Robert Golob | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Immovable KPK Meets Unstoppable Golob

It has been over two weeks since PM Robert Golob was slapped with a KPK ruling over his actions in the Bobnar Boondoggle. Pengovsky was going to write it up soonest but there were things to see and people to do. Also, adulting is hard. Be that as it may, the intervening days have shown that Apex Avian had developed some remarkable survival skills. Not really Teflon, because he is not out of the woods yet, but remarkable nevertheless.

A Who Would Win meme featuring Slovenian PM Robert Golob and KPK, the country's anti-graft commission, investigating the PM for corruption and conflict of interest. — *A meme for (of?) the ages*

The most remarkable thing about it is that Gibanje Svoboda is keeping the pace with SDS of Janez Janša. This, despite the fact that the opposition is in full offensive mode. Whisper it, but GS may even closing the gap slightly, depending on which pollster does the polling. It seems that whatever bad juju this story was going to generate, it was already priced in by Golob’s supporters. At this point they simply don’t give a flying fuck anymore. Does that remind you of anyone?

The Restaurant at the End of the (Left-Liberal) Universe

The history of every major political party in Muddy Hollows tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question ‘How can we run the government?’ the second by the question ‘Why do we run the government?’ and the third by the question ‘Where shall we have lunch‘?

Robert Golob hosted leaders of left-liberal parties at a posh restaurant in Ljubljana. Everyone came and agreed to play nice. — *PM Golob welcoming playing host at an admittedly posh restaurant (source)*

With apologies to Douglas Adams, there simply is no better way to describe today’s huddle of the six parties comprising the left-liberal half of the Slovenian political spectrum. To an untrained eye, the lunch date may have seemed like an overture to tighter political collaboration or even semi-unification. In reality, these guys went to lunch because they were hungry.

Slovenian Election To Be Held On 22 March, Says The Prez

Parliamentary election in Muddy Hollows is scheduled for 22 March this year. This is the gist of a decree president Nataša Pirc Musar signed earlier today. The date is not a surprise as NPM said as much just before Christmas. But it does mean that as of today the game is officially afoot.

President Nataša Pirc Musar set 22 March this year as election day for electing a new Slovenian parliament. — *President Pirc Musar signing the election decree (photo: Bor Slana/STA)*

Both readers of course know that the game has actually been afoot at least since October. The only real casualty here is pengovsky’s slightly tongue-in-cheek projection of 8 March as election date. But for that to happen, a lot of things would have to fall in place. Including a pliant president. And we know how things are in that department.

10 Takeaways From Assisted Dying Referendum Whoopass

On Sunday, Slovenians rejected the law on assisted dying. When the referendum dust settled, the NO campaign of Aleš Primc and a host of other organisations pulled in a respectable 54 % of the vote amid a near-historic 41% turnout. This means they easily cleared both hurdles needed for rejection of the law. They won a majority which also represented more than 20% of all eligible voters.

The final results of the referendum vote on the law on assisted dying. — *The final referendum tally (source: DVK)*

To say that the result came as a shock to many in the YES camp would be an understatement. Going into the final days of the campaign, proponents of the law were oozing optimism backed by some very favourable polling. But then the numbers started rolling in. Pengovsky didn’t share this optimism to begin with, so here are ten takeaways from the Sunday whoopass.

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.

Stupid Before The Storm: Ghost of Bobnar Past

Remember this story? Or this one? Or the one before? In the Muddy Hollows history of stupid, PM Robert Golob and his falling out with interior minister Tatjana Bobnar will hold an infamously prestigious spot. The story simply refuses to go away and like the ghost of Christmas past, keeps haunting the PM.

Tatjana Bobnar and Robert Golob, back when this whole thing started and she accused him of abuse of office. Now the state prosecution and the courts are involved. — *Tatjana Bobnar and Robert Golob, back when this whole thing started*

In this latest iteration, the prosecution filed for a judicial investigation into whether the Apex Avian abused office with regard to appointing the chief of police back in 2022. And now the coalition is rankled and the opposition is calling for Golob’s resignation.

Stupid Before The Storm: Mother Of All Walkbacks

Slowly, with the speed of a decrepit snail on valium, pengovsky is bringing this blog up to speed all the stupid that happened in the lull before the campaign storm. And at last, we get to take a look at the NATO near-miss that made everyone look up and ask whether Slovenian political class really is capable of handling this sovereign state thingy.

NATO and Muddy Hollows. because pengovsky couldn't be bothered with yet another picture of PM Golob to represent the mother of all walkbacks — *NATO and Muddy Hollows. because pengovsky couldn’t be bothered with yet another picture of PM Golob*

As everyone knows by now, there will not be a referendum on Slovenian NATO membership. There will not even be a referendum on defence spending resolution. In fact, six weeks after nearly sleepwalking into a clusterfuck of epic proportions, people involved are pretending like the whole thing never happened.