With the election of Robert Golob, Slovenia has swum into some strange waters. Some still insist that this is freedom. To others, however, it is clear that this is anything but. On this week’s episode of the show “Who Is Lying to You?” (“Kdo vam laže?”), Boris Tomašič hosted the renowned economist, professor and former Minister of Finance, Janez Šuštaršič, and they talked about what the new government has brought to us in its half a year in office. The interlocutors also discussed high public spending, the highly suspicious recapitalisation of the Slovenian Power Plants Holding, the misguided business policy of the Gen-I energy company, the future spying of the Financial Administration, and the future of Slovenia in general. Initially, they touched on public spending and the rising cost of living.
The former Minister of Finance started the conversation by pointing out that this year’s budget is extremely high, but that it is not clear whether this will lead to a successful year for us. The government has introduced a complicated system of subsidies which is estimated to cost us 1.2 billion euros. Together with the recapitalisation of the Slovenian Power Plants Holding, the cost will rise to close to two billion. “The anti-corona measures did not cost the economy much more,” he remarked, adding that the economic sector is not very happy with the measures, despite the extremely high resources that the government is going to allocate to them in order to bridge the crisis.
While the economy needs help to overcome the energy crisis, it also needs a stable business environment, meaning clear planning frameworks, which is why Šušteršič believes that the government would have done a much better job if it had decided to fix electricity prices, make them more predictable, i.e. limit them, but the government “first came up with the excuse that it was waiting for the European Union to do that,” and when the EU did not decide to do this, they did not do it either.
A 500-million-euro recapitalisation – this is the kind of thing the Troika used to be called for
The interlocutors then talked about the recent 500-million-euro recapitalisation of the Slovenian Power Plants Holding. The government did this, Tomašič reminded us, behind closed doors, despite the fact that it was an enormous amount of taxpayers’ money: “Even though it is our money, we are not allowed to know what is going on with it. It is all very secretive. As far as I know, at least, this is not the result of the energy crisis, as the hole has allegedly been created by other means.” Šušteršič then recalled the time when he himself was the Minister of Finance, and they had to close the National Assembly session because of a sensitive debate on the situation in the banking sector. He explained that the session was closed to the public because the situation was so critical at the time that the debate could have caused public panic, and they wanted to speak frankly. “I am afraid that the meeting might have been closed for such a reason. That the situation in this company, which represents half of the Slovenian energy system, if not more, is so bad,” he said.
The rhetoric of the Minister of Finance, accompanied by a large amount of “semantics,” such as the Minister’s feigning of ignorance and claiming that this is not a recapitalisation but a payment of additional capital and that the Slovenian Power Plants Holding will “pay back” everything, is certainly not encouraging. “The fact that they tried to keep it quiet, that it was not communicated as a measure, shows that this is a very strange story,” Šušteršič said, adding that when it came to the recapitalisation of the banks, because of the banking hole, which amounted to almost one billion euros, “that was the reason why they started talking about the Troika, they didn’t want to lend us money“. He then explained that only in the Slovenian Power Plants Holding we are facing half of the financial hole we had at that time. “This figure is really crazy if you compare it in this way,” he said.
Tomašič added that 700 million euros were spent on Gen-I’s guarantees, which, he jokingly added, Robert Golob had created in “his own basement,” and that Gen-I’s success was also evidenced by the fact that it had been selling electricity even while the Krško Nuclear Power Plant was undergoing an overhaul, which the monopoly seller of electricity from the nuclear power plant was apparently unaware of.
The outlook for next year is not good
“Expenditure will be higher, but revenues will not grow as fast. This year, they grew very fast because the economy took off, but for next year, the outlook is poor. Very low growth, maybe most people don’t feel it yet, even the current data doesn’t show it yet. Unemployment is still at one of its lowest levels in Slovenia, but the economy knows what lies ahead,” Šušteršič said. Tomašič reminded the viewers that this year already, there has been a significant slowdown in the growth rate and that 1.8 percent economic growth can quickly turn into -1.8 percent in these unpredictable circumstances. Šušteršič added that the dynamics of economic growth are very important as well.
The state would spy on its own citizens
Tomašič then recalled another extremely dangerous idea of the Minister of Finance, who proposed to give tax inspectors the power to track and eavesdrop, i.e. to use covert methods and means, without a court order. “I think that Jan Škobrne, a member of the Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD), said that if Janša had proposed such an idea, we would have run out of bicycles by now, as everyone would be protesting,” said Tomašič.
Šusteršič then added that the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia already has extremely high powers at this point, as it has access to data that even the police do not have access to, such as all transactions on accounts. “There is no bank secrecy in relation to the Financial Administration,” he reminded, adding, “If the police investigate you, they will have to go to a judge to look at your bank account. However, the Financial Administration doesn’t have to do that. It already has too much power as it is.”
Tomašič then jokingly reminded the viewers that our media outlet, Nova24TV, has a “special status” within the country because not only was it not necessary to ask the Financial Administration or the police for information on the company’s transactions, but the information on the transactions was obtained by the investigative commission of Mojca Šetinc Pašek.
“Apparently, this commission operates in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act, according to which she (Mojca Šetinc Pašek) apparently believes that she is acting as a judge, but in reality, she is acting as a prosecutor. She thinks that she is in the role of a judge and that she can allow herself to see certain information,” Šušteršič commented on that.
Šušteršič: I am glad that standards are being raised
The two interlocutors then discussed the announced resignation of Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar, who cited her inability to do her job as it should be done as the reason for her resignation, as the Prime Minister had conditioned his confidence in her on unjustified personnel changes. Šušteršič commented that he considers Bobnar’s latest action positive: “What is happening now is not that Golob is lowering the standards, but the Minister of the Interior and the Acting Director of the Police are trying to raise them.”
This is exactly the mechanism we call the deep or parallel state
Tomašič then spoke about the fact that the Prime Minister has started to introduce a special police unit, which is headed by a person who was convicted just last year, and who has no formal relationship with the Secretariat of the Government and has the power to go to the Director-General of the Police and explain to him what is right and what is wrong. “In the National Assembly, the Prime Minister said that he had nothing to do with this man. This is dangerous, given that a police unit has been formed that is completely outside the system,” explained Tomašič. “This is exactly the mechanism we call the deep state, or the parallel state or mechanism. That is to say, someone who is nothing is actually everything,” Šušteršič added.
Who has Golob turned into, and the situation in healthcare
The interlocutors continued the programme by touching on other topics, such as the collapsing healthcare system, what kind of leader Robert Golob has expressly turned into, who he is becoming more and more similar to, the factory of bureaucracy that is the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia, the tragedy of the left, and the final tipping point that Slovenia is inexorably approaching: “We are not that far away anymore, and there will be a… collapse,” concluded Tomašič.
We kindly invite you to watch the whole show!
Gal Kovač
