Parliament Holds Session to Mark Anniversary of Independence

Ljubljana, 24 June

A special parliamentary session marked 25 June, National Day, when in 1991 Slovenia was declared an independent and sovereign state, with Speaker France Cukjati and Speaker of the then Assembly France Bucar delivering the keynote addresses.

"The legal basis for an independent Slovenia was set up in this room 15 years ago," Cukjati said, adding that responsibility for the country continues also in the legislature through every term.
"We do not want an apolitical Slovenia or a one-party parliament. We had one and it did not work out," Cukjati stressed, adding that he believes that it is possible to be relaxed and brave in parliament and in the media if the rules of respecting others and respecting oneself are being respected.
"The driving force of political polemics should be truthfulness and not a desire to hurt or humiliate a person," he pointed out, stressing that both qualities exist in the Slovenian parliament.
Bucar meanwhile compared Slovenia's independence with heroic stories of other nations, labelling the independence process an epic on the power of the spirit during a fight for the nation's survival.
Therefore, Bucar believes retaining the nation's identity is a joint obligation for the country's future, as liberation is a one-off event, which has to be followed by a constant process of adjustment, otherwise "liberation itself loses its meaning".
He sees the 1991 independence as the final phase of a process that begun with the call for a united Slovenia in 1848, in the year of the Spring of Nations, when the decisive break was made in the minds of Slovenians regarding their identity.
Before establishing a state of their own, Slovenians furthermore had to overcome one more obstacle, namely their belief of being too small as a nation to be able to have a state of their own, he observed.
"Only when we spiritually liberated ourselves and overcame our fears and barriers, were we able to set off on a path towards our own statehood," Bucar said.
The session was also attended by President Janez Drnovsek, PM Janez Jansa and his cabinet, Former Slovenian President Milan Kucan, president of the National Council Janez Susnik, and presidents of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, Janez Cebulj and Franc Testen.

Parliament Holds Session to Mark Anniversary of Independence

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