By Tanja Brkić (nova24tv.si)
“Our plan is to build 30 thousand public rental apartments, with the financing coming from different sources: some from taxes, some from the state budget, some with a state bond for Slovenian savers in the banks,” were the words of Luka Mesec at the pre-election debate on the 12th of April 2022. A few months later, he denied saying that they would “build” these apartments and claimed that they had only said they would “provide” 20 thousand new apartments, but today, the number has been reduced to two thousand apartments. Given all the “alleged” analyses on the basis of which the Left party (Levica) promised to build new housing, it is clear that this was pure manipulation and deliberate misleading of the electorate.
Since coming to power, the Golob government has shown an extremely high level of double standards, ignoring important facts, manipulation, deception and outright lies. Both before and after the elections. And the Left party and its former coordinator, Luka Mesec, today’s Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, are no different, as before the elections, he promised the electorate that they would build 30,000 new public rental apartments, while today we are hearing about only 2,000 apartments being built – and even for this low number, they have already added that they would build them if that will be possible.
Less than nine months have passed since the elections to the National Assembly, and the difference in the quality of life since the Golob government came to power is more than enormous. Slip-up after slip-up, strike after strike, we are watching the collapse of the whole system, with healthcare at the forefront, and lie after lie. This is all we have seen since the 24th of April 2022. Robert Golob promised the electorate the rule of law, but now we have a Prime Minister who is exerting political pressure on ministers and setting up a paramilitary intelligence service. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tanja Fajon, promised to bring our country closer to nuclear Europe, and we see her everywhere but there. And Luka Mesec, Minister of Labour, promised to build 30,000 homes, but it seems that there will actually be less than 200. “Our plan is to build 30 thousand public rental apartments, with the financing coming from different sources: some from taxes, some from the state budget, some with a state bond for Slovenian savers in the banks,” Luka Mesec said at a pre-election debate on the 12th of April 2022.
Even before the election race was well underway, comrades on the left were already competing to see who could promise the electorate more affordable housing, both to buy and to rent. Thus, back in March, the Left party submitted a bill to the National Assembly on a tax on empty and large properties. This money would provide the state with a systemic resource to build 30,000 public rental apartments. At the end of May, or after the elections, Luka Mesec, the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, spoke of “only” 20,000 apartments. And even these “would not be built but provided” by Golob’s troops. Mesec was no longer able to give a realistic estimate of the situation by 2026 because “chaos reigns in the property market”. He also added: “Housing is a field that the state has so far left completely in the market’s authority, and that is why we now have a housing crisis.” Which means that the state could set a maximum price for housing and a maximum rent, and it is clear to anyone who understands the economics of the matter that imposing a maximum price on the market leads to a shortage of what the measure is intended to achieve.
Nevertheless, Mesec did not give up on his misleading and empty promises – on the contrary, he came up with another nebulous idea he presented to the public, which provoked ridicule. The statement drew ridicule in November during the referendum debate on the Government Act, when the coordinator or de facto president of the Left party, Luka Mesec, claimed that 25 million euros had been earmarked to solve the real estate problem. From “housing will be guaranteed,” Luka Mesec had once again decided that the housing would, after all, be “built” at the cost of 7 euros per square metre. Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) MP Andrej Hoivik quickly responded to Mesec’s absurd statement, as he explained to the audience exactly what Luka Mesec meant when he spoke about building housing at the cost of 7 euros per square metre. “In 2023, 25 million euros will be spent by Minister Luka Mesec to get a study on how to build 20,000 non-profit apartments for 7 euros per square metre.”
From 30 thousand apartments to 2 thousand apartments per year
Today, however, the story is entirely different – and the difference amounts to 28 thousand apartments. We are now in a situation where housing policy will be handled by a former inexperienced LGBTQ activist from Metelokova, so there is a high probability that not a single apartment will be built, let alone 2 thousand per year, as promised this time by Simon Maljevac, who, according to some media outlets, “announced the implementation of a functioning and serious housing policy, with the aim of improving the situation through soft and hard measures.”
It is ironic that an inexperienced activist from Metelkova, who had the opportunity to present his plans in the National Assembly a few days ago, pointed out that the housing policy has been ineffective for years and announced that he (inexperienced as he is) would be the one to create a working housing policy. Is that so? From the 30 thousand flats promised by Luka Mesec, the capo di tutti capo of the Left party, Maljevac now promises 28 thousand fewer apartments, and this on the basis of the formulation of a housing policy with the help of the infamous self-proclaimed “civil society,” also known as the non-governmental organisation the Institute of the 8th of March (Inštitut 8. marec) and the like?
No, this was not a simple “slip-up” in the Left’s mathematical calculations, their words were deliberately misleading and a manipulation of the electorate, used so that they could get to where they are today and stuff as much of your money into their pockets as possible. Think about it, the promises of an improving economy have today turned into the fact that the best businesspeople want to leave Slovenia because taxation is too high. And then there was the promise of better healthcare and shorter waiting times – and today, people cannot even get registered with a general practitioner. Is there anything else to add?
