Overview of the week's top stories
since 2 February 2003

Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel responded to harsh criticism this week after aligning Slovenia with the Vilnius Group of ten Central and Eastern European states on 5 February. After United States Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation of evidence against Iraq to the United Nations Security Council, the group issued a declaration supporting US policies towards Iraq.

Critics allege that Rupel signed the declaration for Slovenia without consulting the government. However, he told 24 ur this week that "I agreed and spoke with everyone with whom I normally speak about such things, which is to say, with the prime minister and president, and we agreed on what to do."

Tuesday’s Delo, however, said that Prime Minister Rop was only informed of the decision to sign the declaration the day after Rupel signed it.

Rupel added that the declaration was "superficially interpreted". He points out that it assures that the United Nations Security Council has full responsibility for solving the crisis in Iraq. "The declaration does not say that we are allying ourselves with firebrands and warmongers," he said.

According to the Constitution, a group of no less than ten members of parliament can initiate interpellation hearings against the government or an individual minister. The hearings are followed by a vote of confidence; if the government or minister fails the vote, they must be removed from office. A majority of 46 members of parliament would have to vote no-confidence in order for the action to pass.

Černjak’s comments were noticed by the Associated Press, which mentioned him in an article about reactions by residents of several Central European countries to the support their governments have pledged to the United States.

On Thursday, STA reported that the government has adopted a position on the Iraq situation, which Rupel says is in line with the Vilnius Declaration.

The government wants all possibilities for a peaceful resolution to be adopted, and for force to be used only as a last resort. It calls on the UN Security Council to do what it must in order to execute its resolutions concerning Iraq, and also calls on the EU and NATO to come to some sort of understanding.

The director of a Slovene magnet manufacturing company confirmed this week that Iraqis did try to purchase prohibited materials from his firm. Magneti Ljubljana director Albert Erman told TV Slovenija that the firm was contacted first in 1997 by a Belgrade-based export company about the materials. After Magneti Ljubljana questioned where the materials were going, the deal faltered.

Last week, during his presentation of evidence against Iraq at the United Nations, US Secretary of State Colin Powell mentioned Slovenia as one country from which Iraq has tried to purchase materials which could be used in the manufacturing of nuclear arms.

The statement led many to wonder who was involved. Radio Slovenija and other media reported that the only domestic firm capable of producing the items is Magneti Ljubljana DD. However, a spokesman for Magneti Ljubljana DD said last week that his firm has never had any dealings with Iraq.

The delegation was led by Marjan Pipp, the head of the Center of Austrian National Groups and manager of Radio Dva, the Slovene-language radio station in Klagenfurt (Celovec).

The group met with the General Secretary of the Council of Europe, Walter Schwimmer, himself from Austria. According to Pipp, talks focused on three themes: the situation at the radio station; bilingual signage in southern Carinthia; and the situation of ethnic Slovenes in the Styria (Štajerska) region.

Schwimmer said that the Council of Europe has clear rules for the protection of minorities and minority languages, and that Austria therefore has a clear responsibility to the Slovenes. He promised to bring up the issue at his upcoming meeting with Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and General Director of Austrian national radio and television service ORF Monica Linder.

The Slovene delegation also met with members of the European Parliament’s working group on minority issues, as well as with the European Commissar for Culture. The working group promised to send a letter to the Austrian government in support of Radio Dva.

A 2001 broadcasting law requires ORF to provide services for Austria’s minorities in their own languages. However, ORF backed out of Radio Dva on 1 January 2003, citing financial difficulties. Since then, the station’s five permanent employees and roughly 25 freelancers have been working without pay. Radio Dva premiered in 1998 and provides twelve hours of Slovene-language programming each day.

Carnival events, called kurentovanje, will take place in and around Ptuj from 22 February until 4 March. The opening event, held on Saturday, 22 February, will be the 6^th Meeting of Slovene Carnival Characters and Masks, an evening of ethnographic performances, on Ptuj’s Mestni Trg.

Kurentovanje festivities are not exclusive to Ptuj, but after 42 years the town’s celebration is the oldest in Slovenia. The event draws nearly 100,000 visitors each year.

This year’s kurentovanje in Ptuj features a full schedule of events. In the evenings, Mestni Trg will host various performances of both folk and contemporary music. Pop and rock bands, including Tabu, Magnifico, Bepop, Game Over and Vlado Kreslin, will be among the performers. The traditional 43rd carnival parade will march through town on Sunday, 2 March.

The term kurentovanje comes from the pagan demigod Kurent, who in earlier times was believed to chase away winter and usher in spring. The festival’s origins are obscure, and may have come from earlier Slavic, Celtic or Illyrian customs. Similar traditions are found throughout the region, in parts of Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and elsewhere.

One of the highlights of this year’s kurentovanje will be the publication of a monograph on Slovenia’s carnival traditions. The book will be presented on Monday, 24 February at the gallery of Ptuj castle.