STA, 1 October 2020 - The interim leader of the Social Democrats (SD), Tanja Fajon, has called on the government to reconsider the appointments of National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) director Milan Krek and of coronavirus spokesperson Jelko Kacin, criticising their style of communication and questioning their expertise.
In today's letter to Prime Minister Janez Janša, she criticised the "confused, inconsistent and unprofessional communication of the measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus".
She believes experts should be again entrusted with preparing relevant measures and the governments should take decisions on the basis of their recommendations.
In Fajon's view, Krek should be replaced by a person who will restore trust in the expertise of the NIJZ as a key institution during the epidemic.
She pointed to the situation at NIJZ as worrying indicating that the experts' voice was not being heard.
Kacin should meanwhile be replaced by an epidemiologist who will assume the key role in communicating with the public in a calm, wise and explanatory manner.
Kacin, a veteran politician who excelled at the government's news conferences during the 1991 war, was appointed practically as soon as the Janša government took over in mid-March. His style of communication has been often criticised as patronising.
Krek's appointment was meanwhile cleared on 30 April after his predecessor and the government had differing views on some of the preventive measures.
The opposition criticised him already in June for undermining the NIJZ's reputation by providing confused and incomprehensible explanations of some of the measures.
Fajon meanwhile welcomed the government's intention to draft a plan to contain the epidemic, but would like it to be produced in collaboration with various experts.
The plan should feature "logical and realistic measures which should be communicated in clearly and frankly", she wrote.
Fajon also supports an initiative by the leader of the fellow-opposition SAB party, Alenka Bratušek, to call a political summit on measures to contain the epidemic.
Fajon's appeal was rebuked by senior government officials and Krek, with two state secretaries at the prime minister's office dismissing her argument.
Vinko Gorenak said on Twitter that the government had always taken measures "exclusively on the basis of recommendations by the epidemiological profession".
Jelka Godec said the coronavirus task force presents proposed measures at least once a week, but it is true that ignores "your 'expert' recommendations about wearing masks," a reference to the SD's proposal that masks should no longer be mandatory in school.
While Kacin declined to comment on the call for the STA, Krek said what the NIJZ needed most right now was help and support rather than criticism.
"I work for the NIJZ as a doctor, I work in line with medical standards and I communicate with people in a way for them to realise this is a serious situation. Fajon's assessment is just her own assessment," he told the STA.
Krek said that 27 epidemiologists were working at the NIJZ keeping things going during the epidemic so that the country did not have to go into lockdown again.
"And instead of thanking us, Fajon is criticising us. I wonder what right she has to do it and why she is doing it."
He said he expected politicians to understand "that we are an expert institution not a political one, and that we are neither for one or the other political block, because we have too serious a job to do right now to be able to engage in anything else."
