Even though the left and its subordinate media outlets are constantly trying to sell the story about how the government of Janez Janša is allegedly violating human rights, pressuring the media, and as such, is supposedly not capable of holding the Presidency of the EU Council, this obviously does not have as much of an impact on citizens as some might wish. The results of a recent poll conducted for Nova24TV by the Parsifal agency show that the vast majority of the respondents believe that Slovenia will successfully preside over the European Council – this was the response of as many as 63.9 percent of the respondents.
Slovenia held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time in the first half of 2008 and will hold it again in the second half of 2021. Due to the extremely demanding nature of the project, preparations have already begun, as the organisers must ensure the timely fulfilment of all technical and logistical requirements for holding the meetings in Slovenia, as well as prepare activities for the promotion of Slovenia, the official website of the government reads.
The majority believes that the presidency will be successful
When asked, “How successful do you think Slovenia’s Presidency of the European Council will be?” the largest share of respondents (51.3 percent) answered with “successful,” and 12.6 percent answered with “very successful.” If we combine the answers “very successful” and “successful,” we can see that the majority (63.9 percent) believes that Slovenia will successfully preside over the European Council.
Given that 24.7 percent of the respondents answered with “unsuccessful” and 4.8 percent answered with “completely unsuccessful,” a total of 29.5 percent of the respondents think that Slovenia will not be successful in its presidency. A total of 6.6 percent of the respondents had no opinion on the issue.
If we look at the intersection between the demographic and the content variable, we can see that among those who think that the presidency will be “completely unsuccessful” and “unsuccessful,” men predominate. There is a higher share of women than men who believe that the Presidency of the European Council will be successful during the government of Janez Janša. The largest share of those who believe that the presidency will be successful is from the age group of 35-54 years, and the largest share of those who believe that it will be very successful is in the age group of 55 years and older. Among those who believe that the presidency will be successful, the largest share has vocational education, and among those who believe that it will be very successful, the largest share has finished primary school.
Methodological sample:
the survey, conducted between the 15th and the 18th of June, included 708 respondents, of whom 50 percent were women, and 50 percent were men. The average age was 52.4 years, and the standard deviation was 16.3 years. The majority of the respondents were from the oldest age group (44. 4 percent), the middle age group was slightly less represented (36.1 percent), and the lowest number of people represented the youngest age group (19.5 percent). Most of the respondents have finished secondary school (32.9 percent), followed by those with completed higher education or higher (26.2 percent), 22. percent of the respondents have finished vocational school, and 18.7 percent of the respondents have either completed or have not completed primary school. Most of the respondents come from a village or hamlet (53.2 percent), followed by a town (29.8 percent), and a smaller town (17.0 percent). Most of the respondents come from the central regions of Slovenia (26.3 percent), followed by the Podravska (15.4 percent) and Savinjska (11.8 percent) regions.
Judging by the results, we can see that the people trust the current government. On the one hand, this is not all that surprising, as Slovenia more than successfully presided over the European Council for the first time, when Janez Janša was the Prime Minister as well. So, there will surely not be any lack of experience. Although the mainstream media has consistently reported negatively and criticised the government, people are noticing that, despite the epidemic, significant shifts have been happening in favour of citizens, and progress in foreign policy, which has experienced a real renaissance, is particularly noticeable.
Nina Žoher