STA, 8 November 2020 - The US is a strategic partner of Slovenia, which will continue to build close friendly ties with Washington in the future, PM Janez Janša said in his latest tweet related to the US presidential election on Sunday, a day after Democrat Joe Biden declared victory.
"The US is our strategic partner. All the @govSlovenia I have led have built close, friendly relations with the US. No matter which party the US president was from. Nothing will change in the future," reads the tweet.
#US ??is our strategic partner. All the @govSlovenia I have led have built close, friendly relations ????. No matter which party the U.S. president was from. Nothing will change in the future.
— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) November 8, 2020
Janša has in recent days raised eyebrows at home and abroad for having said it was "pretty clear" incumbent President Donald Trump won, his tweet coming at a time when many votes were yet to be counted and several key states were yet to declare the winner.
Biden is now receiving congratulations from world leaders, including Slovenian President Borut Pahor and several coalition and opposition party leaders, whereas Janša is more reserved.
Janša tweeted yesterday the US election winner had been declared by mainstream media while legal challenges had been filed in all US federal states where the outcome was close, with courts yet to decide on them.
Several media abroad have noted that Janša as Trump's supporter has not congratulated Biden upon election, but instead attacked the media for declaring him the winner.
Politico's European news portal said Slovenian officials were divided on how to respond, pointing to Pahor's congratulations and Janša's questioning the decision of media outlets to call the election for Biden.
It also highlighted a tweet of congratulations to Biden by Janez Lenarčič, the European commissioner from Slovenia, commenting he had tried to correct Janša's pro-Trump stance. Lenarčič wrote that "as a European commissioner from Slovenia, I warmly congratulate Joe Biden on the victory".
In a separate piece, Politico also pointed to Janša saying, in a tweet posted in October, that Biden would be one of the weakest US presidents in history.
It added that since the Janša government will preside over the EU in the second half of 2021, it will have to "switch strategy and cosy up to the new US president".
Press agencies including Austria's APA and France's AFP have also reported on Janša's tweet criticising the declaration of Biden as winner.
