By Tanja Brkić (Nova24tv.si)
As many as 45.9 percent of Slovenes support the approach of the government of Janez Janša to alleviate energy prices, while only 28.7 percent believe that a more appropriate measure is the government of Robert Golob, which acted in favour of the budget and to the detriment of taxpayers.
After the Gibanje Svoboda party opposed government regulatory measures, the government did not decide to extend the regulation of motor fuel prices. In the meantime, the three-month period of freezing the charging of network charges and the contribution for renewable sources for electricity has expired, so that the bills are again significantly higher. The new government, led by Robert Golob, has introduced old, rather unfinished measures, which, according to Parsifal’s latest poll, are worse than the measures of Janez Janša’s government, also according to Slovenes.
The latest Parsifal poll, conducted from June 22nd to June 24th, also dealt with public opinion on rising energy prices or whether they are more in favour of Janez Janša’s government’s energy crisis mitigation approach or the measures taken by the current Robert Golob’s government. Most (45.9 percent) of respondents support the approach of the government of Janez Janša, which has reduced energy costs through measures at the expense of public finances. By doing so, it gave up its share of money in favour of taxpayers, while the approach of Robert Golob’s government is supported by 28.7 percent of respondents. Golob’s government shifted the burden of the cost of higher energy prices directly to the people.
The government of Janez Janša decided to temporarily regulate the retail prices of certain petroleum products on March 14th due to severe disruptions in the market for petroleum products and large price fluctuations after the Russian attack on Ukraine. It set the maximum allowable retail price of 95-octane petrol across the country at 1,503 euros per litre and diesel at 1,541 euros per litre. Then, on March 31st, due to the problems caused by the regulation for some smaller providers, it set the maximum allowable wholesale prices at a slightly lower level.
The new Prime Minister, Robert Golob, recently announced new/old measures by which his government intends to mitigate the effects of rising energy prices. Several smaller measures were presented, including the regulation of retail prices of petrol and diesel. But beware, the price will only be regulated outside the highways. On highways, the state will not interfere in the price, which means that people will refuel more expensive fuel. The promised fight against inflation thus remained only a dead letter on paper.
The survey included 727 respondents, of which 51.1 percent were women, and the average age was 54 years. Most respondents were from the oldest age group (49.1 percent), the middle age group was slightly less represented (34.9 percent), and the fewest respondents were from the youngest age group (16 percent). Most respondents had completed high school (34 percent), followed by those with completed higher education or more (27 percent), 21.1% of respondents had completed vocational school, and 17.9% of respondents had completed primary or incomplete primary school. Most respondents were from the Osrednjeslovenska region (25.8 percent), followed by the Podravska (14.3 percent) and Savinjska (12.5 percent) regions.