“Slovenia is the champion in Europe in terms of economic growth and low unemployment,” said Prime Minister Robert Golob himself at a recent extraordinary session of the National Assembly, convened to mark the second anniversary of the Golob government. However, official data show a completely different picture.
When requesting an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) proposed that MPs call on Prime Minister Robert Golob‘s ministerial team to act in accordance with the commitments they made when they took office two years ago to “respect the constitutional order in their work, to act according to their conscience, and to work with everything in them for the well-being of Slovenia.”
The government of Robert Golob took over the leadership of Slovenia in a good macroeconomic situation, as our country had recovered quickly from the pandemic and had the highest economic growth in the European Union at the time, said Janez Janša, who added that we were second in the EU, after Denmark, in terms of recovery results. “We had some problems with inflation, but it was lower than the EU average, employment was high and macroeconomic trends were favourable, so this has continued in the last two years,” Janša continued, adding that he and the coalition agreed on certain issues, recalling the August disaster last year and the construction of the second unit of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant.
The number of bureaucrats has gone up, the number of police and army staff has gone down
The opposition SDS party noted that only about 14 percent of promises have been realised in the half-term of the current government, with Janša recalling the biggest promise mate before the three referendums, in which the government won the popular support. The SDS party has repeatedly warned the coalition about certain issues that could do them more harm than good, including the increase in the number of ministries, which has turned out to be more negative than the parties had anticipated.
The number of bureaucrats has increased, and the number of police and army staff has been reduced, Janša pointed out, and “it represents – if you count all the bureaucratic matters that result from the increase in the number of staff in the logic of bureaucracy – a gross cost of 100 million euros per year,” he said.
Janša: Stop repeating this nonsense
The second issue, which was also the subject of a referendum, was the postponement of the implementation of the long-term care law. Janša pointed out that the law had been adopted after “long agony” during their term of office, but that they had then been handed the 127th version of the law and that tens of millions of euros had been wasted on a study on the regulation of the law, which they had been writing for years and years, while the money was spent “on various NGOs and other professional organisations.” After the Janša government finally adopted this law, “this government came and said that it needed another year to think about it – and you postponed it. And then a year went by, and then the 1st of January came, when the law should have come into force, and nothing happened,” Janša said. As for the government’s repetition of their claim about “lower pensions”, Janša explained the situation clearly, saying that “the pension and disability act stopped pensions from falling, not restarted this trend, so stop repeating this nonsense. And it was approved unanimously in the National Assembly.”
Janša also denounced the poor performance, especially in the healthcare sector, pointing out as an example the rehabilitation of the University Clinical Centre (UKC) Ljubljana, which, in his opinion, is taking too long. “The University Clinical Centre Ljubljana is the most important healthcare institution in the country, and now, it has been two years of an eighth of its premises being closed down because it is supposed to be undergoing energy renovation. But nothing is working. Capacities are broken, patients are lying in corridors, staff are working in emergency conditions.”
He condemned the government’s focus on Palestine. “You have tried to convince the public that recognising Palestine will solve all the problems, while at home, there are many problems that nobody is dealing with.” Janša said that they apparently want to “solve the problem of Palestine,” but they had still not managed to distribute the 13,000 computers that were bought without any real reason, and in the questions that followed he also touched on the subject of campaign financing, namely: “On what basis did the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda), which did not have a single deputy, not a single state councillor, not a single local councillor, get a loan of 900,000 euros before the elections?”
Golob lied about Slovenia’s champion economy
Prime Minister Robert Golob responded by saying that Slovenia is a champion in Europe in terms of economic growth and low unemployment. These successes, he said, have been recorded by the government despite the consequences of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, inflation and floods. Golob even falsely claimed that this is official data from international institutions, which has caused uproar on social networks, where even left-wing journalists have written rebuttals. Namely, data from the official institutions show otherwise. As X user Peter Žerjavič pointed out, “Slovenia Europe’s economic champion??? Slovenia ranked 10th in the European Union in terms of growth last year, but this year, it is projected by the European Commission to rank 8th,” adding a table that can be viewed here: https://x.com/PeterZerjavicEU/status/1796505749608423685/photo/1, which was prepared by the European Commission.
Golob also pointed out that Slovenia was in poor economic conditions at the beginning of the government’s mandate, but now has the highest net economic profit in the last two years and record investment, which attracts foreign investors. The government has raised the minimum pension to 750 euros, significantly increased the minimum wage, and is working to normalise the functioning of the state over two mandates. Golob stressed the importance of freedom of expression, which he said had not been possible before, and stressed the desire for lasting peace and a two-state solution when Palestine was recognised. New tax changes are aimed at attracting scientists and youth immigration, and new legislation on health relations, which defines the public and private sectors, is key for the health reform, he added.
Longest waiting times in history?
MP Jelka Godec, leader of the SDS party’s parliamentary group, was also critical of the Golob government’s track record on healthcare, saying that “today, the constitutionally protected right to healthcare is under threat more than ever before. Waiting times are the longest in history. Despite investments of 131 million euros in 2023, the desired results have not been achieved.”
In addition to healthcare, she listed other key issues highlighted as a problem by citizens “who are surviving,” said Godec, who went on to present the data in figures.
“We have a Prime Minister who happily explained that COVID-19 is cured by the sun and the sea, who has supposedly cured his asthma problems by eating no more meat, and who recommends this to others. Yesterday, the Prime Minister bombastically announced – of course, only after all the other reforms – a revolution in healthcare, saying that doctors do nothing in the morning in public health care and in the afternoon, they work for private individuals who earn money in public healthcare.” “And last but not least, this is coming from someone who plays the part of Prime Minister in the morning and then has fun as the owner of Star Solar in the afternoon,” MP Godec was critical.
New Slovenia party: You have politicised the whole country
“At the first cabinet meeting, you replaced more than 50 experts and replaced them with your own – regardless of their expertise. This tsunami of expertise purging has continued over these two years to the point where we can say with certainty that the government of Robert Golob has succeeded in politicising the entire country,” Vida Čadonič Špelič of the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija) was critical. She went on to say that in the last two years, we have witnessed a wave of strikes, ignorance on the part of the government and the deliberate raising of ideological issues that have led the country to political collapse.
The leaders of the coalition parties – Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD), the Left party (Levica), and the Freedom Movement party – praised the work of the government so far, while Golob announced that structural reforms would continue for another term, although the proposal had been rejected by the National Assembly’s parent committee and would therefore not be put to the vote.
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