SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Commissioner of Last Resort

Janez Lenačič, the (current?) Slovenian nominee for commissioner in the upcoming European Commission, had his first hearing in the Slovenian parliament yesterday. As the nomination process is wholly within the government purview, the parliamentary hearing is mostly a dog-and-pony show, intended to appease the grandstanding urges of MPs. Nevertheless, the non-binding vote finally brought to an end to the latest case study in how not to manage human resources.

*Marjan Šarec (left) and Janez Lenarčič (source*)

To say that the entire episode was a shitshow deluxe would be a bit of an understatement. It is incredibly ironic how PM Marjan Šarec was ever so vocal about the bizarre spectacle of shambolic commissioner nomination Muddy Hollows endured in 2014 and yet ended up pretty much in the same place Alenka Bratušek and later Miro Cerar ended up in five years ago.

Wizzaren’t

If you’re travelling alone, a delayed flight to Brussels can be a fun thing. Especially if you run into a few journo friends and it all turns into an impromptu Oktoberfest.

But the brew gets really stale really fast when you’ve been dumped in the north of France in the middle of the night. Which is exactly what happened to yours truly three weeks ago. I have thoughts.

Trial Balloons

In the post-EU-election hustle some member states are hitting the ground running. Some, however, are not. No points for guessing which category Muddy Hollows is in.

*Marjan Šarec and his weird-ish relationship with the EU (source* *and* *source*)

In fact, rather than defining strategic areas of interest early on and then finding one or more people potentially fitting the bill, the great Slovenian political minds of Dunning-Kruger fame started playing a game of elimination and floating trial balloons. Talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Karma Is A Bitch (Aftermath of the EU Vote)

Yesterday’s Slovenian vote in the 2019 EU elections proved once again that Muddy Hollows is an ecosystem unto its own and that any resemblance to Europe-wide political trends is coincidental at best.

Slovenian MEPs 2019 edition: Tomc, Fajon, Zver, Bogovič, Novak, Joveva, Grošelj and Brglez,

The unofficial-but-probably-final tally is as follows: SDS+SLS combo (EPP) won three seats. SD (S&D) won two, as did LMŠ (ALDE) while NSi (EPP) scooped up the remaining seat.

Ladies’ Night

Just as pengovsky was about to declare the European election campaign in Muddy Hollows boring as fuck, the final TV debate provided drama, fireworks and overall joy at something finally happening.

Because if there ever was a more boring campaign in Slovenia, pengovsky must have slept through it. Because for the most part these past few weeks have been a goddamn snoozefest of biblical proportions.