At a press conference following the official government visit to Slovenian Istria and the Karst, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, also commented on the latest public opinion poll results and the recent government decision to form a working group for the assessment of the work of the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency.

(Photo: Primož Lavre/Salomon 2000)

Prime Minister Janez Janša commented on recent public opinion poll results and trends in a section of the Slovenian political space by saying that polls certainly influence voters’ opinions, but that one should nevertheless wait for the elections. “Elections show which political party is the strongest and the events following the elections show which is the most important coalition or opposition party.” Despite the fact that the number of MPs changes in individual parliamentary groups when certain MPs, once elected, join other parties, the Prime Minister believes it is ultimately the voters who set the legitimate size of parliamentary parties. The government has to accomplish many important tasks before the next elections, so for the moment, it cannot deal with decisions which are in the hands of the voters. He pointed out that the fact that certain MPs have crossed over to other parties has not shifted the balance between the coalition and the opposition formed after the elections, even as far as the size of parliamentary groups is concerned. “The fact is that the largest parliamentary group in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia remains the parliamentary group of the Slovenian Democratic Party, which is at the moment twice the size of the largest party in the opposition.”

The PM also said he was pleased about the largely positive response of the new parliamentary group to the invitation to collaborate within the Partnership for Development. "Next week's working meeting will be an opportunity to see whether there is actual readiness for cooperation," the PM said, expressing regret that the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) yet again turned down the invitation to join the Partnership. On the case of four LDS MPs crossing the floor to join the Social Democrats (SD) (a party cooperating in the Partnership for Development) he said, "I am glad to see some who have so far quite aggressively and destructively turned down collaboration within the Partnership join those who have accepted it." Having welcomed this step, he also cautioned that should their position remain as destructive as before, this would render the collaboration within the Partnership more difficult to a certain degree. "However, this is not our problem. It seems they will have to – I hope that they will – accept the rules of the game that apply in the parliamentary group they are said to be joining," he concluded.

Mr Janša also explained the reasons that have led the government to establish a working group whose task will be to assess the work of the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency. The working group is appointed by the government, and as such it answers to the Prime Minister. "When the government discussed the annual reports of the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency, several questions relating to the work of the Agency arose. In order to find answers to them, the government, at the next session, appointed the working group to assess the work of the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency." Another reason, according to the PM, for establishing the working group are certain claims by the Agency's employees, which they made after the change of leadership i.e. following the resignation of the former Director of the Agency. In order to prevent these unconfirmed claims being used for unfounded political advantage through the media, the government has decided to keep the information about establishing the working group confidential. Nevertheless, according to Mr Janša, the government has no objections to explaining its decision publicly, which is why the matter is no longer confidential after the decision to establish the working group was forwarded to the Chair of the Commission for Supervision of the Intelligence and Security Services of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. A group established in this way has five tasks: to assess the legal basis for the Agency's operations; to examine whether the Agency's operations are legal; to examine the financial and commercial dealings and conduct an inventory of the Agency; to examine the legality and regularity of the handling of archival material to which the Agency has access; and to draw up a proposal for possible organisational and other changes that would improve the Agency's work. The government will discuss the working group's report when it has been drafted. The group's competences are clearly defined within the scope of the government's competences. The Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency is a government service, and if anyone is empowered to look into these matters, it is the government," the Prime Minister concluded.