“And the Levica party (the Left) has not shown this so far, because it has not been part of the government yet, so it did not have this heavy responsibility, and it is therefore also not carrying a heavy backpack. Talking about what things could have been like if they were different is the easiest thing; however, we have seen what it is like to rule when you cannot do certain things because of money – some because of Europe, others because of the stories within the coalition,” the leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group, Matjaž Han, said about the “government experience” of the Levica party, in an interview with Siol.
The online media outlet Siol published an interview with the leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group Matjaž Han. The long-standing prominent politician of the left-wing political pole is considered to be a good speaker, as each of his statements holds a lot of weight in Slovenian politics. In this interview, he touched on his own struggles with covid, the government measures adopted during the current crisis, and the real state of the left-wing political parties in our country.
He is very much aware of the situation regarding covid and knows that it is serious. He himself battled the disease for four weeks and has later also been vaccinated. Therefore, he called on everyone to consider what is best for each individual, as well as society as a whole. Many Slovenian citizens have also read a lot of articles that doubt the existence of covid, “but the fact is that more than four thousand people have died of covid-19 in Slovenia. I have not heard of anyone who got vaccinated dying due to covid-19, so I am urging everyone to be responsible and get vaccinated.”
Han is bothered by the fact that the government has been wasteful with the corona allowances Regarding the government measures adopted in the so-called anti-corona legislative packages, Han said that some went in the right direction while others were misplaced by the government. He accused the government of also adding things into the legislative packages that had nothing to do with mitigating the crisis. He was also critical of the awarding of covid allowances, where many of those who did not deserve them still received them. “I am also absolutely convinced that we spent too much money on covid bonuses, especially for those who had no contact with covid patients.”
He also accused the government of overcomplicating certain ordinances, especially in the economy sector. He thus argues that the part of the economy that was closed should at least have had its basic costs covered. We can add that it might be true that not everything was ideal, but it was still the economic and social measures adopted by this government that saved 300,000 jobs. Employers have also mostly expressed support for government action.
According to the latest data from the European Union, Slovenia is one of the twenty most successful economic Member States among all 27. Han admits that certain measures were good and that “it is not difficult to act smart after everything is already over.” However, he disagrees with borrowing money just so we can waste it on pointless measures. He did not say which are the measures he believes to be pointless.
The Levica party is not carrying a heavy backpack because it has never been part of any Slovenian government One of the main problems of the centre-left is that Slovenian voters have more choice on the left than on the right, Han believes. The long-time SD MP believes that the problem is that some parties on the left are traditional (the SD party) and have decades of experience in politics, while on the other hand, new and instant projects are emerging before each election. “However, more choice on the left-wing pole has its strengths as well as weaknesses,” Han adds.
When it comes to the Levica party, Han believes that it brought some freshness to the Slovenian political space. “The party went in a certain way that is outside the existing framework, and it moved the entire left-wing pole more towards the left. Or, in other words, the perception of what is left has become different, sharper.” Han, however, still acknowledged that all left-wing parliamentary parties are victims of the policy advocated by the Levica party, as the entire left-wing pole has become more radicalised because of it. He did, however, point out an important fact for Luka Mesec and other members of the Levica party, which is that in politics, everything changes once you take responsibility and enter the government. “And the Levica party (the Left) has not shown this so far, because it has not been part of the government yet, so it did not have this heavy responsibility, and it is therefore also not carrying a heavy backpack.”
We must not forget the experience from the Šarec government when the Levica party blackmailed the last centre-left government for every little thing because of its position. When they do enter the government for the first time, their policy will change drastically, which is something that the experienced politician Matjaž Han is well aware of.
And what are the relations between the parties on the left and their leaders? It seems that there is not much love between them. In his own style, Han told Siol the following: “But is there great love anywhere in politics? Do Janez Janša and NSi president Matej Tonin like each other? Every leader takes care of his or her own party. Every true leader must also take care of the state, and every statesman knows that in our political system, he cannot be the only person who is right and that he must adapt.”
You can read about all of the other interesting things that Matjaž Han said in the interview HERE.
Luka Perš
