Pahor said that his decision to put to parliament at the start of September the candidates for the five vacant ministerial posts and tie the vote to a confidence vote for the government had been confirmed today by the cabinet.
Admitting that the political crisis has deepened with the resignation of LibDems president Katarina Kresal as interior minister, Pahor said that a vote of confidence would give the government sufficient clout to come to an agreement on early elections without additional political instability.
While talks on how to bring about a snap election are continuing, Pahor said that things were looking best for the idea of a constitutional bill that would set a fixed date for early elections in the second half of May.
However, the same bill would include a provision stipulating that early elections ending the current coalition term could be held at a time agreed on in consensus among parliamentary parties. "Either at the end or beginning of next year," Pahor said.
Constitutional law expert Miro Cerar however believes that such a constitutional bill is very disputable and that this option should be thoroughly examined by experts and the parliament. He labelled the idea as "unusual and radical".
Cerar noted that the existing Constitution had mechanisms enabling a snap election, so "there is no need for adopting a constitutional bill".
He warned against rushing with changes to the Constitution and improvising to adapt to the current situation.
Solving the current political crisis with constitutional changes is really very disputable, because this is not the purpose of the Constitution, Cerar said.
Pahor added that MPs should vote according to their own judgement in September. He does not want a confidence vote merely for the sake of political stability, but also wants MPs to be aware that they will need to back unpopular measures later.
Until early elections, the government would have full powers and propose measures - such as a supplementary budget - needed to keep Slovenia in "the frame of the healthy core of the eurozone".
The prime minister said Slovenia would need to improve competitiveness and tighten the belt, while excessive borrowing was out of the question.
Any slide onto or over the edge of the core of healthy eurozone countries would be "very bad for Slovenia in the long term, and unsolvable in the short-term without the help of other countries, which would mean that we are no longer the masters of our fate".
Pahor said that forecasts of fast growth in 2012 had been premature and that the crisis group of ministers should be revived. The German economy is cooling down, the French economy is stagnating, he added.
SOURCE: The Slovenia Times
