We talked about current socio-political events with Davorin Kopšet, who is active on social networks. He is an active member of the SDS and a member of AKOS and the Council for the Financing of Disability and Humanitarian Organisations in Slovenia.
DEMOKRACIJA: Mr. Kopše, please start by saying something about yourself. What family background do you come from? What kind of upbringing did you grow up with?
Kopše: I was raised in a humble environment where I was taught respect and criticism of both myself and others. Both the same. Above all, my father taught me pride, and both parents taught me what is right and what is wrong in their own way. I always weave the first tips and lessons into current events. I find the findings you learn from your mature years very interesting. That is the time when you find out what they said to you when they raised you and gave you instructions for life. In this way, people are increasingly realising that education is not just for childhood, but for a lifetime.
I am a realistic man. I have my pride and my right, but of course I admit my mistakes and try to correct them. Good arguments convince me, but obvious mistakes and, above all, persistence in them disappoint me. Opinions for opinions that oppose everything and everyone without arguments drive me away. I distance myself from such people.
DEMOKRACIJA: An accident happened to you years ago and you were left disabled. Can disability affect your life?
Kopše: A little over eleven years ago, I was at the peak of my life force. I did sports recreationally. I loved skiing, I ran regularly, you could meet me on roller skates, and I occasionally hiked in the hills and mountains. In addition, I was also a motorcyclist, but I had an accident that left me paralysed, and because of it I am paraplegic, I use a wheelchair all the time.
Disability affects life and you can never come to terms with it. But you must adapt and live on. It is also important to me personally that I am busy with work and other activities, so I get involved wherever possible. In recent years, I have found myself in the role of an active citizen, I am in touch with current politics, and I am also involved in it. I do things that can be done with my head and hands.
Medicine strives to discover ways and methods to eliminate disability, but the task of society is primarily to make it accessible. This is important both for the disabled and for people who are not physically or otherwise disabled. Life is easier if accessibility is greater. By this I mean access to education, work, and other everyday human needs. The architectural barriers that we think of first about disability are just one of the barriers.
DEMOKRACIJA: How does the state care for the disabled?
Kopše: When I look mainly at the Balkans and outside the countries of the former Yugoslavia, I notice huge differences. In this sense, Slovenia is far ahead of everyone. New buildings must have access for the disabled, people with disabilities can go to school and many are employed. Of course, there are still many things to improve. I often mention the main entrance of the University Medical Centre Ljubljana. There, access from Zaloška street for disabled people in unaccompanied wheelchairs is very inappropriate and even useless. I hope that someone will “have fun” with this soon. Shopping centres also have significantly more parking spaces for the disabled than many health care institutions, including the University Medical Centre Ljubljana. This is quite surprising, and I hope it gets better soon.
Otherwise, the endurance of life and the quality of life have greatly improved for many disabled people during the current government. Several measures and laws have been adopted to provide assistance and a better standard of living for people with disabilities. The law on long-term care is also of great importance for people with disabilities, who need some forms of help sooner than the other population or even for life. In this way, parents and other relatives are relieved, which in my opinion is of great importance for society. They can dedicate to creativity and take care of themselves, which, among other things, increases their quality of life. This increases productivity and indirectly gross domestic product. A richer society can take better care of the socially disadvantaged and other marginalised groups. The recent increase in minimum disability pensions is of great help to families with a disabled member.
DEMOKRACIJA: You follow the political situation in Slovenia a lot. In your opinion, what is Slovenian politics like?
Kopše: I see Slovenian politics as distinctly bipolar and, on this basis, extremely quarrelsome and divided. On the one hand, we have a constructive, cohesive, and therefore successful policy, and on the other hand, there are scoundrels who want to be in power but cannot say what they would do there for the good of society. We know from experience and, more recently, from their promises, that they want to return to old harmful patterns. With uncompromising efforts to regain power in any way, all that is known is that they want to restore the first- and second-class system. This system is characterised by elites sucked into state nipples, and second-class ones should work quietly and diligently for the former. I hope that the Slovenes will smoothly reject the latter in the elections for the common good.
DEMOKRACIJA: After the resignation of Marjan Šarec, Janez Janša took over the leadership of the government. What kind of leader is he?
Kopše: I know Janez Janša for his exceptional work and success. Since I worked in the Slovenian Army for many years, I can say that he was the best Minister of Defence. When he had to leave the Ministry of Defence after Kučan’s well-known political plot, known as Depala vas affair, the army began to fall and after a few years it fell to the point of several years of negative assessments of combat readiness.
The previous two governments, led by Janez Janša, were above average compared to the others, and even a single surplus is still relevant in Europe, given the situation. Despite the epidemic that needs to be monitored and controlled, and despite the opposition’s harassment at every step, which some institutions like to get involved in, Janez Janša leads the government in a united spirit and dedicates himself to other important tasks. Achievements are visible in the field of employment, economic growth, security and, finally, in the international arena. Under his leadership, Slovenia chaired the EU Council very successfully, which resonated widely. Unfortunately, not enough at home. We have seen the admixture of malicious diminishing importance or even silence of the media about what is happening in connection with the presidency.
I got to know Janša better during my candidacy for MEP, when in 2019 I ran on the joint SDS/SLS list. I can only smile at the accusations that he is authoritarian. I was able to see for myself that, as a true leader, he has control over what is happening, and there is no sign of authoritarianism. I can say that he is a leader who motivates people by encouraging. He does not have to grumble that there is work to be done, because he sets a personal example.
DEMOKRACIJA: As we walked together into a building with access only by stairs, he grabbed my wheelchair without hesitation and helped carry me.
Kopše: We all know that Janez Janša is by far the most experienced Slovenian politician. Political opponents have tried to diminish, nullify, or portray as harmful many of his successes and the successes of his governments, however, the facts speak for themselves. In the current mandate, they know that these methods will no longer work, as the positive effects of this government are felt by practically every citizen of Slovenia. This has caused panic in the ranks of the left opposition, and they are trying to escalate even in the National Assembly. They strive to cause indecision, blocking work with forced procedural complications during sessions, obstructions, unfounded interpellations, and brutal primitive outbursts during the work of the National Assembly.
All this is, of course, directed against the successful government led by Janez Janša. The formation of this government was a real political masterpiece after all the circus complications of Marjan Šarec’s rule. When the government finally started working, it had to be kept together despite all the spanners in the works. Janša succeeded in this, which in my opinion is a virtue that only the greatest can do.
DEMOKRACIJA: There is a lot of talk that this year’s elections will be ground-breaking. What bad and what good can they bring for Slovenia?
Kopše: In the upcoming elections, we will vote for two options. We will decide between those who strive for progress and a better quality of life for all the people of Slovenia, and those who would like to go back to the times of unanimity and separation from ours and yours. We will therefore have a choice of a policy that builds, and on the other hand, a policy that demolishes.
According to this assessment, elections can bring us something good if the scales are shifted to the side of those who build and work for all the people of Slovenia. On the other hand, politics can again offer us a country with two criteria. One is considered first-class and the other second-class. It will be good if the option of advocating and ensuring fair society wins. It will be bad, however, if those who do not imagine life from their own work and are accustomed to unfair transfers from the budget to their bank accounts win.
It will be good for Slovenia if the option that gathers around the current coalition and forms a new, even stronger government with Janez Janša wins. Everything else is a bad prospect for Slovenia given the political situation.
DEMOKRACIJA: You are often critical, to the so-called KUL opposition? What interests prevail there?
Kopše: KUL wants to be in power and exclude all other political actors in the country. It draws its energy and motives from the one-party system, which it is unable to condemn because of it. It is about plucked power. For power without effectively carrying out the tasks you take on by taking over the power given to you by the electorate. This is a narrowly oriented group that wants to protect certain structures and their privileges for which they are willing to deplete all social resources. Their path leads exactly to where self-governing socialism has led us. It is a collapse of values and components that ensure the existence of a system. When all this is gone, all that remains is bankruptcy, and the government is trying to maintain itself by force. That is how Yugoslavia ended, but it was based on revolution. In a democratic Slovenia, we have the opportunity to avoid this policy and, consequently, the disintegration of the system. We have free multi-party elections for this.
DEMOKRACIJA: You also receive several threats due to clear political positions and attitudes towards social events, as well as insults at the expense of disability. How do you respond to that?
Kopše: I have been a very active citizen for several years. I work through social media, writing columns and appearing among people. Consistency has brought me quite a bit of visibility. This is confirmed to me by people who write various messages of support to me and urge me to persevere. On the other hand, primitive, rude, and thus offensive people also appear from time to time. I have ever thicker skin when it comes to seizures, and my confidence is given a lot of support.
I try to respond to the former as regularly as possible by replying to messages. By doing so, I strengthen positive energy and connection. I am ignoring the others more and more often because it is a pity to lose time, energy and God forbid nerves.
DEMOKRACIJA: You live in Ljubljana. What is the opinion of the average Ljubljana citizen about the protests and the work and policy of this government?
Kopše: It is known that the right-wing governments in Ljubljana have no support, but as a citizen of Ljubljana, it seems to me that the current government has fewer and fewer opponents in terms of its work and successes.
The people of Ljubljana are more and more fed up with repeated protests without content. These affect the quality of living, as it is not pleasant to watch and listen to some special people under your windows every week. Of course, roadblocks are also disturbing, which is why Ljubljana residents must adapt their activities and movements to street demolition workers.
DEMOKRACIJA: You are the SDS candidate for an MP in the National Assembly. Do you think that with your posture and uprightness you can qualify for parliament?
Kopše: I am promised to be a candidate of the largest and proven most consistent and best organised political party in the country. It is a party that is currently the largest government party and has always been a parliamentary party after the first democratic elections in Slovenia, where it plays an important role, even if it is not in government. It is a party that people feel and consider as their own. The SDS is a party that was founded based on the values of independence and the values of Sloveneness, which Slovenes carry within themselves.
However, whether I become an MP or not, I will undoubtedly run for parliament through my party. In fact, all those who will vote for the SDS will in some way join the parliament. If I am elected Member of Parliament, it will be a special honour for me and, as I am, I will do my best to justify the trust of the electorate.
Biography
Davorin Kopše was born in 1963 in Ptuj to a housewife and a working father. After primary school he moved to Ljubljana and lived in Šiška. After high school, he graduated in the organisation of administrative work, and then in management. His career went through work in the police and the Slovenian Army. He became disabled after a motorcycle accident. He found himself in political activity, where he was not allowed to participate due to his membership of the army. In his spare time, he writes columns and is present on social media, which is not all. He is active in the SDS party and is a member of AKOS and the Council for the Financing of Disability and Humanitarian Organisations in Slovenia.
