By: Vančo K. Tegov
These days, it is hard to shake the feeling that the main fog‑spreaders are straining with all their might to gather, provoke, and drag into the open everything that has been asleep for almost four years, producing nothing but laziness, idle drifting, and polishing bicycles for the first spring “group” ride.
This is the time when we begin to assess what has accumulated in the meantime, whom it has benefited, and who never asked any questions – and at the same time, it is the moment for serious accounting about where the country is heading. Slovenia is a vehicle driven by someone who never had the proper licence for such a demanding ride. This vehicle has veered off the road far too many times, reaching for the easiest target – the state budget – and claiming the right to tap into it without proper explanations or accountability. The irresponsible hands of its “caretakers” reached deep and punctured the treasury so thoroughly that far more leaked out than should have. The benefits for the common good, however, were minimal.
The fog‑manufacturers (NGOs, media outlets, activist institutes) receive a large share of public money, including EU funds. They often operate as extensions of certain political blocs. These criticisms are not new – funding reports show that these structures are highly active in referendums, protests, and public discourse, while rarely offering measurable, long‑term solutions for the economy, demographics, or security. Instead of clear priorities (energy, infrastructure, education, borders), they emphasise “values”, gradualism, and “dialogue”, which in practice means maintaining the status quo or actively blocking progress.
Blurring the line between what is useful and what is barren is a classic problem of politics – activism without responsibility. Concrete action requires measurement: how many projects are completed on time, how much taxpayer money is spent efficiently, and what the real outcomes of policies are in areas such as migration, energy, or public finances. Instead, moralising prevails, along with the search for enemies and the organisation of marches and protests that quickly slip into symbolism (torches, streets, “crystal nights” as a metaphor for violent or chaotic mobilisation).
The future must be built with clear decisions and concrete action, not with wandering, delaying, and constantly searching for “something”. Every country needs clear criteria for success, not just feelings, narratives, and hollow rhetoric.
The reality in Slovenia
Slovenia is a small, open economy under strong external pressures (EU, migration, energy). The polarisation between the right and the left is deep, as the tight 2026 elections once again showed. Criticism of the fog comes mainly from one side, partly because that side relies heavily on the fog‑spreaders – and vice versa. NGOs are not inherently bad and can bring expertise, but when they become inseparable from politics and dependent on public funds without transparent impact assessments, they lose legitimacy. The same applies to any lobbying that blocks decisions.
The solution lies in concrete action
We need transparency and measurement of public spending. The taps must be tightened or closed. A complete public register of NGO funding (state budget + EU funds) must be required. Every project must have clear goals and measurable results – not just “awareness‑raising”. If an organisation mainly produces protests and reports without tangible impact, its funding should end. This is not an attack on civil society but basic fiscal hygiene.
Priorities must be implemented: Rapid investment decisions in infrastructure, energy (nuclear), and digitalisation without years of studies and vetoes.
A clear migration policy that distinguishes between what is beneficial and what is unconditional.
Reducing administrative burdens for businesses and measuring productivity.
Accountability for office‑holders, with deadlines for reforms and penalties for delays.
Ending the “crystal nights” and political marches
Protest is allowed in a democracy; planned chaos that threatens public order is not. We need strict enforcement of public‑assembly laws, penalties for violence, traffic blockades, and threats, and oversight of the financing of such organisers. The media and politics must stop romanticising the street as “the only solution”.
The street must not become an anarchist parliament. The main problem is that these mechanisms are typically activated when a more conservative, work‑oriented, order‑seeking option tries to take power. This is why we need a government and leadership willing to undertake a systematic, non‑selective cleansing operation in society, without fear of consequences. Yesterday, not tomorrow. Those who manage to do this, who pull themselves together, will perform a historic act. They, and all who help them, will deserve a monument in Ljubljana and across Slovenia.
