Overview of the week's top stories
since 29 June 2002

On Friday, Janez Drnovšek announced at a press conference that he will not step down as prime minister until after the presidential elections are concluded. Previously, he had said he would step down early in order to campaign.

Drnovšek now believes that the situation in Europe after the EU’s June summit in Seville bodes well for quick negotiations for Slovene membership in the Union. He wants to remain Prime Minister to see the accession process through to its conclusion.

He also said he still intends to run for President, and will register his candidacy on 10 October, the first day of registration.

If elected, he would assume the post of President on 23 December. He told the press that Finance Minister Tone Rop may be a good choice to succeed him as Prime Minister, though it is too early to make that decision.

On 2 July, Speaker of Parliament Borut Pahor drafted a decree making Sunday, 10 November, the date of the presidential and local elections. Based on this, prospective candidates will be able to register beginning on 10 October.

Of those who have announced their intention to run, it is believed that Prime Minister and LDS head Janez Drnovšek and former Governor of Banka Slovenije France Arhar have the best chance to become the country’s second president.

On Friday, the National Assembly ratified the agreement on the succession of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ). Of the 62 members of parliament present, 39 voted for ratification; 19 voted against. All five successor states (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia) signed the agreement last June. Only Croatia has yet to ratify it now.

The agreement states that all five are equal successors to the SFRJ. In its annexes, it deals with the division of the debts and assets of the former state. Among the issues addressed are diplomatic properties abroad, currency reserves, foreign debt, archives, pensions, copyrights and private property. According to the agreement, 16 percent of the debts and assets fall to Slovenia.

In their speeches, gay and lesbian community leaders stressed a political agenda, including demands for legislation dealing with discrimination, same-sex partnerships and adoption by same-sex couples. They also called for the insertion of sexual orientation into the 14^th article of the constitution, which deals with discrimination. Further, they called for the inclusion of homosexual topics into school curricula and proper media coverage of gay and lesbian issues in order to foster tolerance.

After the rally, a picnic, sporting events and a concert were held, along with a ceremony where the first Pink Flamingos were awarded for activism in gay and lesbian issues. Among the recipients were Miša Molk for her role during the Sestre scandal earlier this year, Alenka Kovšca, state secretary at the Ministry of Labor for her work on the preparations for the law on same-sex partnerships, Radio Študent for hosting the Lezbomanija program as well as Mladina for its coverage of gay and lesbian issues.

On Monday, the National Assembly passed amendments to the Law on Health Services, with a large majority. The amendments related to changes in working hours and the duties of doctors.

On Tuesday, STA reported that the president of the Slovene Chamber of Health, Marko Bitenc, the president of the Slovene Health Society, Pavle Poredoš, and the president of the Union of Doctors and Dentists, Konrad Kuštrin, all spoke out against the Ministry of Health and its role in preparing the amendments. They feel their organizations were not sufficiently involved in the process and that it still does not fully address all of the problems facing healthcare workers.

On Thursday, the Slovene Chamber of Advertising presented data on readership of the country’s print media at a press conference. The data, covering the first half of 2002, is part of the National Readership Research (NRB) project.

The NRB began on 1 January 2002, and is intended to establish the value of advertising space in the country’s print media. Almost 140 media outlets are included, and the research is conducted on the basis of telephone interviews, in which 15,975 participated, and door-to-door surveys, in which 3627 participated.

The NRB also covers other media, including television and radio stations and the internet. Full results, however, are only available to paid subscribers.

On Monday, parliament hosted participants of the second meeting of ethnic Slovenes who live outside of Slovenia. Representatives of Slovene communities in Austria, Italy, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Canada, Argentina, Macedonia, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia and France attended.

Speaker of Parliament Borut Pahor addressed the meeting, citing the 1996 parliamentary Resolution on Slovenes Living in Bordering States and the 2002 Resolution on Slovenes Around the World as major achievements of the government’s effort to maintain ties with its emigrants. He also called for the meeting to become an annual institution.

Foreign Minister Dimitri Rupel, head of the Office of Slovenes In Bordering States and Around the World Iztok Simoniti, and parliamentary opposition leader Janez Janša also addressed the meeting.

Among the major issues facing ethnic Slovene communities are the economic crisis in Argentina and legal issues in both Austria and Italy. The representative of the Croatian Slovenes said that the open issues between Croatia and Slovenia is creating fear and insecurity among his community, which is leading to quicker assimilation of ethnic Slovenes into the Croat majority. Slovenes in Bosnia said they are not sufficiently informed about the situation in Slovenia.

Roughly 500,000 ethnic Slovenes live outside of Slovenia, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of all Slovenes.

Haider calls to end Slovene-language radio

On 3 July, 24ur reported that Carinthia governor Jörg Haider wants to end Slovene-language radio programs on Radio Dva, saying that they "enable the beginning of radicals" within the Slovene community. "You shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you," he added. Haider’s comments were published in an interview with the weekly Kärntner Woche.

Radio Dva premiered last year. It is a project which joins the efforts of the Slovene section of the state radio and television station ORF with the private radio stations Korotan and Agora. It provides twelve hours of Slovene-language programming each day.

Some "people who insult Carinthia" may be creating a financial base on Radio Dva to enable them to "agitate and make life more difficult for moderate forces within the community". Haider called on the head of ORF to shut Radio Dva down.

Haider petitioned ORF general director Monika Linder. He cited a lack of "falsified and approved accounts" for Radio Dva, for which ORF is the primary financier. Haider threatened to take his case to the state prosecutor if ORF did not cease its Radio Dva activities.

Radio Dva representatives deny Haider’s allegations and have sent their own petitions. They point out Austrian and European legislation which states that the Slovene minority must have access to the media. Bernard Sadovnik, head of the National Council of Carinthian Slovenes (NSKS) went a step further, addressing his complaints to the Austrian federal government and ORF itself.

Andrej Wakounig, head of the Slovene political party Enota Lista, said that Haider’s actions "put pressure on the minority to make them obedient in the question of the bilingual place name signs." And in fact, in the same Kärntner Woche interview, Haider reiterated his resistance to installing any more bilingual signage in the province despite the December 2001 Constitutional Court decision.

• The Dalai Lama’s first visit to Slovenia from 4 to 6 July, led to denunciations by China on Monday. The Chinese government sees the Dalai Lama as a separatist, seeking to detach Tibet from China, and reproached the Slovene government for welcoming him. The Dalai Lama was given an honorary title at the University of Ljubljana, and met with many leading political figures.

• Pop star Sebastian’s label Menart is calling for a boycott of the RTVS music video show Videospotnice after the program refused to play Sebastian’s new video. According to Mladina, representatives of Videospotnice felt that "such an uninnovative video does not have a place in a program of the national television channel." Menart is now threatening to refuse to allow any of its music videos to be played on Videospotnice. Aside from Sebastian, the label also handles Jan Plestenjak, Karmen Stavec and others. Representatives of Videospotnice deny that they are discriminating against Menart, adding that two of the label’s videos – one by Sestre and another by Sasha – are currently in rotation.