LETTER TO AUSTRIA'S PRESIDENT KLESTIL CONCERNING STATEMENTS ABOUT AVNOJ RESOLUTIONS BY CERTAIN HIGH AUSTRIAN REPRESENTATIVES

Ljubljana, 5 September 2000


President Milan Kucan sent a letter to his Austrian counterpart Thomas Klestil concerning the statements made by Chancellor Schüssel on 2 September 2000 near the Slovenian border, which the Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in Vienna delivered to the office of the Austrian President today. In the letter President Kucan expressed his surprise at the Austrian Chancellor's statement that he never understood quite well why Slovenia regards itself to be a legal successor to the former Yugoslavia. This is seconded also by statements from other government representatives and political parties and can be interpreted as an attempt at changing history. All of this is considerably loosening the good neighbourly relations which both presidents have strived to build and which also require a settlement of issues inherited from the past.

In President Kucan's opinion it is not beneficial to open up issues of Europe's past, particularly those that were settled by peace treaties and agreements after World War II. That time in history and the parts played in the world's greatest ordeal cannot be changed, but a great deal can be done in order to prevent such a time from repeating itself. It is in Slovenia's vital interest to settle the legal succession of the former SFRY where, according to the Avnoj resolutions, it had the status of a Republic. Slovenia also based its request for succession on this fact since it was a constituent part of the former federal state and had a stake in its legacy, as well as its claim of the right to self-determination, and the concept of the legal dissolution of the disintegrated Yugoslav state, underlined President Kucan in his letter.

The dialogue between Slovenia and Austria has been continuous and productive for a number of years, also with regard to those issues where the two countries are still seeking common solutions. The traditionally positive atmosphere of Slovenian-Austrian relations shouldn't have to deteriorate as a result of daily political needs. I am looking forward to our meeting at the Millennium Summit in New York, concludes Milan Kucan in his letter to Thomas Klestil.