Delo believes the minister, particularly because it was not her to present the decision to the press but the heads of all three coalition parties, who rushed out the door immediately after to avoid questions.

The paper calls this immature because the government had three years to reconsider what was in the long-term interest of the bank and Slovenia, and re-negotiate the terms of the privatisation with the European Commission so that it would also be in the strategic interest of tax-payers.

The government's failure to approach the sale earnestly and its argumentation that the sale was halted to investigate alleged money laundering eight years ago are "notorious proof" how bad, irresponsible and short-sighted the Slovenian state is in managing its elite companies.

After such political mangling and tilting at the windmills of Brussels, the price of NLB will only drop. "But the bank will remain ours, even if there is notably less money in it for everyone," the paper adds.

According to Delo, American bank robber Willie Sutton's answer why he robbed banks "because that's where the money is" also explains the complications that have been going on around NLB for years.

NLB is a first-class object of desire for all Slovenian politicians, who would probably rather see it fail than at least partially let it out of their control, goes the commentary dubbed Because That's Where the Money Is.