In my opinion I won the election for quite a simple reason. I explained things as they are, I presented a vision of development and I believe that people were really open for what is most important, in my opinion: basic respect for people and their capabilities, as well as dealing with tax payers’ money responsibly and applying it for what is needed in the city’s development.

Some 11 years ago I decided to get out of journalism and into politics, simply as a protest, since some people interpreted the system change and introduction of democracy for Slovenia by telling the journalists what to think, what to write and say. Since I was unpleasantly suspended a couple of times, I obviously became interesting for some political parties. The social democrats invited me to stand as a candidate, so in 1992 I was elected as a Member of Parliament, where I stayed for 4 years. After that, my political path went up and also down, and yet I was reelected MP in 2000. Already in 1997, I ran for the mayor’s office in Ljubljana in the by-elections. All the time, I had a feeling that Ljubljana could not make that step forward, that it always stops, that it remains indecisive and it lacks sufficient self-confidence needed for development in this millenium.

In my opinion Ljubljana has come to a turning point. So far it has been developing quite well and it has caught up with the speed of European development. At the same time I would like to stress why it has reached a turning point. It is now a critical moment to decide whether Ljubljana will go on with more energy, self-confidence and self-assurance to join other capital cities of Europe by developing infrastructure, human resources, and improving social sensibility to become a real metropolis, or if it will slow down its steps -- even though I do hope not -- and remain at the provincial level.

Looking at the city ten years ago, I can say that one might not even recognize it any more. Its external image has changed a lot. Not only are the old respectable buildings, that are our pride, being renovated and receiving more beautiful facades and images, there are also a huge number of new modern buildings and new roads inside and around Ljubljana as well. In this sense, Ljubljana is quite a modern city. But of course there have also been other things going on in the city that were not as pleasant. A lot of people have lost their jobs, and poverty, that had never before been an issue, has occurred. Every tenth person in Ljubljana officially admits poverty. And this, of course, is not easy to deal with. This is also one of the challenges driving me to enter this election campaign. At the same time, Ljubljana is becoming a city of opportunities. There are more and more entrepreneurs wishing to succeed, not only in Ljubljana but also in Europe. This is where more promotion and more openness is needed. Ljubljana needs to be connected with European capital cities by building a more modern infrastructure, especially a railway system, which is a big concern at the moment. Facilities need to be available for European institutions to possibly get a head office in Ljubljana and operate in all directions from here.

Yes, of course I have some plans. I do hope that we will finally manage to completely close down the narrow center of the city just like in other European capital cities, so that the old part of the city would be closed for all traffic. There are also some studies and projects for the tram and surrounding traffic, made for the Ljubljana urban region, including already more than 30 municipalities. There is a lot of interest for that. The plan is to connect the main rail station with the tram, and further on, train routes leading in different directions. Faster train connections can be made with Europe. As I said, studies have been made. Within the region, the best and most effective one has to be chosen, even if it is not the cheapest, because what is most cost-effective is not always the best.

There has not been any precise plan for the development of shopping malls that are now growing around the city and this is why we are where we are now. At this moment we still need to work on how to bring life back to the center of the city. Life has really moved from the old part of the city to modern shopping malls in the suburbs. A lot of activities have died out and the center has really not been living as it should. I’ve just had three meetings with different groups today discussing how to find and chose the right content and make sure the city comes back to life. But unfortunately there has not been a special plan in that field. My wish is when you walk downtown in a year or two, you will not come across closed shops but see a lot of open places with a variety of offers so you’ll be able to find whatever you wish.

The data is inexorable. Over the last two years the activities dropped by 25% each year so there are half less that two years ago in the wider center of the city. Even walking up Miklo{i~eva street, you will see 22 places closed down.

Care for the environment is for sure most important. But let me put it this way. We people would not complain about litter and excrement if everyone cleaned up after themselves. A bit more needs to be done to raise awareness and responsibility. There is no intention to go into extreme penalty policies, but rather activities of raising awareness, encouraging responsibility and promoting a friendlier attitude to the environment. Of course we need to provide enough litterbins and bags for dog excrement since all of this somehow disappeared.

And for protecting the local environment?

There have been a lot of worries about environment protection. For some time there were some discussions about the incendiary plant but there was no progress since people are very afraid of it. Unfortunately Ljubljana is still one of those few capital cities that do not have a system of separate litter collection. In spite of many problems, we have finally managed to deal with a communal waste dump. For years and years we have been building a central Waste Treatment Plant but we are still in the very beginning. So there are a large number of problems in this area.

Ljubljana is for sure a city of culture. There are more than 10,000 cultural events held in Ljubljana every year. This year we are hosting three more important events of this kind: the Summer Cultural Festival, the Graphic Arts Biennial between June and September, followed by The World Music Days. For sure we will be known for these events not only inside but also outside the county in Europe. Even though I mentioned some environmental issues before, we can still be proud of the fact that generally our environment has been well preserved and there are many tourists who keep coming back to Slovenia saying that they really enjoy our nature.

The election result itself was the biggest surprise for me because I believed I might win by a percent or by a vote or two. And yet in the end it turned out to be 10%, and it even increased my responsibility as a mayor. But the attitude of people was also a surprise and a challenge at the same time. During the elections, after winning and still now. People somehow believe in me, believe in what I said I would do, together, of course, with the political party I am a member of, that is the United List of Social Democrats, including a wider coalition - which means together with the Liberals. This optimistic expectation of the people was such a big surprise to me - the fact I was supported and I still am. A lot of people even wish to participate, they call, come by and submit their suggestions also by e-mail.

In my opinion it is quite good, let me share some specific examples: 3 days ago the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning and I opened an exhibition at the World Day of Wetlands in the Kresija gallery. This was, believe it or not, the first event of this kind prepared by the city of Ljubljana together with the Ministry. Immediately after the beginning of my mandate, I had some extremely intense meetings with the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, with the Director of the National Housing Fund, in order to discuss and concretely specify the promotion of residential constructions. I would especially like to stress this point since, over the last period, Ljubljana has only constructed 100 flats per year even though we need about 700 on average. We intend to make up for this lack by accelerated construction work. We are now about to sign an annex to the previous agreement to start working on those plans that remained on paper in the previous mandate. Hopefully about 4000 to 5000 new flats will be built in cooperation with the Republic Housing Fund by the end of 2006 or 2007. I also had a meeting with the Minister of Culture. We discussed joined tenders for cultural program financing at the local as well as national level. We also agreed upon the construction of cultural institutions, Academies and similar facilities. The Minister of Economy and the Minister of Defense already gave an initiative to meet as well. I have already met with the Minister of Education. So I can conclude that the beginning was good, and hopefully, so will the end.

It would be most correct for me to say: What is free time anyway? Well, I really enjoy walking along the Path of Remembrance and the Amity Path leading along the Ljubljanica river, the forests, Golovec. I especially enjoy my walks along the Ljubljanica river.

My ambition is to be a good mayor of Ljubljana, the capital city. I will, on the other hand, stand for election again.