12th Government of Slovenia

Cerar cabinet

12th Cabinet of Slovenia
Dissolved
Date formed18 September 2014
Date dissolved13 September 2018
People and organisations
Head of stateBorut Pahor
Head of governmentPrime Minister Miro Cerar (SMC)
Member party
  •   Modern Centre Party
      Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia
      Social Democrats
Status in legislature
Opposition party
Opposition leader
History
Election2014 election
PredecessorBratušek cabinet
SuccessorŠarec cabinet

The 12th Government of Slovenia, led by Prime Minister Miro Cerar, was announced on 18 September 2014. It was formed following the 2014 parliamentary election won by the centre-left Party of Miro Cerar; it was the third government formed over four years. At 51 years, Cerar was the second oldest Prime Minister of Slovenia since Independence, following Andrej Bajuk at 56 years. The cabinet had on the day of inauguration the highest number of women ministers representatives, as there were seven women ministers out of sixteen ministers in total. Cerar's cabinet was the highest educated cabinet to date, with six members with a doctorate.

After the resignation of Alenka Bratušek's cabinet, President Borut Pahor determined that the new elections would take place on 13 July 2014. With 34.49% Cerar won by the highest percentage on any parliamentary elections since Independence. It was decided not to cooperate with the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), as its leader Janez Janša was sentenced to two years imprisonment.[1] On 28 July 2014 Cerar sent an outline of the coalition agreement to all other parties that attended the coalition talks. The first to agree was the president of Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS) Karel Erjavec, with whom Cerar gathered the necessary 45+ seats in Parliament. The next and last to join the coalition was Dejan Židan with his Social Democrats (SD) party.[2] The coalition agreement was signed on 3 September 2014.

Cabinet members came from three parties of the new coalition:

On the 14 March 2018, following the verdict of the Supreme Court of Slovenia to annul the referendum on the so-called "Second Railway track", Miro Cerar announced his resignation as Prime Minister.

Changes from the preceding cabinet

The number of ministries rose to 16, up from 13 in the preceding Cabinet of Alenka Bratušek. Anja Kopač Mrak, Gorazd Žmavc, Dejan Židan and Karel Erjavec have retained their position.

List of ministers and portfolios

History

  • On 18 October 2014, the minister of economy, Jožef Petrovič, resigned and was the first minister to do so in the new government. He resigned just after one month in the position because of suspicion of wrongdoing when he worked at a company that was rigging prices when dealing with the state. As he stated he resigned "to enable the government to work in peace in these troubled times".[3] The next candidate was supposed to be Gojko Koprivec but he backed down as a candidate when he got seriously ill just one day before the interrogation.[4] After almost 2 months of vacancy, Slovenia got a new minister of economy. On December 4, 2014, the director of Spa Olimia Zdravko Počivalšek replaced the ex-minister of economy Jožef Petrovič.[5]
  • On 10 October 2014 after Alenka Bratušek failed as a new European Commissioner designate, Slovenia named a new candidate. Minister without Portfolio responsible for Development, Strategic Projects and Cohesion Violeta Bulc was sent to Brussels where she was confirmed as a new European Commissioner for Transport. With her appointment, the ministry became vacant.[6] Cerar named Alenka Smerkolj as a new candidate. She was confirmed on 19 November 2014.[7]
  • On 6 March 2014 Minister of Education, Science and Sport Stanka Setnikar Cankar resigned because of revelation of her high earnings from royalties (636,000 euros since April 2004)[8] After some time (intern minister was Miro Cerar) Klavdija Markež was appointed to take her position, starting on 30 March 2015.
  • On 1 April 2015, after five days as minister, Klavdija Markež resigned amidst allegation of plagiarism regarding her MA thesis.[9]
  • On 25 April 2016, after she had been summoned by the Prime Minister Cerar to resign due to the delay in the execution of governmental decisions and she had refused to do so, the minister of culture, Julijana Bizjak Mlakar, did resign. The reason was her disagreement with the Prime Minister regarding the management of the Idrija Mine, in regard to which she opined that the governmental decision was dictated by lobbies.[10]

Current composition

Minister Party Portfolio Period
Miro Cerar SMC Prime Minister 18 September 2014 –
Karl Erjavec DeSUS Vice president
Minister of Foreign Affairs
18 September 2014 –
Dejan Židan SD Vice president
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food
18 September 2014 –
Boris Koprivnikar SMC Vice president
Minister of Public Administration
18 September 2014 –
Mateja Vraničar Erman Independent Minister of Finance 21 September 2016 –
Vesna Györkös Žnidar SMC Minister of Interior 18 September 2014 –
Andreja Katič SD Minister of Defence 13 May 2015 –
Zdravko Počivalšek SMC Minister of Economic Development and Technology 4 December 2014 –
Goran Klemenčič SMC Minister of Justice 18 September 2014 –
Anja Kopač Mrak SD Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities 18 September 2014 –
Milojka Kolar Celarc SMC Minister of Health 18 September 2014 –
Tone Peršak DeSUS Minister of Culture 20 May 2016 –
Maja Makovec Brenčič SMC Minister of Education, Science and Sport 13 May 2015 –
Peter Gašperšič SMC Minister of Infrastructure 18 September 2014 –
Irena Majcen DeSUS Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning 18 September 2014 –
Alenka Smerkolj SMC Minister without Portfolio responsible for Development, Strategic Projects and Cohesion 19 November 2014 –
Gorazd Žmavc DeSUS Minister without portfolio for Slovenian diaspora 18 September 2014 –
Source: Vlada Republike Slovenije

Former members

Minister Party Portfolio Period
Jožef Petrovič SMC Minister of Economic Development and Technology 18 September 2014 – 4 December 2014
Violeta Bulc SMC Minister without Portfolio responsible for Development, Strategic Projects and Cohesion 18 September 2014 – 19 November 2014
Stanka Setnikar Cankar SMC Minister of Education, Science and Sport 18 September 2014 –6 March 2015
Janko Veber SD Minister of Defence 18 September 2014 –13 May 2015
Klavdija Markež SMC Minister of Education, Science and Sport 27 March 2015 –1 April 2015
Julijana Bizjak Mlakar DeSUS Minister of Culture 18 September 2014 –25 April 2016
Source: Vlada Republike Slovenije

See also

References

  1. ^ "Cerar zavrnil možnost koalicije z SDS". Siol.net. 7 July 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  2. ^ "Cerar kljub kritikam koalicijskega osnutka upa na široko koalicijo". Siol.net. 29 July 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  3. ^ "Slovenian economy minister resigns after month in office". MMC RTV Slovenija. 18 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Koprivec ne bo gospodarski minister, Cerarju bi novo ime iskala SD in DeSUS". MMC RTV Slovenija. 17 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Počivalšek is confirmed". MMC RTV Slovenija. 3 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Official: Slovenia names Bulc as a new EU commissioner candidate". MMC RTV Slovenija. 10 October 2014.
  7. ^ "Potrjena nova ministrica in rebalans proračuna". MMC RTV Slovenija. 19 November 2014.
  8. ^ "Cerar accepted the resignation offered by Setnikar Cankar". 6 March 2014.
  9. ^ Markeževa po dveh dneh dela odstopila
  10. ^ "Bizjak Mlakarjeva odstopila in Cerarjevi vladi očitala, da deluje v interesu lobijev in zanemarja zakone" [Bizjak Mlakar Resigns and Accuses Cerar's Government of the Work in the Interest of Lobbies and of Neglecting the Laws]. Reporter.si (in Slovenian). 25 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-07-17. Retrieved 2016-05-04.