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The most recent polls once again show that the turnout for the European elections will be extremely low, maybe even less than 25%. Why is it that Slovenians do not recognise these elections as important but at the same time they complain that Brussels is in fact "leading" the country through different policies etc..?

Politics in general is the place for doing the best for society and the community, that is the perception of social democrats. Liberals and conservatives believe that politics is bad and that the state is a necessary evil which is why they invest a huge amount of energy in minimising all political communities, particularly the EU, as a necessary evil. They don't want to make it strong but at the same time they use EU institutions for promoting their own benefits through lobbying and political pressure. In that kind of Europe people will never believe. We want to change that, we want to put people first. Without becoming more social, Europe will lose credibility.

The second issue is that polls predict a strong win by the centre right parties, is this because the left is just too fragmented and without a clear programme?

In Slovenia we have one moderate left party, the Social Democrats. We are members of the Party of European Socialists and Social Democrats and we have a common candidate for the President of the European Commission, Martin Schulz. In crisis it is the liberals who create a lot of individual ambitious men without serious support of the people. They use media and financial support for promotion, jumping from the political shadow, to promote their liberal view on society. Slovenian liberals, since the end of 19th century, have tried to show themselves as left wing because they have not had their own social base. The only solution for the left in Slovenia is to strengthen the Social Democrats, a party with a long tradition, experienced people and a clear programme oriented to the people.

Do you think that Slovenia should play a more active role inside EU institutions? It seems that in recent years we just follow mainstream ideas without any effort to upgrade and influence EU politics. Is this maybe also a reason why Slovenian citizens do not take European elections seriously?

Slovenia has not yet organised itself for the best possible influence on EU institutions. Most people believe in their own careers but lose focus on the interests of Slovenia, their own country. The Slovenian government should organise all the potentials to deliver more influence on EU institutions for the quality of life for all people in Slovenia and also in Europe.

How will the European elections affect Slovenia's early election? Do you think this flood of new left and centre left parties -New Left, Solidarity, Believe Party, Alliance for Alenka Bratušek, Miro Cerar's Party... - can also lead to a strong win of the right parties in Slovenia?

That is very possible. Whenever the liberals and the left produce a lot of parties, the right wing win the election. That happened in 1990, 2004 and 2011. In 2014 the situation is at its worst, It seems that most of the liberals try to do everything to stop the Social Democrats. In particular we are against total privatisation, we are for strong public education and health for all, for the best possible quality of life for all not only for the elite. We are leaders on the anti-corruption front and support an independent judiciary. We are the strongest stabiliser of Slovenia. On the other side there is great interest by political forces that would like to destabilise Slovenia, to get better opportunities for speculation.