STA, March 17, 2018 – "I asked myself what I could do to take the pressure off the state, so that it would not be plundered or brought to a complete standstill in the last months before the election," PM Miro Cerar said as he explained the reasons for his resignation in more detail in an interview for the online edition of the newspaper Delo.
Cerar decided to leave once he realized his resignation would help Slovenia go to the election in a normal manner, at the same time not hindering economic development.
"Parties, including both coalition partners of the Modern Centre Party's (SMC), have started thinking of how to profit in the election period, including in the area of staffing etc.
"So I told to myself if this is how we're gonna do it until the election, we'll waste everything we've done in three and a half years of hard work."
Cerar decided to step down after the Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to annul the Koper-Divača rail track referendum, saying that even on Monday evening, when public sector pay talks fell through, it had not crossed his mind to resign.
Once he decided to step down, he discussed it with some senior SMC members, including both vice-presidents, Speaker Milan Brglez and deputy group leader Simona Kustec Lipicer.
He also thought it best to hold the last government session as a full-fledged prime minister as soon as possible to take some urgent decisions, including about the border arbitration issue with Croatia.
Asked about the failed talks with public sector trade unions, he said the SVIZ teachers' union had set new conditions which the other trade unions could not accept.
The government's chief negotiator then told him she could not initial the agreement with the SVIZ because it would entail enormous amounts of money.
"This is why I decided to stop the talks." The government had wanted to reach an agreement with the SVIZ, he said, labelling the failed talks a missed opportunity.
