Prime Minister Janez Janša at the main national celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of Slovenian statehood in the Bovec, Kobarid and Tolmin municipalities
- Former Prime Minister Janez Janša (2020 - 2022)
In his address, he spoke about the 30th anniversary of Slovenian statehood. It is a time in which we not only look back upon and critically analyse and evaluate past events, but also look ahead to the next 30 years. He pointed out that the time 30 years ago is worth remembering, also due to the lessons learned then. At the time of the war for independence, Slovenia was alone, but nevertheless insisted on the decision to hold a plebiscite. “Very few countries in the world have been created with such a majority popular vote in a plebiscite.” He noted that 30 years ago Slovenia came out as a winner because it used its brains. “One had to choose among alternative decisions at many crossroads and at different levels.” In this regard, he said that not all decisions were always ideal and entirely certain, but that the vast majority of them were correct.” In his speech, he also recalled the words of Dr Jože Pučnik, who on the day of the announcement of the plebiscite declared: “Yugoslavia is gone, now it’s about Slovenia.” Yugoslavia still existed at that time, but, according to the Prime Minister, Dr Pučnik was aware that the determination of the people was so strong that a Slovenian state was practically a fact.
He went on to speak about Slovenia's evolution over the past three decades, its current international recognition, and the fact that its statehood day and its 30th anniversary were remembered yesterday by countries from all over the world. In his speech, Prime Minister Janša stressed that Slovenia is not only Ljubljana, that his Government is aware of this fact, and that, despite the epidemic, it has increased lump sum payments, accelerated the drawing on European funds and that, in the next few days, it will approve the national Recovery and Resilience Plan, which will provide significant funds for many projects. A proposal for an act on ensuring investments in the Slovenian healthcare system in the next ten years has been submitted toparliament, the first package of legislative changes in the field of debureaucratisation and a number of other act proposals. “This Government is aware that local communities, cities and municipalities are an integral part of the Slovenian state mosaic.” Prime Minister Janša also said that the Government was going to visit all Slovenian regions in the coming months, starting with the region of Podravje as early as next week.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the epidemic, that it turned out that, during the epidemic crisis, municipalities, mayors and municipal civil protection headquarters were the ones that operationally dealt with the crisis. The current epidemiological situation is good, but, according to the Prime Minister, precautionary measures will still be necessary during the summer. In autumn, however, normal life will depend on vaccine coverage. The benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks a million times. Countries with high vaccination coverage will have a normal life in the autumn. The Prime Minister called on the mayors to assist in the vaccinations and announced a meeting with all Slovenian mayors to see what can be done in the next two months.