By: Dr Andreja Valič Zver
This summer was really not the time for pickles. The situation in Slovenia, Europe and the world is too complicated for a person to lie quietly on a deckchair, read cheap news, and carefree enjoy the warm summer days. Well, it seems that many newly composed Slovenian politicians think differently. Many of them were looking for a break along the Croatian coast and its sea expanses… from what? Their mandate has barely begun, but some would rather throw in the towel and go back to (re)selling electricity or doing something else. Understandably, the profits and salaries are enormous, and the responsibility, especially with the support of the uncles from the background, is almost non-existent. The field of politics is of a different nature. Anyone who jumps into politics and then tearfully notes how cruel the political arena is, has not thought very carefully about what he is getting into. Much like the infamous American “star” Meghan Markle, whose awakening arouses only ridicule and pity. But maybe it would be different if Slovenian media wrote about her instead of British leading media,?!?
Hot July turned into an even hotter August, which began for me with a visit to a symposium on indigenous people in Slovenian territory. By the way, every summer researchers from different fields of expertise gather in Bovec and bravely, persistently and with a lot of knowledge tackle entrenched taboos. Scientists dealing with the settlement of today’s Slovenian territory in the early periods, unfortunately, mostly do not have enough research courage to confront fresh theories based on the latest research and findings, including linguistic and genetic ones. And so, the researchers in Bovec continue the work of Matej Bor, Ivan Tomažič, and Jožek Šavli, who ploughed the fallow land in the field of dealing with indigenous people “a little differently”. They were watered with lumps of manure. Because of an innocent tweet from Bovec, a pogrom also happened to me in classic Udba fashion. But in addition to the MSM media and the multitude of trolls, some historians also came forward, with whom I would really like to have a debate about the interesting phenomena of Slovenian indigenous people. Let me mention just one or two. Namely, common sense, supported by recent expert findings, lets us know that it is impossible for the Slavic hordes to reach the supposedly empty area of today’s Slovenia. Here, without any prior knowledge, they were supposed to continue the tradition of making the best, so-called Noricum iron, from which, for example, excellent Roman short swords or gladius were made. They are said to have brought developed agriculture with them from the Russian steppes, which has always been a high song of the survival of the Slovenian nation. It should stay that way, because we live in a highly unpredictable world where we absolutely do not want to be dependent on Chinese seeds or Russian grain.
On the way from the idyllic Trenta, I thought about the Slovenian “survival instinct” under the impression of the recent “peasant” revolt in the Netherlands. The farmers there uncompromisingly warned of the dangers brought by the latest reform of the common European agricultural policy under the patronage of the socialist and vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans. The reform is aimed at the farmer, the countryside, but it can be seen that it was written by Brussels Eurocrats under the impression of total greenness and a carbon-free society. The reform directly proposes a reduction in agricultural production, especially meat (as a result, it proposes less meat consumption and a change in the dietary habits of Europeans), a reduction in arable land, etc. In addition, the EC is proposing a new regulation on the use of phytopharmaceuticals in agriculture, which will halve production in Slovenia. This is too small in our country anyway, as we are far from self-sufficient and heavily dependent on the global market. And here we come to the crucial problem. The war in Ukraine and the significant increase in the price of energy products will significantly increase the price of food. After 60 years, Europe is threatened with hunger again. At the same time, EC forces us to reduce production! Understand who can. The new EU’s Fit for 55 strategy is bad, and at the moment it is even dangerous for the EU and also for Slovenia. Europe is no longer competitive, with the radical transformation of the classic car industry (redirecting only to electric cars, although today we know that there will be no electricity for this, because among other things there is no proper grid) and agriculture, we will soon be hungry and barefoot. It is time to sober up. They can still have such utopian ideas in Brussels, but I am sure that – regardless of Fit for 55 – in ten years we will still be driving diesels and gasoline engines, that there will be more thermal power plants, nuclear power plants, even cows – which have become the main polluters of the planet in left-wing propaganda – in Europe. Besides babies. This horrible thesis and call to not having children was published in the otherwise respectable magazine Spectator by some crazy greenie.
All of this will have a profound effect on our lives. I can respond to the energy and food crisis by growing more food myself or e.g., to cook and heat with wood. But something is certain. I will not eat synthetic meat, which is supposed to gradually replace beef, I will not have an electric car, and I will rather give up some of the new-age hysterical “acquisitions”. After all, as I mentioned earlier, common sense must be used.
The summer of 2022 was one of the worst in recent decades. The war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, increasing infections with the new coronavirus, the impending famine, and the coming winter, will be a great test for all of us. Are the decision-makers in Slovenia and the EU sufficiently aware of the crisis situation? Based on their lacklustre and misguided responses so far, I am afraid not. At the end of the day, we should all be asking ourselves on whose lawns these new specimens grew. Perhaps to weaken our European story, make it weaker and less competitive?