According to the observations of political scientist Dr Miro Haček, things have changed a lot in Slovenia, as the government of Janez Janša is rather centre-left in terms of its content. “We could also say that this is a social democratic government, as it has implemented probably the highest number of, and the most radical social policies, which have given the most help to the most vulnerable part of the population,” said Haček. In contrast, the left, despite its commitments, continues to recruit personalities who could be called ultra-capitalists. “Things have changed in Slovenia. The left supports business elites, who usually come from former systems, which is in contrast to developed democratic societies,” said political analyst Matevž Tomšič.
A member of the Slovenian left, the Social Democrats party (SD), also invited a millionaire and one of the richest Slovenians, Sandi Češko, to its ranks. While the Social Democrats’ programme should be based on the vigilance for the social, they are inviting a person who avoids paying taxes in Slovenia and has his company’s headquarters in the tax-friendly Cyprus to join them. “The day when the Socialists put turbo capitalists, who are not happy with the money, at the helm of the party,” the SDS MP Suzana Lep Šimenko pointed out.
Usually, it is the left that draws attention to the rights of workers and the working class, and in particular, the Left party (Levica), which wants to nationalise the economy. On the other hand, the SD party appoints a man who is a capitalist to the position of chairman of the expert council for the economy. “He is one of the cruellest employers, whose workers are forced to harass the elderly and the poor over the phone and force them to buy bad products that no one needs. What a true socially sensitive democrat,” a Twitter user pointed out. However, perhaps the SD party is just beginning to realise that it is necessary to create wealth and not just deal with the redistribution of money.
Another transitional millionaire is the former President of the Management Board of the state-owned energy company Gen-I, Robert Golob, from whom the public is demanding clarification regarding the overpaid salary and reward. Given that the “social” left is inviting capitalists into its ranks, however, it is possible that the exact opposite of the expected ethical economy they pointed out is coming. “Some wicked tongues might even say that the April elections will be a clash between the ultra-rich transitional left and the workers’ right,” said communication expert Edvard Kadič.
Transitional wealthy men are running for the left
According to political analyst Matevž Tomšič, the concept of what is left and what is right in Slovenia is quite different from what we are used to in developed democracies. The left usually supports employees, while the right supports the economy. “Things in Slovenia have changed. The left supports business elites, who usually come from former systems,” Tomšič pointed out.
Thus, the Slovenian left supports various transitional tycoons and very well-paid managers, such as Golob. “Meanwhile, on the other hand, most entrepreneurs who do not come from previous systems support the right,” Tomšič added, pointing out that this is not surprising if we look at how these people who support the left came to their positions, which somehow makes it seem logical. “These are political connections of the semi-monopolistic structures.”
The Janša government is introducing social policies for the most vulnerable
If we look at the strictly public-political, meaning only the content of individual proposed and adopted policies during the last two years, it is clear that the government of Janez Janša is quite centre-left in terms of contents, political scientist Dr Miro Haček pointed out. “We could also say that this Is a social democratic government, as it has implemented probably the highest number of, and the most radical social policies, which have given the most help to the most vulnerable part of the population, which is also confirmed by the Gini index, which measures the egalitarianism of a society,” he said.
Meanwhile, the opposite is currently true for the Slovenian left. “Despite the publicly expressed commitments, the Slovenian left (with the exception of the Left party) seems to be recruiting many such people and personalities, who could be called ultra-capitalists,” Haček said, noting that there is still a big difference between Češko, who has worked in the private sector his entire life and created most of his wealth outside Slovenia, and Golob, “who ran a state-owned monopoly electricity distribution company pretty poorly.”
However, Češko’s public appearance on Tuesday at least gave us all some hope that the SD party does not believe in Golob’s political vision. “Does the head of the SD economic council’s last night’s appearance on POP TV mean that the SD party does not believe in Robert Golob’s political vision?” political analyst Peter Gregorčič also wondered, pointing out that this appearance raises hopes that the SD party will at least partially move away from the anti-Janša approach and instead focus on confronting programme concepts, as Češko said: “Look, it is difficult to estimate the profit of a monopoly company. It is also difficult to assess the successes of the director who runs the monopoly company. However, I think that in these electricity distribution services, there is no real need to make a profit, except for investing it in the development of the entire economic system, and that is just taking money out of the pockets of the taxpayers or the economy.”
Sara Rančigaj
