JANSA SELECTS HIS CABINET

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 001071

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON SI
SUBJECT: JANSA SELECTS HIS CABINET


1. (U) SUMMARY: On Wednesday afternoon, November 24, after
the signing of a coalition agreement by all four presidents
of the coalition parties, Prime Minister Janez Jansa sent a
list of 16 proposed ministerial candidates to the National
Assembly for approval. The National Assembly has seven days
(until November 30) to approve the entire slate. END
SUMMARY.


2. (U) The list of candidates with brief biographical
information is as follows:

-- Dr. Dimitrij Rupel (SDS),nominated for Minister of
Foreign Affairs, was foreign minister from 2000 - 2004 (and
previously 1990-1993),Slovene Ambassador to US (1997-2000),
and Mayor of Ljubljana (1995-1997). He was dismissed as
FoMin just before national elections in June of 2004. He
then left the Liberal Democratic Party to join Slovene
Democratic Party deputy group and run for Parliament. He
was also one of the creators of the Assembly for the
Republic. (Note: during elections, Rupel was listed as an
"independent" on the SDS list. However, in recent press, he
has been identified as a member of SDS, and Rupel has not
made a point of disagreeing with this characterization.)

-- Dr. Gregor Virant [not affiliated but close to Jansa's
SDS party] nominated as Minister for Public Administration,
a newly established ministry under Jansa's government.
Virant was a former State Secretary at the Ministry of
Interior in charge of Public Administration reform, and
creator of the Ministry of Public Administration. He was
also a member of Jansa's Expert Council.

-- Dr. Vasko Simoniti [SDS], nominated as Minister of
Culture, is a professor of History at the Philosophy Faculty
at the University of Ljubljana. He was head of the
presidential election campaign in 2002 for independent
candidate Barbara Brezigar [supported by SDS and NSi].

-- Mr. Andrej Vizjak [SDS], nominated as Minister of
Economy, is currently the mayor of Brezice and a member of
parliament. His main goals as minister will be reforming
government regulation of business, especially with respect
to administrative barriers and taxation.

-- Mr. Andrej Brucan [SDS], nominated as Minister of Health,
is vice-president of SDS and was the Minister of Health
during Bajuk's government (2000). Since 1979 he has headed
the Urgent Internal Medical Office of the Clinical Center in
Ljubljana.

-- Dr. Milan Zver, [SDS] nominated as Minister of Education,
is the President of the SDS Council and a professor of
Sociology at Maribor University. He supports the idea of
Bible study as an optional subject in primary school.

-- Mr. Dragutin Mate, [SDS] nominated as Minister of
Interior is employed in the Ministry of Defense as Director
of the Directorate for Defense. He became known to the
public as the Slovene Defense Attach in Sarajevo [from 1996
to 1999] where he was reportedly collecting information on
Slovene Ambassador Mirosic's private life. He was recalled
early from his posting. Mate also testified in front of the
Parliamentary Commission on post-independence weapons trade.

-- Ms. Marija Lukacic, nominated for Minister of
Agriculture, Forestry and Food and proposed by SDS (though
not a party member),was the former Director of the Fund of
Agricultural Land and Forests [1994 - 1999] where she was
not very successful. In 2000 she was nominated for the
Director of the Office for Denationalization and in 2001 she
returned to the Ministry of Agriculture to head the Office
for Natural Disasters.

-- Dr. Andrej Bajuk,[Nsi] nominated as Minister of Finance,
is the president of NSi and a former prime minister
[transitional government in 2000]. Bajuk worked for the
Interamerican Development Bank in various positions from
1977-2000. He strongly supports privatization in Slovenia,
especially of banks, however he has indicated that the banks
should stay in Slovene hands.

-- Dr. Lovro Sturm, [Nsi] nominated as Minister of Justice,
is a professor of law at Ljubljana University. He is a
former Constitutional Court Judge and was Minister of
Education in 2000 during Bajuk's transitional government.
He is the author of the draft Law on Religious Communities
and Head of the Institute for the Law of Human Rights.

-- Mr. Janez Drobnic [NSi], nominated as Minister of Labor,

Family and Social Affairs, was the former head of the NSi
Deputy group in parliament. Before being elected MP in
2000, he was employed in the Ministry of Labor as an
advisor. He strongly opposed the LDS initiative to legalize
bio-medical help in insemination of single women and also
the Law on Decriminalization of Prostitution.

-- Dr. Jure Zupan [NSi], nominated as Minister of Higher
Education, Science and Technology, is a top Slovene
scientist, specializing in chemistry and informatics. He
initiated the idea of splitting the ministry of Education
into two ministries.

-- Mr. Janez Podobnik [SLS], nominated for Minister of
Environment and Spatial Planning, is president of SLS and
former president of the National Assembly (1996 - 2000).
Recently, he was involved in the incident on the Slovene -
Croatian border where he was roughly arrested by the
Croatian police for refusing to show his identity card.

-- Mr. Janez Bozic [SLS], nominated as the Minister of
Transport, is currently the President of the Direction for
Highways of the Republic of Slovenia (DARS).

-- Mr. Karl Erjavec [DeSUS], nominated as Minister of
Defense, is currently a State Secretary at the Ministry of
Justice. He took his current position as a member of SLS in
2000, when Ivo Bizjak [SLS] became the minister. In April
2004 when SLS left the coalition, newly appointed MoJ Zdenka
Cerar wanted him to stay in the position and so he left the
party. After few months he joined DeSUS.

-- Ms. Darinka Mravljak [SLS], nominated as Minister without
portfolio in charge of Regional Development and Local Self-
government, is a former Head of the Parliamentarian
Commission for the Policy of Equal Opportunities.

--------------
CONFIRMATION
--------------


3. (U) The are a few remaining steps before the government
can be confirmed. First, the candidates must have hearings
with the respective parliamentary committees within three to
seven days after nomination. Then, the presidents of the
committees give their opinions to the Prime Minister within
48 hours after the hearing. He then has three days to
replace any candidate if he pleases. And finally, following
this timeline, the government will be confirmed most likely
on Thursday, December 2, 2004 during the regular
parliamentary session.

--------------
CODE OF ETHICS
--------------


4. (U) When Jansa was elected Prime Minister in the
National Assembly, he stated he would demand a Code of
Ethics for the Government of Slovenia to be signed by each
member of the government. It is also a part of the
coalition agreement. The Code of Ethics is based on
fundamental values of human life and dignity, freedom,
honesty, solidarity and patriotism. Signing the code will
bind ministers morally and ethically to perform their
functions according to the law (not using professional
information for personal gain, refusing gifts, refusing
privileges offered solely because of their positions,
avoiding conflicts of interest etc.). Should abuse of
office come to light in a manner which would be damaging to
the reputation or work of the Government, individuals are
obliged to offer their resignations to the Prime Minister.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


5. It is very likely Slovenia will have its new government
by the end of next week [December 3]. The coalition holds
49 votes plus two representatives of minorities that usually
stick with the coalition. There are two potentially
controversial candidates for minister. The first is
proposed (and former) FoMin Dimitrij Rupel who was dismissed
as Foreign Minister in June 2004 for his active
participation in the Assembly for the Republic, which
aligned itself with center-right parties prior to national
elections. As reported previously, Rupel quickly allied
himself with Jansa and the SDS and has secured himself his
old job in the new government. His former party [LDS] will
certainly oppose him in the Foreign Affairs Committee review

and most likely the rest of the opposition [ZLSD and SNS]
will withhold support. However, parliamentary committees
only give advisory opinions on candidates, which the Prime
Minister is not obliged to follow.


6. The second controversial and perhaps even more
problematic candidate facing confirmation is Dragutin Mate
for Minister of Interior. He has been close to Jansa since
Jansa became the Minister of Defense in 1990. During Mate's
employment in the Ministry of Defense (Defense Intelligence
Office, Personnel Office) and as the Defense Attach in
Sarajevo he was involved in several affairs that might be
reopened during his hearing. In preparation for Mate's
hearing, some LDS deputies have the reports of the
Commission (in the previous parliament) that investigated
weapons trade during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, .


7. Rupel and Mate are likely the only two candidates who
will face intense questioning during their hearings. At the
end of the day, however, the parliament votes on the entire
slate of ministers as a package. With only 46 votes needed
for confirmation of the team, Jansa's coalition, which
controls 49 votes, is expected to approve the proposed
cabinet.


ROBERTSON


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