By: Domen Mezeg / Nova24tv
“I think that these are mainly editors of some central media, which I can point out by name and surname: Manica Janežič Ambrožič, editorial policy of Radio Slovenia, editors of newspapers, Martin Odlazek radio and POP TV. In short, it is about everyone who hid Friday’s protests very carefully. I consider them central mischief-makers because, despite the vast majority of Slovenes willing to be vaccinated, they took opponents of vaccination in equal shares as advocates of vaccination in presenting the advantages and disadvantages of vaccination,” said communication expert and political commentator Edvard Kadič.
In this article, we focused on the biggest mischief-makers of 2021 in light of the fight against the epidemic. According to our observations, these could include the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, Information Commissioner Mojca Prelesnik, the Kul opposition, trade unionists, various influencers and protest leaders, the media, etc. For each, we will list a few examples or who are the people who fall into each category:
It is quite understandable that in unpredictable and rapidly changing epidemiological conditions it is not possible to pass a law for everything, but the situation must also be managed by decrees, as has been done elsewhere in Europe (Italy, Austria, etc.). Nevertheless, to the detriment of the population and the economy, the Constitutional Court repeatedly suspended the implementation of certain decrees and laws: the implementation of the PC (recovered, vaccinated) condition in public administration, repealed the regulation in the Employment Relations Act and the Civil Servants Act, on the basis of which the employer could terminate the employee’s employment contract for business reasons, without having to substantiate the business reason if the employee met the conditions for retirement (PKP 7), suspended the restriction of travel from the country, temporarily suspended Article 7 of the decree on temporary general prohibition of movement and gathering of people in public places and areas in the Republic of Slovenia and prohibition of movement outside municipalities, repealed the article of the anti-corona law regarding the extension of accreditations to higher education institutions.
Information Commissioner Mojca Prelesnik: immediately initiated a procedure in the case of mail to citizens, in which Prime Minister Janez Janša called for vaccination, obstructed the operation of the application for checking PCT conditions, due to data protection, she kept the list where citizens voluntarily submitted a wish to be vaccinated on the eUprava portal, while the vaccine was in stock and those who expressed a wish could be vaccinated, opposed the measurement of body temperature at the time of the increase in infections, complicated the verification of PCT conditions in schools, introduced an inspection procedure against the zVem application, and opposed the #OstaniZdrav application.
The KUL opposition also actively contributed to the aggravation of the epidemic: calling for schools without masks, calling for and participating in mass anti-government protests, massive violations of infection prevention rules, opposition to PKP legislation, opposition to wearing masks (Jani Möderndorfer). It should also be mentioned that Marjan Šarec left behind empty warehouses of medical equipment when he resigned as Prime Minister, etc.
The police unions also contributed to the deterioration of Slovenia’s epidemiological picture: they filed a constitutional review of ordinances regarding the conditions of PCT and PC, as a result of which the pace of vaccination dropped significantly when the case was suspended by the Constitutional Court. Branimir Štrukelj, the leader of the SVIZ trade union, was also a vocal opponent.
Influencers who helped worsen the epidemiological situation in Slovenia: Marko Potrč (advocating for a catastrophic Swedish model), Đurić spouses (promotion of not wearing masks), Jaša Jenull (informal leader of unreported protests), Tea Jarc (informal leader of unreported protests).
Anis Ličina (informal leader of unreported protests), Zoran Stevanović (president of the anti-vaccination party Resni.ca and leader of unreported protests), Anica Bidar (anti-vaccinator and leader of protests), Milan Kučan (support for Friday’s protesters), Zlatko Čordić (opposition to government measures, support for illegal protests, participation in them), etc.
The media (providing support to controversial influencers and anti-government protesters: in particular, RTV Slovenia, POP TV and the media empire of the garbage tycoon Martin Odlazek (Necenzurirano, Reporter, Svet24, Večer…).
Kadič: The winners among the mischief-makers are the media editors
We asked a communication expert and political commentator Edvard Kadič, who was also involved in the promotion of vaccination, so he is well acquainted with Slovenia’s problems in dealing with the epidemic, for an opinion: “I think that these are mainly editors of some central media, which I can point out by name and surname: Manica Janežič Ambrožič, editorial policy of Radio Slovenia, editors of newspapers, Martin Odlazek radio and POP TV. In short, it is about everyone who hid Friday’s protests very carefully. I consider them central mischief-makers because, despite the vast majority of Slovenes willing to be vaccinated, they took opponents of vaccination in equal shares as advocates of vaccination in presenting the advantages and disadvantages of vaccination.” Regarding the Information Commissioner, however, he believes that she adheres too much to some of her principles and does not take into account the whole context of the situation. It is actually “fah idiocy.” She is someone who is convinced of her right and is hard to accuse of lying. It is hard to call someone who has an activist attitude deep down an activist, because that is simply her belief, that is her.
And Prelesnik works from some of her deep convictions into something that is otherwise fine in a narrower professional field, but on a broader level is actually harmful to society. Even in the case of the Constitutional Court, it is probably “fah idiots”. These are more than obvious people who do not seem to see the forest because of being driven into an individual tree. And such an example is the current abandonment of the prosecution against Zoran Stevanović, Zlatan Čordić Zlatko at the expense of Milan Krek, etc., because there is probably nothing wrong with being a stickler. Čordić & Co. are more than obviously a bit extroverted, enjoying the glare of the headlights. And once they get into that bubble of theirs and others tell them how great they are, they can inadvertently go over some limit of good taste. In today’s media space, without some extreme views, you are not even interesting. Through activism, Čordić is “furious” in terms of finding space in the media. “He is basically a capitalist. He is looking for media visibility to sell his CDs.” The same goes for Jenull.
Political commentator Miloš Čirić also gave his opinion. According to him, “mischief-makers are those who do not care that everyone speaks with one voice. That is why we are divided, that is why there are more dead, more problems, we have more problems, everything is more expensive, etc.” At the same time, he adds that the biggest problem is that Slovenia, as well as the whole of Europe and the world, does not work hand in hand or in coordination. “If we all worked together in harmony, there would be no such problems,” Čirić is convinced. And because different interests overlap, some people are confused. It is never possible to change and save anti-vaccinators, but there are many who could react differently. As a result, our costs would be disproportionately lower – if we acted in unity. “Wherever they acted in a more coordinated way – the most important thing is that they started working in a coordinated manner EARLY (once the “timing” is missed, the matter is too late, otherwise it helps, but the initial damage cannot be repaired) …” We did not talk enough at the beginning, but at the same time we were victims of the original success. As a result, it seemed that there was no need to do anything more, and at least some naively believed that there would be no problems.
We have shown unity in joining NATO and the EU. And whenever we performed together, when we took our time, it turned out to be a good thing. They had Angela Merkel in Germany, someone who communicates really well, but the former East Germany still has very similar results as here. “Communication is not a problem. And it is not a question of how someone worked, it is a question of different voices,” said Čirić, adding that by definition we are more sceptical of the government. He estimates that the whole of Eastern Europe is having problems with this. This would happen even if Šarec or Tanja Fajon ruled. The problem is that we do not have enough experience of cooperation and enough time for such matters. The matter was like a fire and it was necessary to react quickly. At first we reacted well because we were scared because of Bergamo or the photos from Bergamo, but later because it was “nothing like that” …, and at the same time various “smart people” appeared… With all these voices, a person becomes confused and not know anymore whom to trust, so a problem arises. And we did not have any person in the field of health care who is the undisputed authority, which leads to problems.