“This is probably the best, the most successful, the most efficient, the best-run government, with brilliant ministers (most of them) and also effective in terms of the results it has achieved. We are talking about results that, in my opinion, are most obvious in the field of foreign policy,” the former President of the Constitutional Court, Dr Peter Jambrek, said about the current government’s work. “In the past two years, this government has performed not only brilliantly, but unexpectedly fantastic, compared to the other governments. I can give this assessment because I also worked for two governments in the past – namely, the government of Janez Drnovšek and the government of Anton Rop,” said Dr Miha Pogačnik.
We recently talked to prominent Slovenian attorneys about the successful work of the government of Janez Janša. The first to talk to our media outlet was the expert in administrative law and former Constitutional Court judge, Dr Tone Jerovšek, who said that this is a government that has been the best government of all the governments we have had in the last 30 years. “It has done so many useful things for the people, for the business sector, for social transfers, for a whole range of other benefits, which were enacted and implemented by this government. We have never had such a government before. And I am not praising it just for the sake of it, this is proved by the facts in the legislation that was introduced by the current government.” The government’s attitude to resolving the coronavirus crisis is particularly noteworthy.
It is true that there were many dead – but that was because both the previous government, as well as many before it (the government of Marjan Šarec, Alenka Bratušek, and so on) completely neglected nursing homes. There were lots of deaths there precisely because things were completely out of order. However, if the number of dead was halved, then we would have emerged from the corona crisis as one of the best countries in Europe.
And when it comes to praise for the current government, higher pensions and lower taxes should also be highlighted. The government has adopted measures that affect all citizens, all taxpayers – from those who are paid the worse to those who are paid the best. In addition, it has allowed many companies to commit to EU-funded projects. “We have been extremely successful in this area,” Jerovšek believes.
Comparing the results with the other governments: absolutely fantastic
International lawyer Dr Miha Pogačnik also shared his opinion of the work of the current government: “In the past two years, this government has performed not only brilliantly, but unexpectedly fantastic, compared to the other governments. I can give this assessment because I also worked for two governments in the past – namely, the government of Janez Drnovšek and the government of Anton Rop. After that, I did not help out for a while. However, I can still compare the current government with the governments whose work I followed from the outside. And I can confidently say that this government has done great work, also because in the first year of its term, I was the head of the Government Office for Legislation, and I also sat in on the government’s sessions. And I saw how energetically, intensely things were happening, how they were working so hard on different projects that they were on the verge of physical exhaustion. This government worked so efficiently that it was sometimes even difficult to keep up with it.”
We have become world-class players
From the point of view of legislation: at the last session of the Government Office for Legislation, the number of documents increased by about 30-40 percent. Way more work has been done than in the previous years. A series of laws have also been passed. This was all going on during the period of the coronavirus crisis, which meant we were in a state of emergency, but nevertheless, the current government worked harder than those before it, which worked when times were more normal and much more favourable. And the measures taken were effective. In the area of international law and international relations, Slovenia has certainly placed itself on the international political map. And what is more, it has also gained high recognition. We have become one of the most often mentioned and active players in the international, security and European politics – and all of this despite the relatively small size of our country. We even became world-class players. The Prime Minister often makes appearances in a global format, on television stations from around the world.
According to Pogačnik, this is something we have not witnessed since independence. The possibility of the Prime Minister of Slovenia appearing in the world media at any time is something that has not happened in the history of Slovenia – and meanwhile, the current Prime Minister appeared on foreign television channels several times in one week (!!!). “And that is something that is certainly completely different from the previous governments, when our leading politicians were virtually unrecognisable on the global political scene.” The Presidency of the Council of the European Union was also excellent and, above all, without exception, it was praised as a great, positive surprise. We exceeded the expectations of foreign political actors, who assessed us with regard to the territorially small size of Slovenia and the short existence of our country. On top of all that, we have great relations with our neighbours, including Croatia, which was clear from various forms of help between the two countries (our help in earthquakes and their help in extinguishing the forest fires), the international lawyer Pogačnik also mentioned.
Pogačnik also pointed out that Croatia even transferred its vote in the European Union to Slovenia. We are also witnessing the emergence and development of various new ideas. It is not a completely established routine yet, as new ideas and initiatives are constantly being brought up, but otherwise, in the field of routine and classic matters, this government is much more efficient and successful than its predecessors. Last but not least, innovation was also shown in the case of resolving the Ukrainian crisis, when Slovenia became one of the main initiators of resolving this pressing issue. “The Prime Minister’s visit to Ukraine was a very good example for others. The difference between this and the other governments is like taking an exam. You can just take it, or you can pass. This government does not just take it but passes it, too. And the results are shown through various indicators, such as economic growth and unemployment. We could say that this is a dream scenario,” Pogačnik said about the results of the current government’s work.
Slovenia made lots of international friendships
Ernest Petrič, Constitutional Court judge, diplomat, international law expert and former adviser to President of the Republic, Borut Pahor, who is currently in Geneva for a session of the International Law Commission, also shared his opinion with us: “The work of the current government in the last two years has been done in an extreme situation. And such situations, states of emergency, are much more complicated and sometimes even such that it is necessary to skip certain formalities. We are, of course, talking about the coronavirus crisis, and the same is now true of the Ukrainian crisis. Both demanded what is called “crisis decision-making” in international relations theory and political science.”
Namely, it was a matter of decision-making in times of crisis, when there was no time to form a commission, conduct research, carry out analyses and so on – it was crucial to make decisions at any given moment. And then, of course, many decisions can also be controversial (which becomes clear after a certain time), which is a given in crisis decision-making. “However, I must say that when the corona crisis began and when everything that followed it was happening, our government made pretty good decisions; we overcame the crisis quite successfully.” Every death is a great loss, that much is certainly true, but these deaths were not so much the result of the actions of the government as the consequences of the actions of society as a whole. Unfortunately, it was impossible to get the whole of society to agree that this is a crisis we need to tackle with certain measures and that we are all obliged to contribute to this.
The government should get another mandate, so it can continue its successful work
The former Constitutional Court judge Dr Peter Jambrek also praised the government, as he said that in his opinion, “this is probably the best, the most successful, the most efficient, the best-run government, with brilliant ministers (most of them) and also effective in terms of the results it has achieved. We are talking about results that, in my opinion, are most obvious in the field of foreign policy.” Jambrek believes that Slovenia is surrounded by good friends, which is crucial for any small country. We have good connections with the USA, the EU, and NATO. There were no mistakes made in this area. Slovenia had an excellent breakthrough in terms of international recognition. And in the domestic field, the greatest achievement so far (of any government) is that it has made a serious commitment to the social market economy. In the field of the economy, the current government has achieved great successes: productivity, economic development, lowest unemployment rate ever, and more.
Nevertheless, there is still a number of things that the current government has not been able to address yet. “It is worth electing the parties of the current government and its deputies for the next term as well, so that they can tackle the remaining open issues, such as the reform of higher education, healthcare, establishing competitive and effective benchmarks in public services, infrastructure companies, and so on.” According to Dr Jambrek, the government’s third achievement is that during its term, the constitutional democracy in Slovenia was in full swing and recording successes, as evidenced by a strong dialogue between different parties and individuals. This, too, marked the two-year period of the current government, as did the democratic rule of law.
Domen Mezeg
