Slovenia Gets Its Sixth Government
The National Assembly on Thursday, 30 November, elected Slovenia's sixth government, which is the fourth government built by the leader of the centre- left Liberal Democracy (LDS) Janez Drnovšek, who was elected prime minister on 16 November. The 14-member cabinet consists of eight LDS ministers and three ministers of each the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) and SLS+SKD Slovene People's Party. The fourth coalition partner, the Democratic Party of Slovene Pensioners (DeSUS), has no minister in the government, but has been given the post of the deputy speaker of parliament.
Apart from the coalition parties, the government was supported by the legislators of the Slovene National Party (SNS), Party of the Slovene Youth (SMS) and the MPs of Hungarian and Italian ethnic minorities. The legislators of the Social Democratic Party (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) voted against the government. Drnovšek's fourth cabinet was proposed on the basis of a coalition agreement signed on 15 November by the leaders of LDS, ZLSD, SLS+SKD and DeSUS. Coalition negotiations concluded one month after the parliamentary elections in which the LDS won an overwhelming majority of 36.21 percent.
"Slovenia has obtained a strong and solid coalition for the future and for the next, paramount Government term in office," LDS President Janez Drnovšek said after signing the new coalition agreement. The leaders of the three other coalition partners, Borut Pahor (ZLSD), Franc Zagožen (SLS+SKD) and Janko Kušar (DeSUS) are happy with the latest coalition. Drnovšek is confident that "this will be a successful partnership", and expressed his belief that the coalition partners have properly defined the Government's goals and relations between partners.
New Coalition: Strong Majority in the Parliament
Apart from the four coalition partners, LDS, ZLSD, SLS+SKD and Pensioners Party (DeSUS), the fourth government formed by Drnovsek was supported by the legislators of the Slovene National Party (SNS), Party of the Slovene Youth (SMS) and the MPs of Hungarian and Italian ethnic minorities. The legislators of the Social Democratic Party (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) voted against the government.
The 14 ministers have already sworn before the parliament, pledging to respect the constitutional order, act according to their conscience and to do everything in their power to promote Slovenia's prosperity.
With the new government in office, five newly-appointed LDS ministers will give up their seats in the parliament: Dimitrij Rupel, Tone Rop, Janez Kopač, Lucija Čok and Igor Bavčar.
LDS ministers will head the departments of foreign affairs, Dimitrij Rupel; defence, Anton Grizold; finance, Anton Rop; the environment and spatial planning, Janez Kopač; health, Dušan Keber; European affairs, Igor Bavčar; education and sport, Lucija Čok; and economic activities, Tea Petrin. Drnovšek has announced that after the parliament has endorsed his line-up he will name Economics Minister Tea Petrin to head also the Ministry for Economic Relations and Development and Ministry for Small Business and Tourism, while Education and Sports Minister Lucija Čok will also handle the work of the Ministry of Science and Technology for a maximum of three months.
ZLSD ministers will be in charge of home affairs, Rado Bohinc; labour, family and social affairs, Vlado Dimovski; and culture, Andreja Rihter.
Ministers of the united People's Party are Jakob Presečnik, who is in charge of transport and communications, Franc But, who is in charge of agriculture, and Ivan Bizjak, who became the new minister of justice.
Slovenia's Governments Through History
Slovenia's first government was formed in 1990, a year before the country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia, by the coalition called DEMOS. Its Prime Minister was Lojze Peterle, a member of the former Christian Democrats (SKD), currently the new Foreign Minister.
After DEMOS fell apart at the end of 1991 and the Peterle government lost a vote of confidence on 22 April 1992, Peterle was replaced by LDS President Janez Drnovšek, who formed his first government which was given the green light in May 1992. The government had 27 ministers.
After the LDS won the general elections at the end of 1992, Drnovšek formed his second government which consisted of the LDS, the SKD, the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) and the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (SDSS). The latter left the government coalition after Defence Minister Janez Janša was dismissed due to a scandal. The ZLSD withdrew from the coalition at the beginning of 1996 after one of its ministers was severely criticised. The government nevertheless managed to complete the term in office.
Drnovšek formed his third government at the beginning of 1997 together with the SLS and DeSUS. The government lost the vote of confidence on 8 April when his proposal to reshuffle it was rejected by MPs. Drnovšek opted for a reshuffle after one of his coalition partners, the former Slovene People's Party (SLS), announced its plans to withdraw from the coalition on 15 April to merge with the former Christian Democrats. The parties did merge into the SLS+SKD Slovene People's Party on that day. Shortly afterwards, the new party formed a coalition with the SDS, calling it the Coalition Slovenia, which now governs the country.
Drnovšek was proposed as prime minister by President Milan Kučan on 14 November. According to Kučan, he is confident that his proposal "corresponds with the will and expectations of a large number of Slovenian citizens expressed in the parliamentary elections". President Kučan based his decision on consultations held with the leaders of the parliamentary factions.
Programme for the future
Presenting his programme as prime ministerial candidate for the fourth time in his career in the National Assembly on 16 November, Drnovšek stressed that the programme is not completely new and unexpected, but is a continuation of "our joint work in the past eight years, a continuation of the development of our state", aimed at ensuring Slovenia sees the best possible development in this term of office. Concerning the economic part of the programme, Drnovšek said that one of his goals was to maintain the existing favourable economic growth in the future. Drnovšek said that the year 2000 will see the budget deficit exceed one percent of GDP, therefore the budget situation will have to be resolved very quickly and decisively. Drnovšek did not announce any large-scale cost-cutting measures, but rather the thorough revision of all public finance obligations, moderate wage policy and moderate growth in pensions. Slovenia will also face a lot of challenges in terms of foreign policy, since there is a real possibility that Slovenia will join the EU in this term. Therefore, the public administration reform should be completed, the state should withdraw itself from several economic sectors and privatise them so as to increase competition there, for example in energy, telecommunications, banking, steel works, etc.