A Word from the Editor The election campaign is in ful! swing, although only a fewseem to have noticed it. Maybe that is because the issues thatmarked previous election campaigns are curiously absent fromthe public discourse. There has not been much talk about whoreally won the World War II, the communist resistance or theconservative quislings. Some ink has indeed been spilled overa perennial question of ex-president Milan Kučan's allegedstranglehold on the economic and
political life of the country,but only in obscure newspapers pandering to extreme fringesofthe right-wing electorale. Instead, the campaign has focusedon the issues of economic policy and inequality, on the wayssome people got extremely rich, while others are left facing ris-ing prices and erosion oftheir living standard. Is Slovenia grow-ing up at last?Maybe so, but it is also grovving increasingly frustrated withthe way the transition from planned to market economy hasbeen managed by its political class. While CEOs of the country'sbluechips were busy taking over their companies, the politiciansand regulators looked the other way. Not that there is anythingunusual in managers buying out the companies they lead, butthey should go about it in a transparent way, obeying the takeoverlaw and the rights of small shareholders. There are many indicesthat this has not been the case in Slovenia. The politicians and theregulators they appoint have avvakened to this fact right beforethe September general election. A coincidence? No, but better towake up late than never. Still, the question remains whether thefrantic activity of regulators investigating a number of suspiciousfinandal transactions vvill result in successful indictments or willthis activity subside once the election is over and the new govern-mentis installed.The history of relations between the politicians and the econ-omy in Slovenia does not hold much hope for those who thinkthat politicians should leave the economy alone, letting it real-ize its potenital to the fullest. Each government has assidiouslygone about establishing its own economic elite. As the state hasmajor stakes in many leading Slovenian companies, from telcooperator Telekom Slovenije to oil retailer Petrol, this gave theministers the opportunity to staff the managment boards withfriendly faces. Only when things went awry, when one-time al-lies became contenders for influence, the public got the chanceto have a glimpse of deals and horse-trading that went on be-hind closed doors.We are now en)oying such a privileged moment. When theCEO of Laško Brewery Boško Šrot reneged on a deal with thegovernment, allegedly concerning the editorial policy of Slove-nia's leading newspaper, the regulators suddenly started lookinginto financial transactions that led to the takeover of the brew-ery. If any irregularities were indeed proved that vvould not bodewell for Slovenian brand of capitalism. The country prided itself inmanaging the transition in a manner that left everybody involvedbetter off. That might still be the case. Hovvever, no transition thatmakes the elected few scandalously more better ofthan the aver-age citizen can be considered just. Especially if such an order ofthings has been brought about with the help of politicians pro-fessing their faith in the justice for all. MARKO VUKOVIČ, BUSINESS EDITOR
Medij: The Slovenia Times
Avtorji: Vukovič Marko
Teme: mali delničarji
Rubrika / Oddaja: Ostalo
Datum: 06. 06. 2008
Stran: 2