This would enable the institutions which have been entrusted with the sale to carry it out with all due care, which would result in a maximum profit for taxpayers, Finance says under the headline Šarec's First True Test.

Analysis and potential buyers of NLB shares have indicated the proceeds from the bank's privatisation could again be affected mostly by politics.

Or more precisely, by the government, or those who are behind it - the uncles from the background, interest groups, those who promote the national interest, lobbies.

Whatever name they are given, these are the people who believe they can profit more if the bank is in state ownership than if it is sold.

Finance is bothered with the fact that politicians try to preserve their influence despite all the mess surrounding NLB and the EUR 2.5-billion bailout check taxpayers had to pay due to political mistakes and business fraud.

What is even more disturbing is that the majority of taxpayers have already forgotten everything that has been exposed and what has been making them angry over the past decade, again demanding that the bank remains in state-ownership.

Finance adds that NLB's bailout is proof convincing enough that the bank should be sold because the state is not the best owner.

It says that it was politics that decided to sell NLB to financial funds rather than to a bank as a strategic partner and to sell just 75% instead of the entire 100% stake.

One should think of this when the debate about how "vicious foreigners" in the form of financial funds have profited from selling our bank resurfaces.

Selling 100% to a bank would most likely result in higher proceeds from the sale, according to Finance.