While the mainstream Slovenian media continue to remain silent on Prime Minister Golob’s financial affair, it is still a central topic in the foreign media. Golob’s financing of the Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s election campaign has been filling the headlines of both Kosovo and Croatian media and has also been reported on in Serbian printed media and discussed on Serbian television. The President of the Union of Serbs of Slovenia, Vladimir Kokanović, said, among other things, that the news was not new, while the President of the Centre for Globalisation Studies (CGS), Dejan Miletić, told the Kurir media outlet that this is “a serious diplomatic incident that requires a serious response from Slovenia.” And despite all of the above, the Slovenian mainstream media remain silent.
The Albanian financial affair of Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob became internationally known last April. Golob tried to cover up the affair, but the information was leaked to the international public, confirming his involvement in allegedly shady dealings with the Kosovo political representatives. The Croatian media recently reported on the news, claiming that the election campaign of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, was financed with money from the Slovenian state-owned energy company Gen-I, and the financial affair has also become a central topic in the Serbian media, while the Slovenian mainstream media is (still) staying silent on the matter.
While the Slovenian mainstream media continues to ignore the controversial financial affair of Prime Minister Robert Golob and his financing of the Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s election campaign with state money, it is the main topic in the Serbian media, filling the front pages of the printed media, and it was also recently discussed on television, in the morning programme “Kurir” (Courier). It is more than obvious that the media in our country want to sweep the matter under the rug or ignore it until it passes, but it does not seem like the matter will just blow over with time – rather, it is likely that this is just the beginning. On the morning Serbian television programme, the affair was recently discussed by Vladimir Kokanović, President of the Union of Serbs of Slovenia, and Dragoljub Kojčić, political philosopher.
Kokanović spoke about Kurti’s campaign, which was financed by the Slovenian Prime Minister, and said that this was not a new issue, but had already been revealed during the pre-election period last year, as reported by investigative journalists Luka Perš and Bojan Požar. “The Croatian media reported on everything, because at the centre of this affair is a diplomat who is close to Albin Kurti, who is currently in Zagreb. Robert Golob has denied any acquaintance with him, just as he has denied any connection with the company in Montenegro, but now the facts are coming to light that reveal that the affair is much bigger than it first appeared. It involves around 100 million euros from the Gen-I energy company, which is suspected of financing Kurti’s campaign through its subsidiary in Tirana, to which 14 million euros was transferred.”
The fact that this case will not simply sink into oblivion was also confirmed by Kokanović’s statement, who praised the good foreign policy diplomatic orientation of official Belgrade, which wants to develop better and more successful relations between Belgrade and Slovenia. As for the Kosovo Prime Minister, he believes that his political days in Kosovo and Metohija are numbered. Kojčić, meanwhile, stressed that this is a “dangerous combination of politics and business,” but that it is a paradigmatic case and that it is obvious that there is a very close link between very successful and profitable companies and politics itself.
This is a serious diplomatic incident
Dejan Miletić, President of the Centre for Globalisation Studies, also believes that the matter is very serious and, according to Kurir, believes that it is a serious diplomatic incident that requires a serious response from Slovenia. He believes that the news that Kurti’s rise to power was financed by Slovenian money does not sound very pleasant, especially since this is a direct aid to the irregularities that he and his regime are committing. If this turns out to be true, Serbia should demand an explanation. “It is unacceptable that dirty money is being used to finance the threat to the livelihood of Serbians in Kosovo and Metohija. This speaks of Slovenia’s bad intentions. After everything that has happened since the break-up of the former common state, we have reached a point today where someone is financing the expulsion of Serbians,” Miletić warns.
Tanja Brkić
