Debate: This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob
Date: TUESDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2022
Speaker: Robert Golob
Language: SL

V bistvu mi je v veliko čast, da lahko prav danes nagovorim Parlament, nagovorim vse državljanke in državljane, ker želim govoriti o skupni prihodnosti Evropske unije. Skupni prihodnosti, ki verjame v moč povezovanja, v moč sodelovanja in v moč enotnosti.  Sam, ker prihajam iz majhne članice Evropske unije, se natančno zavedam dejstva, da samo takrat, ko se združujemo na podlagi svojih moči in vrlin in ko vsak prispeva tisto, v čemer je najboljši, lahko tvorimo skupnost, ki bo najuspešnejša. In takrat, ko je ta skupnost enotna in odločna, takrat lahko ta skupnost premika meje mogočega. In verjamem, da je ravno danes Evropa – Evropa kot celota, ne samo Evropska unija – na preizkušnji, ravno pri tem, koliko moči premore, da bo naslovila zgodovinske izzive, s katerimi se sooča.  Potem ko smo dve leti živeli v obsednem stanju s strani covida, in ne se bat, ne bom govoril o covidu danes, smo se zaradi ruske agresije morali soočiti s situacijo, ki je nismo videli po zaključku druge svetovne vojne na evropskih tleh. Soočamo se s situacijo, v kateri so kršene vse mednarodne norme, kršena je suverenost države na podlagi vojaške agresije brez razloga.  Ta agresija ima poleg vseh ostalih implikacij izjemne posledice tudi na nas, na vse državljanke in državljane Evropske unije in na naše gospodarstvo. Ne samo energetska kriza, ne samo energetske cene, vse to je pripeljalo do tega, da smo danes soočeni tudi z gospodarsko krizo in predvsem z zvišanjem cen na vseh področjih in rekordno inflacijo.  Zato bom danes naslovil predvsem tri področja. Največ bom posvetil – glede na moje ozadje – energetiki in zeleni tranziciji, zelenemu prehodu. Dotaknil pa se bom tudi vladavine prava in pa geopolitičnih prizadevanj, v katerih je Slovenija majhen, ampak vseeno pomemben kamenček v mozaiku.  Dear ladies, dear gentlemen, let me give you just a brief background on myself in order to fully understand why I will address energy as the major topic during my speech. For the last 15 years, I was working at an energy company: a company that I founded and I was running as a CEO; a company that grew from zero up to 3 billion in revenue; a company that was the largest energy trader in southern and eastern Europe; a company that grew from zero to the largest supplier of electricity in Slovenia; and a company which in the latest years was also the largest provider of solar power plants, meaning that we did embark on investing in renewables as well.  Having said that, let’s switch to the main topic, and that is energy. It is totally clear to everyone that overdependence on one gas source, which is from Russia, led to the weaponisation of that particular energy source during the last year, and that we are facing the consequences of that weaponisation right now.  But even though the lack of supply was rightly addressed by the swift action both of the Parliament and Commission during the last weeks – meaning that just by combining the three factors which is being able to reduce the demand, being able to find new sources from friendly countries and being able to keep the pipelines open throughout Europe by implementing the solidarity clause, we were able to cover for the energy needs – it was not enough to address the prices. And this is one topic that I always emphasise whenever I speak to my colleagues at the European Council and that is that, yes, a lot has been done, but more needs to be done as well in the future. And this week is crucial in that regard.  So either we address properly the high energy prices and when I say properly it means decisively, and when I say decisively, we need to implement regulatory changes in the market mechanisms because the internal energy market at the moment, I will not say it is not working, I will say is being worked by the speculative money, but for their own profits and not for the benefits of the population of Europe.  And this is where the responsibility of the European Council comes into light, because it’s up to us to address this issue in the proper manner. And we already asked the Commission once to come up with a set of rules, set of measures, which will adequately address this issue and I cannot say that I am happy with what the Commission has come up with. It will not work. It’s not enough. We will need to be more decisive in order to reduce the volatility in the markets. We will need to be more decisive to eliminate price spikes. And we will need to be more decisive when it comes to the gas price caps.  The energy ministers sit in the council of today and I certainly hope and urge that they will come to a common decision by whatever means in order to show the unity not to the population but to the markets, because we need to show the unity to the speculative traders and, remember, I made my living by doing that, so I know what I’m talking about.  So we need to show them a clear message and unity that we will not be left drained. We will not let them drain our budgets. We will not let them drain the global competitiveness of our industry for their profits.  It’s a very important message, and that’s why I’m repeating it all over the place and I’m doing it right now.  But the future doesn’t stop today and doesn’t stop this winter, so we need to look forward, onward, and the green transition is actually not just the only way forward, but it is also the only way that addresses the three issues simultaneously. It does improve and it does bring autonomy, independence, energy independence to Europe. It is the only way to energy independence. It does mitigate climate change because that’s the only way how to reduce the impact of energy on climate. And it also, at the end of the day, brings lower energy prices. So we do address all three issues simultaneously and that means that, again, we cannot linger. We need to move as bold and as ambitious as possible.  If that means speeding up the permitting process, well, yes. If that means building more, not just interconnectors, but more gas and pipe and power lines, yes, we do need more power lines at all levels. We can put them underground, but we need them and we need more storage capacity as well to enable the grids to connect more renewables. And this is really the only way forward.  And if we act bold and decisively and if we link the wind potential of north with some potential of the south – put some hydro in the mix and some storage in between – yeah, in the next 10 to 15 years, we could be totally renewable in Europe. It is a vision that is doable. Okay, it might take us five more years than that, but it’s doable. And that’s the most important message. And for that reason, not just because of the energy crisis that we are facing now, we really owe it, we owe it to our children to do it now because it’s doable so there is absolutely no excuse that we wait with our next steps when it comes to that.  Before entering politics, while I was still the executive, I was also the EU Climate Pact Ambassador. I was promoting, and sincerely promoting it, because for living I was doing energy trading but for my soul I was promoting the self-sustainable home energy systems – the systems where each of us that owns a home can become totally independent on himself, on him, on hers or his energy needs, for all energy needs. Electric vehicle, sunroof, solar heating, heat pumps and storage. By doing that, we helped thousands and thousands of households in Slovenia to become totally independent from the existing crisis. So they are not just helping the environment, at the moment they are totally independent on the energy crisis.  The one thing that we are addressing all the time when it comes to the energy transition, we are always addressing the how do we deal with the energy for our machines, for our technologies.  But we are overlooking one important thing. This is my second message. We are overlooking the how do we address the energy that we need to fuel our bodies, which is food. The food system that we are utilising right now is totally unsustainable for our future, totally. Unless we change the food production and food consumption in a very thorough way, we will not be able to meet any of the climate goals. Because if the rest of the world would follow in our steps, we would need seven planets just to sustain the food consumption, which is obviously not something that can be done.  Now, of course, each of us can start a change in himself or herself. Changing the diet. Of course, that’s easy. Just switch from less meat – I’m not saying no meat – but that’s consume less meat, let’s consume more plant-based food. Anyway, it’s healthier, but this is not the story today. But in that way, we will help the planet and we will help our children as well. Not just by teaching them how to be healthier, but also in teaching them how to be sustainable.  But that’s an individual choice. What is the responsibility of the government or of the authorities? The main responsibility is the building of the awareness, scientific facts when it comes to food plus – and this is important – to enable the choice, enable the choice of healthier food to be available in public systems.  That’s what we did on a small scale in Slovenia back home. And results are amazing. We didn’t have to force anyone and 50% of consumers at a particular facility switched within a month on a totally plant-based food. It was an individual choice that was enabled by the authorities. Not enforced – this is very important.  Going back to the other thing where the responsibility of the government or the authorities is even more crucial is, of course, the rule of law. And when it comes to the rule of law, I would share a personal story with you. As you already remember, most probably, I was minding my own business, earning lots of money and being quite happy, up to a certain point when I realised that the rule of law in Slovenia is just being eaten away. By the previous government. The judicial system was slowly being weakened. The freedom of speech and the media – especially freedom of media – was being taken away. And a certain point in time, again, being happy, I just realised I don’t want to live in a country where the rule of law is non-existent. This is why I stepped into politics. This is why I stepped out of my comfort zone, not in my comfort zone. And this is why I stand here.  And this is so important and that’s why I realised that the rule of law is not something to be negotiated about, but is something to be enforced. And that that is the responsibility of all of us that are in the political system.  By saying that, the first thing that come to your mind once you have to make a decision on whether you step into politician role or not, is okay, how do we deal with all the exposure? The fake news exposure. Hate speech exposure. Because that’s immediately what you get once you decide to step into politics. And I’m not speaking about uncoordinated or spontaneous fake news or spontaneous hate speech, I’m speaking about hate speech, which is financed and instigated by the existing political forces or lobbies – it doesn’t matter what you call them.  So I urge and I know that you’ve already done some steps when it comes to hate speech, Parliament, I know it’s been the Council, the European Council again, who was blocking, who is blocking it. And I urge you to find new ways, new ways how to address the issue of paid-for hate speech with a clear, clear goal. And the goal is, you know what, to keep the dissent people out of politics. That’s really the goal.  I know there is a fine balance between the freedom of speech and the hate speech, the measures against one and the measures to really improve the freedom of speech. And I’m pretty much sure you will know how to strike the balance because the freedom of speech, especially social media, they do play an important role when it comes to really bringing things to our awareness that would otherwise stay hidden. And, in this regard, I would like to especially address the Iranian situation, which would not be noticed by anyone in Europe because of the censorship unless there would be social media. And all the efforts done especially by the Iranian women and with their inventive, non-violent ways of protesting against the brutality of the regime and for their human rights , their women’s rights is something to be really proud of and to give them support as much as possible. So I urge you to be loud, to keep staying loud, and to keep pointing the way forward, where they will be heard also within this particular Parliament. I know lots has been done and I urge you to do more. Let’s show them that we do know what our geopolitical responsibility is. Even though most of the time, again, within the European Council, that’s not the case. Okay, I’m switching back to Slovenian, sorry. To me pripelje do zadnje točke na agendi, do geopolitičnih prizadevanj, tudi Slovenije. Če kje, je Evropska unija pokazala odgovornost in enotnost v primeru ruske agresije na Ukrajino. In zato sem hvaležen vsem institucijam, tudi Evropskemu svetu, ki je pokazal, res, da takrat, ko je potrebno, znamo biti enotni.  Znali smo bili enotni tudi na točki, ko smo uporabili najmočnejše orodje, ki ga ima Evropska unija, in to je širitveni proces. Pozdravljam odločitev vseh institucij, da smo tako Ukrajini kot Moldovi – Moldaviji – priznali status kandidatke za članstvo v Evropski uniji in pozdravljam vse napore, tudi Parlamenta, zato da se proces pridruževanja pospeši.  Kajti pridružitveni proces oziroma proces širitve Evropske unije je v resnici orodje, ki se ga v Sloveniji zelo močno zavedamo, ker smo sorazmerno nova članica. Zelo dobro se spomnim upanja, upanja v boljšo prihodnost, ki nam jo je dajal ravno ta širitveni proces. Zato zelo dobro razumem, kakšno upanje v boljšo prihodnost s tem dajemo državljankam in državljanom Ukrajine in Moldavije. In zato pozivam, da se na tem procesu ne zaustavljamo.  Enako velja tudi za področje Zahodnega Balkana. Zahodni Balkan je od začetka ruske agresije izpostavljen velikim pritiskom s strani propagande. Pritiskom, s katerimi se želi razbiti enotnost Evrope kot celote v obsodbi ruske agresije in predvsem v podpori Ukrajini.  In ravno zato mora danes Evropska unija se zavedati, koliko lahko s tem političnim orodjem prispeva ne samo k stabilnosti regije, ampak prispeva tudi k temu, da bomo vsi skupaj ostali enotni pri podpori Ukrajini.  Ne gre samo za Bosno in Hercegovino, pa se bom vseeno navezal nanjo. Gre za celoten Zahodni Balkan. Ampak Bosna in Hercegovina je tista država, ki je bila v preteklosti žrtev agresije. In Bosni in Hercegovini smo ravno zato dolžni danes pokazati, da nismo pozabili nanjo. Tako kot ne želimo, da bi kdaj pozabili na Ukrajino ... čez leta.  Ker je ravno to zgodba, ki jo moramo pokazati, da ne dajemo signalov samo na začetku, ampak da smo v stanju zgodbe tudi zaključiti. In v Bosni moramo zaključevati zgodbo, zgodbo, ki se je začela pred dvajsetimi leti in ni še naredila nobenega koraka.  In vem, spraševali se boste, „Kdo naj naredi prvi korak?“. Ampak s tem, ko je Slovenija mlada članica, bi rad povedal naslednje. Efekt, ki ga ima vstop v Evropsko unijo, je transformativen. Mi smo se spremenili. Članstvo v Evropski uniji spremeni državo, spremeni pogled najprej ljudi, potem pa ljudje poskrbijo, da se spremeni tudi politika. Ne more biti drugače.  Računati, da se bodo politične strukture spremenile same od sebe, je iluzorno in ne daje rezultatov. Delati moramo ... Kot evropski državljani moramo delati na tem, da naše sodržavljane iz Zahodnega Balkana prepričamo o tem, da je njihovo edino mesto v Evropi. In da potem oni poskrbijo za spremembo tudi v političnih strukturah, da bodo politične strukture to dejstvo sprejele kot nekaj, za kar se morajo boriti. In potem bodo sprejele tudi vladavino prava in demokracijo.  Sam ne verjamem v obratni vrstni red. Zato v Sloveniji vse politične strukture močno podpiramo, da se v Bosni in Hercegovini ta proces res prestavi v višjo prestavo in da damo Bosni, da damo predvsem prebivalcem in prebivalkam Bosne in Hercegovine priložnost, da postanejo enakopravni evropski državljani.  Čisto za konec. Slovenija je ponosna članica evropske družine in v veliko zadovoljstvo nam je, da bomo lahko skupaj gradili evropsko prihodnost ne samo z obstoječimi članicami Evropske unije, ampak s celotno Evropo.  In verjamemo, da je to tista pot, ki bo dejansko pripeljala ne samo do miru, ampak tudi do blaginje za vse državljanke, vse prebivalke in prebivalce Evrope. Naprej Evropa!