Slovenia 2003

Slovenia Border Map

In 2003, Slovenia was a Central European nation located on the Adriatic Sea. It had a population of around 2 million people and its economy was largely driven by services, finance and manufacturing. The country had adopted a parliamentary democracy with a strong emphasis on human rights. According to computergees, Slovenia maintained strong diplomatic ties with other European nations such as Italy and Croatia while it also had close relations with Austria. In 2003, tourism to the country was beginning to grow as visitors were drawn to its picturesque villages, unique culture, and delicious cuisine. The country offered numerous attractions such as Ljubljana Castle which showcased the unique history of the region, Triglav National Park which provided opportunities for wildlife viewing, Lake Bled which offered stunning views of natural beauty, and Julian Alps which protected native plants and animals. Additionally, there were many opportunities for outdoor activities such as exploring Predjama Castle or visiting Postojna Cave which is home to diverse stalactites and stalagmites.

Yearbook 2003

Slovenia. According to Countryaah.com, Slovenia Independence Day is December 26. The Slovenes said in a referendum in March a resounding yes to membership in both the EU and NATO in 2004. Nearly 90% voted for accession to the Union, while NATO membership was supported by 66%. The turnout was 60%. That the support was less for joining the defense alliance may have been partly due to the referendum being held a few days after the US launched its attack on Iraq.

A large part of the population was critical of the war, even though the government supported it. At the same time, the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjić was believed to have strengthened support for NATO membership a few weeks earlier as a clear reminder of the region’s instability.

During a party congress in February, the Liberal Democratic government party LDS elected Prime Minister Anton Rop as new leader. He replaced former Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek, who led the party since 1992 and elected president at the end of 2002. Slovenia’s Social Democratic Party, which despite its name is a bourgeois party, changed its name to the Slovenian Democratic Party. It kept its abbreviation, SDS.

Slovenia Border Map

Dictionary of History

Slovenia Central European state. The Slovenes settled in the alpine territories of the upper Drava and the Sava, pushing towards the Soča and the upper Timavo at the end of the 6th century. From subjection to the Avars and from the dominion of the Samo franc (623-658), they passed to the Bavarians (745-788), the Franks (788-907) and the Magyars (907-955) until, in the 11th-12th century., small German feudal dynasties or dynasties subject to the empire dominated various parts of the Slovenia, which with the ascent to the imperial throne of the Habsburgs remained firmly linked to Vienna until 1918. For centuries, Slovenes lacked a strictly Slovenian ruling class; only the Reformation and therefore the Counter-Reformation laid the foundations, with the language, of a Slovenian national conscience. In 1809-13 the creation, by Napoleon, of the Illyrian provinces, with Ljubljana as capital, it was considered by the Slovenes as an important recognition of their national individuality; the requests for autonomy from Vienna, which re-emerged during the crisis of 1848-49, remained however confined to a small circle of intellectuals. After the Austrian defeat in the First World War, the Slovenes joined the creation of a South-Slavic kingdom (1918). Shared between Italy and Germany in 1941, in 1946 the Slovenia became part of Yugoslavia as a federated republic, but the death of Tito (1980), combined with the economic crisis of the Eighties and national tensions, also led to Slovenia, as in the other Yugoslav republics, a phase of instability evolved into separatist sentiments. The first multi-party elections in 1990 were thus won in Parliament by the separatists; at the same time, M. Kučan, candidate of the Democratic Renewal Party (heir to the Communist League of Slovenia) was elected president. In June 1991 independence was proclaimed; the military crisis that followed saw the Slovenian territorial forces and the Yugoslav armed forces opposing each other, which, after the signing of a “ceasefire” in July, withdrew in October. In 1992 the situation stabilized politically and economically, and following the legislative elections, J. Drnovšek became head of the government (reappointed in 1996 and 2000; president from 2002 to 2007). In the second half of the nineties nationalist sentiment grew among the Slovenian population and the tendency, which emerged already during the eighties, to underline the historical position of the country in the European context, was confirmed. to polemically reiterate the non-belonging of Slovenia to the Slavic and Balkan world. In 2004 Slovenia joined NATO and the European Union. The political elections of Oct. 2004 were won by the Democratic Party, a center-right formation, whose leader J. Jansa formed a new government coalition. The plans of the majority for cuts to the welfare state and fiscal neoliberalism provoked widespread internal opposition. On the international level, relations with Serbia became tense due to the support given to Kosovo’s independence. The government policy was however rewarded by economic and financial stability, which in 2007 allowed Slovenia to become the first Eastern European country to have successfully carried out the changeover to the euro. In 2007 the presidential elections were won by D. Türk, center-left candidate;