Ljubljana - The government appointed Ana Kerševan as the new state attorney general at Thursday's session to replace Jurij Groznik. She will start serving her six-year term on 27 September, the Government Communications Office said.

In late July the Justice Ministry issued a call for applications for a new state attorney general to replace Groznik, after the government refrained from reappointing him in early July.

The ministry received seven applications that met the requirements, and Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan interviewed each candidate.

Based on a number of criteria, she put forward Kerševan as her candidate for the head of the State Attorney's Office, who was then endorsed by the vetting commission on 19 September.

Groznik was not reappointed because the government argued that he had failed to make sure the goals of the office were met and its mission followed.

In the last months of the previous government's term, the office brought several damages actions against the informal leader of Friday anti-government protesters, Jaša Jenull, to which, according to the current government, Groznik should have said no.

In addition to Kerševan's appointment, the government appointed several district and local state prosecutors today as well as a new member of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, as Tamara Gregorčič was appointed supreme state prosecutor.

The government also took note of an analysis of the structure of existing posts required for the functioning of the judiciary and the white paper on the reform of the career development of civil servants in the judiciary.

The documents were prepared by a task force under a strike agreement between the government and a trade union dedicated to judicial employees.