Slovenian PM Jansa set to be voted out

Bratusek (right) speaks with colleague Tina Komel as Jansa speaks during a session in parliament in Ljubljana yesterday.AFP/LjubljanaThe end was nigh for Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa late yesterday as lawmakers prepared to vote on a no-confidence motion after weeks of political turmoil in the small eurozone country.The vote was expected to kill off Jansa’s centre-right administration after barely a year of presiding over Slovenia’s worst crisis since independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.The mandate to form a government was expected to pass to Alenka Bratusek from the centre-left, making the 42-year-old political newcomer the country’s first female premier.Presenting her programme to parliament, Bratusek said her top priorities would be “normalising” life by softening “excessive” austerity measures imposed by the outgoing government and stimulating growth.“We have to boost economic development,” the former finance ministry official told lawmakers, announcing plans for a revised budget shortly after taking over. “We will stabilise public finances and agree with social partners over the necessary wage cuts and the very likely temporary increase of some taxes.”Jansa became prime minister in February 2012 after his centre-left predecessor Borut Pahor himself lost a confidence vote, triggering early elections in two-million strong Slovenia.Jansa though has struggled to implement structural reforms and austerity measures seen as vital for putting what was once a model newcomer to the European Union and the eurozone in 2007 back on the road to growth.But the death blow came when the corruption watchdog in January accused him of tax irregularities, prompting three parties to quit his five-way coalition and leaving his government with only a third of seats in parliament.The charges, which also felled the leader of the largest opposition party – Zoran Jankovic of Positive Slovenia – and anger about austerity prompted large protests across the country.An opinion poll earlier this week showed that Slovenians would be mighty pleased to see the back of Jansa, with 21% backing him and 77% opposed.Fifty-two per cent of those polled also backed the creation of an interim government, raising the prospects of early elections.Bratusek, who only became an MP at the last election and who has said she will seek a vote of confidence after a year in office, will have her work cut out, political analyst Vlado Miheljak warned.“A much bigger uncertainty is whether Bratusek will manage to form a new government since the People’s Party (SLS) and the Civil List (DL) might not be ready to collaborate in it,” he told AFP. The two centre-right parties were the first to leave Jansa’s coalition government, but after the last election in December 2011 they baulked at teaming up with Positive Slovenia.Bratusek will have two weeks to propose her cabinet for approval by parliament, and if she fails to secure coalition partners, Pahor – now president – may decide to call early elections.