“We have a state apparatus that is worse than it was at independence. If we had had this state apparatus back then, it would have taken us 20 years to gain independence, not six months,” Janez Janša noted critically on RTV Slovenia. The leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) was a guest at the national media outlet, Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS), together with the President of the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi), Matej Tonin.
SDS President Janez Janša commented on a number of open issues on RTV Slovenia, from the process of finding a suitable Slovenian candidate for European Commissioner, to the future of Slovenian energy, the increasingly pressing problems in healthcare, and other topics. As always, the SDS leader confronted the coalition with the truth.
The interlocutors on the show started by touching on the current topic of the choice of the European Commissioner, with the public still waiting for the alleged letter from the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen – which the Prime Minister, Robert Golob, is still “hiding.” Namely, the sudden change of the candidacies, from Tomaž Vesel to Marta Kos, was allegedly based on a letter that the public – despite having the right to see it – has not yet seen. Prime Minister Robert Golob apparently does not care about transparency, while at the same time accusing the SDS party of “behaving in a manner that is not state-building” for demanding the document.
This is also the reason why MP Franc Breznik has still not convened a meeting of the committee for the introductory hearing of Marta Kos. “The Chair of the Committee on EU Affairs has asked both institutions for this document, and it is obviously not in the interest of neither the government nor the Chair of the European Commission that a candidate from Slovenia comes forward as soon as possible, otherwise this document, which is not secret, which does not say anything that would endanger anyone, would have already been made public,” Janša explained, noting that the selection process itself is important, regardless of who has the final say in it, as “on the basis of what happens at this hearing, the government can change its mind, so this is a very important step. And there is a similar step that follows when the candidates have to introduce themselves to the European Parliament, where they need a two-thirds majority in the parent committee.”
Janša also pointed out that the confirmed Commissioner will serve most of his or her five-year mandate during the term of the next government, not during this one, and that this makes the consensus on the candidacy itself all the more important. He pointed out that Tomaž Vesel was confirmed by both the coalition and the opposition despite a history of complicated relations, while some of the other candidates who did not confirm the choice did not oppose him either. The candidate introduced himself on his own initiative, which allowed them to talk to him and agree not to cause complications in the European Parliament. In contrast, the coalition has now put forward a candidate who, in their view, does not meet the required criteria and who expects a quick confirmation.
“But what I am trying to say is that we are being accused of “behaving in a manner that is not state-building” by someone who has done everything to execute a solo action here.” Janša added that the previous candidate probably rightly expects an explanation as to why he is no longer in the race.
In a discussion on the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant (TEŠ), Janša answered questions about political responsibility and the power plant’s financial problems. It has recently been mentioned that the rehabilitation of the power plant could cost the same as its construction, which cost 1.4 billion euros. Janša pointed out that his government approved the original plan worth 670 million euros, but that subsequent governments then doubled this amount, along with multi-million euro corruption. He pointed out that TEŠ cannot simply be closed, as it represents a key source of energy that cannot be replaced by solar panels. The SDS party leader also expressed concern about electricity imports, which would be significantly more expensive, and mentioned global instability and potential energy challenges in the future.
He also criticised the government’s failure to act on the CO2 vouchers that led to the power plant’s losses and noted that he believes that CO2 vouchers will be seen as a big mistake sometime in the future. “Most of the loss of thermo-division is at the expense of the CO2 coupons. Nobody from Ljubljana went to Brussels to negotiate whether we could get any discounts here. Besides, if you ask me, in 10 years time, CO2 vouchers will be talked about as a big blunder that cost Europeans a lot,” he said.
He also noted out that “today, most of the world is still building coal-fired power plants. Not only China, even Germany, which was a leading country in the green transition, has closed nuclear power plants and opened thermal power plants”. When the television show host told him that this was only “temporary”, Janša told her: “Look, this temporary thing will last as long as they need the energy, and until they reopen the nuclear power plants.”
An X user by the name of Albin Vrabič also commented on Janša’s points, writing: “When Janša faces the Golob coalition with the truth. The world and Germany are opening thermal power plants, and the electricity dealers in our government are planning to close Slovenia’s only thermal power plant due to non-national interests. This won’t work.”
Janša spoke harshly on healthcare and government measures
Janša rejected the claim that the main problem in Slovenian healthcare is the work of doctors in the public and private sectors. “This is like a general on the battlefield devoting all his energy before the battle to where the soldiers have dug their latrines, not to the strategy of how to win the battle.” In his view, “the main problem is organised chaos, which suits some people,” which he says the government even encourages.
He also mentioned the case of the University Clinical Centre Maribor, where the situation has deteriorated under the new management: “The previous management dug the Clinical Centre out of losses, but now it has made a loss of 10 million euros in a few months.” He added that patients are experiencing poor conditions, and investments are at a standstill.
He also rejected the idea that the problem lies with doctors working in the private sector, saying that this is not the reason for the long waiting times. “There are certainly some cases of this, but it is not the main problem. It is not the reason why 200,000 people are waiting for too long.” NSi party president Tonin stressed that the patient must be at the forefront, and Janša confirmed this: “I agree that the patient must be at the forefront, not the institution. For me, as someone who pays a healthcare contribution, it does not matter where I get the service. But the insurance company has to make sure that the money goes where the service is best and cheapest.”
Criticism of the economic policy
In the interview, Janša also criticised the government’s economic policies. He mentioned that low unemployment is due to the huge amounts of money that countries “printed” during the pandemic, but that this money is now running out. “Slovenia had historically low economic growth in the second quarter, despite high employment and full government coffers,” which, in his view, points to challenging times ahead. He also pointed out that the government is likely to make concessions to the public sector unions, but will not be able to implement the pay rise immediately: “This billion and 600 thousand or 2 billion will become the burden of the public finances in the next mandate.”
Post-flood rehabilitation as an example of government inefficiency
Both Janša and Tonin were critical of the slow recovery after last year’s floods and highlighted the lack of trust people have in the government’s actions. Tonin pointed out that houses were promised to be built in a few months, but still not a single one has been built: “This is a monument to inefficiency,” he said. He believes that the vast majority of flood victims have taken the money rather than rely on the state because they have no confidence that the houses will ever be built.
Finally, Janša pointed out that the state apparatus today is worse than at the time of independence. “If we had had this state apparatus back then, it would have taken us 20 years to gain independence, not six months.” He also highlighted the negative selection in the public administration, where many people are looking for reasons why something cannot be done, instead of looking for solutions.
Things stopped when the cameras went off
Janša stresses that the decision-maker must be persistent and not stop because of obstacles such as legal rules or European regulations. He cited an example from the time of the epidemic of COVID-19, when a whole floor in a medical centre was built in three weeks, while a year after the floods, not a single house had been built.
“If you go to those municipalities that were most affected now, you can see what has been done. But when it came to things that needed longer procedures or quick decision-making, decisive decision-making, things stopped as soon as the cameras went off. As soon as it was no longer in the public eye, people in the government said, well, this is a few thousand people, this is not even half a mandate, other people are not very interested in this, why spend money on it. We have heard some discussions in the National Assembly from the coalition, which show that you can problematise this, but people are not interested in that,” he concluded.
T. B.
