11th Government of Slovenia

Bratušek cabinet

11th Cabinet of Slovenia
Date formed20 March 2013
Date dissolved18 September 2014
People and organisations
Head of stateBorut Pahor
Head of governmentAlenka Bratušek
Member party
Status in legislature
Opposition party
Opposition leader
History
ElectionNone
PredecessorJanša II cabinet
SuccessorCerar Cabinet

The 11th Government of Slovenia led by Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek was announced on 20 March 2013. It was the 11th cabinet of Slovenia. It has been formed after the parliament voted a no confidence vote to Janša's cabinet after SLS, DL and DeSUS left his coalition. On 27 February 2013 Alenka Bratušek was voted as the next mandatary and so became the first woman to do so in modern Slovenian history.[1][2]

Composition of the new government was quick as it needed to be, as Slovenia was in difficult economic and financial situation that was marked by mass 2012–13 Slovenian protests. Bratušek had most difficulties with finding the new financial minister as nobody was prepared to take responsibility for potential bankruptcy. More than twenty potential candidates have been named until Uroš Čufer finally accepted the position of the new minister.[3] He was confirmed as a minister, even though his candidature was believed to be suspicious as he used to be employed in the biggest national bank NLB, which was in big financial debts. The cabinet of Prime minister Bratušek stabilized the political and economical climate in Slovenia. Her mandate was full of interpellations and increasing number of unemployment and long saga regarding the Ministry of Health and its ministers.[4]

Cabinet members came from four parties of the new coalition, later joined by the fifth party as Alliance of Alenka Bratušek separated from Positive Slovenia:

Changes from the preceding cabinet

The number of ministries rose to 13, up from 12 in the preceding Cabinet of Janez Janša II. Senko Pličanič has returned to Ministry of Justice, where he was a minister in previous government.

List of ministers and portfolios

History

  • Igor Maher resigned after five days. He was involved in a media accusation about the legal status of his real estates. Later after resignation all accusations were dismissed as he was able to clarify the status of all his properties. He was replaced by his party colleague Samo Omerzel.[5]
  • Minister Stanko Stepišnik backed down as he was involved in a conflict of interest at one of public tender. He was under suspicion of financing his own company. He was substituted with financial minister Uroš Čufer, until Metod Dragonja was named as a new minister.[6]
  • Minister of Health Tomaž Gantar surprisingly resigned on 25 November 2013. As he said he resigned, as there is no interest in changing the national health system, which is intertwined with lobbies and corruption. If he was not allowed to reform the system, he was not prepared to take the responsibility for all the patients.[7] Bratušek started looking for a new candidate and was supposedly in contact with known Slovenian surgeon Danijel Bešič Loredan. Later she decided to nominate Alenka Trop Skaza, who was later also confirmed as a new minister.[8] The saga did not end there, as Trop Skaza resigned just one month later. There were many theories why. One was supposedly her husband, as he was an owner of a company which dealt business with many public institutions. She could have resigned for the same reasons as her predecessor: there was no support for the reforms she announced at her inauguration. Her public statement was that she resigned because of "framing, lies, unjust criticism, that her and her family have received because of her position as a minister of health."[9] Bratušek had to find a new minister and was again supposedly in contact with Danijel Bešič Loredan, but in the end she decided to put the burden on her own shoulders and nominated herself as a minister, which she remained until the end of her mandate.
  • Tina Komel was forced to step down as Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia lost the Ministry of Health, so Karel Erjavec demanded a new ministry. Ministry without portfolio for Slovenian diaspora, as one of the least important ministries to Bratušek, was given to DeSUS. Komel at first did not want to step down, but after a four-hour-long discussion with the council of Positive Slovenia she finally backed down and prevented a crisis in the coalition.[10]"Ministrica Tina Komel vendarle odstopila". Delo. 13 February 2014.

Composition at the end of the mandate

Minister Party Portfolio Period
Alenka Bratušek PS Prime Minister 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
ZaAB Minister of Health 15 April 2014 – 18 September 2014
Dejan Židan SD Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
Karl Erjavec DeSUS Minister of Foreign Affairs 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
Gregor Virant DL Minister of Interior and Public Administration 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
Uroš Čufer PS Minister of Finance 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
Roman Jakič PS Minister of Defence 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
ZaAB
Metod Dragonja ZaAB Minister of Economic Development and Technology 24 February 2014 – 18 September 2014
Senko Pličanič DL Minister of Justice 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
Jernej Pikalo SD Minister of Education, Science and Sport 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
Anja Kopač Mrak SD Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
Uroš Grilc PS Minister of Culture 20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
ZaAB
Samo Omerzel DL Minister of Infrastructure and Urban Planning 2 April 2013 – 18 September 2014
Gorazd Žmavc DeSUS Minister without portfolio for Slovenian diaspora 24 February 2014 – 18 September 2014
Vlada Republike Slovenije

Former members

Minister Party Portfolio Period
Tomaž Gantar DeSUS Minister of Health 20 March 2013 – 29 November 2013
Alenka Trop Skaza Independent Minister of Health 29 November 2013 – 3 April 2014
Igor Maher DL Minister of Infrastructure and Urban Planning 20 March 2013 – 2 April 2013
Stanko Stepišnik PS Minister of Economic Development and Technology 20 March 2013 – 29 November 2013
Tina Komel PS Minister without portfolio for Slovenian diaspora 20 March 2013 – 24 February 2014
Source: Vlada Republike Slovenije

See also

References