After the many resignations from ministerial posts we have seen in recent months, two unelected ministers remain in their ministerial chairs. We are talking about the two “returnees” appointed to their positions by the Golob government. The two have so far repeatedly proven that they are not good at choosing their staff. Both Alenka Bratušek and Marjan Šarec have recently come under public scrutiny, Šarec for wasting state money on a reality show, and Bratušek for her attempt to “screw over” he European Commission, which she has even publicly admitted.
For many years, Minister Alenka Bratušek was the first woman in charge of the state budget and, as such, the most responsible for the situation in the state finances, and she was also the one who drove Slovenia into bankruptcy. These were the consequences of her ill-considered decisions, and if we have been wondering what moves the former finance “expert” was making, the public now has the answer. Bratušek has admitted that she wanted to use “deceit” to get more European Union funds for flood reconstruction, which is why the damage of the floods itself was overestimated. Bratušek thinks that this should be “applauded”, while Marjan Šarec, as his comedic character Serpentinšek, tried to convince the public that he is a marketing expert.
Why did the flood damage financial assessment, which eventually reached a staggering 9.9 billion euros, include the Luče bypass, which does not even exist yet? It would have cost more than 8.5 million euros to build, and the same question is being asked about the road between Hrastnik and Zidani Most, worth almost 7 million euros. At a recent meeting of the Commission for the Budgetary and Other Public Finance Control, members demanded answers because the estimated 10 billion in damages seemed to be very exaggerated to many. But Bratušek explained everything, and she believes that she should even be applauded for wanting to lie to the European Commission that we need money for something that does not even exist yet.
The state has estimated the direct damage and the funds needed to deal with the consequences of the August floods at 9.99 billion euros. The members of the Commission from the News Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi) wanted to know which projects were included in the government’s damage assessment and how much money would be allocated for them. Among them, MP Vrtovec mentioned several road sections, such as the Luče bypass, which is included in the government’s assessment, although this road did not exist before the floods. Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek told him that the road is included in the assessment because it forms part of the flood protection measures.
Given that the public is well aware of Bratušek’s political past, this may not come as a surprise to many. Namely, she already proved to be incompetent years ago when she was the first woman in charge of the state budget, and Slovenia’s finances were in decline even years later, when she was still highly placed. She drove Slovenia to bankruptcy, and after her departure from the Ministry, Janez Šušteršič, as a senator, took over the bankrupt state budget, cut the budget deficit sharply, started the rescue of the banks with the Bank Assets Management Company, and thus restored the confidence of the financial markets in the Slovenian state. And what we are witnessing today, just like in the past, is that she has now swung back to the top of Slovenian politics in order to finally bring down everything that has been built so far. This time, less subtly, as she has even targeted the European Commission, of which she herself wanted to be a part in the past – and she went about this by nominating herself for a position there.
But the story of the non-elected ministers does not end here. The National Assembly’s Commission for the Budgetary and Other Public Finance Control has called on the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) to investigate suspicions of corruption and breaches of integrity in the case of a public tender for the filming of a military reality show. However, Minister of Defence Marjan Šarec has rejected all accusations, saying that the reality show would be good “marketing” – yes, for our 2 million euros. In his explanations to the members of the Commission, Šarec pointed out that the tender is not yet definitively closed, the contract with the tenderer has not yet been concluded, and therefore, the Ministry has not spent a single euro of public funds on the project so far. “Today, we are only digging footings for a house, and you are already discussing what the tiles in the bathroom will look like – we are still a long way from that,” said Šarec, who clearly finds it funny that people still have no roofs over their heads after the August floods, while he intends to waste public money on reality shows.
The Ministry of Defence received two bids for the series at the public tender, and the cheaper bid of 777,140 euros, including VAT was rejected as inadmissible because the bidder did not submit the required financial insurance for the seriousness of the bid and the required reference certificates, nor proof that the series would be broadcast on television channels with national reach. The tender was thus awarded to the company Akademija Ris (The Lynx Academy), which submitted a bid of just under two million euros, including VAT, to which an MP from the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), Dejan Kaloh also responded, writing on the social media X: “This is so shameful. Šarec & Črnčec would have spent 2 million euros on a joint venture. The latter has a company that has not earned even a single euro in the last 14 years and has no employees! Fooling everyone in plain sight and a #NextLevel theft of taxpayers’ money,” he wrote, also tagging the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Slovenian Police and the Court of Audit in his post.
The Commission also highlighted the questionable award of the contract to a tenderer with “dubious references” and the connection of the company’s director, Luka Zorenč, a former member of the Slovenian Armed Forces Special Operations Unit, with Minister Šarce and his State Secretary Damir Črnčec. As a result, two fundamental questions arise. How is it possible that a company which was recently bought, apparently with the intention of applying for the tender, and which has no employees and is not in business, has won the tender? Zorenč, the author of the autobiographical book Lynx: Confessions of a Former Special Forces Member (Ris: izpoved bivšega pripadnika specialnih sil), is also not known in public as a filmmaker. Another issue is the alleged involvement of the political top in the outcome of the tender. Journalist Požar has written that the fact that Zorenč’s selection in the tender could not have happened without the knowledge and approval of Šarec and Črnčec. According to the media outlet Požareport, the latter and the winner of the tender also know each other well.
T. B.
