Yearbook 2009
Slovenia. According to countryaah, a border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia that has raged since the former Yugoslav republics declared independence in 1991 was called for during the year. EU country Slovenia blocked the neighboring country’s continued negotiations for EU membership and demanded that the border dispute first be resolved. The dispute involved border crossing in the Gulf of Piran in the Adriatic. Croatia wanted to push the border in the middle of the bay, something that Slovenia opposed when it would cut off the country from international waters. However, after a meeting between Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor in September, it was stated that Slovenia would no longer impede Croatia’s continued negotiations. In November, the parties, in Stockholm, signed an agreement to allow international mediators to resolve the border dispute. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for abbreviation SI which stands for the nation of Slovenia.
Following the release of the parliamentary election, Ljubljana’s mayor Zoran Janković announced in mid-October that he wanted to form a new party. A few weeks later, the party held its founding general assembly, where the mayor was elected chairman of the new center-left party Pozitivna Slovenija (PS). Voters were very dissatisfied with the sitting parties and sent the new party in parliament with 28.5% of the vote. With one stroke, the party was thus the country’s largest. The ruling social democracy lost 2/3 of its seats, going from 30.5 to 10.5%. The Conservative SDS went from 29.3 to 26.2%. Janković was now trying to form a new government, which failed. Acc. observers due to the mayor’s lack of parliamentary experience and lack of political project. In late January 2012, Janez Janša of the Conservative SDS formed a Conservative coalition government instead. In February, Janković announced that he wanted to run as mayor of Ljubljana instead. He won this election in April and then left parliament. A half-year parliamentary lightning career was thus over.
In a referendum in March 2012, homosexuals were given the same rights as heterosexuals to marry. In April, thousands of civil servants go on strike in protest of the conservative government’s drastic cuts. Again in November-December, there are mass demonstrations in both Ljubljana and the second largest city of Maribor in protest of the government’s crisis policy.
In July 2012, Pahor was overthrown as chairman of Social Democracy by Igor Lukšič. Pahor announced that he wanted to run as presidential candidate instead. In the first round of the November 12 presidential election, he got 39.9% of the vote, while incumbent President Danilo Türk got 35.9%. In the second round in December, Pahor gained 67.4% against Turk’s 32.6%. The incumbent president had thus accomplished the unusual of going back from 1st to 2nd rounds. Turnout declined from 48 to 42% in the second round. Pahor was posted to the post the same month.
SLOVENIA. – Following the events that, in the spring of 1941, led to the dismemberment of Yugoslavia (see this Appendix), Slovenia was the subject of the Ribbentrop-Ciano agreements (Vienna, April 20, 1941) and divided into two parts respectively attributed to Germany and to Italy, while small areas already Hungarian, of Medio-Mur and Oltre-Mur, were attributed to Hungary.
The northern part, between the sources of the Sava and Ljubljana (Upper Carniola, German Oberkrain, Slovenian Gorenjsko “high country”), more mountainous, rich in industries and mines, was annexed to Germany (9620 sq km and 775,000 residents), which divided the territory between Carinthia and Styria (naming the new provinces Savekärnten and Untersteiermark), while the internal Carinthian region (German Innerkrain ; Slovenian Notranjsko) and southern (Unterkrain and Dolenjsko), by decree law of 3 May 1941 it was annexed to Italy, as the province of Ljubljana, comprising a territory of 4545 sq. km., with 337,000 residents (density 74 per sq. km.).