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. -------------- The New Generation -------------- ¶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. -------------- Real Issues -------------- ¶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.) -------------- Jansa Takes an Interest -------------- ¶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 LJUBLJANA 00000321 002 OF 002 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. -------------- Presidenial Predictions -------------- ¶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. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶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