The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 14 May 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Bitter EU presidency for Janša
STA, 14 May 2021 - The left-wing weekly Mladina says in Friday's editorial that Slovenia's EU presidency later this year could prove a bitter experience for PM Janez Janša, as it anticipates that senior EU officials might not be willing to come to Slovenia because Janša's actions are not in line with EU values.
EU presidency has been reduced to a show of protocol, except if a powerful member state, such as Germany, is at its helm.
When a weak member state is presiding, the presidency is relatively unnoticeable, which also goes for Slovenia, no matter who would be in power at that moment.
Nevertheless, the eyes of all politicians start glowing when they think of all the photo sessions they will get during visits by foreign officials.
And while "Janša wants to pin the EU presidency on his wrinkled coat", he has started realising the EU could punish him by depriving him of the much-desired photo sessions.
"Today it is already clear that European politicians find our prime minister repulsive, to use this harsh word that can be heard in Berlaymont's corridors, at the seat of the European Commission."
Whatever he does is base and disgusting for Europe, which is based on the Enlightenment. EU institutions see the story about the STA as a Putin-styled political concept which represents everything Europe is not and does not want to be.
If this regime does not collapse before, Janša will preside the EU, Mladina says. But it seems it will be a bitter experience for him, because senior representatives of EU institutions and statesmen could be cancelling their participation.
The weekly says that every meeting will be marked by counting who has come to Ljubljana, and who has instead sent a lower-ranking official with a kind letter explaining that urgent matters have kept them in their own country.
Reporter: Coalition's move on Zorčič a bluff
STA, 10 May 2021 -The right-wing weekly Reporter says in its latest commentary that parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič would not let himself be bluffed by the coalition into resigning. His current reputation as a person who stubbornly resists Prime Minister Janez Janša is of key importance for his current recognisability and greater popularity in the public.
The coalition had called on Zorčič to resign honourably as it claimed it had enough votes to dismiss him, but the alleged 47 votes dwindled to only 38 in only two days.
"It is not clear what had prompted the coalition parties to go after Zorčič with such an apparent bluff," the weekly adds under the headline Bluffers.
The clumsy move by the coalition that is difficult to understand had been doomed in advance, and even without the fiasco with MP signatures, the stunt was unnecessary, because Zorčič had no reason whatsoever to resign himself.
"Because this is hygienic, as his predecessors Dejan Židan and Matej Tonin resigned themselves? But the two knew that they have no chance of remaining at the post, while Zorčič made a calculation that says that they cannot replace him."
Zorčič has realised that standing up to the coalition brings him points, as those who had criticised him for not supporting the KUL coalition in its attempt to overthrow Janša are now applauding him.
Reporter wonders whether Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek, because of the lack of votes in parliament, will be "really forced to swallow the humiliation and return to parliament for the sake of the majority in the National Assembly."
Although Počivalšek likes to brag that the economy badly needs him, Janša would quickly find a replacement for him at the ministry. "At this moment the prime minister needs deputy Počivalšek more than Minister Počivalšek."
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