By Metod Brlec
Three interpellations against members of the government are behind us, and on the initiative of Marjan Šarec and his LMŠ party, they are also filing a constitutional accusation against the Prime Minister Janez Janša in the National Assembly. The interpellations against the Minister of Education, Science, and Sport Simona Kustec, the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities Janez Cigler Kralj, and the Minister of Culture Vasko Simoniti showed all the misery and intellectual malnutrition of the left extremist opposition, which a priori and without arguments is criticising and destroying everything the government accepts or does.
Minister of Education was accused of “the longest school closure in Europe”, although this is not true at all. Last autumn, by opposing the mandatory wearing of masks in schools, they themselves made it necessary to switch to distance learning early. It was similar with the accusation of the Minister of Labour, Family, and Social Affairs that he poorly prepared nursing homes for the second wave of the new coronavirus epidemic, that he was “to blame for such a high number of deaths in elderly homes”, and the like, even though we know that the left political option (especially the SD party) controlled the Ministry for years and preferred to invest the money in various studies, from which there was no benefit, instead of building new homes. And of course, it was not possible to make up for everything missed in just a few months.
Similarly, the Minister of Culture received general accusations that he was destroying culture, that he was not helping cultural figures, that he had reduced funding for culture, and the like. And the truth is quite contrary. Last year, 3,258 self-employed people in culture received as much as 19 million euros in social assistance, or an average of 5,832 euros per individual. Moreover, this year’s budget for culture is a record and will amount to around 238 million euros, or almost 46 million more than last year. Thus there is no point in losing words about the constitutional accusation. Lately, the grumpy Šarec has been trying to draw attention to himself in all possible ways, as it is becoming clear to him (or not) that he was only a “consumer good” for the networks in the background, which is discarded after use. Namely, the networks are already preparing a new party and thus new faces for the upcoming elections.
Metod Berlec is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Demokracija.