sex and politics

Just me, stirring the pot…

As promised, a follow-up on a post from a week ago, where crni sparred with St. Luka, Davor and myself over what qualifies a person to be a minister for (in this case) higher education, science and technology.

Gregor Golobič during yesterday’s hearing (source)

As you know by now, PM-designate Borut Pahor nominated president of Zares, Gregor Golobič to the post. This sparked controversy, with one side (in our case personified by crni) arguing that Golobič is severly lacking experience in the field and is thus ill equiped for the job. The ultimate proof for that being that it took him close to 20 years to finish his studies and write his diploma.

The other side (personified by the above mentioned rogue band of die-hard communist cunts) however contended that Golobič has enough experience, not in the least because a ministerial post is inherently political (no lack of experience there). Add to that the fact that he his a proven techie, understands new tehcnologies and can add a stint in Ultra (a high-tech company) to his CV. Overall, the communist cunts conteded, Golobič’s broad “humanities” orientation with a degree in philosphy, political skill and IT experience make him an extremely suitable candidate for the job.

But.

What did the man himself say about his future job?

Firstly, during his hearing Gregor Golobič said that he is a politican and not an expert and as such does not have ready-made solutions. He went to add, that he has more questions than answers (probably deliberatly echoing Borut Pahor in his inaugural speech). As a minister, Golobič apparently will not deal in specifics of education and research - he will, rather, leave that to autonomus institutes and agencies - and will pursue public interest. In the field of research that means - according to Golobič - that he will give equal importace both to applied research, which must be co-funded by the private sector and basic research, funded apparently by state. (source)

Secondly, he will increase investment in R&D by 0.1 to 0.3 percent of GDP per annum, aiming to have 3% of GDP annually invested into R&D, a third of that coming directly from the budget, the rest from private sector. (source)

And thirdly, Golobič said something that might be considered his ministerial creed: Namely, that “in order to find the right answers one must be aware that one’s value is limited“.

EDIT:
Fourthly: On taking him nearly two decades to write his diploma and get his degree, Golobič countered that he was actually a student for only five of those 20 years and was lured away from finishing the studies by the turmoil of the 80’s, when he took up editorships, publicising and ultimately politics. He apparently also gave up his scolarship to pursue these interests. Fifteen year later he passed additional exams and finally wrote his diploma.

This were just a couple of excerpts from a three-and-a-half-hour long hearing. The entire trascript is here (Slovene only, I’m afraid)

Any thoughts?