Here we have it, ladies and gentlemen… The first major political rift in the ranks of PM Janez Janša (JJ).
Friends no more…
Not to bore you with details, former State Secretary Andrijana Starina Kosem (ASK) has written a letter to various top members of Janša’s party (and some influential non-members as well) about how JJ forced her to do all these dirty things for the party, including making sure SDS would keep control over Delo once Laško brewery bought the newspaper. Among other things, she wrote
I objected to [Janša’s orders to sell] Večer newspaper to Austrian buyers, since the Austrians, influenced by their socialist government, could not be trusted too keep Večer from publising communist propaganda.
Ouch… Very hardcore… And this from a lady who was the Big Kahuna of Slovene ecnonomy for the past two years.
Janša of course retaliated in kind, but with a surprisingly short letter. Only 35 lines and some 300 words. Among other things he wrote that
It is an insult to common sense that ASK as head of Delo’s Supervisory Board is a guarantee for the newspaper’s independence, especially since attorney Stojan Zdolšek is also a member of the Board […] The latter also had in hand during the political purges following the Depala vas scandal as well as in a number or murky enterprises during transition. So we must be prepared for everything.[…] People ask themselves why these so-called party faithful act the way they do precisely in the time when investiations into black-ops funds, misuse of archives and other intelligence service wrongdoings are being launched.*
Double ouch! The paranoid JJ is using his biggest and most deadly weapon (discreditaion through using secret service) for a mere former state secretary. He really must be feeling the heat..
But all of this is just another example of revolution devouring its own children. As ASK became a hardcore party member she came to abhore anything and anyone who did not toe the party line. Including the PM himself, who did not even stop to think that Austrian social-democratic government could use a Slovene newspaper as a vehicle for communist propaganda”.
We have just witnessed the begining of an end of JJ. This will most likely not bring him down. But it is a bad omen for the future. Other challengers and challenges will follow. And Janša will have an increasingly tough time fending them off
*please take note of this post for refferences to Depala Vas affair, and also of this post for reffrences to influence of politics and economy on one another