Luka Mesec | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Court Hobbles Health Reform, But There’s A Catch

In what could arguably be described as a Christmas Eve dump (or a Christmas miracle, depending on your point of view), the constitutional court hobbled a key piece of PM Robert Golob’s much-vaunted health reform. Apparently, Santa is not the only one to have a naughty and nice lists. Slovenian constitutional court has them, too. Sometimes in the same ruling.

Constitutional court annulled a key provision of the health reform by the government of Robert Golob. But it also threw him a lifeline. — *Constitutional Court provided some Christmas cheer for some. For others, not so much (source)*

That said, the court also upheld a different part of the same law, as well as deferred ruling on other points of the challenge at a later date. There are probably good reasons for this, but pengovsky would also like to think that the court decided to split the difference on key issues, kick the rest of the can down the road and tried to be home by dinner. It is Festivus, after all.

Šutar Act: Robert Golob Knows A Good Crisis When He Sees One

Late Monday night, Slovenian parliament approved the Šutar Act. PM Robert Golob and his government drafted the law as a response to an incident in Novo mesto about three weeks ago, where a man was attacked outside a night club by one or more members of the Roma minority and later died of injuries sustained in the brawl. But it is also much more than that.

Robert Golob outlined the Šutar Act only days after the fatal incident involving Roma attackers in Novo mesto, during a tense session of the city council. The law was passed earlier this week. — *Robert Golob durint the tense session of Novo mesto city council (source: STA YouTube)*

For some time, tensions between the majority Slovenian and minority Roma populations in Dolenjska region have been running high. A combination of crime (petty and otherwise), failure of integration policies, welfare abuse and bog-standard chauvinism have turned every interaction between the two groups into a flashpoint. And then the point flashed. Bigly.

Luka Mesec And A Bucket Of Warm Piss

Luka Mesec as prime minister? People were waking up in cold sweat yesterday upon hearing the news. Even though most of them were already awake, seeing as the story broke after nine o’clock.

Luka Mesec will stand in for PM. But he will not become one. — *Luka Mesec, the not-quite-prime-minister (source)*

Still, news that PM Golob is going to have his hernia operated over the weekend and that he appointed Luka Mesec to keep the lights on for the duration, caused a subset of the good people of Muddy Hollows to panic and start heading for the hills.

Asta Vrečko, Chairwoman of the Politburo

Since pengovsky is still playing catch-up, one of the events left to process is Asta Vrečko taking over as Levica… President? Chairwoman? Coordinatress? Whatever her title, the minister of culture is now leader of the left-most coalition party. Which should not come as a surprise to either reader of this here blog.

Culture minister Asta Vrečko delivering her address during Culture Day celebrations in February 2023. She now takes over as Levica leader. — *Asta Vrečko as minister of culture in February 2023 (source)*

It was obvious that Vrečko was being primed for a leadership position in Levica. If not sooner, since her pilgrimage to Čebine back in April. Somewhat more surprising was the change in leadership happening so quickly. Surprising to this scribe, at least. Back in April pengovsky thought the transition was at least a couple of years away. Little did he know that Levica bolsheviks would scare the shit out Luka Mesec in less than four months’ time.

The Second Government Of Robert Golob

Eight-and-a-half months passed since Robert Golob got the keys to his new office. And last week, he finally got the government he needs. But whether it is one he deserves, remains to be seen. But with twenty ministers, the Big Bird’s second executive is the most numerous since the days of Lojze Peterle.

PM Robert Golob with his upgraded cabinet. — *Team Golob 2.0 (source)*

This inflation of top-level postings is a byproduct of coalition haggling. Specifically, it was Robert Golob making sure Tanja Fajon and Luka Mesec brought home some serious bacon. This was meant to offset the dismal showing by both leaders’ parties in April election. But Team Golob 2.0 is also a consequence of shifting political priorities.

Ukraine War Forces Slovenian Politics To Think Foreign Policy Thoughts

In all honesty, it is a bit self-serving to try and look at Russian war against Ukraine through the lens of Muddy Hollows and its political cesspool. But seeing as this is an utterly self-serving blog, pengovsky will go right ahead. PM Janša, on the other hand, will stay put, as the Russian aggression preempted his photo-op in Kyiv planned for today.

Flags if Ukraine in the government district in Ljubljana. — *Ukrainian flags in the government district in Ljubljana (source)*

This, incidentally, should make the Glorious Leader available for a court-date in a defamation case against him. But he’ll probably claim an emergency NatSec Council meeting or something like that. And for once, he may not be lying through his teeth to get out of a court date.

The State of Muddy Hollows Play, part 2: Who The Fuck Is Robert Golob?

In Part Two of pengovsky playing catch-up (click here for Part 1), it is finally time to introduce Robert Golob. To outside observers, his name popped up suddenly in a series of opinion polls, scoring a cool fifteen-to-twenty percent from the get-go. And many people went “the fuck is going on in Muddy Hollows?”

Robert Golob, now former CEO of Gen-I, who upended political scene in Muddy Hollows. — Robert Golob (source)

In a nutshell, it is a function of a lot of people wanting someone, anyone, to sort out this fucking mess. Call it a reverse messiah complex. That is not to say that Robert Golob does not have his own agency and ambitions. Which he clearly does. But right now, he still lacks pretty much everything else. But the turntables….