Keynote speech by the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, Mag. Miroslav Mozetič Independence and Unity Day, Cankar Hall, 23 December 2015
Oh, motherland, when God created you, He blessed you abundantly, saying: "Merry people in this place will dwell; song will be their language and joyous cries their song!" And it happened just as He said. Seeds of God had sprouted, ample fruit they bore - Heaven grew 'neath Triglav's mighty slopes (Ivan Cankar, Kurent)
Your Excellency, Mr Borut Pahor, President of the Republic, Honourable Members of Parliament - the representatives of the people, Honourable representatives of the Executive and Judiciary, representatives of religious communities, “my beloved Slovenes,” and citizens! Let us ask ourselves today: Have we been successful at fulfilling the vision of Cankar? Or was it just a dream?
Today is the right day for such a question, as we are celebrating the Independence and Unity Day in commemoration of that magnificent day 25 years ago, when on 23 December 1990 we replied to the plebiscite question: “Shall the Republic of Slovenia become an independent and sovereign state?” by saying: YES. And there were 1,289,369 of us who chose this answer. There were only 57,800 votes against. We can certainly state that on that day, Slovenes and other residents of the then Republic of Slovenia demonstrated unity, as well as a firm determination and courage of many to bring to life a dream of and longing for the establishment of our own state. We did not miss out on the historic opportunity offered to us. We all know that this was a very turbulent period, the situation in Eastern Europe reached a boiling point, the Berlin Wall fell, and it was the time of democratic uprisings in all European states with communist totalitarian regimes.
We were full of joy and happiness, there was song and joyous cries. I think it is appropriate that we are merry and joyful also today, not only because we remember that historic event, but primarily because we have our own state. Not all nations are that lucky. For that reason, we have to be proud of our state. This is our only state, although it sometimes behaves more as a stepmother than a mother. It is magnificent for a nation to have its own state, but with this also comes great responsibility. Namely, it is not without importance what the state is like. I am also convinced that in the plebiscite we did not decide for just any kind of state. That it would suffice to have one, no matter what it was like. No. Before we established our own state, we had lived in a state that as we stated in the Basic Constitutional Charter on the Sovereignty and Independence of the Republic of Slovenia did not function as a state governed by law and within it human rights, national rights, and the rights of the republics and autonomous provinces are grossly violated; that we do not wish to live in such a state; and solemnly declared that the Republic (the state) of Slovenia would guarantee the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms to all persons in its territory.
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Before the plebiscite, we wrote about the kind of state we wanted to establish in a series of documents. In 1987, the Contributions for the Slovenian National Programme were published in the 57th issue of the Nova revija magazine, in which the authors demanded that the communist system be abolished and that a politically pluralistic democratic system with free social market economy be introduced. In April 1988, the “Writers’ Constitution” followed, and in March 1990, we got the “Demos Constitution”. After that, the first democratic multi-party elections were held in April 1990 and they led to the constitutive session of the newly elected Legislative Assembly of the Republic in May 1990. During this period and before the plebiscite, we have clearly shaped the underlying basic values, the fundamental tenets of the new independent state: the state shall be governed by the rule of law and shall be a social state, it shall be based on the separation of powers, democratic political system, respect for human dignity as the foundation of all human rights and freedoms, and it shall ensure respect for individual's political, intellectual, and economic freedom.
Hence, the decision in the plebiscite was already a decision regarding the substance, values of the state. We did not only formally decide on establishing a state, but it was already then that we also clearly defined what kind of a state we wished to establish. The Constitution, which will celebrate its twenty-fifth (25th) anniversary next year, only reaffirmed all of that. I am convinced that we can be proud of all of this.
Twenty-five years have passed by since the plebiscite, and next year twenty-five years will have passed since the declaration of an independent and sovereign state. Again, everything is in turmoil, everything is in motion, and, as politicians say, the circumstances are difficult and complicated. There is turmoil also in the wider community – in the European Union, to which we acceded inter alia also for reasons of security and in order to ensure the respect for human dignity, political and economic freedoms, and diversity. It seems that, again, everything is changing. New challenges are in front of us, but we seem to be unable to find the answers. As if we were wandering, as if we were lost, not knowing where and how to find our way, as if we had no vision, as if we did not possess that bravery and unity that we had in that ground- breaking period 25 years ago.
Therefore, it is appropriate to at least ask ourselves at this anniversary whether we have succeeded in creating such a state as we imagined and also outlined in the constitutional documents 25 years ago. The question of how to move forward necessarily follows.
If we wish to fairly assess the path we have taken, we must not ask ourselves what went wrong and what was the outcome of promises and expectations, but rather: What have I, what have we done wrong, have we done everything we should have done. We must free ourselves of the servile mentality and wallowing in our self-pity; let us not seek for scapegoats outside of ourselves, let us not seek for the enemies outside. No one else but us is responsible for our state! We are at fault for the things that went 3 wrong and they are our responsibility. This does not, of course, mean that everyone is responsible in the sense that no one is responsible. On the contrary, the competences and responsibilities are clear. We have the National Assembly, which adopts laws, we have the Government, which must govern, and we have the judiciary, which must judge. And we are the citizens who choose whether to go to the elections or not.
The establishment of an independent state should have been primarily a break from the old communist totalitarian system and the establishment of a new value system based on human dignity. It was clear that this was not going to happen overnight by making declarations, but that it was a process, a transition – a passage. Already in 1996, in a special Resolution called Measures to Dismantle the Heritage of Former Communist Totalitarian Systems, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe defined the objectives of transition, namely to create pluralist democracies based on the rule of law and respect for human rights and diversity.
Honoured representatives of all branches of power, dear Slovenes! Let us ask ourselves whether we were successful at this task. Twenty-five years is already a time frame that allows us to make at least an interim assessment. The answers will certainly vary, unanimous answers cannot be expected. If I listen to the politicians, media, economists, artists, workers, farmers, retired people, young people etc., I hear different answers, but most of them are negative: No, we did not succeed, we have expected more. Since I am not a politician and also my current office obliges me to be reserved in my assessment, I will avail myself of the already mentioned Resolution that drew attention to and warned of the consequences of a failed transition. It states: “The dangers (the consequences) of a failed transition process are manifold. At best, oligarchy will reign instead of democracy, corruption instead of the rule of law, and organised crime instead of human rights. At worst, the result could be the ‘velvet restoration’ (a revolution) of a totalitarian regime, if not a violent overthrow of the fledgling democracy.”
It is difficult to not concur with those who claim that all of the listed consequences have manifested themselves to a greater or lesser degree. However, honoured guests, our answer to this fact must not be the disappointment over our state or the thought that it would have been better if we had not established the state as we do not know how to manage it, what to do with it. We need to ask ourselves what are the causes, what was wrong, what it was that we have overlooked. But I emphasise once again, let us not seek fault outside of ourselves. This is immature and servile, as we are the masters in our state and thus responsible for all of this.
Every time when I contemplate on these issues, I ask myself whether we have really accepted as ours all those basic values, the fundamental tenets of our society that we wrote in the Constitution, whether we have adopted and internalised them and thus have been implementing them all this time, or are they nothing but nice-sounding declarations and shiny ornaments. The issue is whether we accept and obviously also 4 observe at least that minimum of common basic values that have after all been common to us already for millenniums. The issue is also whether our society is a healthy one.
To answer this question, let me offer a few thoughts which are not mine, but I can hardly not agree with them: “More than anytime before, the Slovene public space needs frankness, truthfulness, self-criticism, and above all contagious sincerity and unwavering determination. Within the repeatedly mentioned ideological split, we are dealing with the absence of elementary fairness, justice, tolerance, readiness for dialogue, and responsibility, but also with the absence of a much needed vision how to move forward. Our main problem is not how others treat us, but how we (Slovenes) treat ourselves.”
These words are harsh, perhaps precisely because they are true.
(The quote continues:) “However, make no mistake. Not everything is wrong. Not each and every citizen indiscriminately feels a moral crisis; it is the public space in particular that is in crisis, the central political, media, scientific, artistic, and civil space for discussions, negotiations, management, and decision-making, where, as it seems, everything is permitted and nothing, absolutely nothing, is prohibited. The main culprits for the moral vacuum in which sheer brutality of the will to power is radiating are the political, economic, financial, legal, media, religious, and, unfortunately, to a significant extent also intellectual elites, i.e. the most exposed and influential layers of every single democratic society.” (Taken from Borut Ošlaj: World Ethos and the Slovene Public Space; World Ethos: Globally and Locally [Svetovni etos in slovenski javni prostor; Svetovni etos: globalno in lokalno], Ljubljana 2013).
Let me continue by quoting another thought by someone else: “It is imperative that we remedy, rectify, tidy, and take control of the moral chaos in our minds and hearts.” (Marko Pavliha, 3rd Congress of the World Ethos Slovenia Movement on the agreement on the basic values for the future of the Slovene society).
Honoured guests, I firmly believe that we are going to make a successful state from our country, a heaven beneath Triglav's mighty slopes, only if we consistently implement, enforce, and observe the values, fundamental tenets, and principles to which we committed in the plebiscite as we voted for an independent state of Slovenia. There is no other way! Only we ourselves can bring these principles to life, and we can only bring them to life in our own state.
Let me conclude by sincerely congratulating all our citizens on the Independence and Unity Day that we are celebrating today. Let us rejoice and be proud to live in our own state, since, as Cankar put it, "God created the paradise to be the homeland of a merry people"!
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