Avtorica podaja kratek zgodovinski pogled na razvoj gospodarstva v bivši Jugoslaviji in Sloveniji, pri čemer posveča posebno pozornost posledicam sprejetja Zakona o finančnem poslovanju podjetij, leta 1999. Sprašuje se, zakaj molčimo in zakaj država ne reagira na škodljive posledice, ki so prizadele več deset tisoč ljudi. Članek je zanimiv zaradi obravnave o kršitvah človekovih pravic z omenjenim zakonom, ki bo 14. marca 2018, na Velikem senatu Evropskega sodišča za človekove pravice v Strasbourgu.
The author gives a brief historical view on the development of the economy in the former Yugoslavia and Slovenia, paying special attention to the consequences of the adoption of Financial Operations of Companies Act in 1999. She wonders, why we are silent and why the State does not react to the harmful consequences that affected tens of thousands of people. The article is interesting because of the hearing on violation of human rights with Financial Operations of Companies Act before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which will be on March 14th 2018.
Uredništvo spletne strani IZOP
Inverse Butterfly Effect
There is an old saying; “When a butterfly flaps its wings in China, it can lead to a tornado in Kansas.” So it was in the last half of 1989, when ‘love affair’ amongst communist party governments of East and Central Europe faced the dramatic collapse. Which is indeed a classic tale among every system that stood up against evolutionary nature of its exsistence and rather took its revolutionary part. Swift, unexpected and mostly unprepared. With a face of a lost revolutionary they were looking eye to an eye, with an old regime. Who has won and who’s lost?
While the answers may vary and largerly depend on to which side of a political discourse you engage in. Left or right, the coin seems to be the same. The oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors.
Though the downfall was brought about through massive upsurges which had the support not only of the majority of the working class but also a large slice of the membership of the ruling parties gone astray.
A counterpart to a sweeping political and ideological changes, began a transition from socialist to market economy. A completely different economic system required a creation of a new legal framework and ought to base on privatization, which was considered to be a cornerstone of transition, microeconomic restructuring, along with macroeconomic stabilization.
Governments in Central and Eastern Europe stated their decree to full scale privatization to abolish the mono party system and enable more just distribution of wealth and welfare.
Socialist Yugoslavia
Yugoslav self-management is a unique historical experiment. Unlike other socialist countries , Yugoslavia had been an open country, with many people studying abroad, also economists, which made them familiar with the Western economics and were thus not easily led astray by foreign advisers. Furthermore, yugoslavian model is one of the most interesting formations of, so called, real-socialism.
Yugoslavia broke up with the Soviet Union and initiated its own specific political, ideological and economical way. It was a system which publicly criticized “bureaucratic deviations” of the Soviet Union.
Economic reform in Yugoslavia began in the 50’s.
More particularly after 1945, starting with administrative socialism, which were followed by administrative market socialism, then market socialism and last but not least a contractual socialism, which wanted to replace macroeconomic policy, market and resource allocation with self- management agreements, social planning and social contracts. The concept, however, remained irrelevant to the functioning of the economy.
Its breakdown accompanied with the political vacuum in 1980, which pour out after Tito’s death, tightening of world financial markets and the rise in oil prices managed to lead us in deep economic, political and social crisis. From that point on every radical economic reform would require a seperation from politics. Thus the economic situation worsened. Inflation and unemployment rose, while the economic growth disappeared. All attempts by the federal government to halt the deterioration of the economy and the threatening political developments were blocked by the republic. The country, as economic entity, began to be non exsistent. The collapse of economic reforms, stabilization processes ultimately led to the collapse of the country as a whole.
In spite of systematic failures of the system changes the former republic mantained advantages for a successful economic and social transition, in comparison to other, former socialist countries. A priori it at least partly took care of decentralization, heterogeneousness of ownership, price liberalization and opennes to outside world.
The case of Slovenia
Part of federal republic of Yugoslavia, was also Slovenia, which claimed its independence on 26th of june 1991. While having plenty of unresolved disputes, the independence was finally attained on 8th of october, 1991 and Slovenia became fully independent, young country with its own currency, the tolar.
The roots of transition from centrally planned economy to a market one were sowed. Which meant economic liberalization (the prices are set by market and not by central planning organizations. State owned enterprises and resources were privatized. Trade barriers were removed and collectively run enterprises are restructed into businesses for private capital)
The privatization issue, however, represented an Achilles heel for the government. Politicians divided themselves which system to adopt, decentralized (existing managers have the control on the hands of the former political elite) or centralized (control has the government and the new political elite). A latent ‘game of thrones’ which political party is going to be the next economical beneficiary, began.
In 1992, after a good year of debate the altercation finally reached its harvesting peak of ‘perfection’. Decentralised approach was combined with gradualism and the diversity of privatization methods of the first approach, with a free distribution of vouchers of the second one.
The liberation day, everyone would have thought. But the road to Golgotha actually started that day. At least for those slovenian citizens who, instead of being unemployed, (lets mention that after independency Slovenia has lost 76% of ex yugoslavian market, which was extremely important for our economy, beside other east european markets, all of this was eventually accompanied by a grand recession), established their own businesses. Those were small to medium sized companies, new on the market. Green buds of a tree, whose roots were deeply rooted in a previous system and so eagerly watered with constitutional changes and regulations, by previous political parties in a newly established system.
As we know smaller companies, ideas, and technologies inevitably eat their way up the food chain into the market, capturing a larger and larger share, until the behemoths of the sector are forced to retreat back into a narrowing market niche. Achilles heel that needed to be regulated. Politically? Needless to say, politically impacted trends have the means to affect any level of society, whether individuals, organizations or businesses. Trends in policies set by government agencies and leaders influence the legal framework within business operation.
Exactly that happened after the epic year of 1999 when members of a parliament accepted a new Financial transactions of Enterprises Act, which terminated a company that was not operating (main reason: big companies were their debtors) from the Judicary register, without liquidation, any prior notice and transferred all the debts onto the shareholders, regardless their participation in company’s management.
- e; A person who had nothing to do with the company’s management and received it’s shares in contribution of a salary or as a gift now has enormous debt and its possesion are being seized.
As to be mentioned companies act from 1993 thoroughly described what ought to be done with companies that do not follow new regulations stated by the law. By official duty the court is obliged to execute a decree of bankruptcy or liquidation for all the companies that do not manage to adapt until 1.1 1995. The court ignored the regulations and was additionaly noted to perform its duties in 1997 with amendment bankruptcy act. Again all fell on deaf ears.
In 2007 and in 2011, however, the parliament wanted to eradicate the consequences of a 1999 accepted Financial transactions of Enterprises Act, but Constitutional court each time rejected it!
Will we be deaf to thousands of people who literally through the night lost their personal possessions? Who’s personal integrity was violated with inaction of the highest state apparatus, the courts? Who’s injustice may be silenced by the state, but their voices beg us to speak?
Carl T. Rowan, the crusading journalist, best-selling author and defender of affirmative action, once said that it is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.
Perhaps, he was right…and the blossomness of the butterfly effect reversed into witheredness of political, socio- economical and especially human rights values.
Tanja P. Foršek
Prikazna slika: Freepik