Diplomatic Profile

Ljubljana Life Interview

...with Dean Haas, June 9, 2005

by william wagner

Who is Dean Haas and what does he do?

As the Deputy Chief of Mission, I usually describe myself as the chief operating officer of the US embassy, with the ambassador as the chief executive officer. Or another way to say it is the ambassador is more the "outside guy" of the embassy and I'm more the "inside guy". I do the internal management of the embassy, and here we have a fairly large embassy, the largest in Ljubljana, with about 30 Americans and 53 Slovene staff members, so it's a bit of an operation to look after.

How familiar were you with Slovenia before coming here as the DCM?

Probably a lot more familiar than most Americans because my mother's family comes from Slovenia. In my mother's family, both her mother and father were of Slovene descent. It was her grandmother and grandfather on both sides who emigrated to Minnesota from Slovenia in the early 1900s in that wave of economic migration, and went to work in the mines. So that's one reason why I had some familiarity with what Slovenia was, even before it became an independent country.

You have enjoyed the unique privilege of working in Slovenia both before and after its accession to the EU and NATO. Was Slovenia an interesting place for you to be at this juncture, and how would you describe your experience here?

Professionally, it has been a terrific experience to see Slovenia enter NATO and the EU, to be here as both dates happened, to be here for the referenda on both matters, to see how the NATO referendum ended up after there was some scepticism about how Slovenes would vote. That was a very happy time for us to see the very enthusiastic endorsement of NATO, but also of the EU. And now this year with the chairmanship of the OSCE, it's been another year of success for Slovenia. So it's been a very good time to be in Slovenia.

Now that Slovenia has joined the EU and NATO, do you think its government would be more or less inclined than previously to get involved as a go-between between the West and the southern Balkan countries like Serbia and Macedonia, for example?

I can only comment on what government officials at many different levels have told us, and that is that Slovenia has a great interest in working with its neighbours to the south, and helping as best it can to improve conditions in the region and to help the nations of the former Yugoslavia and other Balkan countries come forward into the Western organizations. I think it is one of the government's highest objectives and I think they are working hard to continue to build confidence in those relationships.

Do you think Slovenia is still in the process of figuring out what kind of country it wants to be and what kind of role it hopes to play within the larger framework of Europe?

I think all of the new countries in the EU are feeling their way as to how to get to success in the EU. In Slovenia's case I do hear consistently from people in the government about the importance of looking after Slovenia's national interests. What that has meant so far is picking a few issues, such as Croatia entering the EU, and a few other issues that they've chosen to be vocal on, and others where they've tended to sit back. I think that's a very natural reaction. But now this year with the OSCE chairmanship, and how that dovetails in with the EU, I think there is more and more confidence and greater effort being made to find additional issues on which Slovenia can make a difference and express stronger opinions.

Slovenia has often been held up, as it was by President Clinton when he visited in 1999, as an example of how a former so-called 'Eastern bloc' or 'Balkan' country could become a prosperous democracy (even though Slovenia, when within Yugoslavia, never really fit the mold of a classic Communist-bloc nation). How much farther does Slovenia have to go before it meets the American ideal, whatever that might be?

Well I think that Slovenia is, by any definition that the US might use, a lively and successful democracy. All you have to do is look at the elections last October and the change in government. There was no question that it would be peaceful, no question that the transition would occur smoothly, and it did. So I think that there is no question that Slovenia is a thriving democracy by any definition. Another thing is that, economically and the like, there are probably areas where Slovenia can do better. Areas with regard to privatization, more economic freedom, greater transparency, less red tape, and fewer restrictions to FDI and foreign companies coming in -- all of those things are elements that help to create a thriving free market economy and we hope to see progress continue.

Do you feel Slovenia's business climate has improved to some degree in the three years that you've been here?

I don't think that it's improved significantly, but I don't think that it's stalled. I think that there has been slow and steady progress. Obviously the new government has set out some new goals that it hopes to achieve, and if those goals are achieved, then I think we will see more significant strides in the right direction. With all that said, I want to make it clear that all you have to do is look at all the stores, the economic growth and vibrancy of the area and you'll see that the economy is quite successful.

In recent years, the Slovene people have been seen as fairly pro-American, though not uncritically so. In your opinion, have the policies of the Bush Administration, particularly the war in Iraq, strained relations between Slovenia and the US, and led to an increase in anti-American feeling, as has happened in some Western European countries?

I don't think Slovenia's levels of anti-Americanism or criticisms of this administration are much different from what we've seen throughout Western Europe. I hope that it's not anti-Americanism but rather criticism of the policies of an administration that some people disagree with. Our job is to promote those policies and to explain those policies, and I think we've done a better job in the last year or so to get out and diversify our message, to make sure that Slovenes hear and understand the breadth of US interests, and what American culture and American life is really like.

What do you think is the typical impression that most Slovene's have of life in America?

I think they believe that Americans are overall more conservative than they actually are. America is a conservative country by European standards, and we obviously have a President now of the conservative party, but I think a lot of Slovenes would be surprised by the diversity of my country and the way we handle things like racism and ethnic relations. We have great success stories in this regard, and we have great success stories of Americans of all walks of life being able to become major players, major political and cultural figures, and the like.

As a so-called "outsider" to Europe, what is your view in general of how things work in Europe, and what kind of prospects do you see for Slovenia's and Europe's future?

I have thoroughly enjoyed living in Europe for years and it has exceeded my expectations, which were already very, very high. Europeans enjoy a very nice lifestyle and very generous social benefits. They've made decisions along the way to provide for their own security in ways that are very different from what we've done in the United States. I'm not necessarily saying it is better or worse, but it is different. Slovenia has patterned itself after some of the most successful European models and has the goal to fit in that way, so it's different from the US but it works.

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