As the news portal N1 reported on Wednesday, she used her blue lights without authorization during a business trip in Austria in the spring. The opposition called on the minister to resign. The coalition was waiting for a reaction from Prime Minister Robert Golob, who is currently in New York.
After traffic jam with blue lights to Schwechat
According to the report, the driver of her company car committed several traffic fines on the way to Vienna Airport in May. After she got stuck in a traffic jam, her driver turned on the blue lights so that she wouldn’t miss a flight to Geneva. In addition, according to N1, the company car was caught on radar while speeding.
After the Austrian police contacted the ministry in July to find out the identity of the driver, the ministry called on the Slovenian embassy in Vienna to ask the Austrian authorities to refrain from prosecution. According to N1, the embassy rejected the request and advised to pay the fine, pointing out that the use of blue lights is not permitted unless the vehicle is part of a convoy accompanied by police. In the situation in which the minister’s car found itself, the use of blue lights would also have been illegal in Slovenia, said the letter signed by Ambassador Aleksander Geržina. He pointed out that before responding, he had consulted with the Foreign Ministry, which is headed by Social Democrat Tanja Fajon, a former party colleague of Stojmenova Duh.
“Very delicate matter”
The scandal has put the minister, who is from the ranks of Golob’s Freedom Movement (GS), under additional pressure just before the motion of no confidence. The media report is said to have caused unrest in the coalition, whose support Stojmenova Duh had previously counted on in the parliamentary vote. Luka Mesec from the co-governing Left Party spoke of a “very delicate matter”. The coalition partners are waiting for a reaction from the head of government, who is on a business trip to New York, but, according to Mesec, expect a discussion within the government. N1 reported in the evening that the Left Party and the Social Democrats are hoping for a “victory of reason”. Several GS MPs would also like the minister to leave.
On Friday, Stojmenova Duh will have to justify herself to parliament for the second time over the controversial purchase of computers worth 6.5 million euros. Of the 13,000 laptops that were intended for free lending to socially disadvantaged groups, only 3,000 have been distributed so far. The opposition accuses the minister of numerous irregularities in what they see as an uneconomical purchase, including a lack of transparency, a breach of duty and damage to public funds. The minister survived a vote of no confidence on the same issue just in March.
