Four right-wing parties in Slovenia have agreed on a joint coalition. They are preparing the government of Janez Janša, which is supposed to reduce the bureaucracy and change the form of the state.
The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), the Democrats and an alliance made up of New Slovenia (NSi), the Slovenian People’s Party (SLS) and Fokus signed a coalition agreement on Thursday that will form the basis of Slovenia’s first right-wing government. As reported by the STA agency, the coalition parties pledged to work on the development and prosperity of the country, fight against corruption, reduce bureaucracy and support the decentralization of the state, writes TASR.
- In Slovenia, the first right-wing government was established after the signing of the coalition.
- The new government will be led by SDS leader Janez Janša.
- The coalition has 43 mandates in the parliament and the support of the Pravda party.
- Janša is a well-known nationalist and admirer of Donald Trump.
- Previous governments of Janša were accompanied by accusations of attacks on the media and courts.
The coalition agreement was signed behind closed doors and a day before SDS leader Janez Janša will be named prime minister in the Slovenian parliament on Friday. The new coalition has 43 mandates in the 90-member National Assembly. At the same time, it has the support of the Pravda party (Resni.ca), which emerged from the anti-vaccination movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. He will support the minority government from the opposition benches.
He is a fan of the American president
Janša served as prime minister from 2004 to 2008, 2012 to 2013 and from 2020 to 2022. He is currently one of the most famous nationalist leaders in Europe and describes himself as an admirer of US President Donald Trump. He advocates a hard line against immigration and has threatened to cut funding to non-governmental organizations. During Janš’s third government, the opposition and the EU intensified accusations of attacks on media freedom, civil society and the independence of the judiciary in the country.
The campaign ahead of March’s parliamentary elections in Slovenia was marred by accusations of foreign interference by the Israeli company Black Cube, when tapes of corruption in Prime Minister Robert Golob’s government surfaced. Janša admitted that he had met the representative of Black Cube, but denied that he had anything to do with the recordings.
Janša was a well-known dissident in the days of socialist Yugoslavia. In 1988, he was convicted by a military court in a case known as the JBTZ trial, which became the catalyst for the independence movement. In 2014, he was again convicted in a corruption case from 2006 concerning the supply of Finnish Patria armored personnel carriers. The Constitutional Court later overturned the verdict and the corruption case was time-barred.
