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Prime Minister Pahor at the Conference on Student Issues: “My Wish is to See You as a Reliable Pillar of the Future”

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today attended the conference on student issues prepared on the Prime Minister’s initiative by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and by the Student Organisation of Slovenia. In his opening address, Prime Minister Pahor emphasised that students were the generation crystallising all problems – moral, political, economic, social – brought by the present crisis, as well as the generation decisive for helping the entire society overcome the crisis. Prime Minister Pahor asked students: “Is our value orientation approximately the same? Are our aspirations approximately the same? Are our visions approximately the same? This is what we should talk about to overcome the crisis together: there is no doubt, however, that you are the generation which has most knowledge, but not most political power and experience.”

 

(Foto:Tamino Petelinšek/STA)

   

Prime Minister Pahor recalled the period of development dialogue when he had told students about his concern that they would voice their opinions in a raging and rude manner because they could not be heard otherwise: “I did not want it then and I do not want it now, so I want to hear you and discuss your problems before they have reached the volume which makes them a burden too heavy for you,” and continued that his promise was to find compromises within their possibilities, because the overcoming of this crisis required both the generational and social solidarity. “The generation making the last move in the economic and social as well as moral recovery will be you; you are our vital generation. And therefore it is more than important where you head, how fast your react and whether your energy is backed up by a national consensus. Our efforts go towards the control of tension and the settlement of your issues,” stressed Prime Minister Pahor in his speech.

   

He underlined that the principal obligation of students is to finish their studies and begin new professional careers, start families and make sure that they can be seen as a reliable pillar of our future. As regards the student issues, he emphasised: “It is inadmissible and unacceptable that a large majority of students must work if they want to finish their studies. If the elimination takes place by the social criterion, this means that a large number of talented young people have been isolated, and that Slovenia is losing its key resource, the so-called human capital. This must not be in anyone’s interest.”