STA, 16 April 2018 - "Support for one party is unusual to say the least," Brglez told reporters, adding that it also constituted "breach of the Vienna Convention." Foreign ambassadors should not act this way in their host countries, he said.
Brglez's statement refers to Zavgayev's remark at a press conference marking the signing of a five-year gas supply contract between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Slovenia's Geoplin, which was signed in the presence of the DeSUS leader, Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec, on Friday.
"An election campaign is under way in Slovenia ... the party led by Karl Erjavec probably has something to show for in this field ... It has specific multi-year programmes," Zavgayev was quoted as saying in a translation provided by public broadcaster TV Slovenija.
Erjavec does not see anything amiss with the comment. He told Slovenian reporters on the margins of an EU ministerial in Luxembourg that the Russian ambassador had simply noticed the fact that his party had a very good programme, "something that I'm convinced of".
As for Brglez's assertion that Zavgayev violated the Vienna Convention, Erjavec said that if this was the case, "the parliamentary speaker should sanction [Zavgayev] in accordance with the convention".
Indeed, Erjavec said, in reference to the plans to recognise Palestine, that it was more problematic when the parliamentary speaker "bypasses the Foreign Ministry by receiving ambassadors, talking to them or calling them to account".
Responding to Erjavec's statement, Brglez said he was surprised that "unfortunately, the foreign minister is not familiar with our declaration on foreign policy, which says that the National Assembly plays the main role in forming stances on all issues concerning foreign policy".
Brglez thus sees the meetings with ambassadors as necessary. "Of course I hope the foreign minister knows that I do not call them to account but invite them for a meeting."
