SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Clearly, No-one Was Thinking (part 2)

If there’s one thing to be learned from observing the media and political bubble, is that there is such a thing as too much agreement. When the SoManyPeopleCan’tBeWrong ™ effect kicks in, this should generally trigger a mass hysteria alert. Which is what happened the other week when Bank of Slovenia, the nation’s chief banking regulator tightened the screws on household borrowing.

This caused an uproar in Muddy Hollows, with everyone from Banking Association and youth organisations to the politicians and the media slammed the BS for their supposedly heartless and unnecessarily harsh move. It must have felt good to be a part of the crowd.

Clearly, No-one Was Thinking (part 1)

Under usual circumstances, Levica bailing out on the supply & support agreement with the Šarec government (or the other way around, depending on whom you ask) would be big news. But seeing as the circumstances are anything but usual, the splash Luka Mesec and his democratic socialists hoped for was anything but spectacular.

*(picture via the inimitable* *despair.com*)

This was just the latest of missteps, unforced errors and ham-fisted efforts at controlling the narrative that has marked the past few weeks in Muddy Hollows and pengovsky hopes to make a short series of posts on them. Let’s start with the latest one.

Of Egos And Justices

On Monday, the Constitutional Court ruled that the infamous 2017 changes to the Aliens Act, which effectively allowed the government to wholesale deny asylum under certain conditions (say, a mass migration wave, to give an example at random), were unconstitutional and struck them down in an 8-1 decision. Normally, this would be quite a bombshell on its own. And yet, somehow, it wasn’t.

*Jaklič in a now-deleted tweet saying Janša is the greatest Slovenian in history (source*)

Both readers will remember that the topic was so controversial back then that it drove a big fucking wedge between PM Miro Cerar and Speaker Milan Brglez, both SMC top dogs at the time and that Cerar eventually threw Brglez out of the party. Still, the latter must be feeling smug these past few days.

The Hulk, Dead In A Ditch

When Jean-Claude Juncker seemingly insulted Theresa May, by allegedly stating she was nebulous (which he didn’t), she made a beeline for Juncker, confronted him right there and then, and settled the issue.

*Xavier Bettel empty-chairing Boris Johnson (source:* *The Independent*)

When Xavier Bettel seemingly insulted Boris Johnson yesterday, by refusing to move a press conference to a more tranquil setting, BoJo made a beeline for the exit, not once looking back.

Turf War

Poor Czechs. They can’t even have a proper senior political turf war without those pesky Slovenians beating them to it. Imagine being in charge of Czechia’s foreign policy, seething over another one of your president’s solo trips to badlands and mulling a response, only to see your counterpart in Ljubljana do the exact same fucking thing, an hour earlier.

This is broadly what happened to Czech FM Tomáš Petříček while he was looking for ways to undo the damage president Miloš Zeman did during his visit to Belgrade where he said that he will push for de-recognition of Kosovo by Czechia. However, Zeman wasn’t the only president of a Central European country facing pushback from his foreign minister that day. Cue Borut Pahor. Obviously.