Gašpar Mišič resigned as state secretary in the prime minister's office less than a week before being appointed to the top post at one of Slovenia's major companies on 26 August, which provoked widespread furore both among politicians and in the public.

He was appointed despite the opposition publicly voiced by PM Alenka Bratušek as staff representatives on the supervisory board sided with the local representative and also got the chief supervisor on board.

The appointment provoked an immediate reaction from the government with the result that the manager of state assets SOD demanded a shareholders' meeting in order to replace the supervisory board.

The candidates proposed by SOD all come from the SOD's ranks, although SOD head Tomaž Kuntarič has indicated the names could change.

Kuntarič has however hinted that Gašpar Mišič's fate at Luka Koper, which is in majority state ownership, might not be sealed after all, saying that strong opposition to his replacement on the part of the local community entailed serious risks.

"The local community could bring Luka to a halt, for instance by refusing consent to a deepening of the piers and similar things. Or the workers could rise and stop operations," Kuntarič has said, although he reiterated his view that Gašpar Mišič is not up to the task.

The vocal Positive Slovenia (PS) member, who enjoys strong support from former PS head and Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković, is meanwhile already hard at work, although the supervisors have postponed the signing of his contract.

Gašpar Mišič seems to be focusing on disclosing past irregularities at the port operator and is boasting of already having saved Luka Koper more than EUR 2.5m by preventing harmful contracts.