LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AVNOJ FOR SLOVENIA'S STATEHOOD

Ljubljana, 25 August 2000


The President of the Republic, Milan Kucan, requested in writing today that Prime Minister Dr Andrej Bajuk submit his Government's position as to the significance of Avnoj and its decisions for Slovenia's statehood. This was done not only due to demands for conditioning Slovenia's EU membership with the annulment of these decisions. In the President's opinion the Avnoj conclusions, including the decision on the annexation of the Slovenian Littoral to Slovenia, constitute the basis and the continuity of Slovenia's statehood, and constitute an integral part of all the decisions passed by the then-established state of Yugoslavia and of the state-forming status of Slovenia within that state. At the same time these conclusions are the foundation of the right to succession to the disintegrated Yugoslavian federation.

In his letter the President also announced his international initiatives in this relation. The content of the Avnoj decisions was, he believes, a reflection of the erstwhile circumstances and also fully in accordance with the wartime policy of the Allies regarding the confiscation of property from the German Reich and its citizens as well as war criminals and their collaborators. It was a consequence of Hitler's occupation and of the mass and cruel crimes committed on the nations of Yugoslavia at the time, including Slovenes. The essence of the Allies' policy is manifested in the conclusions of the Potsdam international conference. World War II remains a burden and a responsibility which Europe cannot and may not delete from its memory, as it cannot delete its responsibility towards the values defended by the Allies in this War.