Rumours have it that PM Borut Pahor will today officially propose to the parliament the demission of minister of environment Karl Erjavec. Ever since the two made a surprise deal last week Erjavec’s Pensioner party (DeSUS) was in turmoil, with Teflon Karl resorting to some neck-breaking antic to survive politically.
First take his job then sue the bastard. Karl Erjavec and Janez Podobnik in December 2008 (source)
But when he failed to have DeSUS MP Matjaž Zanoškar nominated for the soon-to-be-vacated ministerial post (Zanoškar’s acceptance would in turn vacate a parliamentary seat, which would – surprise, surprise! – be taken by Karl himsef), Erjavec’s position was eroding fast and started making ever bigger bets. On Tuesday he announced that he will be filling charges against his predecessor Janez Podobnik od Slovene People’s Party (SLS), apparently for failing to do what Erjavec is now taking the flak for (namely, to put in place a national system of waste management). But since the move failed to cut any ice, he went into a top-level DeSUS meeting, announcing that he will be nominating a world-renowned climatologist Lučka Kajfež Bogataj as his successor.
The only problem is that Kajfež Bogataj didn’t know she was getting nominated.
It was a fishy piece of information to begin with, as she rejected a climate change portfolio only months ago, citing lack of executive power the position had (or rather didn’t have). It turned out Erjavec was trying to buy time, to get his shop in order as the PM told him to come up with a name, so that his successor would be named immediately after Erjavec’s demission. However, as that will apparently not happen and there is no candidate in sight, PM Pahor will probably temporarily assign another minister to head the ministry of environment (his party VP and minister of transport Patrick Vlačič comes to mind). Either that, or he can notidy the parliament that he will head the ministry personaly. Either way, such an interim solution can last no longer than three months. By that time DeSUS will have surely either cleaned their act up or break up and go down the drain…
EDIT: According RTVSLO Pahor decided to wait a few more days. On the other hand Erjavec is making statements which verge on insanity. His latest was about impeaching Pahor, since he moved to dimiss Erjavec without asking the Constitutional Court whether there were any grounds to kick him out of the government.
