The previous Minister for Development, Strategic Projects, and Cohesion Marko Bandelli resigned on November 13, after the Prime Minister requested his resignation because of inappropriate communications and allegations of poor performance at the ministry. “His final act, when he made the availability public funds conditional on the withdrawal of a mayoral candidacy, as revealed in an email released to the public, was unacceptable and at least morally objectionable, as well as unbecoming of a minister. His actions were inexcusable,” wrote Prime Minister Marjan Šarec in his ultimatum.

The National Assembly was notified of Bandelli’s resignation last Monday, when a ten-day deadline for the Prime Minister to nominate a new minister (or to transfer the responsibilities to a caretaker) went into effect.

Iztok Purič, who is retired, has a PhD. in Organizational Sciences. He was the head of the Brdo Public Institute for 12 years, before he was let go by the government in 2012 for alleged management irregularities. Previously, he was the head of human resources in Exoterm and Žito. In this year’s local elections, he was a mayoral candidate in Kranj, but he failed to make it to the run-off.

The Minister has a lot of work ahead of him
The new Cohesion Policy Minister has a considerable amount of work ahead of him when it comes to applications for European structural funds. Because of delays in drafting an analysis regarding the use of EU funds, Šarec had rebuked Bandelli’s office. He considered the office’s failure to come up with the analysis and an appropriate plan of action two months after its creation as unacceptable.