Slovenian Independence Gained 15 Years Ago
Slovenia is celebrating 15 years of its independence this year. On 25 June 1991 the then Slovenian National Assembly put into force the decision made in an independence referendum in December 1990 prompting a violent response by the Yugoslav People's Army (JLA).
The Assembly passed a constitutional law enabling it to implement the Basic Constitutional Charter on Independence and the Declaration of Independence, so it formally launched the socialist republic's sovereignty.
Independence was solemnly declared in Republic Square in the centre of Ljubljana on 26 June, a move followed by a ten-day war for Slovenia the very next day.
A first concrete impulse announcing Slovenia's course came in February 1987 with the publication of the now legendary 57th issue of the dissident literary journal "Nova revija" as a a group of intellectuals made the first clear claim for independence.
The publication came at a time of a heightened crisis of the Yugoslav political system which, according to Slovenian historian Janko Prunk, also manifested itself as a crisis of relations between the country's several nations.
The efforts for democratisation and independence increased with the 1988 military arrest of three weekly Mladina reporters - among them the current PM Janez Jansa - and a JLA NCO, who were responsible for the leaking of a secret order to raise the combat readiness of the Yugoslav army in Slovenia.
The scandal led to the establishing of a Human Rights Committee, which became the leading civil society organisation in a period that became known as the "Slovenian Spring".
On 8 May 1989, the newly-established political parties in Slovenia stepped forward with a document called the "May Declaration" calling for political pluralism and a sovereign state of the Slovenian nation.
Despite opposition from the Yugoslav authorities, Slovenia in 1989 legalised a multi-party system, following up the decision with the first multi-party elections in April 1990. The elections were won by the DEMOS coalition of new political parties.
The new DEMOS government was formed by the president of the then Christian Democrats and current MEP Alojz Peterle. Dissident France Bucar became the speaker of the parliament, sociology professor Dimitrij Rupel became foreign minister and Janez Jansa defence minister.
DEMOS was however unable to win the post of the president of Slovenia as the election saw dissident Joze Pucnik coming short against socialist leader Milan Kucan, who went on to win two more terms until retiring in late 2002.
In 1990 a confederation of Yugoslav republics was still being considered as a possible solution to Slovenian aspirations, but talks produced no results.
Slovenian held an independence referendum on 23 December 1990, when around 95% of the Slovenian voters said "yes" to independence on a turnout of over 93% - the result was declared on 26 December 1990, ever since the Day of Independence.
The road to independence, opposed by Belgrade, was not peaceful. During the independence ceremony on 26 June 1991, planes of the Yugoslav army flew low over Ljubljana and its tanks occupied the border crossings in the western region of Primorsko.
In the early hours of 27 June, Yugoslav armoured units headed from their barracks in Slovenia for Brnik airport and the Slovenian-Croatian border where they were to team up with the forces which had just entered Slovenia from Croatia.
The first shots were shot on 27 June near the SE town of Metlika at a barricade set up by Slovenian Territorial Defence forces. On that day the Slovenian authorities took measures to hamper the movement of JLA forces and to block strategic infrastructure and communications.
The ten-day clash claimed four casualties among members of the Territorial Defence, four deaths among Slovenian police, 39 JLA casualties and 15 civilian deaths.
Diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis produced a document in which Slovenia agreed to "freeze" its further steps towards independence for three months. The Brioni Declaration was signed on 7 July upon intervention of the European Community.
During this vacuum period, independent Slovenia was recognised by Croatia (which declared independence simultaneously with Slovenia), Lithuania, Georgia, Latvia and Estonia.
As no new agreement between the Slovenian and Yugoslav sides was reached by 8 October, the international community realized that Yugoslavia as such no longer existed. The last JLA soldiers left Slovenia on 25 October 1991.
Slovenian immediately started functioning as a fully independent state. It introduced its own currency, established control over its borders and on 23 December 1991 adopted a new constitution. On 22 May 1992, it became a full-fledged UN member and was accepted into the Council of Europe in May 1993.
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