By: C. R.
Last year, a new wind began to blow in the SDS Municipal Committee of Gornja Radgona. Franc Fartek became the president. What they have done so far and what goals they have for the future, he confided in us in a short conversation.
Mr. Fartek, last year you took over the OO SDS Gornja Radgona, how satisfied are you with the work done?
First of all, a warm greeting to all the readers of Demokracija magazine, one of the few print media that brings us real and honest information. In the second half of last year’s super-election year, after the reorganisation of the OO SDS Gornja Radgona, we were strongly engaged at the stands, in collecting signatures for referendums, in the campaign for the presidential elections, and we were especially engaged in the local elections. We also had our own candidate for mayor, but, as expected, given his very short career in local politics, he was not well known and recognised by the voters for mayor. It was me who had only been involved in politics for a few months. Considering all the events and the newly organised municipal committee of the party, it was not realistic to expect much success in the local elections. We have one municipal councillor, but he will outweigh at least three in terms of diligence, hard work, and interest in local events. Of all the results of the elections, we are most satisfied that in our municipality, above all, and also with the support of our members, the municipality got a new mayor, who ended the mayorship of the old mayor, who left a lot of skeletons in the closet for everyone, both the mayor and the municipal council, especially and an enormously indebted municipality. Rehabilitating the municipal budget will be a big deal and a lot of work this year.
You once said that sometimes you have to take two or three steps back to run again. How is this reflected in OO SDS of Gornja Radgona?
Until the extraordinary election conference in the summer of 2022, the municipal committee of the SDS Gornja Radgona consisted mainly of a much older population and a membership that was not very interested in the operation of the municipal committee and the labour policy in the municipality. The bottom line for them was that the previous management invited them to a dinner or two a year, to socialise and chat a little, go on a trip, eat, and drink, and that was all. Of course, the operation of such a committee also has several tasks at the local level, otherwise decisions and local politics pass by the people and by a certain political interest group. Recently, it has been shown that the previous management of the committee supported many suspicious and non-transparent decisions of the mayor, which was in no way even part of our party’s agenda. The new management, new members and our only municipal councillor are now taking a quite different, oppositional, but constructive and honest stance. The fact that we parted ways with the previous management and that some inactive older members left us, cleaned up the board extremely well and we are even happy about their exit, because otherwise they could even represent some kind of cancerous tissue in the board.
On Friday, April 21st, at 7 p.m., you are preparing a discussion evening with Janez Janša at the Cultural Centre in Gornja Radgona. What will be the topic of conversation?
As the new president of OO SDS Gornja Radgona, I am personally strongly committed to the task and mission of recruiting new, even younger, members. And in the context of the above, conversation evenings with selected guests, round tables and the like are very close to me. That is why my first wish was about 2 months ago to invite the party president, Mr. Janez Janša. I strongly want to organise the discussion evening as professionally as possible, so the discussion will be led by an experienced media “cat” Mr. Boris Tomašič from Nova24TV. We want the conversation to flow on current events in both domestic and international politics. These are for export as much as you want if there is enough time. I want to continue with similar evenings with prominent representatives of Slovenian politics, historiography, and journalism and organise them regularly in our town. I only hope and wish that I will meet the attention of the guests. My next wish is a discussion evening with Anže Logar, and so on.
What are the plans of OO SDS Gornja Radgona?
In the future, the OO SDS Gornja Radgona plans to operate primarily at the local level in terms of assisting the municipality and the mayor in adopting the municipal budget. Above all, recruiting and raising awareness among young people in the municipality, who we will invite with great energy to join our ranks. For the readers of the magazine, let me mention just one very sad fact for me. In 2022, my wife was in the electoral committee at almost every municipal election. Electoral committees must also monitor voter statistics, among other things. My wife found out that only about 4 to 5 percent of eligible voters go to vote by the age of 35. This seems to me to be a great tragedy and a sad fact that young people are doing so poorly, or they are not at all interested in local politics, let alone national politics. It is therefore necessary to engage young people, to invite them among themselves, closer to decision-making, closer to discussing everyday problems, but not so that years later, when they reach their 40s or 50s, they just grumble and moan that everything is bad. Young people, come among us and shape local politics and public opinion.
Franc Fartek is the president of the SDS Municipal Committee of Gornja Radgona.