SLOVENIA: LJUBLJANA'S MAYOR A MAN TO WATCH: ZORAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LJUBLJANA 000046 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NCE (SSADLE) E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ECON SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: LJUBLJANA'S MAYOR A MAN TO WATCH: ZORAN JANKOVIC REF: LJUBLJANA Classified By: COM Thomas B. Robertson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Zoran Jankovic, previously CEO of Slovenia's largest retail company, Mercator, is now mayor of Ljubljana, and he has a mission. He has 45 projects for the city, 22 of which are high priority, including building several parking garages, widening key avenues, building 50,000 more apartments, and moving much of the traffic out of the city. The biggest obstacle will be getting the necessary funding, since a recent bill for funding municipalities cut Ljubljana's budget by 847,000 euros. Jankovic has written PM Jansa to try to negotiate a bigger piece of the pie. Another obstacle is bureaucratic intransigence within his own administration, but Jankovic is alternatively cajoling and, where necessary, firing staffers to get his team serving the city. Close to former President Kucan, Jankovic claims not to be a politician or to have his eye on higher political goals, but he is an obvious candidate to fill the gaping void in the center left LDS. From our perspective, he has the leadership skills and charisma to go far and is a man to watch. end summary ¶2. (C) Jankovic and his wife invited COM and wife to dinner outside Ljubljana January 22, at one of Slovenia's best restaurants, which, as it happens, is also former President Kucan's favorite. Upon arriving, it was clear that Jankovic has known the owner and his wife, the chef, a long time. In fact, the restaurant was closed except for this dinner. Also there, as if to underscore the special relationship, was Spela Kucan, Kucan's daughter, helping to prepar the meal. -------------- - An admirer of America, and American leadership -------------- - ¶3. (C) Right off the bat, Jankovic asked about the prospects for the US Presidency in 2008, interested especially in Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's chances. As dinner went on, Jankovic made clear his admiration for the United States. He remembered with some delight a Presidential debate between President Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980 during a first trip to the States. He made clear that Sam Walton had been his model for building up Mercator in the 80's and 90's, and he spoke fondly of American patriotism, noting Americans' respect for the flag and positive national identity, as well as America's readiness to be a leader around the world. He and his wife spoke fondly of President Clinton, whom he had met during Clinton's visit to Slovenia in 1999. Standing in the rain, Jankovic said the President had gone around the crowd and made each person he met feel special. His speech to the crowd, quoting Slovenian national poet France Preseren, had been a real pleaser. He complimented the United States for being so rich in real leaders, both in politics and in business. -------------- Kucan as mentor -------------- ¶4. (C) Jankovic said Slovenia did not have many political leaders, while on the other hand it had had a rich crop of business leaders, mentioning the CEO of Gorenje, and former CEOs of Petrol, and the Port of Koper, among others. On the political side there had only been Kucan, Drnovsek, and now Jansa. He has known Kucan for over 25 years. At some point in the early 80's Kucan had been president and Jankovic vice President of the Ljubljana premier sports club, Olimpija. Jankovic spoke of Kucan as someone who truly enjoyed meeting people, working the crowd - a true politician. Drnovsek, he exclaimed, had not been a personable politician in the past, but he had become a new person as a result, in part, of his illness. Jankovic noted that Drnovsek had gone out to meet with the Roma family, the Strojans, and had even reached out and hugged them, something completely out of character before. He said it would be interesting to see who might win the Presidential battle later this year, Social Democrat and EU Parliamentarian Borut Pahor, or former PM and also EU Parliamentarian, Alojze Peterle. Jankovic said he had once had dinner with Peterle, pointing out to him that it wasn't his party affiliation that was important in running, but rather his name and character. He noted that Peterle was more accessible and friendly, and was known as a family-man, something that helped. -------------- LJUBLJANA 00000046 002 OF 002 The challenge of running the city -------------- ¶5. (C) Asked about his own plans as a politician, noting particularly the disarray in the LDS, Jankovic smiled and said he was not a politician. As to LDS, he remarked that Kucan was much beloved and still very popular in the country, but at 66 would not run again. Perhaps he would continue to stay active through his foundation. He, Jankovic, had four years to perform as mayor. He was keeping long hours each day, often bringing work home, similar to his practice while at Mercator (although he made clear that he makes time to take walks and have dinner with his wife). He noted that he came in with 45 projects before him. Twenty-two were priorities, including putting in several new underground parking garages in the next 3 years to deal with Ljubljana's parking crisis, widening key thoroughfares to help with the traffic problem, and building 50,000 new apartments. A major problem, Jankovic said, was that the Jansa government had redirected central government funds from Ljubljana to other municipalities, with cuts totaling 847,000 euros. He said he had just sent the Prime Minister a letter requesting funding be restored, and he thought that negotiations to that end might begin soon. He said that he had 11,000 employees working for the city of Ljubljana (versus the 15,000 he had had with Mercator) but that only 500 were really part of the central city administration. He had that morning spoken to a group of employees, making clear to them that they were all working to serve the citizens of Ljubljana, and that they needed to work together, encouraging them to speak out, while not pushing private agendas. He said he had already fired a handful of employees who had tried to block initiatives. -------------- Comment: Jankovic is one to watch -------------- ¶6. (C) Despite his comments about not being a politician, Jankovic is someone to watch. He understands what makes people tick, and he has natural people skills. People tell stories about him at Mercator - working crowds of employees and customers, and helping the latter pack their bags. Mercator employees missed the annual Christmas party this year, where in the past Jankovic put on festivities for both current staff and retirees and stayed until 4 am spending time with all the people. His offer to assist in the Roma situation with the Strojan family was generally well received, and at a separate meeting Minister of Environment Podobnik even praised Jankovic's role. Even PM Jansa, on the opposite side of the aisle politically, recently told COM that Jankovic "will be good for Ljubljana." At one point, in discussing former SecState Powell's leadership style, Jankovic expressed himself a fan of "managing by walking around." It is a matter of trust, he emphasized, between those leading and those being led, that is key to effective leadership. Given Jankovic's overwhelming first round victory as mayor, he has a strong mandate to make changes in the city. Whether he gets tripped up by budget challenges or inability to get results remains to be seen. But we expect to see him as a major player on Slovenia's political scene for some time to come. ROBERTSON