Brussels, 23/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Former Conservative Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Jansa announced on Sunday evening that he had concluded an agreement with four parties to set up a government coalition, which would enable him to return to power, even though he lost the general election last December.
Jansa was prime minister between 2004 and 2008. He has announced that he has almost finished the text of a coalition agreement, following discussions with the heads of the four small parties. He will therefore have a 50 of the government's total of 90 seats. His announcement comes 10 days after parliament rejected the nomination of the millionaire and centre-left mayor of the Ljubljana, Zoran Jankovic, as prime minister, to great surprise, after he won the snap general elections on 4 December. The centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of Janez Jansa came in second and won 26 seats as opposed to Jankovic's 28. According to the agreement concluded, the SDS would head a coalition with the popular Christian party, New Slovenia (NSi), a party created by Gregor Virant, former minister in the government of Janez Jansa, the centre-right People's Party (SLS) and the pensioners' party, DESUS. According to Jansa, the five parties have agreed to reduce the number of ministers from 16 to 12 and are committed to implementing an austerity programme.
On 28 January, parliament is expected to announce the choice of a new prime minister. If it fails to do so again, the head of state will be able to dissolve parliament and call new elections. For several months, Slovenia has been stuck in a political crisis, whilst the country teeters on the brink of recession and its debt continues to increase very rapidly. The ratings agency Standard & Poor's (SP) recently reduced its sovereign rating slightly and threatened to further downgrade it if the country did not manage to implement a credible programme of reform. (LC/transl.fl)