By: Peter Jančič / Spletni časopis
Golob is afraid of the people and his own voters, as he showed us this week when he called for a boycott of the referendum, where we will decide on the massive lifelong budget-funded pension bonuses for the cultural elite. These were legalised at the proposal of his government and with the votes of MPs from Svoboda, SD, and Levica.
His call to boycott is primarily aimed at his supporters – and there is a good reason for it. There is a serious risk that many of his voters – of whom there are already far fewer than three years ago – might vote against this unjust law that would grant the cultural vanguard even more than what was handed to them during socialism. More than anywhere else in Europe.
It is better if they boycott.
Another likely idea is that, after the referendum, Golob plans to have his propagandists declare that all those who did not show up were in favour of the boycott, and therefore in favour of his law granting privileges to the elite. That would be a lie. Those who do not vote are neither for nor against.
It is also a lie when even the media now claim that the government simply defined more precise criteria for granting privileges under the old socialist law. In truth, instead of an exceptional privilege that the government could choose to grant, they are legalising an enforceable right. This means that in the future, the authorities will be obliged to hand out bonuses to the elite. Instead of a few dozen recipients over the last decade, there will be several hundred. Automatically. It is also a lie that the socialist-era law provided for inheritance of these privileges. Inheritance – kept hidden from the public – was legalised by the elite just over a decade ago, and in direct contradiction to the law on pension privileges for the “deserving” under socialism, which specified no automaticity and required all government decisions on bonuses to be publicly disclosed.
Inheritance, with the names of the lucky ones kept from the public, was quietly introduced through pension reform (ZPIZ-2).
The referendum poses a real threat to the government, because the central theme of its governance in recent years has been to serve the elite. This is evident from the way it significantly increased state funding for political parties – essentially for itself – and also raised salaries for various officials. Meanwhile, those who truly work hard, such as staff in nursing homes or hospitals, receive little or nothing extra.
Regarding the salaries of MPs and ministers, they postponed a significant increase to after the next parliamentary elections – because doing it earlier would be too obvious and would hurt them. That time is fast approaching.
The danger of Golob’s calls to boycott democratic decision-making is that it could backfire if his own voters listen to him and then fail to show up at the next elections, not just the referendum.
Golob bigger than Trump
Alongside his boycott call this week, Golob also declared that his government has achieved more than any other in the past 20 years. When it comes to boasting, he outdoes even U.S. President Donald Trump. This week, Trump shook the world and global stock markets – including the American one – by imposing tariffs and launching a trade war against nearly everyone. Opinions about Trump are mixed. He is known for grandiose speeches. But one cannot say that his actions are just words.
Golob will go down in history for his exceptional use of speech unconnected to action. In just over three years – now nearing the end of his term – he has created the largest government in history, carried out the biggest purge at RTV Slovenia, and dramatically increased funding for political parties and officials. Now, in an election year, he has suddenly proclaimed that he is reforming everything that can be reformed. He has done this before. Let’s recall the mega health reform led by the star figure Danijel Bešič Loredan – until Golob dismissed him. The reforms Golob is announcing now will supposedly be carried out by the next prime minister. His own mandate is ending, and public opinion polls do not suggest he will get another. With all these grand announcements about reforming everything, it is worth remembering the rule: When everything is being changed, nothing actually changes. At least not for the better.
Reform means that you pay more
In many areas, Golob has indeed done more than all governments in the past 20 years. Mostly, he has significantly increased state spending. And he did this during good times – no epidemic, no catastrophe, not even war (apart from somewhat indirectly, due to Putin’s war in Ukraine). These new “reforms,” which we will all pay for sooner or later, also reflect increased spending. We will feel the first hit in July, when we’ll begin paying 2% of our salaries and 1% of our pensions for long-term care, because the government – after dramatically boosting overall spending – ran out of money for the elderly. And this will happen every month going forward. They increased spending by 2 to 3 billion euros per year, and now they claim they lack just under a billion for the elderly. The reform means that you will now pay more. What the government will actually do with the money is still being figured out. But typically, when the state takes from the people to give to the people, some of it vanishes. To friends, as we know.
To top it off, a good portion of government officials now determine how to spend public money from home – working remotely. Fewer traffic jams, more comfort. Another “great” reform. They even decided that invisible work must be paid – for example, to cultural workers. Another big “reform.”
What it is like for ordinary people is shown by the example of how public healthcare used unhealthy amalgam fillings to treat teeth for decades. Problems arose when the European Union banned their use, making a healthier alternative necessary for health reasons. But that alternative is more expensive, and until now, we mostly had to pay the difference ourselves. Our state refuses to pay the higher cost. And this is just a glimpse of where the long waiting lines and healthcare issues come from. As a result, you are lucky if you can even get to a dentist – who then is not allowed to help you much, especially not with modern methods, because they are too expensive and the state will not cover them. Even though you already gave the state money for this. But that money has disappeared. Probably to some friends.
Meanwhile, the government is now hitting hard at concessionaires and private practitioners, claiming they are exploiting the system and are to blame for all the problems in healthcare and dental care. Yet concessionaires are paid the same rate per service as their counterparts in public healthcare. And people pay private practitioners for services they already paid the state for – but never received. Now, the government has even banned concessionaires from making a profit. Socialist-style.
Which will solve the problems just as effectively as the boycott of the referendum.
