STA, 11 February 2020 - The opposition Democrats (SDS) are expected to conduct a fresh round of coalition talks with three parliamentary parties after the resignation of PM Marjan Šarec. The potential coalition partners, Modern Centre Party (SMC), New Slovenia (NSi) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), have not officially confirmed the talks.
The first round of talks was held last Friday and SDS head Janez Janša announced the second round for today in the invitation to that meeting.
DeSUS leader Aleksandra Pivec labelled the first meeting as "the SDS testing the ground to see if there was readiness to continue", noting content or staff had not been on the table yet.
So this is expected to be on the agenda today. It should therefore become clear in the coming days if the parties will be able to overcome their differences. For now, all parties are tight-lipped about the talks.
The three parties are still checking the sentiment among their members, with the situation being the most turbulent in the SMC.
Its vice president, Ksenija Klampfer, the outgoing labour minister, left the party yesterday in protest of the talks with the SDS. The party's former president and founder, Miro Cerar, has also ruled out being part of a Janša-led government.
SMC head Zdravko Počivalšek said it was perfectly understandable that opinions differ but he thinks issues should be discussed rather than "doors slammed".
He has been arguing that the way to an operative and strong government leads through dialogue not a policy of exclusions.
