New Ministers Finally Presented to MPs

Smerkolj, state secretary at the government Office for Development and Cohesion Policy, is to succeed Violeta Bulc as the minister for development and cohesion funds.

Bulc gave up the post to become European commissioner in October.

The country has also been without a minister of economic development and technology since October, when Jožef Petrovič stepped down after less than a month on the job after it transpired the competition watchdog found the company where he used to be a director had colluded to fix the prices of office supplies sold to the government.

Koprivec, a retired banking and insurance industry veteran, served as the deputy CEO of the SKB bank, chairman of insurer Adriatic Slovenica, the CEO of fuel company OMV Istrabenz, and held a senior executive at OMV Refining and Marketing.

While PM Miro Cerar revealed his decision on Smerkolj at the end of October, he was tight-lipped about the economy minister nominee until the beginning of this week. He explained he had had "multiple candidates" and took his time to vet them.

The PM labelled both Smerkolj and Koprivec competent candidates, counting on the support of the junior coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and the Social Democrats (SD).

Source: The Slovenia Times