Teflonski Karl is returning to the Slovenian political scene

Žiga Kariž

27. 11. 2024, 18.18

Updated: November 27, 2024, 7:26 p.m

Karl Erjavec announced that Zaupanje will be a centrist and development-oriented party that will appeal to all who are concerned about the future of Slovenia. But the question is whether the voters have already forgotten everything that the politician carries in his backpack, who has received the title of “Teflon” Karl due to the fact that his affairs do not come alive. Erjavec is one of the politicians with the longest tenure in Slovenian politics. On the Internet, we can find the information that in 1990 he became a member of the Executive Council of the Kranj Municipality Assembly and was appointed secretary for public administration and other legal matters. He became a member of the first party in 1993, when he joined SKD. Between 1995 and 2000, he dealt with matters related to the protection of fundamental human rights in the Office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia. He was head of the office at the Ombudsman and director of the expert service. From 2001 to 2004, he was the State Secretary for Judicial Administration at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia. After the dissolution of the SLS+SKD party, he remained a member of the SLS, but due to unfulfilled ambitions, he left the party and joined the LDS in May 2004. But only for a short time. In the same year, he transferred to DeSUS and became the man whose promises pensioners preferred to believe.

Patrie drove past Erjavec

He took the position of party president in 2005, and before that he became the minister of defense in the government Janez Janša. His ministry was marked by the purchase of the notorious Patria armored vehicles, but despite the fact that the deal is considered one of the biggest scandals in the history of Slovenia, Erjavec did not suffer any damage. The prosecutor’s office accused him of dishonest work at work, but they dropped the charges against him. He served the mandate of the Minister of Defense until the end, despite the fact that he also had to defend himself because of the rental of a luxury plane, which for 3.3 million tolars at the time took him on one of the national routes. The purchase of the battleship Triglav did not meet the approval of the voters either.

The buckets took him away

Vladi Borut Pahor sat down on the chair of the Minister of the Environment, but also quickly left it when the Audit Court issued an opinion that the measures taken by the Minister of the Environment in the area of ​​environmental duties to encourage the separate collection of municipal waste were assessed as very poor and inadequate. Later, Erjavec repeatedly joked that “buckets” had taken him away.

Tit Košir

To court because of the washing machine

In our media, we also reported on the incident with the washing machine, which his daughter installed in the hallway of the apartment building in which she lived. The noise caused by the machine is a neighbor and former skiing champion Špelo Pretnar disturbed to the extent that she sought justice in court. Erjavč’s machine was withdrawn only when the court ordered him to do so.

A vacation in the middle of an international scandal

In 2012, he was offered the position of foreign minister. During his term of office, arbitration was held on the border between Slovenia and Croatia. The Slovenian delegation was clumsily caught in the eavesdropping and thus caused an international scandal. Minister Erjavec was vacationing in France at the outbreak of Slovenia’s biggest diplomatic affair and did not return to Slovenia despite the crisis. The arbitration process suffered irreparable damage, and despite the fact that the court brought the process to an end, the borders between Slovenia and Croatia have not yet been definitively determined. Despite calls from the opposition, Erjavec did not resign from his position. He was also not replaced by the Prime Minister at the time Miro Cerar. During his ministry, Erjavec himself was caught in the eavesdropping when he spoke disparagingly of Miro Cerar and declared that the latter was only a politician for one year. Cerar lasted a little longer, but Karel Erjavec’s career also began to dry up.

Primož Lavra, Mediaspeed

Not enough for the prime minister

In the 2018 elections, DeSUS experienced one of the worst results in its history under his leadership, Erjavec failed to convince enough voters to be able to take the place of deputy. Nevertheless, “Teflon Karl” managed to return to the position of Minister of Defense in the government Marjan Saracwhere he persisted until the collapse of the government in March 2020. Shortly before that, he had already lost the position of party president, as it defeated him at the congress Aleksandra Pivec. When Pivčevo was later swept away by various scandals, Erjavec returned to the position of president and even appeared as a possible candidate to replace Janez Janša, but his great breakthrough to the top of Slovenian politics was prevented by the members of his party.