496 KB61 KB201220252023Gašparič, JurePančur, AndrejSkubic, Jureštevilka:2letnik:63str. 20-43ISSN:0353-0329DOI:10.51663/pnz.63.2.02COBISSID_HOST:170278915URN:URN:NBN:SI:doc-5RY4FFC0enInštitut za novejšo zgodovinoPrispevki za novejšo zgodovinoelectionsEUEuroscepticismevroskepticizeminformiranje volivcevpoliticspolitikavolitvevoter outreachEuropean politics behind closed doors| the origins of euroscepticism in Slovenia|Euroscepticism is a common political problem in many EU member states or potential candidates. There is a general belief that the EU is a giant bureaucratic structure and as such distant, colossal and suspicious, which creates a growing distance between the EU and its citizens. Such ambivalent sentiment towards the EU could be noticed also in Slovenia after it gained independence from Yugoslavia and started the process of joining the EU. The general public opinion about the EU was rather low – people were generally sympathetic about the EU but never completely enthusiastic about it. What attributed to such attitude was also the fact that politicians adopted several regulations without properly informing the public therefore leaving people uninformed about potentially important issues. In this paper, we argue that the threat to representative democracy is not so much in politicians not keeping their promises but rather in politicians not telling their constituents what they are working on and adopting more regulations than communicated with public. Our analysis of election manifestos, public opinion and press releases uncovers two fundamental problems of the Slovenian government between 2000 and 2004. The first one is an almost routine adoption of EU regulations without serious public debates and the second government’s failure to communicate relevant matters with public in a timely manner, problematize them and bring them closer to people. Although the analysis focuses on events that happen around 20 years ago, we believe that our findings are highly relevant also for the state of Slovenian politics todayEvroskpeticizem je eden najbolj perečih problemov tako držav članic Evropske unije, kot tudi držav v postopku približevanja EU. Splošno javno mnenje, zaradi katerega se med EU in njenimi prebivalci pojavlja vedno večji razkorak, se giblje v smeri, da je Evropska unija ogromno kolesje birokracije, ki je kot tako oddaljeno od resničnih problemov ljudi in mu zato ne gre zaupati. Mešane občutke glede približevanja EU je bilo v času njene osamosvojitve in začetkov njenega približevanja čutiti tudi v Sloveniji, kjer je bilo javno mnenje o EU dokaj nizko. Slovenke in Slovenci so načeloma gojili pozitiven sentiment do EU, vendar pa nad njo nikdar niso bili popolnoma navdušeni. Dodatne dvome je v ljudeh zbujalo tudi dejstvo, da je takratna politika sprejela ogromno odločitev in regulative, ki jih vnaprej ni komunicirala z javnostjo oziroma javnosti o svojem delu ni redno obveščala. V tem prispevku zagovarjamo tezo, da je reprezentativna demokracija ni najbolj ogrožena takrat, ko politične obljube ostanejo neizpolnjene, pač pa takrat, ko političarke in politiki naredijo več, kot obljubijo, a o tem ne informirajo javnosti. V prispevku z analizo volilnih programov, javnega mnenja in medijskih objav analiziramo dva glavna problema slovenske vlade med letoma 2000 in 2004. Prvi problem zaznamo v skoraj avtomatičnem in rutinskem sprejemanju regulativ in politik EU in hkrati evidentnem umanjkanju javnih debat. Drugi problem pa vidimo predvsem v nezmožnosti vlade, da bi o svojih odločitvah dosledno informirala zainteresirano javnost in svoje odločitve približala ljudem. Čeprav analiziramo dogodke, ki so se v Sloveniji dogajali več kot 20 let nazaj pa ugotavljamo, da je raziskava izjemno relevantna tudi za trenutno dogajanje v slovenski politikiTEXTznanstveno časopisjejournalsSlovenian National E-content AggregatorNational and University Library of SloveniaInštitut za novejšo zgodovino