A sharp turn to the west. The vote in Slovenia was a real success for Robert Golob and his Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda), which won over 34 per cent of the votes, outclassing Prime Minister Janez Janša’s Party of Slovenian Democrats, which exceeded 23 per cent. A majority will be needed to form a government, which however does not seem to be complicated to achieve, given that the former Green Party has obtained 40 seats, to which will be added the 7 of the Social Democrats (a party for which just over 6 voters voted. out of a hundred) and, probably, also those of the Left (which just passed the barrier, reaching 4.3 per cent of preferences).
A coalition that will be more than enough to get the majority plus one of the seats in the Državni zbor, the Lower House of Ljubljana, which has 90 seats. Therefore, the third reign of Janša seems to have come to an end, prime minister since 2020 but who had already held the office between 2004 and 2008 and between 2012 and 2013.
Above all, his constant stances towards political opponents and the media, mocked on his Twitter profile (so much so that the Slovenian Prime Minister the nickname of Marshal Twito), which have often fueled an atmosphere of real civil war. This is also the reason for the record turnout at the polls: 68 percent of eligible voters voted, a figure never seen in Ljubljana since the beginning of the new millennium.
Europeanist, liberal and with a deep knowledge of the energy sector. The premises of the one who is about to become the new Slovenian premier seem decidedly different from that of his predecessor. A native of San Pietro, a village very close to Nova Gorica and the Italian border, Golob has always lived halfway between politics and business.
In Slovenia, his name is mainly linked to the energy company GEN-I, founded by him in 2004 and with highly competitive prices, then passed into the hands of the state. Since 2006 he has been confirmed at the helm of the board of directors by governments of every political color in Ljubljana except the last: in fact, last December, Janša chose not to renew him. So the former founder of GEN-I decided to take the field in politics, joining the Green Action Party last January (Z Dej), which was out of Parliament, and leading it to become a home for all liberals and progressives.
However, do not deceive his entrepreneurial history, given that Golob has been actively involved in politics for years: he was Secretary of Energy at the Ministry of the Environment between 1999 and 2002 with the government of Janez Drnovšek and between 2011 and 2013 was close before the Positive Slovenia movement (Pozitivna Slovenija) of the mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Jankovic, and then to the Movement of Alenka Bratušek.
The chair of prime minister had been in his destiny for some time: already in 2013 Jankovic claimed that Golob was the best choice to succeed the second Jansa government, but then the former head of GEN-I preferred to give way to Bratušek and become vice president of his party.
Government priorities
The plans of the future premier seem already quite outlined. “People really want change, but in the meantime our goal of bringing freedom to the country has been achieved,” beamed Golob in his victory speech. At the top of the list, meanwhile, there are other priorities, such as the fight against Covid-19. In Slovenia, only 60 per cent of the population has received at least one dose and just under one in three citizens have completed the vaccination course. This is why a possible new epidemic in the autumn is of particular concern, for which we must be prepared.
The second priority will be to guarantee energy supplies for the winter, a problem that is not easy to solve considering that 42 per cent of Slovenian gas comes from Russia, while at the same time protecting the sections of the population most at risk from price shocks. Great attention will also be paid to the environment since, as stated in the program, «the needs of the sustainable development will be taken into consideration when all strategic development decisions are taken ”.
Particular attention will be reserved for the media: one of Golob’s most important promises concerned the complete depoliticization of newspapers and public broadcasters, such as RTV Slovenija. The difference compared to Janša seems evident, given that the leader of the Slovenian Democrats has often had very harsh words towards journalists, accused of being at the service of the centers of power of the left.
A point on which the current Slovenian premier has always been very close to Viktor Orban, the Hungarian premier reconfirmed by the vote of last April 3, and on which Golob will now also be called upon to express himself. Considering that the leader of the Freedom Movement was ambassador for Slovenia of the European Climate Pact, as shown by the formand the words of the deputy president of the party Marta Kos (who declared at the conference “how we will never disappoint the EU again. Slovenia will be an even stronger pillar of this partnership and you will never hear the word illiberal democracy from our mouths again ») it is to be believed that the strong man of Budapest will no longer be so much at home in Ljubljana.
The future of Janša
At least for this time he has decided not to follow his myth Donald Trump. Outgoing Prime Minister Janša seems to have accepted the electoral defeat and at the press conference thanked his party for him and all those who worked in this electoral campaign. “I think that in these elections the citizens have expressed their discomfort with the current opposition which in fact has been swept away by Parliament”, declared Janša, with clear reference both to the result of the Social Democrats and to that of the movements of two former premier , that of Alenka Bratušek and the list of Marjan Sarec, who did not cross the threshold.
In his speech, neither Golob nor his Freedom Movement was ever mentioned, but the premier highlighted “that in any case the result does not change our program or our principles in any way. We are always ready to collaborate for the common good of Slovenia, regardless of whether we are in the government or in the opposition ». Finally, a final comment on Russia could not be missing, which has now become one of its sworn enemies, so much so that it was among the first European leaders to go to Kyiv: «There is concern in Europe about some pro-Russian orientations in the policies of some Member States. In Slovenia, this concern is more than justified: people who have Putin’s bloody medal on their chest are proudly walking around the country and commenting on the elections ”.
Given that majorities in Slovenia are usually formed in Parliament, the impression is that Janša and his Party of Slovenian Democrats will still remain vigilant, ready to exploit any errors of the future government majority. It has already happened in 2012, when the leader of the Slovenian Democrats became prime minister by exploiting Jankovic’s inability to form a majority, and it can perhaps happen again.
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