STA, 24 May 2019 - The Ibiza corruption scandal in Austria, the proposed setting up of mixed Slovenian-Italian border patrols and populism were the main topics of the last EU election debate aired by the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija on Thursday evening.
Commenting on the scandal that swept away the Austrian vice-chancellor and leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), Carinthian Slovenian Angelika Mlinar of the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) said the case illustrated that a state could not be build by populists.
Such parties are demolishing democracy, she said. Tanja Fajon of the Social Democrats (SD) agreed, adding that this was an attempt to destabilise the EU from the outside.
The top candidate of the Left, Violeta Tomić, believes the scandal has "blown the right populists' cover".
Gregor Perič of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Irena Joveva of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) strongly condemned the corruption scandal. New Slovenia (NSi) frontrunner Ljudmila Novak also called for zero tolerance for corruption and wondered who financed the left.
Romana Tomc of the joint list of the Democrats and People's Party (SDS+SLS) stressed the importance of the consequences of the scandal, that is the resignation of Heinz-Christian Strache.
Zmago Jelinčič of the National Party (SNS) said corruption was a reality. "Some get caught, others don't," he said, adding that Strache had probably gotten caught in a trap set up by intelligence services.
Igor Šoltes of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) said that when he was in charge of the Slovenian Court of Audit several suspected cases of corruption had been detected. "But the problem is that nothing happens," he said.
All candidates said they had never been involved in corruption and than argued about which political pole controls the media.
The candidates of non-parliamentary discussed similar issues in a debate that followed that featuring parliamentary parties.
Gorazd Pretnar of the Greens said one way to eradicate corruption would be to limit the access of lobbyists to MEPs.
Urša Zgojznik of Let's Connect disagreed, and proposed protecting those who are discovering corruption.
Andrej Šiško of the far-right United Slovenia (ZSi) thinks MEPs should be dismissed for even the slightest slip, while Bernard Brščič of the Homeland League (DOM) would eradicate corruption by not having all the power concentrated in Brussels.
The candidates of the parliamentary parties also commented on the proposal by Foreign Minister Miro Cerar for joint police patrols on the border with Italy. Only the candidates of the LMŠ and SMC backed the idea.
Joveva (LMŠ) said this would be a sign of neighbourly cooperation, while Perič (SMC) said the move was to prevent Italy from following Austria's example and reintroducing checks on its borders with Slovenia.
Other candidates do not support Cerar's proposal. Tomc (SDS) thinks such patrols should be set up along the southern border with Croatia, which was echoed by Jelinčič (SNS).
Fajon (SD) too opposes patrols on the internal Schengen borders and calls for a joint migration policy. Mlinar (SAB) sees no point in the joint patrols on the Slovenian-Italian border.
Šoltes (DeSUS), Tomić (Left) and Novak (NSi) are not impressed either. "Let's protect our external borders, so internal borders could be open," Novak stressed.
The candidates of non-parliamentary parties also talked about populism and the future of the EU with Brščič (DOM) saying that populism was a positive thing. "We need less Brussels and more Europe, and that's exactly what we're offering," he said.
Pretnar (Greens) said the remains of the post-crisis extremism would be represented in the European Parliament but added that they posed no threat as no new crisis was on the horizon.
Zgojznik (Let's Connect) was quick to add that a new crisis was in fact on the horizon, an environmental crisis. She also warned against the so-called green populism.
