Slovenia: Almost all key ministers from Janša’s SDS

The government coalition of five parties – in addition to the SDS, there are also the Democrats, and the NSi, SLS and Fokus coalition – has 43 seats in the 90-seat parliament, and is supported by the right-wing Resnica party, which has not formally joined the government. Representatives from the ranks of national minorities also supported the cabinet, the STA agency reports.

The new Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tone Kajzer, Minister of Internal Affairs and Public Administration Franci Matoz, Minister of Finance Andrej Šircelj and Minister of Education and Science Borut Rončević come from the SDS quota.

Among the 15 ministers are Anže Logar (Democrats) as Minister of Economy, Labor and Sports and Tadej Ostrc (Democrats), who takes over the health department.

The government will also include Jernej Vrtovec (NSi) as Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Janez Cigler Kralj (NSi) as Minister of Agriculture and Valentin Hajdinjak (NSi) as Minister of Defense.

After the confirmation in the parliament, the ministers were sworn in, and during the day there was also a handover of duties between former Prime Minister Robert Golob and the new Prime Minister Janša, as well as a constitutive session of the Government.

In a speech in parliament, Janša praised the ministers as experienced managers and promised to reduce “record high taxes”, as he called them, and large bureaucracy compared to other European countries. He also pledged to fight corruption and give more powers to local authorities.

Janša said that next week he will also invite the opposition parties to join the partnership in order to help in the drafting of key laws.

“We reached out,” he told the deputies. “But cooperation requires two people, and it will depend on you how many of us there will be.”

Analysts say Janša’s government is likely to make a departure from the pro-Palestinian policy of the previous government, which recognized the Palestinian state and banned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and two of his far-right ministers from entering the country.

Outgoing Prime Minister Golob summed up the legacy of four years at today’s extraordinary session of the parliament, saying that he is most proud that normality, stability and peace have returned to the country.

Peace means, among other things, a dignified life in old age, decent salaries, defense of international law and independence of institutions, writes STA.

SDS expressed its belief that Janša has chosen an excellent team of ministers with whom he will work for a successful Slovenia. According to NSi, SLS and Fokus, the success of the government should not be a foreign issue, rather common interest of the country.

The opposition parties Freedom, Social Democrats, Left and Vesna criticized the new government, claiming that it intends to deepen the public deficit and privatize health care, while some stood up against the merger of the Ministry of Economy and Labor.

Sloboda expressed the expectation that the government will work for the people, which the party will support. Otherwise, a rebellion will follow, they announced.

This is Janez Janša’s fourth term as prime minister, after those from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013 and from 2020 to 2022.