“A very simple example – for a net salary of 10 thousand euros, a Croatian employer pays 17 thousand euros and a Slovenian employer 26 thousand euros, and this is where the lack of competitiveness comes from, because we are fighting to be able to give higher salaries to our employees and to attract foreign managers and foreign experts and the best people who create jobs,” said entrepreneur Joc Pečečnik in RTVS’ show Odmevi (Echoes).
On Monday, the 13th of November, the main event of the Festival of Entrepreneurship took place at Brdo pri Kranju, which was attended by more than 500 of the best Slovenian entrepreneurs, as well as other guests. Panel discussions focused on the opportunities Slovenia has to achieve greater competitiveness, added value and stronger regional integration in achieving a homogeneous, polycentric development of the country. The leadership of the SBC – Slovenian Business Club commented on the current situation in the country: “Slovenia has been hit by a bunch of crises in recent years. But we know countries that have weathered the crises much better than ours and have learnt from all these crises. In our country, we are only getting worse from one crisis to the next and less competitive in the long run,” said Joc Pečečnik, President of the Slovenian Business Club.
On the show Odmevi, Pečečnik began by explaining that the purpose of the entrepreneurship celebration was to stimulate young people and others to join entrepreneurship, “we said that this government has done practically nothing for entrepreneurship, except to burden us with more taxes every day – alongside all the countries around us that are lessening the burden on the entrepreneurs.” Their aim, he said, is not to criticise the government, but to make proposals for the coming months. He explained that the proposals would be good for citizens and entrepreneurs and also for the long-term development of the country. He explained on the programme that the entrepreneurs will also form a club to advise the government, which will be knowledgeable in both business and legal-legislative terms.
“A very simple example – for a net salary of 10 thousand euros, a Croatian employer pays 17 thousand euros and a Slovenian employer 26 thousand euros, and this is where the lack of competitiveness comes from, because we are fighting to be able to give higher salaries to our employees and to attract foreign managers and foreign experts and the best people who create jobs,” entrepreneur Joc Pečečnik said in his interview on the show Odmevi on RTV Slovenia.
“The state is spending money on other things than entrepreneurs, but it wants to get money from the entrepreneurs,” Pečečnik said, adding that “for once, we would like to see the state sorting out its side of the balance sheets and spending public money on costs that are necessary, and on the other hand investing in entrepreneurship, because entrepreneurs, craftsmen, are the economy, and the economy is the foundation for the welfare state,” Pečečnik was clear. He believes that Slovenia has been standing still for 30 years, we are dealing with governments that pass laws only because another government passed them earlier, but we have never passed laws or reforms that would help our country, our entire economic system, adapt to new needs in all areas.
“That is why we at the Slovenian Business Club believe that we, as a society, must work together to find solutions that will help Slovenia. And we entrepreneurs are ready to help and offer our knowledge and experience, because we also see this as our responsibility towards people, society, and the environment,” Pečečnik stressed.
We have lost control over how much we create and how much we spend
“The way we are doing it now, when we have completely lost control of how much we create and how much we spend, is fiscally unsustainable and humanly irresponsible. Therefore, avoiding reforms that are acutely needed in Slovenia means that we are just pushing the problems to future years. Pension, healthcare, tax and education reforms are necessary if we are to become competitive and development-oriented again as a society. Micro-approaches will not bring the desired success. It is like treating a patient with metastatic cancer with herbal teas. That’s not the way it works,” said Joc Pečečnik.
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