Ljubljana - The four centre-left opposition parties associated in an informal KUL coalition seem to be somewhat reserved about cooperation or integration with other, emerging parties before the general election, which will be held this spring.

The representatives of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Social Democrats (SD), Left and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) told the press in Ljubljana on Friday that they were reserved about linking up with parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič, who announced last month that he would establish a new liberal party, LIDE.

Zorčič was a member of the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC), which has recently renamed Concretely, but left it to become an unaffiliated MP last spring.

LMŠ leader Marjan Šarec said his party would definitely not associate with Zorčič, arguing "KUL has been fighting against the current manner of governance all along and has been consistent throughout".

He finds it "a bit ridiculous" that "Zorčič would be uniting the centre-ground parties" after he supported the current government twice, ridiculed attempts to replace it, and only now apparently realised something is wrong.

Šarec said this was the stance of the entire KUL, but the Left's leader Luka Mesec said in a separate statement that he had no problem with Zorčič.

What he is worried about is fragmentation of the political arena. "I think that the four parties forming KUL cover practically all segments left of the centre."

While the doors of the SAB are always open, its secretary general Jernej Pavlič said the three months until election was not enough time for integration.

The SD meanwhile said that they would meet next week with ex-GEN-I director Robert Golob, who announced in December that he was entering politics.

The other three KUL parties have not yet received an invitation and will not be meeting Golob next week as some media reports suggested.

While they are open to talks with him, they would first like to see whether he establishes a party or not.

"Mr Golob will first have to establish a party and say what his political agenda is, only them can we meet," Mesec said as the four parties spoke about topical political developments in separate statements to the press.

Last autumn the KUL parties signed a post-election deal which among other things says that the party which wins the most votes in this year's election will put forward a candidate for prime minister.