The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 18 December 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Govt acting like Trump regarding epidemic
STA, 18 December 2020 – Mladina, the left-leaning weekly, says in its latest commentary that if it only appeared in the last few months that, in fighting the Covid-19 epidemic the Slovenian government was doing exactly what Donald Trump was doing until his defeat in the US presidential election, this has now become completely transparent.
"[PM] Janez Janša cares about the dead and infected and the raging of the epidemic like his role model Donald Trump does. And the same is true for his party. Trump followed capital and benefits that he could himself indirectly gain from this capital, and Janša is doing the same here. Everything negative that happens is only collateral damage of that fight for authority and power."
In the commentary headlined How Many More Dead?, the left-leaning weekly adds that the government's fight against the epidemic is completely falling apart, and that there is no professional logic in its measures, as everything is only a political battle.
All serious and even less serious experts have given up and withdrawn, and MPs have no other option than to seriously weigh their power and responsibility, as the current government has started working in a completely opposite direction.
"The chaos suits it. Janša is aware that he is not capable of salvaging the situation, that he has no one who would give him the impression that the measures are logical and justified. And this is why this government no longer deals with the epidemic, it is now only about keeping power and extending the term."
While countries with incomparably better epidemiological situation started introducing stricter measures, Slovenia relaxed the lockdown. "Remember when Trump did not want to halt public life? How he ridiculed Europe? How the interests of capital were preferred to the right to live? Everything we saw in America, we can now observe in Slovenia."
Mladina concludes by saying that the public hopes that MPs of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) will understand where Slovenia is at and that they will be able to admit that they were wronged. "Perhaps even New Slovenia (NSi) should think about where this government has taken us."
Reporter: Fight with epidemic lost due to distrust in govt
STA, 14 December 2020 – Reporter, the right-leaning weekly, says in its latest commentary that the Janez Janša government is losing the trust of people as one of the key elements in battling the epidemic, and that it has never been closer to its end than today. The longer the political agony lasts, the longer Slovenia will be running idle in fighting the epidemic, it adds.
The weekly wonders in the commentary Running Idle why Slovenia has failed to stop the epidemic, saying that one of the reasons is certainly that the government reacted too late, when the spread of the epidemic could not be stopped any more.
While neighbouring countries are opening up, Slovenia is in a lockdown and all there restrictions are taking too long and people are tired of restrictive measures, "especially when they see that the ruling party abuses them to consolidate power."
It is hard to convince people that protesters or the opposition are to blame for the spread of the epidemic, which is something that Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek of the Modern Centre Party (SMS) has also figured out.
Unlike the leaders of the largest coalition party, the Democrats (SDS), he has pointed to the responsibility of the current government, including the dwindling trust in PM Janez Janša, Reporter says, commending Počivalšek for calling a spade a spade.
If people have the feeling that the government unnecessarily restricts their fundamental rights instead of protecting their heath, the war against the epidemic is lost.
As for Janša, Reporter says that his "ideological behaviour does not bother only the opposition supporters, but also members of the coalition parties such as the SMC and DeSUS. It is no wonder, then, that Janša's government has never been closer to its end than today."
Karl Erjavec has returned as Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) president to take the "first step towards the downfall of the third Janša government" by publicly rejecting the possibility of serving in the government as minister.
Erjavec has launched the process of DeSUS leaving the government only to be slowed down by DeSUS deputies, but the question is how much longer can they "save Janša's government with their stubbornness before it falls apart by itself."
All our posts in this series are here
