Better state administration and satisfied citizens is the motto of the new Slovenian administration. That's why you won't see an ashtray behind the counter, nor will the chat room let you wait for ten minutes while it turns off the beeper and has a private phone conversation.
Economists still cannot agree on how much time (a decade or more) Serbia needs to return to where Slovenia started in 1991. An even bigger unknown is how long it will take her to reach Slovenia in 2001. Still, it's not a bad idea to look into the future for motivation. How does Slovenia live today?
Apparently, more than good. With the exception of part of the population, which the President of the Republic, Milan Kučan, reminded in a solemn speech at the recent celebration of the 10th anniversary of independence.
However, the poor and unemployed make up only fifteen percent of the population. The others seem quite satisfied. That it is so can be seen immediately after crossing the Slovenian border. First - vehicles on the roads; the situation is even more enviable than a few years ago. The middle category of the once most popular Zastava (jugo and hundred ace) and Renault (four) cars can rarely be seen even in parking lots in front of student dormitories; they were replaced by Korean budget sedans. Plus other latest models of foreign cars. It is possible to buy a car (and other equipment) on credit, leasing, with all kinds of "special discounts" imaginable. With the "old for new" system, drivers exchange last year's polo, Punto, Megane, Corsa, Klia... which hasn't even reached the first service (20.000 km traveled) for this year's, the last "cry" of fashion.
An impressive fleet of vehicles tripped, however, on the roads; Slovenia is rapidly building highways, and the toll of numerous traffic accidents has led to rigorous fines - if the headlights are turned off during the day or all passengers are not buckled up, the fine is from 100 German marks upwards, for a foreigner - immediately. A quality vehicle fleet has its advantages - technical inspections are mandatory for new vehicles only after three years (and then every subsequent year), while vehicles older than ten years must be inspected every six months. The renewal of driving licenses and the conclusion of insurance are completed in a few minutes at the technical inspection counters, with candies for children and cold juices at the expense of the house. Service stations and auto repair shops look like surgical theaters, without a single greasy stain, with the offer to use their company car for free while they work on yours. Gas stations are in line with that. They look like drugstores where you can buy everything - from packaged fresh meat, fruit and sandwiches, through cosmetics to Vespas. Even a car - near Murska Sobota, I ran into a Daewo Tik at a gas station, leaning against a rack with car tires.
EFFECT GLASS GARDENS: The number of cars is almost equal to the number of inhabitants, which significantly improves the state of public transport. The buses are new and half-empty, some of which use waste oil as fuel. Special credits and tax breaks are given to "environmental projects" in the form of solar installations, insulation and the like. In order to increase the birth rate, each child, in relation to the family standard, receives child allowance on the 12th of the month, and care is also taken of the housing problems of young families through "non-profit apartments" and special loans. The state provided money for this from the sale of state apartments at real value. Social housing in Slovenia was not bought for nothing, but everyone had to invest at least DM 10.000-20.000 for the purchase. Salaries and pensions are regular, and pensioners also receive special "recreation allowances".
The status symbol of the average Slovenian is not an expensive suit and a mobile phone (of course) but a limousine. Which is not unusual, since the statistics show a relatively healthy picture of the Slovenian economy in transition. The price of the consumer basket is around 430 German marks, which is 39 percent of the net salary. According to the data of the Statistical Office of Slovenia, the average salary is about 1100 DM net, while the GDP per inhabitant reaches an almost incredible 10.078 US dollars, which is almost twice as high as the normally high standard in the "competing" Czech Republic.
For the sake of comparison - in 1990, a worker in Slovenia had to work for 21 minutes for a loaf of brown bread, and in 1999 for 20 minutes, for a kilogram of flour in 1990 it took 13 minutes, and in 1999 only nine, for a kilogram of pork two hours and nine minutes, and nine years later one hour and 26 minutes.
In 1990, 347 hours and 50 minutes of work had to be set aside for the television, and in 1999, 116 hours and 22 minutes. The shift, given that eleven years have passed, may not strike some as fantastic. However, if it is compared with what the average citizen of Belgrade could buy with his earnings in 1990, and what he can buy today - then the difference is science fiction. However, not everything has become cheaper. So, for example, a "domestic" Renault Clio costs more today - in 1990, every Slovenian could buy it after 2420 hours and ten minutes of work, and in 1999, only when he would have saved his wages for 3188 hours and 47 minutes of work.
Over the past decade, Slovenia has gradually gone through what is now affecting Serbia, in a concentrated form. As Slovenia moved closer to the European Union, the prices of electricity, water, utilities, telephone and other services increased. On the other hand, the standard of living also increased gradually. And the state budget is filled differently than it used to be. Tariffs are either falling or not there at all, and the main source of government revenue is taxes and "excise duties". In the price of gasoline of about 1,7 DM, only a third represents the value of gasoline on the market, the rest is trade margins and various state taxes. The positive side is that such an open market means more choice for the consumer. In the era of Ante Marković and the first years of independence, clothes, shoes, food... were mostly bought in shops in the vicinity of Trieste, Klagenfurt or Graz. Now, however, the prices of basic products in mammoth shopping centers are so low in Slovenia that it is no longer worth the trip to Austria or Italy. That's why he now shops once a week in huge, super-modern supermarkets, which are open until 9 in the evening (some even until 10), including weekends. The Austrian Interspar appeared first, then the domestic Mercator...
The privatization process has been completed in most companies. The influence of politics on companies does not exist, nor does the state influence the choice of management and the operation of private companies. About 55 percent of the domestic gross product is generated by private companies. As far as healthcare is concerned, it survived relatively well in the first ten years. The quality of services has remained at least at the level inherited from "socialism", but not everything is free anymore. Doctors do their work without bribes, and in order to pay for once-regular healthcare services (dentists, prostheses, additional examinations), you have to pay one of the insurance companies for yourself and your family at the beginning of each year, the so-called additional insurance, which is not mandatory, but for a relatively small amount (from 200 to 400 marks per year, depending on age) brings you numerous benefits. Even health cards are no longer used - every insured person receives a card (like a bank card) with a chip that contains all the data; each doctor's office has a terminal into which a card can be inserted to check data, and the validity of the card is extended every few months in special devices in health centers.
It was similar with the banks, which are just entering the privatization process. Raiffeisen, Austrija Bank, Hiccup bank, Society General - these are the banks to which you can entrust your money, with a guarantee of withdrawing money abroad. After the crash of 1990, local banks managed to regain the trust of depositors, so they have about 3,7 billion DM of foreign currency savings in their vaults. You can withdraw cash in stamps any time and as much as you like. However, for amounts of several hundred German marks, you do not need to go to the bank - there are ATMs, 24 hours a day.
New technology is increasingly available to a wide range of people. Cable TV is present in almost every home (which, in addition to fifty European and American programs, also includes all three programs of Croatian TV and satellite BK and Pink), and operators in major cities offer non-stop access to the Internet at speeds of just DM 30 per month up to 512 kbps. ISDN telephone lines are offered by dealers in shopping centers, and ADSL connections or GRPS in mobile telephony are currently the biggest hit. That is why it is not surprising that the bureaucracy has also been modernized. Thus, you can order an identity card (which is not mandatory anyway), a passport and similar items in Ljubljana and (for now) larger cities online. If you trust the counter more, extracting the most important documents will take you five to ten minutes, which means filling out the form, waiting and receiving it, immediately, with the obligatory smile of the clerk. If necessary, prove your identity with a driver's license or passport.
Better state administration and satisfied citizens is the motto of the new Slovenian administration. That's why you won't see an ashtray behind the counter, nor will the chat let you wait ten minutes while he turns off the alarm clock and has a private phone conversation. Simply, that luxury is forbidden to them. And in order for the parties to be less nervous, the more frequent municipal offices share serial numbers.
Slovenia was greatly helped by the fact that its citizens can travel to all European countries and the USA without visas. It is the first ex-socialist country with such status and one of only 25 countries for which Washington does not require a visa. Aside from the fact that all Slovenian citizens enter Italy, Croatia, Hungary and Austria only with an identity card. They also freely cross all other (invisible) borders in Europe, and the same is true for tourists from the EU who come to Slovenia only with an identity card. Of the former SFRY republics, only the FRY (without Montenegro) and Macedonia ask that Slovenians buy their visas.
SOLDAT, BABY SISTER, POLICEMAN... Military service lasts for six months, recruits are stationed in barracks near their homeland, they go home in civilian clothes every weekend. Those who do not want to "receive weapons" are allowed to serve in civilian military service for a period of 12 months. They work in hospitals, nursing homes, as security guards in primary schools, and some also as "baby-sitters", help in the house.
There are bitter pills in this whole – undoubtedly Slovenian – success story. It is the fact that the Slovenian "Europeanization" burdened by coexistence in the former Yugoslavia is most often associated with a consistent renunciation of everything that reminds of the "Balkans".
Analysts were alarmed by reports that Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent, and a series of other reports added to the anxiety in the West. And then, on the morning of June 13, Israel systematically launched an attack on all of Iran's nuclear capabilities, from human to technological to military.
Mafia boss Giovanni Brusca (pictured above) was acquitted on the basis of a law that was insisted on by his most famous victim: Judge Falcone (pictured below). He was released from prison after 29 years. How and why did it happen?
The life and connections of an American citizen and a Russian poet and a Jew, born 85 years ago, an incomplete elementary school student, a metal apprentice, an assistant pathologist and geologist, a poet who was a victim of an ideological turn and political-literary intrigues, tried twice, twice placed in an insane asylum, attempted suicide because of love, for parasitism was sentenced to five years of exile with community service, which a tractor driver on the Danilovsky collective farm he did not appreciate it, nor the song about it, in the village of Norenska he enjoyed respect as an exile who rose up, "voluntarily" obtained a visa without the right to return and meet his parents, achieved a university career, won the Nobel Prize, was a poetic pop star, loved by women, loved cats, smoked a lot, died at 56 - and was buried for the second time in Venice, still a little far from Ezra Pound
And while Vladimir Putin expresses his condolences to Iran and condemns the Israeli attacks, Russian tanks remain in garages. In the background – diplomatic maneuvers, strategic interests and careful weighing of benefits at a time when the Kremlin is looking for a new offensive opportunity in Ukraine.
Chancellor Friedrich Mertz openly said that he hopes for a regime change in Tehran or a return to the negotiating table, otherwise Israel will "go all the way"
The dramatic appeal of United Media employees shows what can happen when the media is controlled by the regime and corporations. It is happening in Serbia now. If the audience does not recognize this, an even blacker media darkness threatens
Aleksandar Vučić now has only the old, proven methods of classic dictatorships left, because these modern methods of insanity and poisoning the public are failing. And that, however, goes against his head
Vučić is not defending the state, but himself from the state. With a drum on his back and a guitar in his hands, this man-orchestra performs two or three of the same songs without hearing, with falsifications and falling out of rhythm. His government and politics are like that. In short - dangerous for the environment
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