Features, / By STA, T. M.

The National Assembly endorsed the new cabinet of Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek with 52 votes in favour and 35 against on Wednesday, completing the formation of the 11th Slovenian government. The 14-member cabinet was sworn in immediately and will take over from the ousted Janez Janša



(Photo: Matej Povše)

Bratušek will lead a four-party coalition comprising her Positive Slovenia (PS), the Social Democrats (SD), Citizens' List (DL) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS).

In her first statement after the vote, the 42-year-old Bratušek said she would lead the team "on the path of positive change and progress".

"We are faced by difficult decisions, but I'm confident that we have the wisdom, energy and perseverance to achieve our goals," she told reporters.

Bratušek had previously signalled a move away from the austerity policies towards an austerity-stimulus balance, a point she reiterated in her speech to parliament today.

Slovenia is a part of a big European story, but also of the big European illusion of how the world could be saved through austerity, she said.

The first task of her team, the youngest cabinet so far at the average age of 45, will be to bail out the ailing banking sector and kick-start economic growth.

The task has been entrusted to Finance Minister Uroš Čufer, who joined the government having spent nine years at NLB bank.

But Bratušek highlighted a calming of "political passions" and renewed patience in social dialogue as some of her top priorities.

The PM said she was aware that a government's mandate without a democratic election was restricted and reiterated her pledge that she will seek a vote of confidence in a year.

Though this creates an opportunity for an early election, a key demand of the anti-establishment protest movement and several established parties, Bratušek's government could still end up serving out the whole term.

But the parties which have moved to the opposition expressed doubt about the new cabinet's prospects of surviving so long.

"There is not much hope for a government with low level of integrity, expertise and efficiency," said Democrat (SDS) deputy group head Jože Tanko.

Even before taking office, Igor Maher, who took over as minister of infrastructure and spatial planning, was revealed to have an illegally built house on a plot of farmland on the coast.

Bratušek herself has been accused of plagiarising her masters thesis. The Faculty of Social Sciences is investigating the matter and Bratušek said she would down if her thesis is found to have been plagiarised.

Political analysts Matevž Tomšič and Igor Pribac fear that the new cabinet could be fragile and prone to infighting.

"I don't see a bright future for the government," sociologist Tomšič has told the STA.

Pribac, a professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts, fears that infighting within the ruling coalition could start quickly if public pressure mounts for quick and unrealistic results.

With the government in place, former PS leader Zoran Janković made good on his promise to fully resign as party leader, though he plans to stay on as mayor and remain a party member.

But his ongoing presence has raised concerns about his influence on Bratušek.

DeSUS president Karl Erjavec, the foreign minister in the new government, warned that Bratušek would "quickly get into trouble" if she does not lead the government independently.

Bratušek denied the suggestions that Janković would influence her decisions. "Whoever knows Zoran Janković, knows that he can never be someone working from behind the scenes."

