Janez Janša recently appeared on the popular podcast hosted by Klemen Selakovič. In an in-depth conversation with the host, Janša shared quite a few philosophical cues that few Slovenian politicians are capable of. The podcast has already been viewed by 100,000 Youtube users, which is more than the circulation of any Slovenian print media and shows the amount of power that the new media hold, which allows voices that have been silenced in the mainstream media to tell their truth.
The interlocutors touched on themes that are crucial to the current global situation, such as global change and the associated green transition, the related decline of Europe, and the eternal dichotomy between capitalism and socialism.
On socialism and capitalism
Janša began by describing in a very clear way the two ideologies that have determined the fate of Europe. Socialism, which strives for equality but succeeds only in achieving equality in poverty. In the systems that have implemented the socialist doctrine, the majority of people have become poor. Only the few at the top became rich. Janša correctly identified that this happened because of the principle of equality, not in spite of the principle of equality. In capitalism, however, it was diversity that was being established, but diversity in wealth – the majority of people in capitalism are middle and upper class. As he pointed out, it is better to be different in wealth than the same in poverty. Socialism, he argues, has succeeded in its aims of making people more equal, but again – only more equal in poverty.
In this respect, he sees El Salvador and (Milei’s) Argentina as some kind of return to normality. The defeat of this (socialist) ideology at the polls – especially in the USA – seems to him like a great thing. In his view, the defeat of socialism would not have been so pronounced if things had remained within the socialism-capitalism, poor-rich lines. Such a violent revolt has occurred because the new left has begun to base its ideology on unscientific foundations, which have led them to absurdities (for example, gender as a social category). He also pointed out that politicians on the left do not really believe in the ideology itself, but repeat the dogma because it has become mainstream. In his view, the “march through the institutions”, also referred to by Gramsci, is a concerted international effort, as described in Alejandro Peña Esclusa‘s book The Sao Paulo Forum’s Cultural Warfare. The anti-scientific bias has accumulated to such an extent that the ideology has also begun to produce negative economic results.
The Misguidedness of the Green Transition
Janša pointed out that in the European Union, this ideology is most evident in the so-called Green Transition policy. Ecology became part of cultural Marxism in the 1970s as a subject where things could be turned around and manipulated. Ecology has been turned into a religion.
In light of this, Janša pointed out that climate change does exist, but he does not agree with declaring carbon dioxide emissions the main enemy and then issuing CO2 trading coupons – this would make sense in Beijing, where C02 emissions are so high that they affect air quality, but in the EU, it is madness. The EU is only imitating 10 percent of global CO2 emissions. If we continue like this, we will harm ourselves, but we will save nothing, Janša believes.
He does not have a completely negative view of the green transition, as many things can be produced in a more environmentally friendly way. We all like clean air, clean water, landscaped areas… but it is foolish to make a religion out of it and to regulate supply and demand in an anti-market way through state subsidies, especially since only a small part of the planet does this. In this context, Janša does not agree with environmental deadlines, for example, the ban on the use of internal combustion engines.
He believes that the electric car transition must be market-driven, but now we have cut the market with unwise regulations, and the EU has lost many competitive advantages in the process. The EU has invested hundreds of billions of euros in the green transition while taking money away from other sectors. Germany alone has invested thousands of billions of taxpayers’ euros in the green transition, has closed 15 nuclear power plants, and the result is that the country is still using nuclear power imported from France, has restored thermal power plants, etc. The result is that electricity has become expensive. And people are not buying electric cars, even though they are subsidised.
He also touched on China, which, in his opinion, is only putting on a façade when it comes to tackling climate change – although they strongly encouraged the European Union to adopt tough ecological standards and promised to do the same themselves, this has not happened. China has made thousands of billions of euros from environmental restrictions in the EU. For example, we stopped producing and using coal, they got it cheaper and started building thermal power plants; they knew how many solar panels the European Union would need, and so they started producing them on a large scale, and they leased mines of rare metals (Africa, Afghanistan), such as lithium, which is essential for the production of electric vehicles. They foresaw all of these things in advance.
The demise of regulatory Europe, the rise of innovative USA
Janša pointed out that in 2008, the euro area’s GDP was about the same as it is today. However, in the US, it is now 45 percent higher than it used to be; and in China, the ratio would be much higher. The USA and the EU were comparable then, but in the two decades since, America had a basic focus on innovation, and Europe on regulation. Things have gotten so absurd that the EU needs to deregulate and get rid of harmful regulations as far as the green transition is concerned. The word equality must be replaced by meritocracy – the more you work, the more you invest in development, the better your chances of success. The EU has always talked about the social economy as a corrective. But this corrective has become mainstream.
In the next mandate, he predicts a drastic Musk-style de-bureaucratisation of the DOGE in Slovenia, too.
The interlocutors also discussed other interesting topics, such as freedom of speech, the digitalisation of the media, current political events and Janša’s political career. You can listen to the podcast (in Slovenian) here: https://youtu.be/mCYe9KvLsAg
I. K.
