BTI 2008 | Slovenia Country Report
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BTI 2008 | Slovenia Country Report Status Index 1-10 9.49 # 2 of 125 Democracy 1-10 9.70 # 2 of 125 Ä Market Economy 1-10 9.29 # 3 of 125 Ä Management Index 1-10 6.83 # 12 of 125 scale: 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) score rank trend This report is part of the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) 2008. The BTI is a global ranking of transition processes in which the state of democracy and market economic systems as well as the quality of political management in 125 transformation and developing countries are evaluated. The BTI is a joint project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Center for Applied Policy Research (C•A•P) at Munich University. More on the BTI at http://www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de/ Please cite as follows: Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI 2008 — Slovenia Country Report. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2007. © 2007 Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh BTI 2008 | Slovenia 2 Key Indicators Population mn. 2.0 HDI 0.91 GDP p.c. $ 19,815 Pop. growth1 % p.a. 0.2 HDI rank of 177 27 Gini Index 28.4 Life expectancy years 78 UN Education Index 0.98 Poverty3 % <2 Urban population % 51.0 Gender equality2 0.60 Aid per capita $ - Sources: UNDP, Human Development Report 2006 | The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2007 | OECD Development Assistance Committee 2006. Footnotes: (1) Average annual growth rate 1990-2005. (2) Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). (3) Percentage of population living on less than $2 a day. Executive Summary The review period in Slovenia was marked by the first steps taken by a new center- right government that was elected in December 2004, including a referendum on a new public RTV law (September 2005) and local elections (October and November 2006). The new government’s first two years have been very turbulent. It has been actively pursuing personnel politics, changing staff members in all offices under its control. It also implemented personnel changes in public RTV and in other media outlets (some media stakeholders are unofficially under the government’s control), such as the leading dailies Delo, Primorske Novice, Dnevik and Večer. In June 2005, the government proposed a somewhat radical 67-point reform plan, which was more or less inspired by the idea of implementing the Lisbon Strategy in the national context. Organized by trade unions and student organizations, mass demonstrations were held in November 2005 against the flat-rate tax, a key reform project. The government introduced a ministry for reforms and appointed a minister who resigned only two months after being nominated. In April 2006, after losing some reform momentum, the government proposed the Partnership for Development, and all parliamentary parties except the LDS joined. Despite the dire and obvious need for reforms, the government has not yet been successful in implementing any of its key ideas or in pro-reform coalition-building. The political climate has become more conflict-oriented and there have been major riots involving the Roma. Problems with integrating the Roma are not new, but the previous government responded with more tolerance to this issue. In 2005, the parents of Slovenian pupils protested against the fact that their children shared a classroom with Roma children. In 2006, the neighbors of a Roma family pushed to have the family move out of the neighborhood. Under strong local pressure, the government removed the family to a detention center for illegal immigrants in Postojna. A Slovenian ombudsman criticized the government for its actions, but the government’s response was marked by arrogance. The president also changed his BTI 2008 | Slovenia 3 political style during the review period. He established the Movement for Justice and Development and transformed himself into a supposed spiritual leader of the Slovenian people, giving answers to everyday questions on his movement’s home page. He has also developed ambitions to be more active on the international level, proposing solutions for Kosovo and Darfur, both without success. The president’s new political style has coincided with (more transparent) conflicts between himself and the prime minister on numerous issues, such as the nomination of the new head of the national bank, the government’s actions in response to conflicts with the Roma people and the government’s strong control of various levels of society. Slovenia entered the European Monetary Union (EMU) on 1 January 2007 (all parliamentary political parties supported entering the EMU) and has been preparing to enter the Schengen Treaty in 2007. Slovenia is also preparing for the presidency of the European Union in January 2008. Slovenia changed its constitution in 2006 once again, changing Articles 140 and 143 to introduce regions as a new compulsory level of local self-government and Article 123 to introduce the possibility for public administration to delegate their functions to other public or private actors. History and Characteristics of Transformation Changing the Slovenian system, which required the creation of a new nation-state in addition to political and economic transformation, was marked by two significant characteristics. One is the relatively comfortable path that Slovenia has taken in the transformation process, and the other is the minimal price that the society has had to pay. The reasons for this lie in the population’s ethnic homogeneity, the high level of economic development and a long tradition of civil society. Timing also played a role, in that political and social change had already begun in the 1980s. Slovenia was never an independent nation at any time in its history. It was always part of a confederation of states. In 1991, efforts to achieve an independent state were primarily associated with the concepts of democratization, human rights and political pluralism. The fact that the Slovenian population felt politically dominated and economically exploited by the Serbs certainly contributed to efforts to achieve independence. The homogenous ethnic structure served to ensure that the issues of a nation-state and citizenship policy did not play a mobilizing role in the political discussion. A traditionally high level of education and a strong civil society were further positive initial conditions. Many elements and mechanisms of fundamental participatory democracy had already developed under the Yugoslav system of self-management. This enabled people to gather experience and knowledge of democratic decision-making processes, mostly in non-political situations. With progress being made in deregulation, a growing number of groups besides the trade unions began to articulate opinions about current social issues. The freedom to travel abroad that was standard in Yugoslavia in the 1960s BTI 2008 | Slovenia 4 allowed Slovenians to work in western Europe, thereby learning modern production and management structures. Consequently, Slovenia’s open borders with Italy and Austria had a strong influence on its people’s orientation and mentality. Slovenia was by far the most affluent part of Yugoslavia before the upheaval, with a per capita income of $5,700 – double the Yugoslav average. After the economic restructuring and painful disintegration that came with sovereignty and resulted in a steep drop in the country’s economic potential, the 1990 GDP level was reached by the mid-1990s once again. Measured by other significant indicators such as education level, corruption and the poverty index, as well as income differences, the country is in good condition – not only compared with other transformation countries, but also worldwide. These positive initial conditions (ethnic homogeneity, strong civil society traditions and high economic standards) made an independent Slovenian version of transformation possible. This included concurrent political democratization, a change of economic system and national emancipation. The system change was further supported by a consensus-oriented, gradualistic policy that corresponded rather closely to the political culture of the population. BTI 2008 | Slovenia 5 Transformation Status I. Democracy 1 | Stateness The state has an unchallenged monopoly on the use of force throughout its entire Monopoly on the territory. use of force All citizens possess equal civil rights. However, there are cases in which the State identity Roma have been mistreated. One example thereof is the segregation of Roma children from other children in an elementary school, purportedly for academic reasons. Another example is the case of a Roma family that was removed from its home and placed in an asylum for illegal immigrants. Homosexuals are not treated according to European standards. A constitutional provision gives two ethnic minorities (Italian and Hungarian) special protection and representation in the national parliament as well as related local community councils. Slovenia has ratified most international agreements regarding the protection of ethnic minorities. Problems associated with the situation of the so-called “erased” people continue. The “erased” refers to citizens – mostly ethnic minorities – who were erased from the permanent residency register in 1992 and 1993 and thus lost their citizenship rights. Many of them still have no formal status in Slovenia. The state is defined and recognized by a great majority as in concert with a No interference secular order. Religious dogmas have no direct influence on politics, although of religious strong opposition emerged during discussions on building an Islamic center or dogmas mosque in Ljubljana. Most of this opposition was inspired by the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the constitutionally anchored separation of church and state, the Roman Catholic Church continuously forces its agenda to the state level, and it has been increasingly successful in the last two years. In December 2006, a new law was adopted, legalizing a privileged position for the church that included a great state obligation to support church programs and activities. The Roman Catholic Church has three representatives in the 29-member council of the public RTV, exerts influence through theologians in public administration and receives good publicity by blessing new public buildings, etc.