Yearbook 2011
Slovenia. According to Countryaah official site, Borut Pahor’s center-left government worked head-on during the first half of the year. Several ministers jumped off and voters voted down proposed changes in labor law and the pension system in two referendums. By mid-year, two out of four government parties had withdrawn from government cooperation. When a vote of confidence was announced in September, the remaining minority government fell. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of SLO that stands for the country of Slovenia.
No one succeeded in forming a new government within a week and thus became the new election, in early December. The result was an unexpected victory for the center-left party Positiva Slovenia, formed only a few weeks earlier by Ljubljana’s mayor Zoran Janković. The party received close to 30% of the vote. The previously tipped winner, former Prime Minister Janez Janša, had to admit to being defeated. His conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) got just under 26%, while Pahor’s Social Democratic SD came in third with just over 10.
The September 2008 election marked a major victory for the Social Democracy, rising from 10 to 29 seats and becoming the country’s largest with 30.5% of the vote. The former government party SDS had to settle for 29.3% and resigned 1 mandate. The Social Democrats formed a coalition with 2 other center parties with Borut Pahor as prime minister.
Slovenia was hit hard by the global economic crisis, which seriously hit in 2008. The country’s GDP fell by 7.8% in 2009. The second highest decline after the Baltic countries. However, the rise in unemployment was moderate. It rose from 5.3% in March 2009 to 6.2% in March 2010, and youth unemployment remained stable at 12.2%. The figures were just over half the level in the rest of the EU.
In 2011, the government coalition was characterized by fierce internal tensions. In April, DeSUS left the coalition. Two months later, the government tried to get a number of reforms passed in parliament. The opposition was opposed and instead they were sent for a referendum. In June, the population voted on 3 proposals: increased persecution of undeclared work; opening intelligence service archives; increasing the retirement age to 65 and reducing the pensions. All 3 proposals were massively rejected by over 70% of voters. In July, Zares resigned from the government and in September Prime Minister Pahor asked for a vote of confidence in parliament which he lost by 36 votes to 51. According to the Constitution, Parliament now had 30 days to find a new new prime minister, but most parties were more interested in a parliamentary election.
History. – During the eighties the political debate in Slovenia recorded the emergence of growing criticisms of the country’s situation, especially in relation to the Yugoslav economic structure: at different levels the idea spread that federal relations hinder the development of the economy of the Slovenia – one of the richest republics of Yugoslavia – while their loosening in a confederal type structure was indicated as an instrument for economic revival, for which the strong link already existing with Austria and Germany was seen as a guarantee. Even at the cultural level, orientations emerged aimed at underlining the historical position of the Slovenia in a European context, which was opposed to the Balkan one. L’ Zveza Komunistov Slovenije), led by M. Kučan (1986-89) and was accompanied by the growing spread of requests for political liberalization. The first step towards the creation of new parties took place within the prescriptions of the federal constitution of 1974, when the Slovenian Peasant League (SKZ, Slovenska Kmečka Zveza) was registered as an association within the Socialist Alliance (May 1988). Numerous other formations followed the same procedure and finally, in December 1989, the Republican Parliament passed multi-party legislation. This internal process was accompanied by a progressive deterioration of relations at the federal level, which in turn strengthened the autonomist sentiments that soon resulted in independence.
The start of the secessionist process occurred with the clash between the ZKS and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ, Savez Komunista Yugoslavije), registered at the 14th congress of the SKJ, in January 1990. The congress voted to abolish the leading role of the SKJ in Yugoslav society, setting the stage for the subsequent adoption of multi-partyism, but rejected the Slovenian proposal to transform the SKJ into a confederation of independent republican parties. The Slovenian delegation withdrew from the congress; on February 4, the ZKS proclaimed itself independent from the SKJ and added to its name that of the Party of Democratic Renewal (SDP, Stranka Demokratične Prenove), which later remained the only official name. The first multi-party elections, held in April, were won by DEMOS, a coalition of six parties (including, among others, far-right nationalists, greens, social democrats) formed on an independentist and anti-communist platform. M. Kučan, candidate of the SDP won the contemporary presidential elections. The electoral outcome accelerated the separatist process, marked by the declaration of sovereignty (July 1990), the referendum on independence (December 1990) and the declaration of independence (June 1991). The rapid unfolding of events resulted in a brief military crisis: clashes between the Slovenian Territorial Defense Forces and the Yugoslav Armed Forces took place between June and July 1991; on 10 July the Brioni compromise was signed which provided for a ceasefire and a three-month moratorium for the proclamation of independence. The withdrawal of the Yugoslav armed forces from the Slovenia in October finally sanctioned the implicit recognition of Slovenian independence by the federal authorities. The Slovenian representatives in the federal bodies resigned between September and October, while a new currency was introduced in Slovenia thaler, replacing the Yugoslav dinar. In December 1991, after the approval by parliament of a new republican constitution, DEMOS broke up. The government, set up by DEMOS after the elections in April 1990, led by L. Peterlè of the Christian Democratic Party (SKD, Slovenski Krščanski Demokrati), was beaten in April 1992 by a vote of no confidence on the privatization law and for the restitution of properties to the former owners; was replaced by a more center-oriented coalition led by J. Drnovšek of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDS, Liberalna Demokratična Stranka), former head of the Yugoslav collective presidency in 1989-90. The first political and presidential elections after independence took place in December 1992. Kučan was re-elected to the presidency of the Republic, while the LDS established itself as the first party, with 23.7% of the votes. Drnovšek formed a coalition government in January 1993, comprising LDS, SKD, Greens (ZS, Zeleni Slovenije), Social Democrats (SDSS, Socialdemokratična Stranka Slovenije) and the United List, left-wing grouping.
The economic situation, in the aftermath of independence and the consequent collapse of exports to the Yugoslav market (previously the main recipient of Slovenian production), showed serious difficulties: the decline in industrial production was accompanied by an increase in unemployment (which had passed from about 2% in the late 1980s, to 12% in 1992 and 14% in 1993); inflation, after reaching an annual average of 201.3% in 1992, fell to 32.3% in 1993. Trade with Germany and Austria increased, while difficulties were recorded in commercial and political relations with the Croatia. The Italian claim for the reimbursement of the old properties, which remained in Slovenian territory following the border changes after the Second World War.