In Slovenia, the incumbent minority government of the five-party centrist coalition led by prime minister Marjan Sarec managed to pass the draft state budget for 2020-2021 in the National Assembly on November 22, despite opposition from their former ally Levica (Left), which withdrew support in the first week of November. The budget was eventually passed with 49 votes against 41, when the right-wing Slovenian National Party (SNS) and MPs representing national minorities in the opposition helped the ruling coalition survive.
The Sarec-led coalition had fallen three seats short of a simple majority in the 100-seat Slovenian parliament when Levica, along with nine other MPs, withdrew support to the government due to strong disagreement over the issue of supplemental health insurance which Levica wanted abolished.
Levica had agreed to support the government after the parliamentary elections in June 2018, based on an agreement of cooperation related to passing legislation on thirteen proposals from the Slovenian left.
In an analysis by Adin Crnkić in LeftEast, Levica’s cooperation with Marjan’s coalition has been called a bitter-sweet honeymoon that ended due to the government’s neo-liberal turn. He observed that Levica felt betrayed and dissatisfied, as from the thirteen projects identified in the cooperation agreement with the government this year, only one had been approved – a new law on real estate brokerage. The rejection of Levica’s proposal for the abolition of supplementary health insurance, which was to be adopted and implemented later this year, was the last straw for the Slovenian left party.
