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preoccupied with a major summit
in Maastricht, initially postponed its decision on the
recognition of Slovenia and Croatia. Later, it was agreed that EC members would together
recognise Slovenia and Croatia on 15 January 1992. Germany, however, recognised both
countries on 19 December.
By this time, Slovenia had already experienced an independent existence for some
time. The new Slovene currency, the tolar (SIT), was introduced in early October, marking
Slovenia’s monetary independence. On 26 October, the last ferry carrying Yugoslav federal
troops left Koper. Now the attention of the political parties, the old and new state institutions,
and the public could increasingly focus on questions of domestic politics, economic problems
and new legislation. On 20 November, the assembly delegates voted in a new law on
denationalisation. This regulated the return of, or compensation for, farmland, forests,
businesses and capital that had been nationalised under the Communist rule to former owners
or their heirs. The provisions on returning nationalised property ‘in kind’, in particular,
ensured that the deliberation and adoption of the law was accompanied by many clashes and
heated debate. Just over a month later – on the anniversary of the 23 December plebiscite –
the new Slovene Constitution was ceremonially adopted in Ljubljana, representing a clear
break with the socialist past. The Constitution defined Slovenia as a modern, democratic,
social state based on the rule of law, respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. The
constitutional act which governed its implementation determined that elections to the new
two-chamber parliament must be carried out within a year at the latest.
This accelerated the transformation of the Slovene political scene and the creation of
new party divisions. Ideological and personal differences, and above all different views on
economic policy and privatisation, also caused increased the differences within the governing
Demos coalition itself. Once EC ministers had decided in mid-December that they would
recognise Slovenia, the main aim of the coalition had been reached and the Demos parties
were incapable of creating a new common programme for the future development of
Slovenia. By the end of December 1991 the impasse had led the leaders of all the Demos
parties to decide to dissolve the forum.
At the start of 1992, the young state of Slovenia entered a new phase of development.
By the end of 1991, it had been recognised by ten countries, but after 15 January 1992,
following recognition by the EC member states, the number rapidly increased. Party political
preparations for the elections and the battle for votes were already underway. Communism
and the Yugoslav state, which was slipping further and further into a cruel and bloody war,
were being consigned to Slovenia’s past. However, the optimistic view – that one story was
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coming to an end, and another completely fresh story beginning – soon proved premature, as
the legacy of the past proved greater than had initially seemed.
FROM INDEPENDENCE TO EU MEMBERSHIP
The disintegration of the Demos coalition weakened Lojze Peterle’s government,
which fell at the end of April 1992. The new government coalition was led by the Liberal
Democratic Party (Liberalno Demokratska Stranka, later Liberalno Demokracija Slovenije –
LDS), which had been founded in 1990 by the former leaders of the Socialist Youth League of
Slovenia (ZSMS) and the Young Communists; the party leader was the former president of
the Yugoslav presidency, Janez Drnovšek. The rapid fall of Peterle’s government thwarted the
plans of the Demos politicians. They had hoped after the adoption of the constitution in
December 1991 that the first parliamentary elections in independent Slovenia could be held in
spring 1992. The elections required new voting legislation as well as cross-party consensus on
the voting system, but discussions on the voting system dragged on until autumn, when most
assembly delegates supported a system of proportional representation. In the election held on
6 December 1992, 25 parties and 10 non-party lists competed for 90 seats in the new National
Assembly. The LDS won the highest number of votes (23.5%), followed by the Christian
Democrats (14.5%) and the United List (former Communists). The presidential elections took
place at the same time, with Milan Kučan being returned to his post, having gained by far the
largest vote (67%) among the eight candidates.
The election winners, the LDS, assembled a new coalition government headed by
Janez Drnovšek. The coalition
also included the Christian Democrats (Slovenski krščanski
demokrati – SKD), the United List (Združena lista – ZL) and the Social Democrats
(Socialdemokratska stranka Slovenije – SDSS, later SDS). The SDS only won 3.3% of the
vote, but the party included some of the most prominent leaders of the Slovene independence
movement (e.g. Jože Pučnik and Janez Janša). In 1994, however, a quarrel broke out between
Janez Janša, who was Minister of Defence in the new coalition, and the LDS. Janša was
deposed and the SDS joined the opposition. This increased the polarisation between the
parties and the differences between the former Demos parties. With the strengthening of the
LDS, the SDS and the revived Slovene People’s Party (Slovenska ljudska stranka – SLS,
successor to the Slovene Farmers’ Union of 1988), the political scene divided into two
roughly equal blocs during the mid-1990s. The first bloc was dominated by parties stemming
from political organisations that had operated under the Communism regime, while the other
bloc comprised parties formed in the events leading up to Slovenia’s independence (calling