Overview of the week's top stories
since 8 March 2003

On 12 March, Finance published an article examining the first 100 days of the current government led by Prime Minister Anton Rop. The government took power last December after then-Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek left his post to become president.

The governing coalition remained the same as in the previous government. However, the Slovene Youth Party (SMS) no longer has an agreement of support with the coalition and has taken a more active part in the opposition.

When Rop took office, he said that one of the key issues he intended to address is the harmonization of Slovene legislation with that of the EU. However, after three months in office and with just under two weeks to go before the referenda on entry into the EU and Nato, Finance points out that little has been done to address the backlog of required changes to existing legislation. The changes must be made before Slovenia joins the EU.

The National Assembly’s January session reviewed no so-called "European legislation," while the February session saw only two. The agendas for March and April only include discussion over a single "European" law.

Prime Minister Anton Rop also wired his condolences to the Serbian Government, saying that he was shaken by the news. Rop said he "decisively condemns this criminal act which has taken a great democrat and statesman from Serbia."

Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel was meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer at Brnik when the news came, and the two issued a joint statement condemning the assasination. They said that both of their governments are united in aspiring to create peace and stability in the region, and will continue to support the process of democratization in Southeastern Europe.

Slovene voters will take to the polls on 23 March to vote in referenda on whether their country should join the European Union and NATO. According to the latest Politbarometer results released this week, voters will opt to join both organizations.

According to the poll, 48 percent would vote for Slovene entry into NATO (up from 37 percent in February), while 28 percent would vote against. The number of undecided was at about 23 percent.

Considerably more voters support entry into the EU. Poll results show that 71 percent would vote in favor of joining, while just 10 percent would oppose it. About 19 percent remain undecided.

Based on the 88 percent of those surveyed who actually intend to participate in the referenda, Slovenia will chose to join NATO with a vote of 52:28 (20 percent undecided) and the EU with a vote of 76:10 (10 percent undecided).

The public opinion survey Politbarometer is conducted monthly by the Center for Public Opinion Research of the University of Ljubljana. The latest had a sample of 911 people.

Voters in Malta supported their country’s accession to the EU last Sunday with a vote of 54:46. After Slovenia’s referendum, Hungary is next, followed by Poland in June.

The head of the government’s Office for Information, Gregor Krajc, hopes that Slovenia’s simultaneous referenda on entry into the EU and Nato will draw even more international attention than Malta’s vote did. The office is already accrediting foreign journalists to cover the story.

Austria ran local elections in 132 towns in the Carinthia (Koroška) region over the weekend, which were of great significance to the local Slovene minority. According to Andrej Wakounig, head of the Carinthian Slovene political party Enotna Lista (EL), a record number of voters supported ethnic Slovene candidates, and, for the first time, the EL will participate in the second round of mayoral elections.

A total of 5632 voters supported EL candidates, up from 5527 in the last local election. All but four ethnic Slovene city councilmen kept their seats, which means that Slovene politicians now hold 52 city council seats in 22 towns in Carinthia.

In two towns, Feistritz ob Bleiburg (Bistrici nad Pliberkom) and Globasnitz (Globasnica), ethnic Slovene candidates have entered the second round of voting for the post of mayor. The second round of local elections will be held on 23 March.

According to Il Piccolo, Aleanza Nazionale MP Roberto Menia was among the most vocal. He demanded that communications minister Maurizia Gaspari formally demand that the game be taken off of the website.

Players chose between dropping Partizans and Domobranci into the pit. The two groups, composed primarily of ethnic Slovenes, fought a civil war during World War Two. Though the game does not involve ethnic Italians, Menia believes that the game offends the memory of those Italian citizens whose lives ended in the fojbas.

"Fojba 2000" has been on the Mladina website since 2000, and in just the last month had 2500 visitors.

• On Thursday, one of four Slovene peace activists was expelled from Baghdad. Eva Mern and four others from various countries were forced out of Iraq because they did not agree with orders on where the so-called "human shields" should be placed. The activists wanted to stay close to sites crucial for the civilian population, but the Iraqi government "wanted the shields in more sensitive locations," according to an AP report. More than 100 activists from all over the world remain in Baghdad to protest the threat of war.

• Saturday marked the Hungarian national holiday, and the start of Slovenia’s Month of Hungarian Culture. The month-long program began Friday night with a reception in Lendava where local ethnic Hungarian leaders bestowed prizes for minority culture in 2003.