The government's first 100 days: A wedding, honeymoon and first signs of trouble

Friday, which will also be Independence and Unity Day, will mark the first 100 days of the newly appointed government. The current government is the twelfth government since independence.There was overwhelming support for PM Miro Cerar's party and his cabinet right after the elections. However the election capital has slowly begun melting. According to the latest survey from the Mediana Institute, only half a percentage from all the respondents assess the work of Cerar's government as very positive, while around 10% assess it as only positive. In other words – no other government has experienced such a drastic and rapid fall in support.The survey researched three areas of the government's work - kick starting the economy, the fight against corruption and the negotiations with the unions. The answers of the respondents were critical – the government has not been successful. Mediana did not inquire about the reasons why respondents felt that way, and why there were only around ten positive remarks: "I think that in general we expected much more from the ethical promises that were made, and that at the same time too little was delivered in this short time period," says Janja Božič Marolt.100 days is too short a time to judge on the efficiency, warns Tomaž Deželan from the Faculty of Social Sciences. Deželan isn't trying to find the reasons for the drastic fall in support in the government’s measures, but in the ethics: "Previous governments were put together in order to efficiently tackle the crisis. This government was based on ethics. It promised that it would function ethically and efficiently, and that's something completely different. If I would rephrase the situation from the capital, we're not expecting the carrying out of 125 projects, but the carrying out of 125 projects in an ethical way." It is expected from the government to distance itself from the questionable practices of the past, including when it comes to staffing. And this is where Cerar's team is slipping, says Deželan, listing the dramas connected to the naming of the new EU commissioner, mayors, and ministers. "A number of people who were candidates for mayors or ministers were connected to corruption scandals. /.../ That is a problem for a party with tends to build on good ethics, /.../ because of that a higher level of cautiousness is expected on their behalf."You don't always need proof. It is enough that one is suspected of corruption or contentious action for a shadow of doubt to be cast on the ethical stance. And the support begins to melt. Even more, Deželan says: "We can see the ethics in the government's standpoint and program, but not in its functioning." The beginning period of work for every government is like a honeymoon. For crisis governments that period can be even longer. However when it comes to a government which builds on ethics, the honeymoon can be over in a week, as soon as the first mistakes appear. Deželan says Cerar's government has already made its first mistakes in the first month.