Last week, new measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus came into force as the number of infections in Slovenia has exponentially increased. For the colouring of our country red as a result of the growth of infections among the population, we must namely thank the politicians and supporters of the left-wing political bloc who are using the current situation for their own political and personal interests. The press conference of the presidents of the opposition parties and their illegitimate proposal of the technical government was absurd and distasteful, but unfortunately serious, just as are Friday’s protests, which, despite the deterioration of the epidemiological state and the good work of the government, still occur. The number of infections in Slovenia is rapidly increasing and it is hard to describe the absurdity of the situation.
The previous government led by Marjan Šarec was no only a minority government, but also led by a political party of Marjan Šarec that did not win the elections, with all other parties in his coalition receiving even less support. Nonetheless, they formed a government that finally collapsed with the resignation of Marjan Šarec, who, like his government, was unable to resolve the situation and deal with the COVID-19 epidemic. I repeat, the previous government was not able to run the country. Now, these same people want to undermine the current government, which was legally and legitimately formed due to the incompetence of the previous “centre”-left government, in the dirtiest and illegitimate way. The opposition parties LMŠ, SAB, Levica and SD are forming a new government while the current one is still in power and successfully facing the current COVID-19 crisis and other current issues. Exactly the parties LMŠ, SAB, Levica and SD were not able to do that in their previous term, thus their government collapsed during a pandemic. Instead of withdrawing their leaders from the political arena after such a fiasco, they are now demanding a new government – not even new elections, but the government.
It is difficult to find a more absurd situation, despite the fact that the Slovenian political environemnt has experienced many of them. But at the moment, political developments in Slovenia are scary and dangerous. We are in times of crisis and it is extremely irresponsible, harmful and threatening to everyone to disregard measures, and even worse to encourage the disregard for measures and demand the removal of legitimate authority. Apparently, some still fail to understand that the government acts on the advice of the medical profession, and if everyone adhered to all the implemented measures, stricter ones would not be necessary. Not to mention that, in Slovenia compared to other countries, we do not have strict measures at all. There is no dictatorship or abuse of power by the government – though there is a distasteful abuse of power by the opposition, which with each of its actions pushes Slovenia closer to the edge. In France they have a police curfew, in China people were literally barricaded in their apartments, Australians have not been able to leave their country (not just the continent but the states within Australia) or see their friends and families living abroad for almost 8 months as basically no one is allowed to enter or exit the country. Practically every (democratic) country has stricter measures than Slovenia as well as worse aid packages for its citizens. Because of all this, I am running out of patience with our opposition and the protesters on Friday nights, which should not be happening at all, especially not during the COVID-19 crisis.
Protesters and the opposition, as well as anyone else who fails to abide by the measures for one reason or another, is literally playing with public health. Doing so is not only irresponsible, but also selfish towards everyone, especially towards people who strictly follow the measures, even though no one is enjoying them. We do not need a new government at this time (left-wing government is generally rarely needed, if ever). But we need respect for the measures, respect for the current government, and respect for fellow human beings. The left managed (once again) to colour Slovenia red, and we can only reverse that by following the measures and recommendations of the medical experts and the government. Any talk of a new government or protest against the current government must be labeled as trivial and distasteful. I sincerely hope that I or anyone else will not have to repeat this, as I believe many Slovenes, including me, are running out of patience with Friday’s protesters and the opposition.