“The euro must fall, the euro is fascist, the euro represents original sin, bandiera rossa, the cravat gang, Europe of thieves and gypsies,” are just some of the slogans used or applauded at the celebrations, by the initiators of the Constitutional Arch Coalition.
The Slovenian opposition parties – Levica, LMŠ, SD, and SAB, which hope to form a coalition, the so-called Constitutional Arch Coalition (Koalicija ustavnega loka – KUL) under the leadership of the economist Jože P. Damijan, are acting very pro-European in the European Union, as part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Party of European Socialists (PES), and the Party of the European Left, but when they get home, they completely change their tune. Namely, they are behaving very anti-European, and this is well-illustrated by their choice of a candidate for the position of Prime Minister, who, judging by his statements from the past, wants Slovenia to leave the euro area.
The great saviour of the transitional left, economist Jože P. Damijan, who is also a full-time professor at the University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business, has in the past emphasized his belief that the euro is dead. According to him, the common currency even represents the biggest mistake of the European Union.
Will they take us out of the EU?
If anyone would think that that was all, they would be wrong. Damijan also stated: “The euro area must fall apart without consequences.” A favourite for the anti-European coalition even went as far as to let it be known that the euro represents fascism. “The euro is fascist in its coercion/need to implement it. The euro is the original sin of all of the problems of the European Union,” he emphasized. Judging by the statements he has made in the past, it is not surprising that even the American Bloomberg took him under scrutiny after Damijan began saying that the common currency of the euro was supposedly bad for the member states of the European Union. He put all of the blame for the financial crisis of 2008 on the euro, deliberately omitting the fact that in Slovenia, we were actually the victims of the state-owned banks, in the hands of the left-wing network, which gave billions of euros of taxpayers’ money to the select few. At that time, Bloomberg also problematized Damijan’s candidacy for the position of Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, writing that it seems as if just anyone can apply as a candidate.
If one were to ask how it is possible that the LMŠ, SAB, Levica, and SD parties are so in favour of Damijan, the answer is not all that difficult to find. Namely, we must go back to 2013, when the Slovenian left organised a concert in Stožice, with the communist repertoire, at which the Slovenian political leadership (Alenka Bratušek, Danilo Türk, Milan Kučan, Zoran Janković, Borut Pahor, Anja Kopač Mrak, and others) were seen enthusiastically singing along to the sounds of the communist anthems of the Internationale, and we could also hear the guests being addressed as comrades, several times.
At the red celebration, one of the musicians also sang the following lyrics: “We are to blame for wanting to enter the European Union, even though we knew that they are a gang of liars and robbers. Now our bosses are our biggest enemies. I call them bandits or cravat wearers. (Europe) is now a cravat gang; with them, the whole of Europe is a band of thieves. If I were to call them gypsies, that would be an insult to gypsies. So, I am just going to say they can go to hell. Cheers, cravat wearers, cheers Europe!”
The fact that the Slovenian left-wing parties in the 21st century enthusiastically attend celebrations and events where communist symbolism is welcome (but not that of Slovenia or Europe) and chant anti-European songs, of course, scares many. A lot of Slovenians are afraid that the anti-European coalition, which sees the European Union as a cravat gang and the euro as a fascist formation, would actually like to take Slovenia out of the European Union. Do we really want to return to the former totalitarian times?
Nina Žoher
