As part of her campaign called “We hear you” (“Slišimo vas” in Slovenian), Tanja Fajon recently visited Izola. Judging by the pictures, she enjoyed the company of the renowned winemaker Matej Zaro there, who showed and presented different wines to her, which she also tried. Wine tasting, as can be seen from the Zaro winery’s website, is also on offer and is, of course, not free. Let us remind you of the pogrom against Aleksandra Pivec, which happened because of a similar situation. Her downfall from the top of the DeSUS party was caused by an affair related to covering the costs of a stay in a hotel in Izola – for a ridiculous amount. Did Tanja Fajon pay the bill for the wine tasting herself? The SD party has not yet answered our questions regarding this matter.
The Code of Ethics for Members of Parliament states that a Member of Parliament should perform his or her work diligently and should not accept any payments, gifts or other benefits for it. This was the reason for the downfall of the former Minister Aleksandra Pivec, as the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption found that she had violated the integrity principle, the Code of Ethics for a government official, as well as the ban or restriction on accepting gifts for those working in the public sector.
When it came to Pivec’s affair, there were a lot of comments about how it is ridiculous to create such an affair for such a small amount of money (250 euros). People said that a storm is being created in a glass of water while the big crime continues without interruption, but this is the exact same thing. President of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption Robert Šumi said at the time that “the amount of money is not what is important here; when you accept something you are not allowed to, the problem is not how much it cost. In this case, the Minister should have refused this favour from the municipality, as others did not get similar favours.” Did Tanja Fajon refuse the free wine tasting service and pay the bill herself? After all, it is more than obvious that others are not allowed to taste the wines in the Zaro winery for free.
For Fajon, an unpaid bill and accepting such services could also be “fatal” in the political sense, just as it was for Aleksandra Pivec, who said she wanted to pay the bill at the reception that morning but was told that the bill had already been paid. “It was probably my fault that I did not insist on paying it myself at the time.” Now, on their “We hear you” campaign, the Social Democrats are trying to come off as honest, but the truth will soon come out.
Sara Kovač
