Slovenian finance minister survives no-confidence vote
Slovenian finance minister Uroš Čufer survived a no-confidence vote early on Thursday, as the government coalition closed ranks and voted against the opposition’s motion. Only 28 opposition deputies, mostly from the ranks of the Democrats (SDS), voted in favour and 48 were against.
The debate, spanning some 15 hours, saw the opposition accusing Čufer of mismanagement of the controlled winding down of two small private banks and the dismissal of an opposition MP from the board of the Bank Assets Management Company.
Čufer defended the government’s decision to carry out an orderly winding down of Factor banka and Probanka as he responded to opposition arguments that he was selling out public finances.
The minister said the liquidation secured the stability of Slovenia’s banking system. Without the measure, the banks could have gone bust, which would have caused a major instability of the financial system, he said.
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(Slovenian finance minister Uroš Čufer at an Ecofin meeting in July 2013. Photo: The Council of the European Union)
