On 16 and 17 April, Prime Minister Anton Rop and President Janez Drnovšek were in Athens to formally sign the treaty finalizing Slovenia’s accession to the European Union. They were joined by representatives of the other nine acceding countries and representatives of the EU.

As the signing ceremony and other events were underway, a crowd of about 7000 protestors gathered outside. However, they were protesting the war in Iraq, not EU expansion. More than 10,000 police were on hand to maintain security, and at one point responded to the protestors with tear gas.

This is the largest expansion of the European Union in its history and will bring the total number of EU members up to 25. The ten acceding countries are expected to become full members in May 2004. In addition to Slovenia, accession treaties were signed by representatives of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.

Drnovšek advises Bush on Iraq, incites controversy at home

Early this week, President Janez Drnovšek sent a letter to United States president George Bush offering praise and advice on the situation in Iraq, according to the President’s Office.

"The war in Iraq is over. Many in the world doubted its necessity. But many of us were also convinced that it was important to disarm the regime of Saddam Hussein, although we hoped that a war could be avoided. You were certain that this was imperative in the interests of national security and in the interest of mankind," he began.

Drnovšek appreciated that the US conducted the war in such a way as to minimize casualties, but he went on to state that the end of the war is only the "first part of the task at hand." Now, life in Iraq must return to normal, in peace.

"We can see that the situation in Iraq these days is such that quick and effective action is needed to establish order, stop the looting and secure the essential activities for the peaceful life of the population. What is needed now is immediate humanitarian aid, especially essential medical assistance." Drnovšek assured that Slovenia is ready to help in that regard.

To some, however, the letter smacked of impropriety, and many thought that the letter was far too congratulatory. ZLSD member of parliament Aurelio Juri wrote his own letter, to President Drnovšek.

"This is your own matter, a matter of your relationship with ethics and morals in politics and international relations, that you do not doubt the necessity for this war, and when you say this to the American president, to the international and domestic public, as the president of all citizens of the Republic of Slovenia, you know that from my point of view, you have no such mandate!" Juri wrote.

Speaking to 24 ur, SDS leader Janez Janša said that the fact that the letter was written at a time when the war is virtually over makes it seem congratulatory.

"I think that this was a bad move. Not only the fact that Mr. Drnovšek did not call Mr. Bush as he did during the election campaign, but also the fact that this is a letter in which positions are expressed when the war is practically over, and in a fashion that makes it seem like there were never any disagreements over it. I think that if until now there was no such letter, only phone calls either in agreement or disagreement, then this was unnecessary now," he said.

On 16 April, the national Statistical Office released the final results of the 2002 census. The country’s population is officially 1,964,036, which is 2.6 percent higher than the number recorded on the 1991 census. Natural increase was actually negative (3500 people), so the increase is attributed to the roughly 28,000 people who immigrated to Slovenia since 1991, as well as the inclusion of people from elsewhere in Yugoslavia who were not counted on the 1991 census.

Due to changes in methodology, the statistics recorded for 2002 are not fully comparable with those of 1991. As part of the changes, those who have permanent residency in Slovenia but who lived outside of the country for at least one year prior to 15 April 2002 were not counted. At the same time, those who did not have permanent residency in Slovenia but who lived there for at least one year prior to 15 April 2002 were counted.

The 2002 census data is significant, since it provides statistics on the state of the population after the influx of refugees and other migrants who fled unrest and war in other parts of the former Yugoslavia.

It is also the last census before Slovenia joins the European Union. Free movement of people among the states of the EU should impact the country, and so it was important to collect data now to plan demographic policies.

The census shows that fewer Slovenes, Croats and Serbs live in Slovenia, as compared to the 1991 census. The percentage of Slovenes has fallen from 88.31 to 83.06, Croats from 2.76 to 1.81 and Serbs from 2.48 to 1.98.

The percentage of people of "unknown" ethnicity rose from 2.21 in 1991 to 6.43 in 2002, while 2.47 percent refused to answer the question.

The percentage of those who described themselves as Catholics also fell, from 71.6 to 57.8. The percentage of Muslims, on the other hand, rose from 1.5 to 2.4. This makes them the second-largest religious group in the country. The percentage of Orthodox fell from 2.4 to 2.3. Nearly 16 percent refused to answer the question.

However, he went on to say that he does not believe the census will help the Muslim community in its quest to build a mosque and cultural center in Ljubljana. "The numbers are meaningless. The basis for our demand is the community’s need to build a center for which it has a legitimate right and in which the members of the community will be able to fulfill their needs, regardless of the size of the community," he said

On 14 April, Finance reported that a group of regional media, together with Delo, has sent a draft agreement on the establishment of an economic interest association called Skupni List to the government’s Competition Protection Office. The office must now decide on whether the various media joining forces in this manner is in accordance with the laws on competition.

If approved, Skupni List would be made up of Delo, Gorenjski glas, Novi tednik and Radio Celje, the Murska Sobota information firm (which handles Radio Murski Val and the weekly Vestnik), Primorske novice and Radio tednik Ptuj.

The draft agreement includes provisions for cooperation among the media involved in the form of joint editorial content, advertising, marketing and publishing activities.

For some time, Delo has sought to unite a group of local newspapers into a network of regional dailies. The idea is not to create a single daily newspaper, but to enable the regional papers to publish daily by pooling resources among themselves and Delo in such areas as technology, content, organization and business.

In January, the first result of the plan appeared – the first issue of the supplement "TV Okno," which features television listings and original content. It is included in each of the regional papers’ Thursday issue.

At the start, five papers were involved: Primorske Novice, Gorenjski Glas, Novi Tednik (Celje), Dolenjski List and Tednik (Ptuj). However, Dolenjski List opted out of the "TV Okno" project, and was replaced by the Murska Sobota weekly Vestnik.

The second volume in the series will be published this June, and will collect Trubar’s catechisms from 1567 and 1575. A third volume is also expected to appear before the end of this year.

A total of twelve volumes, collecting 19 of Trubar’s books, are expected to be published before 2008, when the country will celebrate the 500^th anniversary of Trubar’s birth.

• On Saturday, Hungarians went to the polls to determine whether their country will join the European Union. A large majority – some 83.76 percent – voted in favor of joining, while just 16.24 percent voted against. Turnout was low, just 45.62 percent of the nearly eight million registered voters participated, but not low enough to invalidate the poll, which is binding on the government. In the 1997 referendum on Hungary’s joining Nato, turnout was slightly higher at just under 50 percent. Both Slovenia and Malta have already had referenda on EU membership, and next up is Latvia and Slovakia, which will hold referenda in May, followed by Poland and the Czech Republic in June, and Estonia and Latvia in September. Of the ten candidate countries, just Cyprus has opted not to hold a referendum.

• According to Megaklik.com, the drummer of the popular Russian duo Tatu is none other than Slovene Roman Ratej. Ratej has a long history in the local Slovene rock scene. On 24 May, Roman and Tatu will represent Russia at the Eurovision contest in Riga. Slovenia will be represented by Karmen Stavec.