• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Slovenia - European Union

On May 1st 2004, Slovenia formally joined the European Union (EU). This was a result of two events: the EU invitation to Slovenia to join and the national referendum held on March 17, 2003, when nearly 90% of the electorate voted in favor of joining the EU. The Slovenian government adopted measures to harmonize national laws with the EU's Acquis Communitaire. Thus, the legislation is more or less harmonized; however, due to lack of numerous by-laws, the complete and thorough implementation of the laws is often problematic. To its credit, Slovenia was the only acceding country not to receive a warning in the latest EU accession assessment progress report in Fall 2003.

In June 2004, Slovenia took an additional step toward deeper integration with Europe by joining the ERM-II (Exchange Rate Mechanism). Slovenia's foremost economic policy goal in the next two years is to fulfill the Maastricht criteria of ERM-II in order to adopt the Euro as the country's currency. The target date for adopting the Euro is 2007. Slovenia is well on its way to meeting all of the Maastricht criteria, having already met the standards for six of the seven criteria. Inflation, however, is still above what is required to adopt the Euro and as such, addressing this issue is a top government priority. While the current (early 2005) level of inflation in Slovenia remains higher than the Maastricht criteria, there has been a steady downward trend in the inflation rate over the past two years.

Slovenia, in accordance with its accession to the EU, is implementing further reforms in the field of public administration laws and regulations. Judicial reform is still underway and measures to decrease judicial backlogs have been taken. Slovenia has a strong human rights and religious freedom record. It has also achieved significant progress on the free movement of persons, fisheries, economic and monetary union, employment and social policy, regional policy, the environment and financial control.

With its entry into the European Union, Slovenia has become a strong advocate for the inclusion of other former Yugoslav republics into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Slovenia's strong political ties to the region are complemented by strong economic ties. Slovenia is among the largest foreign investors in the region.

Italian-Slovenian bilateral relations are also very good. By mid-1996, property restitution disputes derived from World War II had been set aside, allowing a dramatic improvement in relations. In 2001, the Italian Senate voted final approval of legislation resolving some minor differences remaining over minority rights issues and over the compensation for property abandoned by Italian refugees fleeing communist Yugoslavia in the postwar period. Recently some have accused the Italians of not consulting with Slovenia regarding their plans to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the middle of Trieste Bay and near the Slovene-Italian land border, which could have an environmental impact on Slovenia as well.

Relations are excellent with Hungary. Hungarian (as well as Italian) minorities in Slovenia are accorded special treatment under the Slovenian constitution, including a permanent parliamentary seat. Within the Multilateral Cooperation Initiative between Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, cooperation exists in numerous fields, including military (Multinational Land Force peacekeeping brigade), transportation, combating money laundering and organized crime, non-proliferation, border crossings, and environmental issues.

Austro-Slovenian relations are close with occasional disputes related to support for the respective country's minorities. In 2005 and 2006 this was dominated by an ongoing question about whether to allow bilingual (German and Slovenian) signage on Austrian territory near the Slovenian border. Questions regarding nuclear power in Slovenia and the basis for the settlement of the Austrian State Treaty appear to have been solved. Economic cooperation is expanding, including a joint project for development of border regions.

In November 2009, Slovenia and Croatia agreed to send their long-standing border dispute to arbitration, and Slovenia has taken steps to facilitate Croatia's EU accession process. Though some outstanding issues remain, including property rights and Croatian depositors' savings in the Ljubljanska Banka from Yugoslav times, the bilateral relationship has significantly improved since the November 2009 agreement. In March 2010, as a further indication of warming relations between the two countries, Slovenia and Croatia co-hosted a regional forum for Western Balkan leaders in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia.