Address by the President at the state ceremony celebrating Slovenian Statehood Day

Ljubljana, 24.6.2010  |  speech

Speech by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, on the occasion of Slovenian Statehood Day
Ljubljana, 24 June 2010


Esteemed Citizens of Slovenia,
Fellow Slovenians around the world,

We are again gathered here today, in this historic place and in our minds, to celebrate together the birthday of our country, Slovenia. As every year at this time, tonight, in this historic place, we commemorate the declaration of independence of our country, our hopes and yearnings at that time, our united and very strong will to face new times and a better day.

During our celebration these days, we are particularly proud. We are proud of our national football team, which has represented us so courageously and successfully at the FIFA World Cup. Dear citizens, at this symbolic moment and at this symbolic place, I would therefore also like to take the opportunity here to congratulate our players for their great success and the exceptional presentation of Slovenia to the entire world.

Dear Citizens of Slovenia,

The crucial events leading to our independence happened nineteen years ago. This year, on the occasion of our Statehood Day, we look back with a great respect on the twentieth anniversary of the events that finally led to the independence of Slovenia. We remember the constitutional amendments, adopted in September 1989, which provided a constitutional framework for our processes and independence. We remember the establishment of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, Demos, which – like yeast in rising dough – generated democratic changes in our society. We recall Operation Sever, which, at the end of 1989, protected Slovenia and its processes of independence against violence. We remember the first democratic elections in April 1990, which resulted in democratically elected ruling bodies – the Parliament, the Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia and, in May 1990, also the Government. We remember the establishment of the tactical structure of the national defence and the transformation of the territorial defence into a strong force under the command of the Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia.

These were all important developments in our nation’s history. Without any one of these developments, our independence would have been much more difficult to achieve and our struggle for independence would have lasted much longer.

A number of participants in the war for Slovenia and members of the families of those who sacrificed their most precious belonging, their lives, are among us tonight. It is they who most deserve our thanks for the independence we won. We must always bear in mind that the struggle for our statehood was fought first on the battlefield, which subsequently enabled quick and successful results at the negotiating table, too. This is one of the crucial and increasingly understood lessons in connection with our independence.

However, all the lessons of the period of our independence and later developments have not yet been realized. In reality, the democratic path never ends. There are also holdups and regressions on it. Continuous effort is needed in order to achieve progress and high quality democracy. We must therefore constantly face and answer basic questions: Are we aware of the full dimensions of the demands brought about by democracy? Have we assumed all the responsibilities of a sovereign state? Has our approach to tasks arising from international obligations been carefully considered?

It is understandable that our answers to these major questions cannot be provided once and for all. The quality of democracy is constantly put to the test. On our path so far, we have already resolved many issues and removed some of the stains from the past. The recently adopted law on regulating the status of "erased persons" is an important democratic act, consolidating the principles of human rights in our country. Nevertheless, issues still remain. The exploitation and humiliating treatment of foreign workers in Slovenia must be ended, both for the sake of their dignity and rights and for the sake of ourselves and our self-respect. We must do much more actually to enforce the requirements of a social and legal state. These are the real criteria for assessing the quality of our society and democracy.

In an effort to achieve them, it helps to know that the basic requirements of our democracy and statehood have already been internalised.

Firstly, in a democratic society, the will of the people, expressed in free, fair and periodic elections and then through other, constitutionally defined procedures, is the only source of legitimacy of power and political decisions. In democracy, we respect historical credit from the past, but we cannot and may not allow this to prevail. We are also aware that returning to the past and its divisions is not the way forward. Policy based on divisions and exploitation of painful memories from the past, also itself produces political limitations and divisions and becomes pointless.

Secondly, Slovenia is today a sovereign country. We should cultivate understanding of and respect for our recent, hard-won sovereignty. A state is a valuable instrument, requiring careful handling. Sovereignty is therefore foremost a responsibility. The institutions of a state should be controlled, and also respected. In a sovereign state, we must understand that our institutions are of vital importance for the common good. A lack of respect and weakening of the authority of institutions harms democracy, as well as the sovereign power of the state, and hinders efforts to solve issues brought about by time.

And finally, we should always be critical in appraisal of our foreign policy moves and orientations. We should be considerate and independent in our decisions. The experience gained in our participation to date in international peace-keeping operations should be constantly reassessed and we should carefully and critically examine the logic of our participation and take care of our national protection and national security. Our reputation in international institutions must be built on creative proposals and prudent acts. We must be able to resolve problems with our neighbours. This year, we succeeded in taking a decisive step forward on the path towards a fair solution of the question of our border with Croatia, in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Constitutional Charter on the Independence and Sovereignty of the Republic of Slovenia, the requirements of fairness and principles of international law. This is an important achievement. However, we have not yet reached the end. We will need a lot of maturity and prudence, as well as persistence to continue our path.

We will also need all these characteristics in building our position in the European Union and our approach to its problems. We need a mature Union, which will be capable of shaping a joint development path for all the nations of the Union, open to further enlargement and able to provide more opportunities to its smallest members. In Slovenia, we are aware that our homeland is uniquely one, our Slovenia, which makes its contribution to the European Union and therefore has legitimate expectations about its role in the European Union, today and in the future. The current economic crisis has revealed many weaknesses of the European Union. Confidence in the European Union and its decisions has today been put to the test. New solutions will be required; however, we will not only find them in new institutions, fine sounding names and paper decisions. We need to deepen the understanding of common values, which are the basic connective tissue of all the states of the European Union. We need real reforms. This is an inevitable precondition for building a real joint will to realize joint interests and new development rise.

In pursuing this endeavour, each Member State must define its own priorities. Slovenia, too. Some tasks are immediate and we are facing them already. We must better control public expenditure, shape it appropriately and reduce it in some areas. This must be done in such a way as to result in tangible and economically significant savings – savings that will enable successful management and development. Limiting public expenditure is not a goal in itself; it must serve economic stability and development. More haste, less speed, and above all consideration of the consequences, is an old saying that still holds true. Today's decisions determine the path of our future development. The setting of priorities must be based on long-term considerations. Education and research must be strengthened. The vital functions of the state must be maintained. Ineffective and poorly organised parts of the public sector must be downsized and changed. Most of all, we must be guided by the awareness that only a competitive and successful economy generates income, which enables satisfactory and fair distribution. The worst thing would be if, due to the prevailing trends in Europe today, public expenditure was reduced in a way that damaged our growth and development.

We must consider the long-term consequences of immediate decisions. Today's decisions answer the question of how future generations will live. We must, therefore, more than ever before, focus our attention on the issues of the youth. We have lot of talented and educated young people. However, we do not give them enough of the right opportunities. For a long time, international research institutions have been drawing our attention to the fact that there is a lack of openness to creative and talented individuals in Slovenia. There is an increasing danger that the best of them will seek opportunities abroad. We need to think about how to stimulate their creative inclusion in the development of our society and encourage the return of those already abroad. Above all, opportunities must be opened to young people.

We have too many young people who have no permanent employment and depend on short-term work contracts. The share of young people who are only temporarily employed is among the highest in the European Union. There are also too many young people who lose their jobs, who cannot take loans and who have great difficulty providing for the financial well-being of their families. Many young people are exposed to mobbing and other forms of workplace harassment and among them there is an increasing insecurity. We have seen their revolt and also the acts of violence into which this revolt degenerated. All this is more than a mere warning that our common efforts must be focused on solving the problems faced by the young. The state must provide the conditions, including the legal conditions, to give the young the feeling of stability and a prosperous future. This is a task that is decisive for the long-term future of our country and requires measures that will take effect immediately, primarily in the areas of education, the system of scholarships and first employment. Mini jobs must only provide additional opportunities; it must not be a substitute for permanent jobs.

Care for the young is not only in the best interest of the young. It is also the best guarantee of intergenerational solidarity, which is needed in our increasingly ageing society. Present activities, which are oriented towards reforms for the future, must result in long-term economic and social solutions. Of course, all the effects cannot be fully anticipated. We must therefore build confidence, confidence in our common ability, not only correctly to design systemic changes, which we urgently need, but also to make changes and adaptations, if these are actually required. We need new trust for new times.

But, citizens of the Republic of Slovenia, who are we going to achieve this goal? How will we overcome our characteristic negative features: our belief in always being right, our lack of sense of compromise and of responsibility for our common good? There is only one answer: dialogue, dialogue and yet again dialogue! This is the core of all strategic and development challenges of our time. Dialogue is indispensable in resolving our current problems, as well as in determining the development strategy that we do not yet have.

As President of the Republic, I would like once more to call on everyone in Slovenia today, at this symbolic moment and at this symbolic place, to conduct more responsible, serious and considered dialogue. We must not allow the problems with which we are faced, or the opinion we have about the partner in dialogue, to make us lose the ability to understand the importance of social dialogue or the ability to trust in it. We must learn how to listen to each other. Without listening, there is no dialogue. And today, social dialogue is needed more than ever. I would therefore like to invite all the social partners, the government, trade unions, employers and civil and social organisations, as well as all other participants, to strengthen their efforts towards dialogue, in particularly towards social dialogue. Slamming doors and threats will not lead us forward. Our greatest danger is the loss of trust in our ability for dialogue. Only through dialogue and efforts aimed at finding joint solutions, and certainly not by persevering behind our own barricades, will we be able to find good solutions to resolve our problems. Only on the path of dialogue can we develop solutions for which all participants consider themselves responsible, solutions that have the necessary credibility and can be implemented. Only dialogue will lead us to the right strategy for the future.

We must all be able to identify ourselves through dialogue. Dialogue must always take place, even after measures and government proposals have already been submitted to the National Assembly for consideration. The social partners should never leave the scene, break off communication or stop being responsible. The National Assembly is also a place for dialogue and, in these times, also has a major responsibility for strengthening consultation and finding joint solutions. This is also the path to the unity, the real unity, today unity, the kind of unity that is required in our present times. Now is the time for innovation. Let us not think of innovations only in terms of technical quality, let us think of them in terms of organising and conducting political dialogue. Let us all be responsible and creative!

Dear citizens, we all, our entire society, must understand that the problems we are facing cannot anymore be resolved by shifting them to the future or even onto somebody else. We must resolve them here and now, to the best of our ability and particularly all together. We have the knowledge and other conditions for success. We only need to develop mutual trust and the ability of creative dialogue. This time too, we must and we will succeed. Our future will be prosperous. Let us celebrate today, in this spirit, the most important holiday of our country. I would therefore like to offer my congratulations to all Slovenian citizens on the Slovenian Statehood Day. Let us be brave, confident, and tolerant. Let us be the citizens of the Republic of Slovenia.

Good luck, Slovenia!