Corruption and “mafia management of the state”

By: Dr Vinko Gorenak

An interesting debate on “corruption and mafia management of the state” will take place in the National Assembly on Tuesday, December 14^th, 2021, at around 10 am. The proponent of the debate is the member of the extreme Levica party, Dr Matej T. Vatovec. The main “accused” will be Prime Minister Janez Janša. In fact, the proposer should be congratulated for the title of the debate, as “corruption and mafia management of the state” are a really big problem in our country, especially under the left-wing governments, of which the Levica party was a participant, and the “accused” is of course the wrong person.

Some facts about “mafia management of the state”

The mafia activities of some have accompanied our country since its inception. Even before its creation, left-wing political forces tried not to create it at all.

The mafia actions of our left-wing political scene first became apparent just before and after the DEMOS government led by Lojze Peterle, when then-President Milan Kučan calmly allowed the mass disarmament of the Territorial Defence (the predecessor of the Slovenian Army).

However, when the people decided in a referendum with a plebiscite majority that they wanted their own country, the mafia activities of left-wing political forces continued. In the then Assembly (now the National Assembly), left-wing political forces hindered the creation of a new state to the point of impotence, for example by preventing the adoption of the defence budget. Jože Mencinger, still a commentator on duty in the dominant media, assured us that we would “eat grass” if we became independent, some MPs, such as Aurelio Juri from Koper, even boycotted the solemn declaration of independence of Slovenia and preferred to “watch the sea” as he said when asked why he would not attend the solemn declaration of Slovenia’s independence. There have been as many such and similar examples of mafia behaviour of our left-wing political community as you like.

However, when the independent state of Slovenia was irrevocably established, left-wing political forces tackled literally mafia stories, such as the so-called arms trade, which they kept alive until 2008, although the judiciary decided in 1996 that there were no offenses in this case. However, the left-wing political forces traded arms in the mafia themselves. Let’s just remember 1994 and large quantities of weapons found at the airport in Maribor.

The Patria affair could also be described as a literal mafia act. Left-wing political forces launched it into our political orbit in 2008, just before the elections, and kept it alive until 2015, when the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that Janša, Krkovič and Crnkovič were tried for an act that was not a crime at all. But even today you will hear in the National Assembly some “proud successor of the League of Communists” who will mouth off about both the arms trade and the Patria case.

A typical mafia act is also a billion dollars or more of laundered dirty Iranian money through the NLB, intended to finance terrorism around the world. It is clear that this happened during the time of the left-wing government, but it is unusual that the Slovenian police prosecutorial judicial system still does not see this as a crime.

Let’s also not forget the mafia actions of left-wing political forces, which in 2013 also threw more than five billion euros into private banks, today, however, they accuse this government of indebting the state for billions of euros and distributing it to the people, which is true, but all countries have done so.

Mafia behaviour, however, cannot be attributed only to left-wing political forces, but also to their satellites, such as some NGOs or the judiciary or the bulk of journalism and most unions. The judiciary, which hides behind independence, makes cardinal mistakes, and protects itself in particular. Only they know how thousands of wills can be lost, resulting in thousands of damages to heirs. Only they know how it is possible to have a maximum of one hundred thousand inhabitants and spend the most money on a judge, but at the same time we have one of the biggest backlogs and we are the country that loses the most lawsuits before the ECHR. The behaviour of many NGOs, from which people have nothing, is also mafia-like, and they feed themselves mainly from state money. Not to mention journalism. Most of our media is privately owned, some media owners have already been convicted, but their media are particularly at the service of left-wing political forces, and at the same time they are shouting around Europe that the current government is oppressing them. The behaviour of some unions is also mafia-like. When the current government wants to change the tax legislation, according to which everyone would have higher salaries, they are against. Understand who can.

The mafia management of the state is best described by Dr Rado Pezdir in his book “Parallel Mechanism of the Deep State” in which he reveals all the mafia activities of the former Yugoslavia, as well as the period after 1990 until today, when the mafia methods of the left political underworld and their supporters remained virtually the same as in the old Yugoslavia.

The reality of the current situation

However, since the proposer of the parliamentary session, Dr Matej T. Vatovec, of course, thinks of the alleged mafia management of the state during the current government, he must be confronted with the reality of some factual data. In the last more than 10 years, not a single home for the elderly has been built, today they are already being built or funds are already provided for dozens of homes for the elderly or for their modernisation and expansion. Left-wing governments, however, have spent tens of millions of euros on studies in this area alone. The law on long-term care was also written by the left-wing governments for more than ten years, but a few days ago the current government, with close political support in the National Assembly, only brought it to realisation, despite mafia harassment of left-wing political forces in the National Assembly.

The current government has seriously reversed the declining trend in military funding and passed legislation on investment in the military, like healthcare, where long-term funding will be provided, not to mention education, where funding for investment in education is also provided.

To conclude, let’s look at a few more numbers that speak for themselves. All data refer to 2019, when we had the so-called Šarec KUL coalition with the coalition party Levica, of which the proponent is Dr Matej T. Vatovec, and the year 2021, when the current Janša government is in power. For a better overview, I present the data in tabular form.

With such and other data, of course, everything is clear. Janša’s third government is much more successful in all areas compared to Šarec’s KUL government with the coalition party Levica. Pensions are rising, wages are rising, we are investing more in education, science, sports, healthcare, infrastructure, the military, to name a few. At the same time, we have one of the lowest unemployment rates and one of the highest gross domestic product growth rates. Foreign credit rating agencies give us extremely high ratings, resulting in loans with zero interest rates or even negative interest rates. The difference is thus more than obvious. Therefore, it would be advisable to ask the proposer of the parliamentary session on “corruption and mafia management of the state” who he meant, if he meant the left political forces and their governments, then he was right. However, if he still does not understand things, I recommend him to read the above-mentioned book by Dr Rado Pezdir. Maybe he will understand he is on the wrong side.

Dr Vinko Gorenak is the State Secretary in the PV Cabinet, a former Member of Parliament and Minister of the Interior, a university professor, and a member of the SDS.