by Matevž Tomšič
When one thinks that Slovene politics has already reached a point where it can no longer go any lower, reality denies it again and again. At a time when Slovenia is experiencing the worst health crisis in the history of its independence, as the coronavirus epidemic has already claimed more than 2,000 lives, there are constant, increasingly aggressive, physical, and hysterical attempts to overthrow the current government. In doing so, the directors of this act do not care that the political instability, that would inevitably follow the fall of the government, would severely weaken the country’s capacity to deal with this dangerous virus.
The time when it will be necessary to organise mass vaccination of the population is approaching, and at the same time protective measures contributing to limiting the epidemic and simultaneously not causing excessive damage to the economy will have to be maintain in a thoughtful manner. The ‘alternative’ government, which could possibly replace the current government of Janša, would be certainly operationally incapable, as it would consist of the same group that at the beginning of the year infamously fell apart after its leader ‘threw in the towel’.
However, those who have the last word in overthrowing the government, do not care about the health and lives of the people of Slovenia. They are about maintaining their behind-the-scenes influence and related privileges. Only a complete sucker can believe that the leaders of the left-wing opposition parties, when they took the name KUL, are the main actors in this story. Or that they are self-proclaimed prime ministers, whether it is about the converting economist Jože Damijan or the fickle ‘icon’ of Slovenian politics Karl Erjavec. All of them are mere puppets ran by those who can be termed post-communist nomenclature, deep state, godfathers in the background, or political underworld. These are the circles that would like to rule this country forever, regardless of the will of the citizens. They have their tentacles spread across all key social subsystems, from the judiciary and repressive authorities to the media, academia, and civil society. It is in their vital interest to maintain comradely capitalism, alongside a generous state that supplies their clientele with public funds. Therefore, their main fear is that the current government would actually be able to cut the channels through which they have been abundantly absorbing from the state budget all these years.
It is clear, however, that the pool of those whom this deep state is capable of activating in order to defend its interests greatly dried up. If this were not the case, they would not be stuck with Karl Erjavec as the ‘horse’ they are currently betting on. Erjavec is in fact a unique political phenomenon. Namely, it is difficult to find someone who would perform such important functions for so long with such modest operational capabilities and such miserable achievements. Let’s remember that he was the Minister of Defence who did nothing to strengthen the defence capabilities of the Slovenian army; he was the Environment Minister who was replaced prematurely due to the ‘trash container’ affair; he was the Foreign Minister who messed up an arbitration on the border with Croatia. And in the last elections, after the disgrace with his connection to Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković, he managed to halve his support for the DeSUS party, and he himself did not manage to get elected to parliament at all. And this is how the prime minister should look like now? This is a story that in its bizarreness would fall into the weirdest and democratically immature political environment.
And we can imagine how a government led by the president of the smallest coalition party would function. Can anyone believe that he would enjoy any kind of authority among his partners? And what efficiency can be expected from a society in which ministerial positions will be held by people who have no experience with the real sector or who have never really worked in their lives, as is the case with Luka Mesec. Such a ruling set, with its dilettantism, would certainly mean a new bottom of Slovenian politics.
If Janez Janša and his party acted opportunistically, merely with the election result in mind, they would actually ‘help’ their opponents to take the power. The chaos that would be caused in the country would enable the SDS party to win convincingly in the next parliamentary elections. However, citizens would pay (too) high a price for this.
Matevž Tomšič is a sociologist, university lecturer and publicist. Since 2008 he has been teaching and researching at the Faculty of Applied Social Studies in Nova Gorica. In addition, he is also engaged at the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto and at the Faculty of Media in Ljubljana. He is also a collaborator of the Study Center for National Reconciliation and president of the Association of Journalists and Publicists.