Coalition Agreement Criticism Escalates
"This is a technical error that we will correct," Matjaž Han, the deputy group leader for the Social Democrats (SD), told reporters on Friday.
He said his party had insisted in coalition talks on a public inquiry based on Iceland's, a proposal that the winning party of Prime Minister-elect Miro Cerar (SMC) agreed with.
"Cerar has seen that there was a purely technical error and he is disappointed that this media spin occurred," according to Han.
"The commitment about the bank capital shortfall inquiry was omitted due to a technical error. The commitment remains a part of the coalition agreement," the SMC said in a written statement.
The statements come after several pundits blamed the SD for the move, arguing that it was shielding the people pulling strings from behind the scenes.
Vinko Gorenak, MP for the Democrats (SDS) for example said on his blog that an inquiry into the causes of the bailout was "not in the interest of the SD and even less so in the interest of [Former President Milan] Kučan."
Transparency International Slovenia also weighed in, saying it the latest draft of the coalition was "a negative surprise" since a "public and transparent" inquiry should be a priority for the new government.
The bank inquiry issue is sensitive since Slovenia has so far spent well over 10% of GDP on bailing out and renationalising banks.
The previous parliament ordered a parliamentary inquiry, but now that it has ended its term the inquiry ended by default as well.
The previous version of the coalition agreement said an inquiry, spearheaded by the central bank, would be launched to determine accountability of the supervisory and management boards of the bailed out banks.