Although, as trends show at the moment, Slovenia has “managed to stop the spread of the virus, this crisis is not over” and we must remain extremely cautious, prime minister Janez Jansa said in an interview for Druzina weekly. Thus, he expects that it will probably not be possible to return to completely normal frames for some time to come.
According to the prime minister, the government is currently considering what measures could be released, while maintaining social distance. In general, we will have to be extremely careful in the future, he added. “There is no guarantee that the situation will not repeat in the fall. That is also why it will probably not be possible to return to completely normal frames for a while, we will still need to have social distance, disinfectants in public places etc.,” he said.
He said that the schedule of all members of the government has been very exhausting ever since the appointment of the government, “as is the schedule of all who work for the people during these difficult times”. “I believe the vast majority of people see and appreciate the donation work of the government, doctors and nurses, members of the Civil Protection, the Red Cross, Caritas and other charities helping to help the needy. We are all striving to do what is necessary in the circumstances, so that our nation would get out of this ordeal with as little damage as possible.”
In doing so, they are deliberately hindered by “far-left, partly extremist opposition and its media extensions”. These, he says, have caused great harm by delaying urgent action when they could still be taken and by supporting delays. All of this “today can be measured in concrete terms with the greater number of deaths and the sick and in the significantly greater economic damage we have than we would have had in the case of timely action at least at the end of February”.
In general, he also feels that the opposition is even more aggressive at the moment than it would be if there were no epidemic. “We do not currently find such an approach in any other European country,” he was critical.
But, as he put it, he is aware that “there are people who will never be able to overcome the hatred within themselves”. “Who will always sow negativism in their surroundings. Any action taken or to be taken by the government will be followed up with a loud shout and evaluated as a conspiracy against freedom and an attack on democracy. They will evaluate it as authoritarian,” he said. He doesn’t want his co-workers to be affected by that, he added.
And what would he wish was different at the end of the epidemic? “Everything we wanted even before the crisis. A pandemic by itself will not change the nature of man, but this experience can at least teach our generation more responsible behavior if we will be able to study it from the outbreak to the end, and contribute to the less selfish actions of individuals and countries,” he concluded.