Government Takes Stance on Tense Relations with Italy and Austria

Ljubljana, 17 February

After prolonged controversy, the government decided last week to voice its opinion on the lately tense relations with Italy and Austria. The cabinet said that Italy may not forget the suffering that the Fascist regime caused. It also addresses the controversy regarding the Austrian State Treaty, stressing that Slovenia is a legal successor to Yugoslavia, although not a moral successor to the Communist regime.

This came after law experts Gorazd Bohte and Milan Brglez said that Slovenia certainly has the right according to international law to succeed Yugoslavia's legal status in the treaty. Slovenia is not seeking to join the treaty, which is problematised by Austria, instead it is looking to get the legal succession to Yugoslavia in line with the doctrine of continuity as applied in international law for multilateral treaties, the law experts said. The government also said it "regrets that we are witnessing attempts to return to certain long overcome patterns of behaviour in relations between Slovenia and Italy". In the name of European principles, the government "rejects and condemns all biased and politically motivated interpretations of...recent history". The parliamentary foreign policy committee voiced a similar opinion. It said that Slovenia is an indisputed successor to the Austrian State Treaty, while the MPs also voiced concern over Italy's failure to implement the legislation in place to safeguard the Slovenian ethnic minority in that country. According to committee chair Jozef Jerovsek, the committee put the blame on a lack of political will on the part of Italian authorities. It therefore expects the Slovenian government to make the Italian government accountable for the failure to implement minority legislation.

Government Takes Stance on Tense Relations with Italy and Austria

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