By: Tomaž S. Medved
The well-known thesis that no lunch is free has been manifesting for some time. Golob’s government has already launched a mechanism that was already announced by the March 8th Institute, namely the revision of the laws adopted during the previous government. On the other hand, the government is already paying rewards to civil society organisations that helped it come to power.
The Government Service for Development and Cohesion Policy, headed by Minister Aleksander Jevšek (SD), a former police officer and former mayor of Murska Sobota, has announced a press conference for tomorrow at the joint statement of the state secretary of the said service, Marko Koprivc (a former member of the SD) and a representative of the network of civil society organisations CNVOS of Goran Forbici.
“According to the memorandum, support to civil society is an important priority of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. In the Service of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Development and European Cohesion Policy, we are conducting activities in agreement with donors that we will allocate the remaining available funds in the amount of 500,000 euros to the Fund for Civil Society,” they wrote in the invitation. Our sources point out that the first half a million is only the beginning of funding for left-wing non-governmental organisations – more than 1,500 of them are said to be operating within the framework of CNVOS.
The invitation shows that the government will allocate European development funds to civil society organisations. Two years ago, Janša’s government won this at the EU summit in Brussels. At that time, Slovenia received a guarantee of 6.6 billion euros in grants and almost 4 billion euros in loans for the reconstruction of the economy after the covid-19 pandemic. As is known, the then opposition, and in particular the then MEP Tanja Fajon, repeatedly lobbied in Brussels for the withdrawal of these funds, saying that Slovenia under Janša’s government does not respect the rule of law.
Obviously, these development funds will now be reallocated elsewhere. Or rather: European money has become the prey of the winners, as the civil society activists who have done everything for the departure of Janša’s government in the last two years must be paid appropriate rewards.