Is Slovenia Returning to the EU Core?

After the electoral victories of Viktor Orbán and Aleksandar Vučić earlier this month, a consolation prize in Slovenia may be just around the corner for the EU. 

On Monday one of the key debates featuring leaders of the eight parties including Prime Minister Janez Janša performing best in the pre-election polls took place at the largest commercial station in the country, POP TV.

With the studio crew getting ready for the live broadcast, incumbent Prime Minister Janša was the last one to take a position at his stand. As PM Janša was passing the stand where Luka Mesec, leader of the leftwing opposition party Levice (Left), was sending text messages on his mobile phone, Janša shook his head sending gestures across the television studio to suggest that his rival’s attention was elsewhere.

In many ways, the entrée epitomised the culminating election campaign as well as Monday’s debate including the generational struggle between the two politicians. Mesec and Levice were being targeted by Janša’s and his coalition partner’s rhetoric, but it was the man not physically present in the studio who is the real challenger, best positioned to unseat Janša’s cabinet whose approval ratings have been low.