Prime Minister Robert Golob and Minister of the interior Tatjana Bobnar remain on separate sides of the barricades after the recent talks on allegations of political interference in the police. But the event has clearly also shaken up the coalition. The Social Democrats party (Socialni demokrati – SD) has surprisingly come to Bobnar’s defence, as has the party’s youth wing. Apparently, for this “special operation” (just like in the case of the attack on Pahor’s possible return to the SD party), they hired the President of the Youth Forum, Luka Goršek, son of Janko Goršek – the former police director during the ministry of Katarina Kresal.
The son of Janko Goršek – the former Director-General of the Police, took a swing at Prime Minister Robert Golob, accusing him of claiming in the pre-election debates that politics would have to be removed from the police and other key institutions in the country, but now doing the exact opposite of that.
But apparently, they just could not do without bringing Janez Janša into the situation, at least for a bit. Namely, Goršek called the situation tragicomic, claiming that a former confidant of Janša, Damir Črnčec, is behind these ideas. “The appointment of the former Director-General of the Police with a long career in this institution to the position of Minister of the Interior ensured that politics would take a step back from the police, which the Minister then confirmed by proposing the appointment of another career police officer to the post of Director-General of the Police – Boštjan Lindav.” Goršek also wondered who Golob would target next because of the ambitions of politicians.
Due to Goršek’s links to the police, his record is all the more meaningful. He also said that the profession is more than obviously withdrawing from politics because it is not up to standards, which are created by personal ambition and the vanity of individuals from behind the scenes. What is interesting, however, is the fact that it was Janko Goršek who was politically appointed. Namely, the then-Minister of the Interior, Katarina Kresal, did not select any candidates in the competition for the post of Director-General of the Police, but she proposed to the Government that Goršek be appointed to the post of the new Acting Director-General, after which she said she would propose an amendment to the law under which the Director-General would be appointed without a public call for applications.
It is now more than obvious that there is a clash of opinions among the coalition parties, but so far, the SD party has only dared to say this indirectly – through its youth wing. Indirectly, Predrag Bakovič has also sided with the Minister of the Interior, saying that she is one of the few people for whom he would actually put his hand in the fire.
The media have become Robert Golob’s party newsletter
It is also interesting to observe the mainstream media and their coverage of Golob’s “sins.” As expected (since the journalist Vesna Vuković left the “Necenzurirano.si” web portal – “Uncensored” and joined Golob’s party as its PR representative), the Necenzurirano web portal is adamant in portraying the news as an attack on Golob. Peter Jančič believes that what is happening is reminiscent of the recent affair when the public learned how brutally the Minister of Health, Daniel Bešič Loredan, had pressured a representative of the doctors’ union and threatened to discredit him, and then the Prime Minister announced that the Minister had just gotten a bit carried away by his emotions and that what he did was not all that significant.
Sara Kovač
