STA, 21 January 2019 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, whose cabinet has been assessed the most favourably in the past ten years in the latest Vox Populi poll, would not comment on the poll on Monday, saying that it was up to pundits to analyse the results. Analysts Antiša Korljan and Rok Čakš attribute the PM's success to his persona.

"Our goal is to achieve results and work," Šarec told reporters, adding that polls meant nothing without actual results. The PM, who has overtaken President Borut Pahor as the most popular politician, said there was hard work ahead and plenty of projects to be implemented.

Only time will tell if the government is successful, and "speaking about popularity and success after three or four months is much too early," added Šarec, whose government was sworn in in September.

Meanwhile, analyst Korljan, the editor-in-chief of the Primorske Novice newspaper, told the STA that the prime minister was gaining in popularity due to his persona and demystification of government work.

Korljan said the government, whose work was perceived as successful by 56% of the 700 respondents in the poll carried out by Ninamedia because Šarec speaks about leading the government like about any other business. "People apparently assess this positively and the prime minister is gaining in popularity based on what we call 'common sense'," he said.

Similarly, Čakš, the editor-in-chief of the conservative portal Domovina, said that Šarec succeeded with the help of media "to create an image of a decisive and capable leader, who's not landed in the office from some professorial or another intellectual position, instead, he appears as one of [the people]".

How Šarec is like Ronald Reagan

"This is why his seemingly simplified ... speech, which is frowned upon by intellectuals, is actually liked by people. In this sense, Šarec has a certain political talent, which undoubtedly stems from his vocation. He slightly resembles the popular former US President Ronald Reagan, who was also an actor and had a strong sense of how to gain popularity with people."

Nevertheless, the image of Šarec's capabilities and decisiveness was largely facilitated by the media or rather by "the absence of a deeper media critique in the first months of the government's work".

In part this is due to favourable global conditions, which also play a major part in people's perception of Šarec due to rising standards of living, and in part it is due to Šarec's likeable moves such as his clear position on fighting hate speech in media.

Korljan also believes the prime minister knows how to work with media: "He's working hard not to turn them against himself."

SDS in crisis with Janša stepping back

Like the prime minister, his party, the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) is also gaining in popularity, having overtaken the opposition Democrats (SDS) in the first spot in the Vox Populi poll.

Korljan believes that the SDS is in some sort of a leadership and identity crisis, with its leader Janez Janša taking a step back and Anže Logar coming to the forefront as his successor, "at least as far as public appearances are concerned".

On the other hand, Čakš believes that the LMŠ's rise is a delayed aftermath of Šarec's popularity. Nevertheless, more polls will have to be conducted to be able to say anything more definite about the change on the top of party rankings.

As regards Šarec's overtaking President Pahor in popularity rankings, Čakš said that they had a lot more in common than either would be willing to admit.

STA, 14 January 2018 - The party of Prime Minister Marjan Šarec has gained ground in the latest poll run by the newspaper Delo to reduce the gap separating it from the top ranking opposition Democrats (SDS) to 2.3 percentage points.

Having dominated the rankings for more than half a year, the SDS lost almost two percentage points from the month before to 16.2%, whereas the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) jumped more than 5 points to 13.9%.

This means that the margin between the SDS, the plurality winner of the June general election, and the runner-up LMŠ was reduced more than four-fold from ten points in December.

The Left, the government's partner in the opposition, trails at 6.8%, which is roughly level with the month before, but the party has advanced from fourth to third.

This was as the Social Democrats (SD) slipped back from second to fourth spot after losing four points to 6.5%.

Our guides to most of Slovenia’s many political parties can be found here

Delo notes that this is the first time since the June election that the poll has showed major differences in rankings between the five coalition parties.

The Modern Centre Party (SMC) of Foreign Minister Miro Cerar has lost over one percentage point to 3.7%.

The opposition New Slovenia (NSi) ranks fifth on 5.4%, 1.2 points up from the month before, followed by the National Party (SNS) on 4.1%, up 0.9 points.

Meanwhile, the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) changed places so that the SAB now polled at 3.4% and DeSUS at 2%.

The non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) lost 2.5 points to 3%.

The proportion of undecided increased to more than a fifth (21.2%) with a further 7.1% saying they would not vote for any of the parties and 2.6% not wishing to answer the question.

The voter approval rating for the government and parliament also improved to 3.09 and 2.81 on a scale of one to five, from 3.01 and 2.72, respectively, the month before.

President Borut Pahor continues to top the ranking of the most popular politicians ahead of PM Šarec and EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc.

NSi leader Matej Tonin advanced to fourth while SD leader and parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan slipped a point to sixth. SAB leader Alenka Bratušek trails in 14th, Cerar in 15th and DeSUS leader Karl Erjavec in 20th.

Commenting on the increasing approval ratings for Šarec, the government and now also Šarec's list, Delo attributes them to low expectations for the minority government at the start of its term.

"Distribution of public funds which many feel in their pockets has made an impression. Higher are social benefits, minimum wages and per capita municipality income," Delo comments ion the front-page commentary.

"Almost 700,000 public employees have at least 4% more and many hope for more yet. White collars, who take the credit for the Cerar government ending its term early, are happy for the time being.

"However, the real challenges that will show what the government is made of are yet coming. The first ones will be the supplementary budget, healthcare, preparations for a pension reform and when we have to show how we are in fact prepared for the economy's cooling."

The poll was conducted by Mediana among 743 respondents between 3 and 10 January.

STA, 9 January 2019- The EU's future and challenges such as Brexit, migration and the upcoming Euro elections topped the agenda as Prime Minister Marjan Šarec received the visiting Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis on Wednesday.

According to the prime minister's office, the two officials called for a strong, unified and more effective EU, one that respects the values and principles underlying its foundation.

They agreed that migration was a problem common to all, so it should be addressed through a common, systematic and sustainable approach with the involvement of all member states.

Pleased to meet in #Ljubljana PM Marjan Šarec. #Cyprus highly values its excellent bilateral relations with #Slovenia. I look forward for more bilateral exchanges so as to enhance our cooperation in specific fields of common interest, such as education, tourism, health & trade. pic.twitter.com/1LlaSvVKLF

— Nicos Anastasiades (@AnastasiadesCY) January 9, 2019

Slovenia's position is that it is necessary to enhance cooperation with third countries, especially in Africa, in a bid to tackle the root causes of mass migration, and to protect the EU's external borders.

Šarec and Anastasiadis agreed that the Brexit agreement with the UK was the best possible, but they expressed the concern that the UK may leave without a deal.

The pair also expressed concern about growing populism in Europe, agreeing that the developments made the elections to the European Parliament in May the more important.

They also touched on the situation in the Western Balkans with Slovenia's position being that the prospect of EU membership for the region was an important motive for peace and stability in this part of Europe.

Anastasiadis also met parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan. Their meeting also revolved around the future of the EU and the upcoming elections. The pair also touched on the rise of right-wing populist movements in the bloc, the National Assembly said in a press release.

Over lunch, the speaker and the president also talked about the countries' healthcare systems and the importance of improving healthcare, and touched on the Middle East.

STA, 21 December 2018 - The opposition parties the Democrats (SDS) and the National Party (SNS) launched an impeachment motion against Prime Minister Marjan Šarec on Friday. The parties decided for the move after the SDS's latest attempt to secure more funds for private schools failed in parliament yesterday.

STA, 14 December 2018 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec expressed regret in Brussels on Friday over disunity in Slovenia's position on Catalonia, taking aim at President Borut Pahor for receiving Catalan President Quim Torra for an informal meeting during his visit to Slovenia last week.

"I regret our foreign policy was disunited again despite an agreement that we'll act as one," Šarec said after he discussed the Catalan issue with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on the sidelines of the EU summit.

"It's astonishing the conduct of some who have much longer experience working in foreign policy than I have. At least that's what I had been hearing a while ago," Šarec said in a reference to criticism levelled against him in the 2017 presidential race in which he challenged Pahor.

Related: Catalonia’s president calls on region to follow Slovenia’s example

"Considering Mr Pahor's wealth of experience I would expect a different reaction," he said, referring to Pahor receiving Torra for an informal meeting on 6 December.

"You have to know the protocol, who receives whom, and take into consideration the levels of visits," he said. When asked how he interpreted Pahor's decision, Šarec said this was a question to be put to the president.

Šarec said that there was quite a storm in Spain over the matter, but that he and Sanchez had a constructive debate. Sanchez is coming to Slovenia, he said, adding that the relationship between the two countries was very good.

The prime minister repeated the Slovenian government's position on the issue of Catalonia's independence: Spain is a sovereign and democratic country, the Catalan issue is Spain's internal affair and Slovenia's independence cannot be likened with Catalonia's.

He said that Slovenia's independence was made possible by Yugoslavia's 1974 constitution, amendments to the Slovenian constitution adopted in 1989 and a referendum in 1990 in which the turnout stood at 90%.

Related: Slovenian Foreign Ministry to educate Spanish Ambassador on the nature of the country’s independence

He noted that at the time 88.4% of Slovenians opted for independence, which made the referendum very legitimate, while Yugoslavia was not a democratic country at the time.

The situation in Spain is very different, he said, considering the Spanish constitution does not make independence possible. If they reach some other agreement in the future, it will be a different situation, he added.

Šarec also responded to questions from Spanish reporters today, underscoring that the situation in Slovenia in 1990 could not be compared to the situation in Catalonia today and that Slovenia's conduct was always peaceful and lawful.

He also said that Slovenia was unhappy that its case should be abused in the independence efforts of half of Catalonia's population. "We are legalists and we respect Spain's internal affairs," he told Catalan journalists.

Sanchez did not talk about Torra's visit to Slovenia in Brussels today. However, Spanish diplomatic sources say that Sanchez and Šarec discussed the issue yesterday, that their talk was positive and that the Slovenian prime minister supported the Spanish government.

Torra, who visited Slovenia at the invitation of MEP Ivo Vajgl (ALDE/DeSUS) and former Slovenian President Milan Kučan, caused an uproar in Spain after urging Catalonia in a speech in Brussels on Saturday to follow the example of Slovenia in its push for independence.

Apart from Pahor, National Assembly Speaker Dejan Židan also received Torra informally last week.

STA, 11 December 2018 - The three right-leaning opposition parties preparing an impeachment against Prime Minister Marjan Šarec have decided to wait with the motion until the parliament discusses Democrats-sponsored legislative changes aiming to raise state funding for private schools to 100%.

The Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi) and the National Party (SNS) were planning to file the impeachment motion today, but the NSi is to supply the needed signatures when the legislative changes make the parliamentary agenda later this month.

The parties decided to impeach Šarec after his government said it did not support the SDS-sponsored changes in late November.

While the government implied the changes failed to tackle the funding issues comprehensively, the SDS says that the changes would implement the 2014 decision by the Constitutional Court that ordered Slovenia to raise funding for private schools teaching public curricula from 85% to 100%.

Education and Sport Minister Jernej Pikalo said today that this was a political issue and a decision that should be made by the coalition.

"One of the future coalition summits will have to deal with this," said the minister who expects long coordination due to the balance of power in the National Assembly. At this moment "nobody has enough votes to go either way".

He said that his position on the issue was clear: private is only for some, while public is for everybody. He underlined however that every decision by the Constitutional Court must be addressed: "These are the fundamentals of the rule of law."

Most coalition partners meanwhile believe that impeachment would be a premature step. However, Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) MP Jurij Lep said that the motion was legitimate and he has little doubt that it will be filed.

While the prime minister's office has not responded to the news of impeachment being planned, his party said that coalition partners would discuss the motion.

Brane Golubovič of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) was critical of the opposition, saying that he would have expected them to seek dialogue about the changes before deciding for impeachment.

He also said that the coalition was very busy at the moment with the 2019 supplementary budget. "Without it neither public nor private schools will get funds next year".

Matjaž Han, the Social Democrats (SD) deputy group head, commented that the opposition had run out of ideas, adding that previous Education Minister Maja Makovec Brenčič faced a no-confidence vote due to the same changes.

"This is about more than just EUR 300,000, it's a symbolic move," Han said about the changes that would raise funding for private schools.

The junior opposition Modern Centre Party (SMC) meanwhile underlined that a Constitutional Court decision must be respected.

The Left, the minority government's partner in the opposition, is against additional funds for private schools. In fact they want to change the Constitution so as to restrict state funding only to public schools.

Mladina: An alliance is needed to fight SDS-associated media

STA, 30 November 2018 – The left-leaning weekly Mladina welcomes PM Marjan Šarec's appeal against state-owned companies running adds in hate-peddling media, but says it is only a first step. What needs to follow is the fostering of an alliance that will protect these companies in case of a change in power, Grega Repovž says in the weekly's latest editorial.

"Slovenian media have a problem... The Democrats (SDS), a political party, has an increasing number of products on the Slovenian market that are pretending to be media outlets... Because this propaganda machine it costly, it gets financial help from Hungary, from Viktor Orban," Repovž says.

He argues that the people of Slovenia and its media and journalists are not the only victims of this proliferation of fear and hatred by far-right parties working in concert.

Companies also find themselves under pressure, in particularly those that are involved with the state. Their managers know, including from experience under past SDS-led governments, that SDS leader Janez Janša will eventually end up issuing them a bill if they fail to cooperate.

Šarec's call was in order, but now the government has to follow up this first step by offering assistance and an alliance to these companies.

"If he is serious about this, it is not enough to point the finger at these companies. We posit that the reason why most of the exposed companies are advertising on these media platforms is their desire to secure the peace they need to do business normally," Repovž says under the headline First Step.

Speaking of the need for an alliance, he argues "this would benefit all genuine media" and lists several centrist and left-leaning media as well the right-leaning weekly Reporter.

It would also benefit politics, companies and above all the public. "The thing is a that radical politics is abusing liberal democratic institutes and institutions and rights (including those pertaining to the media and freedom of speech) and that this entails the undermining of democracy itself - and through that also of corporate autonomy."

Demokracija: Šarec’s anti-hate speech campaign is an attack on opposition media

STA, 29 November 2018 - The right-leaning weekly Demokracija says PM Marjan Šarec's recent call to state-owned companies to reflect on whether to advertise in media outlets instigating hate amounts to "the worst attack on the freedom of speech since independence", making him No. 1 enemy of the freedom of expression.

Šarec's call not to advertise in media outlets which are critical of mass migrations was a case of abuse of power par excellence, editor-in-chief Jože Biščak says on Thursday.

Although Šarec did not specify what hate content is and did not mention any media outlet, "it was clear he meant private opposition media – Demokracija and Nova24TV".

Instead of endorsing a referendum on whether Slovenia should join the UN-sponsored deal on migration, he in fact started implementing its objective 17, which speaks about media funding and advertising standards.

He announced, in the manner of the hardest communist times, attacks on the media which promote different views from those of the government and left-wing activists.

As an elected representative of the people, Šarec has a right to influence state-owned companies, for instance if state assets are poorly managed.

"But he is absolutely not authorised to use a state-owned company to suppress the fundamental and most important human right, that of the freedom of expression."

Biščak notes there is a short way from dictating state-owned companies where to advertise to police violence against those with different views.

"What is more, his actions show that he would be one of the first to abolish elections and ban opposition, whereby risking a civil war.

"He crossed the Rubicon, which he never should have," Biščak says, quoting philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's thesis "What we cannot speak about, we must pass over in silence."

While not denying Šarec the right to be critical or even harsh, Biščak says his instruction that advertisers should end their business cooperation with the opposition's media is "scandalous".

"In this way, by abusing power, Šarec has become enemy No. 1 of the freedom of speech," according to the commentary headlined Ludwig Wittgenstein's Seventh Thesis.

Other posts in this series can be found here (note that sometimes we use another right-wing weekly, Reporter)

STA, 26 November 2018 - The latest poll released by Delo indicates the government is becoming increasingly popular, but this has not helped the ruling Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), which has lost ground to their coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SD). The opposition Democrats (SDS) remain by far the strongest party.

The government's approval rating improved from 2.52 to 2.76 on a 1-5 scale, shows the Mediana poll carried by Delo on Monday.

In the party rankings, the SDS has retained the top position, although it lost some ground. It polled at 18.3%, a drop of more 0.3 points.

The SD gained ground, apparently mostly at the expense of the LMŠ.

It mustered 8.9%, almost two points higher than in October, while the LMŠ saw the reverse trend, going from 8.9% to 7%.

In the ranks of the opposition, the Left remained flat at 6.1%, New Slovenia (NSi) added 0.6 points to 5.5% and the National Party (SNS) was also up 0.6 points to 3.8%.

Related: Our guides to most of Slovenia’s political parties are here

Among the coalition parties, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) lost ground, polling at 3.7% and 3.2%, respectively, while the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) was up over a point to 3.4%.

Buoyed by a solid result in the local election, the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) went from 1.7% to 3.8%.

Pahor the most popular figure in Slovenian politics, but Janković also rises

In the politicians' popularity rankings, President Borut Pahor remains in the top position with a grade of 3.57 on a 1-5 scale, while Prime Minister Marjan Šarec made the jump from fourth to second, his ranking going from 2.89 to 3.18.

EU Commissioner Violeta Bulc and MEP Tanja Fajon, who have for years been trading places in runner-up position, have been pushed to third and fourth place, respectively.

SDS lawmaker Anže Logar, who failed to beat incumbent Mayor Zoran Janković in the recent local election but managed the best result so far for a centre-right candidate, is in fifth place, but Janković, in seventh, made the biggest jump of all the politicians in the top 20.

The poll was carried out by Mediana between 13 and 22 November and involved 714 respondents.

STA, 25 November 2018 - Nobody is excited about Brexit, we are saving what we can, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said in Brussels after the Brexit deal was endorsed at Sunday's extraordinary EU summit. "We opened a parachute about half-way before the ground and now we're counting on it to ease the consequences of the fall," he said.

The leaders of 27 EU member states confirmed a comprehensive and complex divorce agreement with the UK that deals with the rights of citizens, financial settlement, the border on the island of Ireland, a transitional period and a non-binding political statement on future relations.

Šarec said the meeting was over relatively quickly and that everything had gone smoothly and in line with expectations. "We're all aware that it's not a happy occasion, but if the ratification is successful we have prevented the worst," he said.

Premier pa pozdravlja, da je EU-27 s potrditvijo sporazuma prispevala k temu, da bodo negativne posledice izhoda manjše, kot bi bile sicer. Izrazil je tudi upanje, da bo britanska stran v prihodnjih tednih in mesecih ravnala preudarno.

?Thierry Monasse/STA pic.twitter.com/NBNpeEjJ4X

— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) November 25, 2018

May prefers a deal to no deal

In the second part of the meeting, the EU leaders were joined by British Prime Minister Theresa May. According to Šarec, May expressed her satisfaction with the deal, bearing in mind that the only other alternative would be a non-deal, which would mean big problems.

Slovenia believes the deal reached was the best possible solution in the given situation, regardless of the fact that some in the UK say that more could have been achieved, Šarec said.

He said the negotiation team led by Michael Barnier had done a very good job and should be congratulated. He rejected criticism that the team only talked to Berlin and Paris in the end, saying that it was logical that more attention was devoted to the most affected countries.

The UK was a tough negotiator and it would not be fair to judge their negotiation skills from the outside now, Šarec said.

But the Slovenian prime minister warned that the work was not over yet. The Brexit deal now faces the toughest challenge in the British parliament.

Šarec is moderately optimistic about this, believing in the sound judgement of British MPs.

#EU27 leaders formalise #Brexit agreeent during special #EUCO meeting. @eucopresident pic.twitter.com/PBSUbMpBar

— EU Council TV News (@EUCouncilTVNews) November 25, 2018

You can read all our stories about Brexit and Slovenia here

STA, 19 November 2018 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec told the National Assembly on Monday that by acceding to the UN Global Compact for Migration, Slovenia would not lose sovereignty in that field. He stressed that the document did not equalise legal and illegal migration, adding that Slovenia was successful in tackling illegal migration.

"Illegal migration is a problem and Slovenia does not support it," Šarec said in an answer to an MP question, adding that the current illegal migration faced by Slovenia was a consequence of activities of human-smuggling criminal groups.

"This is something we are fighting against every day. The Slovenian police are working responsibly on this," he told Danijel Krivic of the opposition Democrats (SDS), who originally asked about an official Slovenian translation of the UN Global Compact for Migration.

While Krivic believes that a translation could resolve dilemmas raised in the public, Šarec said that there was no translation because ratification in parliament had not been envisaged. A translation has nevertheless been commissioned and it will be published soon, he added.

UN Compact on Migration is not legally binding

But the prime minister said that this would change nothing, as the fact is that the document is not legally binding. He added that the document, which is expected to be confirmed in Morocco's Marrakesh in December, was being "hugely politicised".

Šarec believes that the countries which have announced withdrawal from the agreement did so for internal political reasons. He rejected the policy of scaremongering in a bid to score political points, including by the SDS.

He pointed out that some countries "which have much bigger problems with migration than us", like Spain, had acceded to the UN Global Compact for Migration.

The signature on the document will not have any impact on the number of migrants in Slovenia, he said, adding that it was the beginning of resolution of a common problem, like climate change or something else.

Migration an international problem

"If every government started to solve the issue on its own, and close its borders ... then we will not get far," Šarec said, adding that the EU was facing huge problems because the issue was not being tackled in unison.

"The issue of migration needs to be addressed at the source and by no means by politicking here today," he added.

The right-leaning opposition has been calling on the government to fully reject and actively oppose the adoption of the UN Global Compact for Migration.

The SDS, New Slovenia (NSi) and National Party (SNS) want the National Assembly to propose that to the government, with the session on the topic scheduled for Wednesday. The motion has already been rejected by the relevant committee.

The government meanwhile appointed last week an inter-ministerial task force to draft and implement a migration management strategy. The strategy will include economic and illegal migration, international protection and integration.

Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said on Thursday that the strategy was an obligation under the coalition agreement. The task force will be headed by Interior Ministry State Secretary Sandi Čurin, an expert in combat against human trafficking.

A number of NGOs and humanitarian and research organisations have called on the government to include at least two NGO representatives in the task force and a representative of an organisation studying migration.

By doing so, the government would draft a strategy which would be based on the latest findings, reliable and comprehensive data on the situation regarding migration, says the letter signed by a total of 23 organisations.

All our immigration stories are here