By: Janez Remškar
The list of the Gibanje Svoboda party now has 9 known candidates. There are always various problems when compiling lists. Does the political party have many suitable names that would attract voters domestically and represent us effectively in the European Parliament rather than just being well-paid figures? Or does it not? For the Gibanje Svoboda with 41 MPs in our parliament, composing the list was evidently a significant challenge. Interesting!
The Gibanje Svoboda wields considerable power in parliament, deciding on our future, but faces major difficulties in selecting candidates for Europe, not due to a large number of top candidates. As we can see, after lengthy discussions, the list now includes three graduates from the Faculty of Social Sciences, a graduate in business administration, a Master of Philosophy, a graduate of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film, and Television, a lawyer who gained fame and embarrassment with the statement that she, as a member of parliament, is a symbol of the state, and a member of the Gibanje Svoboda’s youth wing.
In addition to these, there are two more: a candidate with experience in local government, and a candidate with experience and expertise in foreign policy. As for the latter, I do not know why he ended up on this list, but for the dismissed minister, a long-time mayor of Tolmin, it is probably a consolation prize. It is not worth wasting words on the other candidates. I admit I was surprised when, at the beginning of this comedy of confusion, I saw a familiar face among the candidates, the excellent doctor Aleksander Merl.
I could say, considering that we have known each other for many years and that we operated in politics at a competitive (not opposing) level in our time, that as a doctor he is professional, knowledgeable, responsible to patients and the public. I was surprised to see him among the candidates. He simply does not belong in the company of careerists, opportunists riding the winds of our perpetual divisions. He is no longer on the list. Others, given how they entered politics – always on newly established faces – are amateurs in politics. With the exception of two, they do not mean much in their fields, let alone in politics, where they follow only one goal, position, and good pay due to party hopping. They have done little or nothing for our Slovenia; they are purely careerists. They have changed parties several times, and I am convinced that in the spring of 2022 they felt they had the opportunity in the Gibanje Svoboda, which, as then-candidate for prime minister Robert Golob stated, could stand up against “fascists and dark forces”. And so, we also got a party with 41 MPs.
HE SIMPLY DOES NOT BELONG IN THE COMPANY OF CAREERISTS, OPPORTUNISTS. HE IS NO LONGER ON THE LIST. OTHERS, GIVEN HOW THEY ENTERED POLITICS – ALWAYS ON NEWLY ESTABLISHED FACES – ARE AMATEURS IN POLITICS.
We have ended up with people in parliament and in responsible positions who do not know how to solve the accumulated problems, those from the past and those they have burdened themselves with. They started with promises, with a fight against the dark forces, which were supposedly represented by the right-centre part of politics here and continued with divisions from the past. Now they continue with threats, disinformation, with significant help from mainstream media, not to mention other media.
All of this is most evident in the incompetence in solving healthcare problems, issues faced by working people, flood victims from the Savinja Valley, etc. This government continues to try with divisions. Due to influential comrades and the abstention of young people from voting, they have succeeded again with divisions from the past. Now the prime minister is trying to divide doctors: into the diligent and the malicious. Extremely immoral. If he tried anything similar anywhere abroad, he would be gone immediately. Instilling distrust among people, just like that, without concrete data, is unacceptable. On top of that, he dares to make threats. All of this means he does not see solutions and does not know how to start a dialogue, as he never learned it as a manager in a monopolistic industry. Does he realise that there are many doctors who are quiet, work diligently, and think about working conditions, relationships, stress, and threats in the workplace?
This is happening in an industry where politics constantly interferes, constantly appoints its people regardless of their experience and knowledge in the profession or management. The result is chaotic conditions for patients and employees. Many of these doctors are considering leaving the Šentflorjan Valley or have already left. Unfortunately, all of this means only one thing: Slovenia as a country, as a society in economic and social terms, continues its downward path.
Representatives of such politics must also lose the trust of conscious voters in Slovenia. I hope we will not send such black-and-white, professional, and political amateurs to Europe either.