Imagine Slovenia
Imagine Slovenia.
Slovenia is stuck today. Stuck in a Europe where member states block advancing the European project. Stuck at the national level because a large part of our population lost confidence in politics. Literally stuck in traffic and overburdened in Ljubljana because we concentrate all activity in our capital, forgetting about the potential of other regions. We are missing out on all three levels and it prevents Slovenia from closing the gap to leading EU member states. Why?
Volt is a movement that exists in all European countries and that believes in cooperation beyond classical politics and borders. With over 30 000 members, deputies in multiple countries and 5 seats in the European parliament, we are only starting to prove that we can have a positive impact by working together. In Slovenia as well.
How?
Volt Slovenia wants to work on three priorities along which our programme is constructed:
1. European Integration
The changing geopolitical landscape of the 21st century is already posing plenty of challenges and we should not wait until we are forced to adapt. To preserve peace and stability, we need a strong and united Europe. While bigger member states hesitate, Slovenia can step ahead. Let’s be the first country to truly integrate and reap the advantages of doing so. We could provide first-class public services and use the EU posted-worker directive to attract high-salary citizens to become tax residents in Slovenia to increase our tax base and attract businesses. We could focus our education on accessibility for the European job market to provide our children with the best chances to succeed both in Slovenia and wider Europe. We could cooperate with other smaller member states to jointly procure for our defense forces thereby greatly simplifying access to EU defense funding for our enterprises. Europe offers substantial advantages. Let’s not block our potential to raise our living standard by merely following in the footsteps of other member states’ backwards ideologies. Slovenia could become the member state that’s driving European integration and benefiting from it on all levels of society.
2. Trust
We cannot do much without confidence in politics and in Slovenian politics, a lot of trust needs to be rebuilt, especially with our younger generations. We want to follow the Scandinavian countries and annually publish assets and incomes of high-level civil servants and politicians and eventually the general population on a national transparency day. Public institutions, from police forces to hospitals and media should be free of political influence. Health costs must be transparent, there should be a tax receipt stating once per year what taxes have been spent on and financial transactions need to be monitored by independent authorities. Trust of the population goes hand in hand with trust by businesses to invest in Slovenia. Imagine what we could achieve by a transparent and responsible political system.
3. Decentralisation
Slovenia is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. A large part of the population suffers from the consequences - whether unaffordable housing or air pollution in Ljubljana or lack of quality jobs everywhere else. Our constitution mandates to decentralise and create regions and we want to do so. Along with quality public transportation and connectivity across the country. Regions should directly access EU funding like everywhere in Europe and can request competences and accompanying tax authority to be delegated from national level. We want to make Slovenia’s heartland accessible for sustainable tourism and provide incentives for businesses to establish themselves throughout the country. Imagine a vibrant Slovenia - from Murska Sobota to Koper.
A new future for Slovenia
Slovenia has so much untapped potential. European integration, transparency and decentralisation are the three levers to begin a success story that could redefine the role of Slovenia in Europe. Help us write this success story.