Now that we are living in times of Freedom, there will be enough jobs for all, hoped the voters who naively voted for the left-wing saviours on the 24th of April. There will indeed be no shortage of jobs – but apparently only for the right people. And when we talk about the right people, we are, of course, not talking about all of the leftists who voted for the current coalition last year, but mainly about those who are ideologically, politically and socially close to the far-left coalition party, the Left (Levica). Now that they have expanded the number of ministries to an unimaginable 20, it is clearly time to strengthen the existing ones. Thus, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, headed by the Left party’s coordinator, Luka Mesec, is looking for a whole lot of reinforcements.
Which sould not be surprising, since job inflation in the civil service has been a regular feature of left-wing governments, but here the party is advertising the jobs “created” by its minister on its homepage, where it addresses its “comrades” by saying “We would like to inform you that some vacancies at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities have been published on the public administration website gov.si.”
So, the Left is now telling all its “comrades” who have fought for them for two years in the streets, editorial offices and public institutions: “Come, our people are in power.” If nothing else, it is at least a politically unhygienic announcement – the party is advertising a job vacancy in the ministry of its own minister.
Imagine if, in 2020, the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) or the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi) had sent out such an announcement on their websites or through party media. Allegations of nepotism and corruption would be inevitable, even if all the procedures were carried out in accordance with the law.
Are these rigged tenders?
What is even more striking are the short deadlines and the high-level official positions that are offered in the tender. They are for Undersecretaries and Senior Advisers alone, with a tendering period of 8 days. A casual observer would probably immediately suspect that these are rigged tenders, where it is known exactly who will be selected, or, even more specifically, fictitious posts that will infiltrate the far-left ‘comrades’ into the civil service for all of time, who for the previous two years represented the party’s street, press, local and field office.
We, citizens, are already forcibly tightening our belts
Let us add that this is happening at a time when the state should be tightening its belt, as almost all economists and analysts are predicting a global recession and the end of the era of money printing and low interest rates. Citizens have already had their belts tightened – since the 1st of January, we have all had lower wages, corporate and rent taxes have been raised, and pensioners have had their pensions cut. Apparently, only non-governmental organisations, the loudest guilds of the public administration, and the “civil society” on the street will be taken care of, which will no longer have to freeze in Congress Square, but will now perhaps be able to warm up in the premises of the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities at 44 Štukljeva Street.
Andrej Žitnik
