ZA RES, SLOVENIA'S NEWEST POLITICAL MOVEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LJUBLJANA 000321

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR SI
SUBJECT: ZA RES, SLOVENIA'S NEWEST POLITICAL MOVEMENT


Classified By: Charge Maryruth Coleman for reason 1.4 (b) an (d)


1. (C) Summary. Matej Lahovnik, former Minister of Economy
and the leader of Slovenia's newest political movement Za Res
(For Real) views himself more as a technocrat than a
politician and told DCM and PolEcon Chief that with his new
movement, he wanted to put "real issues" on the government's
agenda. Lahovnik wants the GOS to address: the situation of
the "erased," resolving border issues with Croatia, taking
action on economic reforms and the conduct of international
relations. Lahovnik was almost more critical of opposition
political parties than of the GOS, saying the opposition was
neither well focused nor effective. He did, however, save his
most pointed criticism for Foreign Minister Rupel, whom he
labeled somewhat facetiously as "Slovenia's eternal flame of
democracy," referring to the FM's legendary ability to read
the political winds correctly. In the upcoming presidential
race, Lahovnik predicted Social Democrat Borut Pahor would
run and win because "he wants to be liked by everybody" and
the more political role of Prime Minister would never appeal
to him. With his new movement, Lahovnik hopes to attract new
voices to the political sphere which will help make progress
on what he considers to be the most urgent issues facing
Slovenia today. End Summary.

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The New Generation
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2. (U) Independent Parliamentarian Matej Lahovnik, an
academic at heart, is also the reluctant vanguard of the next
generation of Slovenian politicians. While a professor of
economics at the University of Ljubljana and in his early
thirties, he was tapped as a technocrat in 2004 to fill the
post of Minister of Economy for the previous government.
That autumn he joined the ruling party, Liberal Democracy
(LDS),and ran on the Ljubljana slate for parliament. He
won, but his party did not.


3. (U) After the dismal showing of the Liberal Democracy
Party (LDS) in local elections in fall 2006 and the continued
infighting and ineffective leadership of the party, Lahovnik
and four other LDS members of parliament left the party.
Rather than leave politics altogether, he and his colleagues
decided in February 2007 to form a new political movement, ZA
RES. Lahovnik says the plan is to transform the movement
into a political party after presidential elections in
December 2007 and be ready to run a campaign for the 2008
parliamentary elections.

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Real Issues
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4. (C) Lahovnik expressed frustration that the current GOS is
focusing on "unimportant" issues such as finger pointing over
old grievances from World War II and trying to increase the
influence of the Catholic Church in the state, while
sidestepping the crucial issues of economic reform,
privatization, resolving status issues of former Yugoslav
residents of Slovenia and settling outstanding disputes with
Croatia. Though he would not speculate on the reasons, he
said it was telling that the only major investment in
Slovenia since Jansa took office has been Russian. (Note:
Russia has signed a joint venture agreement with Petrol,
Slovenia's only petroleum company, and a Russian company
recently won the tender to purchase a Slovenian steel mill.)

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Jansa Takes an Interest
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5. (C) After announcing his split with the LDS and forming a
group of independents in Parliament, Lahovnik was invited to
meet with PM Jansa who offered him the opportunity to join
his non-partisan economic advisory group. Lahovnik declined
to join, however, he did offer Jansa some thoughts which he
believes Jansa took on board based on recent policy shifts.
Lahovnik said he was particularly concerned about the loud,
public rhetoric coming from the MFA aimed at Croatia. In his
opinion, Rupel's handling of the border dispute has been
dismal. He criticized him for being an arrogant know-it-all
who should be above trying to "score points" on the Croatia
issue. Lahovnik fingered Rupel as among the most vocal in
the previous government in support of making Croatia's EU
entry contingent upon satisfactory resolution of border
issues. He believes Jansa must have pulled Rupel back since
the FM has maintained a noticeably less strident attitude on

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Croatia more recently. Lahovnik did not place all the blame
for poor relations with Croatia on Rupel, saying he and his
Croatian counterpart were "two of a kind" and fed off each
other's antagonism. Lahovnik also urged Jansa to find a
final resolution to the problem of the "erased" prior to
assuming the EU presidency, saying this would be an
unnecessary spot on Slovenia's otherwise strong human rights
record.

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Presidenial Predictions
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6. (C) Lahovnik predicted that in a race between Borut Pahor
(SD) and Lojze Peterle (NSi),Pahor would win, simply because
he is so popular. Of course, current President Drnovsek
remains a wild card, but given Pahor's high ratings, even
Drnovsek would have to work to beat him. Lahovnik did not
think Pahor would forgo this race in order to support his
party in the 2008 parliamentary elections. He doesn't see
Pahor as an effective leader of government, or someone who
even covets the job. In his opinion, Pahor would be a
"perfect" president.


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Comment
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7. (C) Lahovnik is one of the few young, dynamic politicians
on the Slovenian political scene. He was a teenager at the
time of independence, and he is among the first to arrive in
politics who was neither involved in the independence
movement in the '80s and '90's nor has parents who can
remember the injustices of World War II. He spent six months
in Indiana in the '90s while writing his Ph.D. on mergers and
acquisitions, and clearly wishes Slovenes would adopt a more
ambitious attitude towards their economy and role in the
world. He is frustrated by what he sees as a struggle for
power for the sole purpose of being in power between the
traditional left and right, while real issues go unresolved.
Lahovnik's views and political movement should resonate well
with the young, European Slovene who neither remembers
Yugoslavia nor is satisfied with the status quo.
COLEMAN