The ministerial post belongs to the senior coalition Positive Slovenia (PS) party, whose official Janko Möderndorfer maintained yesterday that there had been no talk about a successor for Stepišnik.

Despite this, several names have appeared in the media as potential candidates to assume the job, including senior PS official Robert Golob, who has extensive references in the energy sector.

Golob denied knowing anything about being a candidate: "This is the first I've heard of it," he told the STA on Wednesday.

Another name being floated by the media is that of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) official Alenka Avberšek.

Speculation about whether Avberšek was in the running was given some merit late on Wednesday by SocDems MP Matjaž Han, who said the GZS could be asked to contribute its opinion on who would be best to fill the position.

Appearing as a candidate in the business daily Finance is the general manager of Rail Cargo Austria Ivan Novak, who refused to comment on the speculation for the paper.

Novak's name had been in the running already when PM Alenka Bratušek was looking for a new infrastructure minister earlier this year.

Incumbent State Secretary at the Economic Development and Technology Ministry Alenka Kert's name has also appeared as a potential candidate, most likely because she is second in command at the ministry.

Thursday's papers meanwhile speculate on a potential link with former PS leader Zoran Janković, who is the mayor of Ljubljana, suggesting that the general manager of Ljubljana public water utility Vo-Ka Krištof Mlakar is a candidate.

Also being mentioned by the papers is Andrej Ribič of Ljubljana electricity distributor Elektro Ljubljana.

PM Bratušek will not be able to nominate a new minister just yet, as she must first inform parliament of Stepišnik's resignation within seven days. The National Assembly has seven more days to get acquainted with the resignation.

Bratušek then has ten days to make the nomination or propose one of the current cabinet members to fill in temporarily.

It is also possible that Stepišnik's resignation opens the door to a wider government shuffle, which the media have been speculating about in recent days.

In this case the distribution of ministerial departments by party could be reconfigured and the post of economy minister could be assigned to another coalition partner.