Šarec-led minority govt unable to take on structural reforms

The centre-left government was formed by Marjan Šarec, a novice in the national political arena, and his LMŠ party with the SocDems, Modern Centre Party (SMC), the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) after the relative election winner Janez Janša and his right-wing Democrats (SDS) failed to put together a coalition.

A cooperation agreement with the opposition Left was an important component of the equation, but cracks soon appeared in the relationship with the far-left party, starting with Šarec's hiring of Damir Črnčec, a radical opponent of migration, as national security state secretary in his office.

While the Left managed to push through some of its agenda, mostly to improve the lives of low-income earners, it insisted that the bulk of the pledges made in the cooperation agreement were being ignored.

The straw that broke the...