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Is Slovenia a Model?

Slovenia will assume the presidency of the EU Council for the first half of 2008 – the first of the new EU countries to do so. Europe has major hopes regarding Slovenia's ability to engage in crisis management in the Balkans. But how is Slovenia responding to these challenges?

When talking or writing about Slovenia politicians and journalists often use expressions like model pupil or model country. Not without reason, for since the collapse of Yugoslavia this country of two million inhabitants has developed rapidly. With its declaration of independence in 1991 the Slovenians established their own state for the first time following centuries of foreign rule.

Danilo Türk
Photo: AP

In March 2004 Slovenia became a member of NATO and only two months later it joined the European Union. On 1 January 2007 the euro was introduced as the official currency, and shortly before Christmas Slovenia joined Schengen, leading to the opening of the borders with Italy Austria and Hungary. This also means that Slovenia now secures the EU's external boundary to the south-east.

Primus inter pares

In economic terms Slovenia has been very successful. No other former communist country has been so quick to advance into the euro league. Thus in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana the assumption of the EU Council presidency on 1 January was viewed as a "historic event” making Slovenia "a first among equals in the EU for half a year,” the Slovenian columnist Igor Mekina enthused in the daily Dnevnik on 2 January 2008.

The small Alpine republic spent many months preparing to take over the presidency: "The government has prescribed a kind of 'exceptional situation' for the people and politicians, for the benefit of everyone,” Alice Bota wrote in the German weekly Die Zeit on 3 January 2008.

Slovenia plans to achieve a lot: At the top of its list of priorities is the ratification of the EU Reform Treaty of Lisbon, which is due to go into force on 1 January 2009. Before this can happen, however, it needs to be ratified by the twenty-seven member states. During its term in office Slovenia also plans to make progress on the so-called Lisbon strategy for economic and social development in Europe and on the package of measures on climate and energy.

The Kosovo Issue

"Situated on the crossroads of Austria, Italy and the Balkans, this country is in a good position to act as a hyphen between communities," Thomas Ferenczi wrote on 28 December 2007 in the French newspaper Le Monde. Ferenczi was referring to the status of Kosovo, a particularly delicate issue for Slovenia. For it was the renegade Serbian province that triggered the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1989. In the event that Kosovo decides to declare its independence in the coming months and obtain recognition from the EU, a conflict with Serbia would be unavoidable. Yet despite its unique knowledge of the region, Slovenia would not be able to resolve such a conflict, the British Economist wrote, seeking to dampen overoptimistic diplomatic expectations. Nevertheless, it went on, Slovenia has "an advantage of credibility": "The symbolism of its presidency is important, and well-timed."

Erich Rathfelder, Southeast Europe correspondent for the German tageszeitung, drew attention to a further point in an article published on 2 January 2008: Slovenia feels obliged not only to manage the Kosovo issue but also to bring all the successor states to the former Yugoslavia into the EU.

Cultural Identity

The Slovenian presidency coincides with the year of intercultural dialogue proclaimed by the EU, and indeed is itself a good example of intercultural dialogue, for it is a melting pot for Slavic, Germanic and Romance cultures. The country's borders by no means correspond with ethnic divisions, as the large Italian and Hungarian minorities in Slovenia demonstrate. Traditionally Slovenia has looked towards Europe, even during the socialist era. Nevertheless– or perhaps precisely because of this – it is difficult to place Slovenia on the cultural map.

Often confused with Slovakia or the Croation region of Slavonia, Slovenia has been asking itself where it belongs geographically and culturally. When in summer 2006 the Slovenian government staged a public competition for a new symbol and a logo to make it more clearly recognizable, Branka Bezjak commented in the Slovenian daily Vecer on 8 August 2006: "There is no definite answer to the question of what the Slovenian national identity is. On the one hand, because we have not yet come to terms with the recent past, and on the other, because we have never seriously asked ourselves this question."

"Erased" Citizens

One example of an issue in Slovenia's recent past that it has yet properly to resolve is that of the so-called "erased" people. The term refers to citizens of the former Yugoslavia who are not originally from Slovenia but who had their place of residence there when Yugoslavia disintegrated. For a number of reasons they did not apply for Slovenian citizenship or were not granted it and have thus lost their right to residence – yet continue to live in Slovenia.

Originally there were 34,000 people with this status, but the number of people "who have been erased by the bureaucracy of the new states from the register of citizens with permanent residence either by mistake or via the subtle method of ethnic cleansing on paper" has in the meantime been reduced to 18,000, the Slovenian commentator Boris Jaušovec explained on 3 January 2008 in the Austrian daily Der Standard.

Angry Workers and Journalists

But although Slovenia has achieved much in recent years and secured itself a good reputation, there are a number of other thorny issues. In November 2007 thousands of workers went on strike in a bid for higher wages, thus tarnishing Slovenia's image as an economic miracle. The border controversy with Croatia remains unresolved, and in October 2007, 571 Slovenian journalists protested against political influence over the media with a "petition against censorship and political pressure". In January 2008 they renewed their criticism. The Austrian daily Kurier commented on 8 January 2008: "This appeal for help to the EU right at the beginning of its EU presidency term is doubtless embarrassing for the Slovenian government."

Alice Bota had the following to say about the smouldering conflict between the government and the press on 3 January 2008: "It started with a pact concluded between the conservative Prime Minister Janez Janša and the parties... It contains passages such as this: 'In line with their role in the parliamentary system the signatories will not impede the work of the government regarding the EU Council presidency'. Put crudely that means: Keep your mouths shut for six months.... Everyone should support this pact – including the journalists. But they are refusing to do so."

Competition from France

Kosovo, Croatia, the Balkans – the list of foreign policy issues Slovenia intends to address during its presidency is a long one, and the expectations of both Slovenia itself and the other Europeans are high, since Slovenia's performance will be evaluated as a test of whether the new member states from eastern Europe are really ready for EU membership, Martin Winter observed in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on 28 December 2007. "If Slovenia makes a good job of the presidency, this will not only bolster its reputation as a an economic and political model among the new EU states, it will also boost the regard in which the other states are held."

Whether it will manage to do this remains an open question. The Czech journalist Radek Honzák pointed out in Hospodarské Noviny on 4 January 2008 that France, which will take over the presidency on 1 July 2008, may steal the show from Slovenia. "There's not one aspect of European policy that escapes hyperactive Sarkozy [the French president]. His iron is in every fire, whether in the domestic market, energy policy, immigration policy, finance reform, agriculture or defence policy. ... Sarkozy will also get a boost from the fact that his EU presidency is sandwiched between that of two inexperienced EU member states: on one side is Slovenia, and on the other, the Czech Republic."

The British journalist John Palmer, however, came to a completely different conclusion in his contribution to Open Democracy on 18 December 2007: "Yet its size no more than its many other qualities should be no great disadvantage in the political arena: history shows that most of the successful EU presidencies have been run by smaller states."

Veronika Wengert

Veronika Wengert studied southern Slavic languages, Russian and journalism and subsequently spent several years working as an editor in Moscow. Parallel to this she obtained ...
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