most likely established on the initiative of the SD party, which had also included a regulation of fluctuations and tides of the sea in its pre-election plan. “Part of this government would like to move the moon – yes, we absolutely need at least one other government department for that, understandably,” the astrologer added jokingly.
Meanwhile, Mitja Iršič wrote the following on Twitter: “Why do we need four new departments? We should adhere to the principle of being economical. Only one ministry for the fallen heroes of the revolution, and we can stick Šarec, Alenka, Yugo Ljubo and Marcel there. We then give each their own secretary, a supply of coffee, and a subscription to the Mladina magazine and Borec magazine, and that is that.”
Sara Bertoncelj
