By: Nina Žoher / Nova24TV.si
“Mr. Marko Koprivc, you will not say to me that I despise anyone. That is a lie. I have always led a dialogue. Trade Union representatives were invited to the meeting as soon as we received your request for additional invitees in the UDIS system,” said Eva Irgl, a chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Committee on Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Disability, when an SD MP Koprivc accused her of simply despising social dialogue and is literally making fun of Trade Unions. The opposition’s pouncing on the work is significantly slowing down the process of adopting the eighth anti-corona package.
In the very beginning of the 48th emergency session, committee chairwoman Eva Irgl explained that the Government, the Legislative and Legal Service, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia had been invited to the session. She said that at the request of the SD parliamentary group, the interested or professional public was additionally invited today, who sent comments to PKP 8. “Let me say that we saw the proposal for additional invitees in the computer system only this morning. Namely, the proposal was submitted when there were no more office hours on Friday. I was informed today that this initiative had taken place, of course, we then sent the invitation to the invited guests.”
Koprivc accused Irgl of despising social dialogue and literally making fun of the Trade Unions, despite the fact that Irgl explained why the Trade Unions were invited later, Marko Koprivc wanted procedurally. He said at the beginning that immediately after the convening of the session, the Social Democrats demanded that the list of those invited be expanded, because the social partners or specifically the Trade Unions had not been invited to the session. “We did this as soon as possible. What happened today, we received notification from two Trade Union headquarters that they had received an invitation 40 minutes prior to the meeting itself. I am sorry, but this really is completely unacceptable and shows your contempt and attitude towards social dialogue. Please do not let anything like this happen again. As you can see, representatives of Trade Union headquarters are not here today. This is logical and understandable. It is physically impossible to come to a meeting in such short notice, and that is literally a mockery of social dialogue.” He went on to add that he had received information that some negotiations had taken place within the Economic and Social Council (ESF), but that in the end a version that had not been harmonised had reached the government. “What we in the SD and the entire opposition point out is more obvious today than it should be, namely that you simply despise social dialogue and literally make fun of Trade Unions. Please explain what it was about?”
“If you would listen to me well, then you would know that I have already explained your own proposal to you. We at UDIS only received your request today. Professional services are monitoring this at all times, this was forwarded today from the main office. As soon as it was forwarded, the professional services had to enter all 30 invited to this meeting. Of course, it takes some time for us to send out the invitation,” Irgl explained to Koprivec, adding that the Trade Unions are welcomed to join in the future, as they also received an invitation. “Mr. Koprivc, you will not say to me that I despise anyone because this is a lie, and I would like for you to apologise to me. I have always led a dialogue. Also social if you will. We could tell you many examples. I will not allow you to act like that and generalise like that, just because it suits you politically. It is pure demagoguery for me.” She stressed that if she did not want to invite anyone, then she would not do it today, but she did. “I am the only chair of this committee who has given all Trade Unions the opportunity to express their views. I want you to apologise to me publicly,” she was clear.
Koprivc replied that he had nothing to apologise for
If anyone expected Koprivc to apologise, they could not be more wrong. He first accused Irgl of greatly abusing her reply. “You cannot comment on what I was saying. As for the apology goes, let me say that I expect you to apologise to the Trade Unions above all because there has been a big slip. The key problem is that you did not invite the Trade Unions. You should have invited Trade Unions and there would be no dilemma. As soon as the session was convened, we in SD demanded the expansion of the invited. Sorry, there is no apology here. Today we will talk on our own, without Trade Unions.” Koprivc accused Irgl of demagoguery and emphasised that he had nothing to apologise for, as he only expressed his opinion.
As Koprivc made it clear that he did not intend to apologise, he was called upon to do so by MP Marijan Pojbič, who was outraged. In doing so, he noted that she explained why the invitations were sent so late. Miha Kordiš from the Levica party would not be Miha Kordiš if he had not given his own opinion, namely he demanded a procedural proposal, with which he wanted to get the committee meeting to be suspended until Trade Union representatives are present at the session. Irgl warned him that he had violated the procedural motion by re-preparing the speech on his own. She emphasised again that she had complied with the Rules of Procedure and that the allegations were out of place. “I do not think it is fair to problematize things like that,” she was clear.