“These three or more deputies need to be offered the same conditions as they are currently enjoying, they need to be offered the possibility of a future even after the year 2022. These deputies will only decide to join the new coalition when the decision of the DeSUS party is made clear. The transition to a new coalition can only happen together – if the two parties act as a unit,” Jože P. Damijan revealed his plans on the commercial television. He talked about how he would bring the unnamed deputies to his side.
In early October, the presidents of the LMŠ, SD, Levica and SAB parties confirmed that they have started discussing the option of creating a coalition, with the aim of creating an alternative to the government of Janez Janša. The starting point for their connection is the initiative of the Constitutional Arch Coalition, presented to them by the opponent of the euro, Jože P. Damijan, who intends to become the next Prime Minister. The parties agreed that his proposal was a good basis for continuing the talks. Several members of the coalition parties have already been asked to join the Constitutional Arch Coalition, as the members of the opposition themselves do not have enough votes to file a constructive vote of no confidence. Minister of the Economy and President of the SMC party, Zdravko Počivalšek, refused their offer and said that at the moment, there is no real alternative to the current government. Minister of Health and the interim leader of the coalition party DeSUS, Tomaž Gantar, expressed his opinion on the possibility of working with the Constitutional Arc Coalition, namely, he said that the matter is not worth commenting on. Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti was not invited to become a part of the new coalition, but he believes that that happened because it is clear that the SNS is not the party that jumps from one side to the other, hinting at DeSUS. Matej Tonin, Minister of Defence and the president of the NSi party, also refused their offer. To sum up, to this day, the Constitutional Arch Coalition (Koalicija ustavnega loka – hereinafter referred to as KUL) does not even have a single vote more, than the number of votes it had when it was created.
Jože P. Damijan and the members of the KUL coalition obviously believe that nothing is off-limits in a war. The opposition’s goal is to gain additional votes for the vote of no confidence, get rid of the current government and form a new coalition. The opposition currently has 39 votes, and an additional thirteen could be won if the DeSUS and SMC parties decided to join the KUL coalition – which is also where the members of KUL see the possibility of an “alliance”. Alenka Bratušek also hinted at this some time ago, when she said: “In the opposition, we are seriously and often talking about forming a new centre-left government, but we currently have too few deputies to carry this out. Those who are missing are currently part of the coalition.” With this statement, she was mainly referring to the DeSUS party, but the SMC party is also still a viable option. Therefore, the question arises: what is the opposition willing to do to gain the votes or the deputies they need?
By Christmas, we might already have a new coalition, Damijan announced
Regarding the vote of no confidence, Damijan said in an evening news show on the commercial television on Monday, that many people imagine getting the necessary votes very differently from how it actually is – as if he is simply calling around and asking the MPs for support. So far, fragile relationships and trust are being built, he explained. He said: “However, a coalition can only be formed when both parties, DeSUS and SMC, decide to take this step, at the same time.” No one will jeopardize their position with this, he pointed out, saying that for now, we need to patiently wait for the DeSUS congress to happen. He also emphasized that he expects the talks on joining the new government to continue if Karel Erjavec will be elected as the party president at the December congress. “By Christmas, we might already have a new coalition,” Damijan announced optimistically.
The opposition is thinking about how to buy the MPs
“These three or more deputies need to be offered the same conditions as they are currently enjoying, they need to be offered the possibility of a future even after the year 2022. These deputies will only decide to join the new coalition when the decision of the DeSUS party is made clear. The transition to a new coalition can only happen together – if the two parties act as a unit.” Member of the European Parliament Romana Tomc already warned everyone about the fact that the opposition is thinking about how to buy the MPs months ago. She also hinted at the possibility of the MPs changing parties, if they would have something to gain from it. “Corruption, massive corruption,” she wrote. At that time, Dnevnik was already writing that they cannot agree on how to get the votes of the SMC and DeSUS deputies on their side, and what to offer them. So, it is not yet entirely clear how they are planning to win both parties over to their side, whether this will be done with the help of a really strong coalition agreement, a promised position, or even with monetary rewards. This political dribbling of the opposition is reminiscent of the SMC deputies that changed parties this year, as there was a suspicion that the deputies were rewarded for joining the opposition party. Jani Möderndorfer and Gregor Židan changing parties is what caused tquite a stir, as our media has already reported.
Financing the changing of parties of the Members of Parliament is clearly not a problem, the only question is who is for sale and in what currency will the offer be made
It does not seem as if the KUL coalition has a serious programme. The only thing Damijan said was that the epidemic got out of control under Janša’s government. He explained that in a situation like this, it is necessary to implement very strict measures, in order to restrict socializing, but it turned out that the crossings between municipalities are not the way to go, and the closure of schools is also problematic, so these measures could be lifted. He did not say where and how this turned out to be unnecessary. He also shared his expert opinion that the possibility of infection out in the open air is minimal, so it seems to him that the restaurants and bars, at least those that also serve outdoors, could still operate normally. The measures should already be working like a well-oiled machine, he said, adding that he does not understand why things are not moving faster, especially when it comes to state aid. He also believes that there should be no conditions; help should be available to everyone and then everything would go much faster than it is currently going, as the people have to prove that they are entitled to certain help. He did not explain where he would get all this money for offering unlimited help from. But if this does not pose a problem for him, then the financing of the deputies changing the parties will certainly be very simple for Jože P. Damijan. However, we have already noticed some posts on social media, warning the MPs to check if Damijan’s offers are made in Swiss Francs.
Sara Kovač