By: Janja Strah
The comedy of confusion on the transitional left is clearly continuing. Yesterday, the parties from the KUL set presented a document that is supposed to present solutions for a “better Slovenia”, but with it they will be convincing those who are already convinced. So those who have a strong interest in the current government leaving and returning to the old established practice of transitional governments by distributing money to the elect.
“Firmly determined and committed to cooperation, the leaders of the opposition parties LMŠ, SD, Levica, and SAB presented a set of solutions for a better Slovenia. On the day when the President of the Republic signed a decree on calling regular elections to the National Assembly, the leaders of the four parties are united in forming a stable centre-left government after the elections, which will re-establish a functioning constitutional democracy in Slovenia. The common denominators of the four parties for progress are accessible public health, a strong welfare state, a competitive economy, and quality education. Respect for the constitution and laws, an independent judiciary and freedom of the media are necessary conditions for the country’s progress and development, said the presidents, who will build their policy on respect and inclusion of all citizens,” reads the introduction to the press release.
At the same time, of course, we can only smile bitterly, because KUL has not really shown anything so far – it is just whether you believe their promises or not. At the same time, the Social Democrats tried to emphasise their role by inviting the last party leader Milan Kučan – or the latter invited himself, as it is known that his authority in the KUL is still very strong. SD president Tanja Fajon emphasised health care, saying that people have never waited so long for diagnoses, treatment, and operations. “We will put patients in need of medical care at the forefront. I have been a chronic patient for 30 years and I know how important it is to get care on time. Everyone should have access to a personal physician. We need to shorten queues. Our plan is that everyone should see a specialist within 30 days. How to achieve this? We can immediately cancel the additional health insurance and transfer the funds to the basic health insurance. It is also necessary to gradually increase funding for public health to 12% of GDP, which is the level of more developed countries,” she said. Of course, this is negligence, as it is impossible to change the situation in health care in a short time, and during the rule of the transitional left, the greatest abuses occurred in the purchase of medical equipment. Fajon also perfectly missed the impact of the covid19 pandemic in the last two years, which is an objective circumstance in the deteriorating state of health care. At the same time, the SD helped overthrow government measures against the spread of the epidemic.
The frontman of the Levica party, Luka Mesec, pointed out social justice, which is the discovery of hot water, as it was during the current government that the most drastic measures to help people took place. However, Mesec was realistic in his own way, although he spread a lot of demagoguery in his speech: “In the new government, we will guarantee that the commitments we will make before the elections will be respected. That we will not get another government that said something before the elections and did something completely different after them. In our work so far, we have shown that we do not agree to such a game – and we will not. We need to pull society out of despair, set clear goals that we want to achieve by 2030 – and start implementing them immediately, the day after the elections. That is why today we presented how to respond to the costliness so that we can afford less and less for our salaries, and how to reach 30,000 public rental apartments by 2030.” Apparently, the champion of the Levica is worried that there will not be another series of throwing in the towel. Well, this fear is quite justified, given that all four parties from KUL are bound only by opposition to Janez Janša.
Alenka Bratušek jumped into his wisdom about social justice, saying that without a successful economy there is no strong welfare state, higher wages, and higher pensions. In this case, the former Prime Minister is right, but she has forgotten about her current role in governing the country. “After the elections, it is therefore crucial to stabilise public finances to avoid rising prices for financial instruments and to take measures for continuous economic growth and easing inflationary trends. Our agreement for the future is that what we create today, we save for the pensions of future generations,” she added, proposing that in addition to profits, the demographic fund should also receive funds from the sale of wood and water. She also called for a green transition: “By accelerating the construction of green solar and wind energy production, installing solar panels and windmills, and establishing a 3rd energy pillar that would deal only with green energy and a faster transition to it, we can become energy independent state.” And of course, not a word that the current government has already done a lot for ecology.
Former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec added the finishing touch. “The condition for all that we are talking about today is investing in research, development, and science. The more you invest, the faster and better the results. I am convinced that this area is not as easy to take as it is in Slovenia. The goal we have set for ourselves in the party is to invest 1.5% of GDP by 2026, which is not much, but these are realistic goals. However, total investment in research and innovation must be increased to at least 3% of GDP. If we do not achieve that, we will be lagging behind,” he said. And he forgot to add that he could have done all this already during his government, but nothing happened.
In short, one more comedy.