Tatjana Bobnar, who resigned as interior minister in December 2022 after a very public dispute with the prime minister, will join the team of President Nataša Pirc Musar as an adviser on human rights and security.

"I can confirm that Tatjana Bobnar is coming to my office," Pirc Musar told TV Slovenija on 17 February after the news was first reported by Delo.

She said that Bobnar would focus on what is known as the erasure, the deletion of some 26,000 Yugoslav nationals from the permanent residence registry in the early 1990s.

Pirc Musar said this issue was a large black mark on Slovenia, adding that she wanted this resolved by the end of her five-year term.

It is unclear exactly what she means by that given that a law was passed in 2013 providing compensation to those affected by the erasure.

Bobnar will also deal with security and domestic violence, the latter having been one of her priorities during her time as minister between June and December 2022.

Pirc Musar and Bobnar have cooperated in the past, in particular when Pirc Musar was information commissioner and Bobnar the assistant police commissioner.

Bobnar was rumoured to become the president's advisor around the time of her resignation that followed a dispute between her and Prime Minister Robert Golob over what she said was Golob's political pressure on the police.

At that time, however, some commentators speculated that naming Bobnar to her team so soon after her resignation had the potential to fan a dispute with Prime Minister Golob at a time when Pirc Musar was just about to enter office and was still building her authority and structures of power.

There was also broad agreement at the time that naming Bobnar to her team would send out a strong message that Pirc Musar, who ran for president as an independent, is an independent political player who does not need to rely on government support.

The president has already informed the prime minister of her agreement with Bobnar, according to Delo, but it remains unclear for now when exactly Bobnar will formally join her team.