The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 9 July 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Govt engaged in voter suppression
STA, 9 July 2021 - In its latest commentary, Mladina questions the current government's law-making practices and mentions failures in the fight against the epidemic, the intensifying repression and obstruction of political participation, adding that events surrounding the latest referendum on the new water law suggest this can't be just a coincidence.
"The repressive content of the law on infectious diseases and the referendum on the new waters act suggest that there are too many coincidences to believe that this is not a deliberate obstruction of the electorate," says the commentary headlined Are These Really Just Coincidences?
"Were we naive to think that the institution of elections would not be touched?" asks Mladina and continues with listing suspicious administrative occurrences surrounding the referendum on the new water law.
The left-leaning weekly also criticized the government's handling of the Covid-19 epidemic: "They have known since March that they have big problems here, that people do not trust them, but they continued with the very same incompetent team that brought us into this situation. No reflection, no consideration, all the same nonsense and mistakes as last summer."
"Do these people really understand nothing? Or do they understand and continue doing these things deliberately because this situation suits them, because they want the country in a new lockdown, so they can continue their cultural and social revolution during this period?"
Mladina says that "nevertheless, it is worth believing that these are just coincidences or incompetence, and to behave politically." They say that voters' political behaviour was also proven by the early voting turnout in the referendum.
"If the new waters act is defeated in the referendum despite all the 'coincidences', this will send a loud and clear message to the government and the coalition."
"So far, they have been able to declare the polls unreliable and downplay the importance of protests. But if you don't allow people to have early elections, even when they made their wish clear, they will find other ways of political engagement. Underestimating people has a high price," concludes the commentary.
Reporter: Janša's problems with communication growing
STA, 5 July 2021 - The right-leaning weekly Reporter says in its latest editorial that Prime Minister Janez Janša's problems in communication with politicians and media are becoming ever bigger. Not many people can turn a routine event such as the start of the EU presidency into a scandal, says the paper.
The start of the EU presidency is usually a boring, routine event full of predictable statements and cliches. The country taking over the presidency boasts its achievements and presents its ambitious agenda for the next six months.
But in the case of Slovenia, the country's priorities and all the positive messages, which an army of clerks and PR experts has been working on, were overshadowed by the statements and actions of top Slovenian officials.
Even on 1 July, the EU's recovery after the pandemic, Conference on the Future of Europe, strengthening of security, preserving the European way of life and respect for the rule of law were not the main topics of media reports on Slovenia.
Instead, media have been writing for a few days about photographs and swines and ice-cold relations between Janša and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
The most credit for this goes to Janša himself, who again made his domestic resentments towards media and judiciary international as the delegation from Brussels paid a visit.
It was almost inevitable that he will do it sometime in the next six months, but it was expected he will pick better timing and do it more successfully.
A photo of judges at a picnic hosted by the SocDems is not something that would shock von der Leyen and European commissioners. She made it clear that judges can be members or sympathisers of political parties.
Moreover, not long ago court proceedings involving Janša were cancelled because of jurors who were members of his Democrats (SDS).
And by attacking the SocDems, Janša offered Frans Timmermans, the European Commission vice-president from the ranks of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), a chance to make a scandal b
All our posts in this series are here
