When the tolar was replaced by the euro, Slovenia lost the ability to control the value of the money used in everyday transactions. The increase in the amount of money in circulation and, consequently, its value, is now decided by all euro area members. Although Slovenia no longer has absolute control over the value of the money, it can vote and propose changes as an equal partner, thus contributing to the common monetary policy of the countries that use the euro as legal tender.

 
In the last few years, however, the leaders of the euro area countries have begun an unsustainable increase in the amount of money in circulation, which exceeds the growth of the economy by several multiples. The result is a fall in the purchasing power of the euro, which is felt by citizens as rising prices or inflation. We recognise that certain financial injections were necessary to stimulate the economy, but there is no end in sight to these injections. The current situation shows that constant and increasing amounts of new money will be needed to prevent certain countries from collapsing because of excessive debts. Apart from the fact that these enormous and ever-increasing amounts of new money are actually indebting future generations, that is to say, our children, by increasing the public debt of the country, which will one day have to be paid off, and that today we are solving the financial crisis of the banks with debt that our children will have to pay off, there is also a hidden tax in the form of inflation. This tax, however, affects exclusively savers, who are almost 100% individuals who save their money in the bank. As the unsustainable increase in the amount of euros causes inflation, savers' bank deposits lose value. With low interest rates, the interest earned at the bank does not keep pace with inflation.  So someone who has worked hard and lived below his means, and saved money with the intention of spending it at some point in the future, is surprised to find that after a few years of tying up his money in the bank, despite the interest, he can buy less. Inflation is a hidden tax on those who live below their means and save.
 
On top of all this, there is the fact that the official inflation figures are deliberately shown much lower than the actual inflation, which is already in double figures in the euro area - more than 10% a year. The reason for the much lower official figures is clear: wages and pensions and other social incomes rise with official inflation. Since real inflation is higher, this is in fact a case of falling incomes, because despite year-on-year increases, citizens receive fewer real goods each year.  An additional item in this proposal is to stop manipulating the inflation figures and to give more weight to basic goods such as food, electricity, fuel, medicines in the basket of products used for the calculation.
 
 
We all need to realise that without a stable currency, which also maintains its value in the long term, there is no stable economy.  Money is not only a medium of exchange, but it must also be a store of value. The euro, as a store of value, is doing a more dismal job, because according to independent indicators, it has been losing more than 10% a year for several years. Although prices are not rising at the moment because of the credit crunch, we have to bear in mind that there is a time lag between the devaluation of money (the injection of newly created euros) and the rise in prices, which, although it takes some time, always and without exception, the prices of products adjust to the amount of money in circulation, in our case upwards.
 
We demand that Slovenian foreign policy publicly advocate maintaining the purchasing power of the euro as one of the equal members of the euro area and launch a public debate on this problem among all members.
An additional demand is to demand a change in the rules for calculating official inflation by giving more weight to basic goods.