At a recent press conference, Dejan Kaloh, an MP from the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), spoke about the draft law on mandatory drug testing of public officials, which has been resubmitted by the SDS parliamentary group for the legislative procedure. All 27 SDS MPs have voluntarily taken drug tests at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine – will MPs from the other parliamentary groups follow suit?
MP Dejan Kaloh pointed out that in the past few days, all 27 MPs from the SDS party had been tested for drugs and that all the tests were, of course, negative. The sensible thing to expect now would be for the MPs from the other parliamentary groups to do the same and also support the bill on mandatory drug testing for state officials. Kaloh also reminded everyone of the inadmissible rejection of questions by MP Žan Mahnič, who called on the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Luka Mesec, to also get tested for drugs, mainly because of his frequent unusual and nervous behaviour and statements. The Speaker of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, also rejected a question by SDS MP Anja Bah Žibert posed to the Minister of Justice, Dominika Švarc Pipan, and the entire government regarding the Minister’s statement on war and her attitude towards victims. Kaloh stressed that the Speaker of the National Assembly cannot just arbitrarily decide which questions to ask and which not to ask.
“Perhaps it would actually be a good thing for all MPs to get tested for drugs. Let’s just adjourn the session, and let’s all go out for a drug test – I will be the first one to take it. For everything, including alcohol,” Klakočar Zupančič promised, according to Kaloh – which, in his opinion, shows that a wall of denial has been broken, and he welcomes this call from the Speaker of the National Assembly. Kaloh also recalled the Smodej/Uranjek affair, in the context of which the consumption of drugs was also widely mentioned. He pointed out that ministers of the government of Robert Golob had also participated in artistic performances, which had later degenerated into vile actions. “What can we make of this? Nothing good,” Kaloh stressed, calling on the entire team of ministers, with Prime Minister Golob at the helm, to voluntarily submit to drug testing. He also cited the example of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who also voluntarily took a drug test.
This week also marks the first 100 days of the current government’s term, so there was a separate press conference held on that topic as well.
Sara Kovač
