The session of the National Assembly was aimed at answering parliamentary questions of Prime Minister Robert Golob and other MPs. The fact is that the session was mostly spent not answering questions or avoiding answers to them, as Golob used his answers for insinuations and accusations against the SDS parliamentary group. When asked specifically why he did not report the alleged identity theft in Romania to the police, saying that he should be an example to the citizens, he avoided the answer by saying that his personal life does not concern people, while he even commented on the deletion of referrals from the system as if it is good that this happened, because now the victims are “in a better place”.
The beginning of the National Assembly session, even before parliamentary questions to Prime Minister Robert Golob, was marked by an unpleasant complication, especially for Mojca Pašek Šetinc, a Gibanje Svoboda MP and the president of the investigative commission investigating suspicions of illegal financing of the election campaign before this year’s elections in the National Assembly, who earned a reprimand for her inappropriate manoeuvre. Prime Minister Robert Golob was asked specific parliamentary questions, but he answered almost none of them concretely. Answering the MPs was more about avoiding answers regardless of the facts presented by the SDS parliamentary group.
At noon, the National Assembly started its regular November session with parliamentary questions to Prime Minister Robert Golob and the ministerial team. Two parliamentary questions were put to the Prime Minister by the largest opposition party SDS. Leader of the SDS MPs, Jelka Godec, asked the Prime Minister a question regarding activities in the field of detection and prosecution of banking and economic crime. The questions were also related to errors in health care and the deletion of referrals, and the leader of the Levica MPs, Matej Tašner Vatovec, asked the Prime Minister a question about the government’s plans to establish a stable, long-term, and developmental housing policy. MPs will continue their regular plenary session on Tuesday when they begin considering budget documents for the next two years.
“A minister must be an example to his colleagues, professional colleagues and above all to the country,” said Godec, who in her parliamentary question to Prime Minister Robert Golob repeatedly addressed the question of whether the alleged identity theft that allegedly happened to him in Romania, was reported to the police, because as she herself said, she had already been a victim of online fraud, which she reported to the police, as was necessary. Throughout, Golob explained the definitions of the rule of law and avoided a concrete answer, which is not surprising given his past answers, which the Slovenian public is used to. That he talks a lot but says nothing.
Golob is happy that the mistake happened
In light of the recent deletion of nearly six thousand valid appointments for health services for patients, the leader of NSi MPs Janez Cigler Kralj asked Golob what the government intends to do to restore people’s trust in the health system and put the patient at its centre. Golob agreed that deleting the referrals was a big mistake, saying they reacted as soon as they realised the mistake. In the future, he announced changes to the responsible system that caused the “error”. He said that the error had been corrected and that all the victims had been informed about it. “It was a mistake, but we learned from it”, said Golob, adding that the mistake was even fortunate and that now everyone is better off.
Avoiding the answer to the question of whether he knows Milović, who is connected to many affairs
SDS MP Žan Mahnič continued with questions on the topic of protecting protected persons. In connection with the newly adopted security regulation, the General Secretariat can conclude written agreements with other bodies and organisations, and the name Miloš Milović also appears in connection with this method of security, said Mahnič. At the same time, he mentioned the story about the fictitious business of the subsidiary company of Slovenske železnice, for which two people have already been sentenced. Almost 400,000 euros “disappeared” in a fictitious business, the money was supposedly divided among three people. This is what the prosecution claims. However, one of the defendants, Miloš Milović (who is extrajudicially convicted for participating in a fictitious business), claims that the money went directly into the hands of Aleksander Čeferin. The Čeferin Law Firm rejects all Milović’s statements as untrue. Mahnič thus asked the Prime Minister why he adopted such a new regulation, whether he does not trust the Slovenian police and whether he knows Milović and what his relationship is with him. He was interested in whether he was in charge of his security and whether a para-intelligence service was being established during his government.
“The vote of no confidence in Minister Bobnar showed that the truth is only convenient for you when you can distort it. The minister has my trust. Not even all your MPs supported the interpellation,” was the reply of Robert Golob, who once again tried to avoid all answers to Mahnič, as he tried to do throughout his entire answering of MPs’ questions. Golob claims that they are establishing a system that once worked, and based on past experience, he ensures that all trained policemen and policewomen who perform their work in accordance with the regulations and the law participate in this. The transfer from the police to the General Secretariat is something completely normal, said Golob, adding that everything remains the same, he denied the establishment of a para-intelligence service.
“All personnel moves regarding the protection of the Prime Minister are led by Miloš Milović,” Mahnič reiterated, adding that he learned this from reliable sources. This was after Golob had already avoided answering if he knew Milović at all, and later he denied everything, while at the same time sarcastically asking Mahnič if he was really that worried about him and his safety or if the problem was elsewhere. After all the above, Mahnič said that he thinks it is important to ask whether “a company that has operated in accordance with the law for so many years is now being used for some para-intelligence matters”.
In the context of parliamentary questions, Golob was reminded by Levica MP Matej Tašner Vatovec that the parties of the ruling coalition wrote the resolution of the housing crisis and the establishment of a housing policy into the coalition agreement. “The state practically neglected housing policy for 30 years, and the result is that housing prices are skyrocketing,” he said. Golob agreed that the situation on the housing market in Slovenia is unacceptable. “The vast majority of Slovenians cannot afford them,” he said, adding that it is the government’s duty to intervene. He sees the solution in the confirmation of the law on the government in Sunday’s referendum and the establishment of a new ministry, one of whose main goals will be the reform of the housing market. “We will be able to solve the SDS blockade in the housing market,” he said and called on voters to participate in the referendum in as many numbers as possible and to vote yes three times. “Also, so that we can start addressing the housing policy effectively on Monday,” he said.
Andrej Žitnik
