NEWS
Prime Minister Borut Pahor: "A Warning and a Direction"
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Borut Pahor, wrote some thoughts for the daily newspaper Večer on the current situation and state of the country and its position within the European Union. He also outlined some of the necessary steps for further development and progress of Slovenia. The article written by Prime Minister Pahor is posted below.
A Warning and a Direction
In my deliberations about where and how we go from here, three powerful considerations have been gaining ground. The first of these is that our nation is tired of historical changes and stopped believing in them at the very moment they turned out to be of paramount importance for our future. The second consideration is closely associated with people's doubts and distrust in the political class or, broadly speaking, in the ruling class. And thirdly, the nation has painfully underestimated the impact that the unfolding of the processes around the world — not least the part of the world that it belongs to in terms of its politics, economy and culture — has had on the development of its domestic social processes.
Why and how have we found ourselves in such a situation?
This state of mind can be explained. Over the last century, Slovenians have constantly adjusted to change. Divided in the middle of the preceding century and taking harmonious action two decades ago, we rarely participated with sovereignty in their co-creation. The age of socialism was marked by a constant rush of economic and political reforms, but the situation thereafter went from bad to worse. Ultimately, most of us stopped searching for alternatives within the existing system, instead choosing to support democracy and the establishment of our own State. These two landmarks demanded a vast amount from our people in terms of energy and faith for a better future.
However, it is clear that they were accompanied by some exaggerated expectations, particularly with regard to the rise in the standard of living. Although any outside observer would genuinely consider the independent Slovenia a success story, the majority of our people today would take a more indifferent view. This can be partly explained by the current economic crisis that laid bare the disparities between people who had been used to social equality. The majority protests loudly against social differences, which in their opinion, even where they are justified, are not the result of work, knowledge and capabilities, but down to the privileged status of groups and individuals.
The political sphere is presumably the main reason for this, either consciously or as a result of negligence. As the political arena has lacked momentum in punishing irregularities and injustices, it has lost the trust of the people. The Government bears the brunt of this, but this distrust is more or less just a question of geography and distance from Gregorčičeva street.
In contrast to past experiences when Slovenians lived within multinational communities, we can now no longer shift guilt to authorities in foreign capitals. Owing to the brevity of our statehood and the unexpectedly severe economic crisis, which also raised issues relating to the development of society, too many people were satisfied too quickly with the identification of the scape goat – the corruption, incompetence and alienation of politicians and tycoons. We are faced with an absence of an urgently required intellectual assessment of contemporary space and time. Within this context, an important — if not the central — issue is the distortion of the primary accumulation of capital and usurpation of common ownership. All this has prompted the further disintegration of the common faith and trust in the future.
On top of this, a fixation on our own backyard further complicates matters. From a historical perspective, we are not accustomed to assuming responsibility for our own fate but are rather used to a serf mentality. However, as an independent nation and country, we now have no excuse for passing the buck to foreign authorities and masters. We are not yet capable of perceiving ourselves as a sovereign entity in international political, economic and other relations. We are not accustomed to looking and seeing into the world to see and look at ourselves. For this reason we resort to provincialism, which is incapable of comprehending the complexity and interdependence of the contemporary world of which we are a part. This, in turn, is fertile ground for the growth of demagogy and radicalisms of all kinds.
All this and other things have brought us to a situation which must be perceived as a dangerous status quo. A Slovenia that is not progressing is in fact regressing. There is no time to wait in between. We really must take care to heed the last call for boarding.
Slovenia is part of the world: Will it be its state or colony?
Before I attempt to answer the question as to where and how to move forward, I will briefly take some time to outline the main and – as far as we are concerned – the most significant features of the world of which we are part. Our ability to make as accurate a diagnosis of the current circumstances as possible would facilitate our adaptation to these circumstances and, to a certain extent, the possibility of being involved in their formulation.
The first characteristic of the modern world is its extraordinary high level of unpredictability. The second is the shift in economic power from the West to the East, which has been occurring within the framework of an insufficiently flexible political influence structure which was inherited from the Second World War. The third is a collision of developmental paradigms. A predominant scientific finding concerning the imminence of sustainable development does not necessarily coincide with the inclinations of current centres of political and economic power. The fourth is the substantially increased significance of global corporations, which has developed to such an extent that we can now speak about 'corporatocracy'. The fifth, but not last, is the global susceptibility of the world's population to the immense social differences that exist both within and between individual societies. These transform social unrest into general security conflicts. Unless we are able to untie this complex knot in a peaceful manner in these circumstances, the experience of history demonstrates that instead it may be cut by a war of wider dimensions.
For the purpose of this deliberation, I will make a specific reference to the inability of the 'developed' world to harness and regulate the wild financial industry sector after the global recession. For this reason, the international financial markets are now as steadfastly sceptical of everything as they were as unwaveringly trusting of everything before the advent of the crisis.
A conceptual crisis, especially the management crisis, is typical of the EU and, in particular, the eurozone's member states. Member states should seek to make the difficult decision as to whether to surrender a much more significant degree of sovereignty with a view to increasing efficiency at the earliest possible opportunity –or risk watching the two groups lose their relevance, power and influence on global processes. In the event of the latter occurring, the developments can take two directions. In the first, some countries will embrace substantially increased political, economic and social cohesion while others will distance themselves from this development. Slovenia must take its place in the first group. In the second direction, any attempts made to procrastinate over the adoption of either decision for too long would end up in the complete and utter failure of the European idea, which has been the driving force behind peace and development in the old continent for over half a century.
As a member of NATO, the EU, and the eurozone, Slovenia is not without opportunities, interests and a responsibility to shape its own and a common European destiny with others – but only under certain conditions. The fundamental prerequisite is that Slovenia is the master of its own destiny. Should it, under any circumstances, become wholly reliant on decisions made by others and be deprived of the possibility or ability to influence such decisions, Slovenia would no longer be a State in its own right: it would become a colony.
Direction
In these complex circumstances, which call for swift and decisive responses, a political crisis would be a redundant luxury which we cannot afford; this is despite it being a legitimate companion to democracy. In the absence of any fruitless intermediate obstruction to the decision-making process, the political sphere must come to an agreement as to how a new government is to be elected in the early elections. If the majority of people believe that the Government is the main culprit for the current inauspicious situation as they perceive it, it would be best that this assessment is either supported or rejected by the new government and its work. We should not again make the mistake of focusing on a political battle at home while decisive global developments skip our attention – as was the case in the autumn of 2008. For the most part, the world was heading towards a recession while we were busy making promises of economic and social development.
Despite the crisis, Slovenia has managed to preserve a high degree of social cohesion. This was the right decision. Its long-term sustainability can only be achieved through increased production or through increased indebtedness. There is no other alternative. From now on, any further increases to budget debt and rising public debt are unacceptable in all respects. This has become a hot political issue that pertains to the actual sovereignty of the member states. Reforms aimed at increasing competitiveness are inevitable. If we refuse them and, at the same time, do not fall into the trap of borrowing, it would be necessary to reduce, in proportion to social status, the standard of living of the population. The current prevailing understanding that the national interest is merely the State's share in enterprises and financial institutions is wrong. The national interest is the creation of conditions conducive for a transparent, competitive and open economy that is attractive to domestic and foreign investment, ensuring the maximum number of jobs with higher value added.
If the famous Slovenian 'invisible hand of reason' still functioned at the referendum for the adoption of the arbitration agreement, it became numb when it came to the pension reform. It seems that we Slovenes take measures only when faced with no alternative, or when we rely on the possibility that the decision can still be suspended. The current domestic and international state of affairs will impose severe penalties on us for our situation and development, irrespective of who the leader may be and regardless of whether decisions will be made by that person or all of us together.
It is of utmost importance for us to remain, at all costs, in the same currency group as Germany and France. If ever, in the future, a new euro agreement is necessary for stronger coordination between our respective economic and fiscal policies, we should play a role in its creation and endorse it. We should also enhance our present economic, technological and other relations with this circle of countries, particularly Germany. We have succeeded in strengthening the existing good neighbourly relations and friendship between us. Having been up to the challenge of solving an issue which threatened to morph from being political to safety-related in nature in only 662 days (counting from the meeting held in Trakoščane until the registration of the arbitration agreement with Croatia), we have found a way to increase our reputation and influence throughout South-East Europe. Let us not underestimate this achievement, since our successful cooperation in tackling this issue allows for closer economic cooperation and raises prestige, which is an objective category in international politics.
We should intensify good strategic relations with Washington, as a major security ally, in addition to Ankara, Beijing and New Delhi. And particularly with India, as the largest democracy in the world, which is now experiencing a rapid economic upswing.
It is not pleasant to be a scape goat, but it is necessary
This is not a bespoke or operational programme, but serves as an indicator. You must have already heard by now that there are other directions that may be taken. When we are about to decide which path to take, we should bear in mind that, at this time, its leader must have, in addition to other qualities, a high degree of patience and a sense of tolerance. Accepting the role of being the greatest scape goat in such times of crisis is a duty imposed by the situation. In this way, the most responsible person in the State can, to a certain extent, ensure that increased intolerance is not transformed into a damaging hatred. I am firmly of the view that all this presents a direction that seems to me to be appropriate for Slovenia. Let us wait for the alternative to explain what improvements are to be made and how these are to be achieved.