SOLID AND FERTIL CONSENSUS AMONG SLOVENES
Address by the President of the Republic of Slovenia Milan Kučan on the occasion of Slovene National Day (Video in Slovenian Language)

Ljubljana, 24 June 2002



Long was the ripening. It came to fruition in our lifetimes. The hopes and deeds of our ancestors bestowed a duty of great responsibility on us. We fulfilled that duty. We set aside our differences and our grievances. In historical conditions rarely granted to nations we made our own country, united as never before. We founded that state this day eleven years ago. The very next day we had to stand up in defence and we successfully protected our land. We did so for our Slovenia. We managed because we were capable of consensus.

The consensus among Slovenes was solid and fertile. It burgeoned from deep roots. That is why the tree of our nation’s life sprouted so many buds in the years before independence. It was a time when people's rights and freedoms irrevocably came into being and ideas enjoyed a free right of way among people. The immeasurable cultural and political energy of Slovenehood were released. The path towards the plebiscite of 1990 was a democratic one, the outcome expected and convincing.

Looking back to those great days it is with respect and profound gratitude that we remember all those who perished in the war for independence, in the mighty struggle against occupation during World War II, and in all wars that Slovenes fought for the sake of their nation. They gave their lives for the survival and the future of the Slovene nation. Let us requite them with a moment of silence in their memory. Glory to them.

In the mid nineteen-eighties it grew increasingly clear that the then Yugoslav state was falling apart and that there was not future in it. That was when we created a strong constitutional basis for out statehood and when we formed the institutions proper to a sovereign nation. That is why after independence we were able to activate literally overnight all of the state’s institutions. That is also why successfully negotiated with the international community for the recognition of our state. The compromises we were compelled to and capable of making in order for that state to survive were not to our detriment. Nor did they jeopardise our reputation. Quite the opposite, they quickly positioned our country in the international arena.

Ten years ago the Slovene flag was flown for the first time outside the United Nations building. Today, we are closely integrated in the global community of nations. We are taken account of, we are equals, we are reliable and therefore also desirable partners. We have friends and allies, as we did in the second war and as we did in our war for independence, and as we are fortunately capable of finding whenever survival is at stake or when our contribution to the shaping of the face of Europe or the world is at hand. Now we are a part of that world, a world offering opportunities, challenges and responsibilities.

The early nineties were historic times for Slovenia. It was also a time of consensus on the Constitution of our own state. This Constitution is our basic agreement on what kind of a country we want to live in and what kind of relations will govern that country. Also included in it are our expectations from the plebiscite decision in favour of an independent Slovene state. It enables us to live freely and decently, to successfully compete in an open world, to be a welfare state offering its people security and leaving no one alone when in distress. It also places on us individual responsibility for ourselves, as well as a collective responsibility of us all for the entire nation. Its principles and legal guarantees offer security and strengthen our allegiance to our country. We have a duty to respect it, just as our country’s symbols are deserving of respect. Let us therefore safeguard that Constitution. By doing so we are protecting the stability of Slovenia. Let us protect our basic agreements. Let us only change the Constitution when it poses limits to our freedom of choosing our future, only following profound consideration and with broad-based public support.

The future is what counts now. Primarily for the sake of our future generations. They have a right to good education. They have a right to their own chance of a lifetime. They have a right to be free of the burdens of their ancestors' deeds. That is the future they want to pursue in their own Slovene state. They have the right to shape that country according to their own visions. They should no longer have to experience the past. Let the past serve them only with its positive experiences. They need courage and confidence for the ever-greater challenges of life. Let us therefore bury with every respect all the victims of the both great and tragic times of our recent past. We must do so. That remains the debt owed by those of us who lived those days in order to look into the future hand in hand with our younger generations.

There is another great deed ahead of us. We shall have to agree on the role Slovenia should be playing in the world and what the substance of life in our own country should be. Our life's experience demands of us to stick to the values that have given us our own country and the success of the past eleven years. Let us not forget our common values: freedom of life, human dignity and human rights, solidarity, coexistence of differences, tolerance, respect and understanding of differences, good neighbourly relations and equality in dialogue and cooperation, a respectful attitude towards the past and the right to a future for every person. Such values allow for the shaping of a kind life and of a general consensus protecting us from the violation of these values, from political rigidity, from the arrogance of power and the bureaucratisation of our everyday lives, as well as from life on the margins of what is still possible.

The image of our country at home and abroad is a kind one. There are details that spoil that image, though. Our excellent political, economic and international successes will only have true value if they are consistently enhanced by politics based on ethics, on efforts for the benefit of all and for the happiness of the individual, not of the politician who gets involved in unfertile squabbles and draining of energies. The state is and must always be there for its citizens.

Eleven years have gone by since the great day we are celebrating today. They were eleven years of success. It is with confidence that we are deciding on the future of our country today. There will always be choices, not all of them will be equally principled and useful, however. In a global world growing increasingly interconnected and where the actions of one affect everyone else, the best choice also for our country is a broad, internally integrated, safe, democratic and economically diverse environment. Most of us have already experienced the times of physical, political and ideological violence in the wars and block divisions of the past century of contradictions. We are therefore obliged to do everything in our power to spare future generations from such experiences, ensuring for them life in a safe and peaceful environment respecting the values of the European civilisation’s heritage. I therefore hope and believe that Slovenia, confident from its successfully trodden path, will soon enter the European Union and the Euro-Atlantic alliance.

There is no better choice for our country now. A lot of effort was invested in the two projects. I am convinced that Slovenia will be capable and able of life in such an environment. It has met many a demanding requirement. There are no reasons why it should accept additional ones. The same should apply to Slovenia as applies to everyone else in these integration structures heralding a new Europe.

I believe that our civic community will give its positive voice to such important choices for the future at the referenda, one of the supreme democratic tests of collective political wisdom. They are however also a test for political leaders, showing whether they can present convincing arguments to their citizens concerning their decisions. The people know that Slovenia cannot survive as an isolated island. They also know that life in an interconnected community of nations and states – along with all the guarantees of equality – requires proper democratic institutions protecting national interests. Through them citizens increasingly develop their European conscience. European conscience is namely based on national confidence. Such is the history of our continent with all its wealth of diversity, which developed on its territory.

It is out of respect for such diversity that a new Europe is emerging, a Europe that for this very reason is also a cultural and ethical undertaking. European history is full of bloody wars and inhumane violence. At the same time it is full of humanism and never-ending efforts, victorious struggles for greater freedom, more democracy, solidarity in competition, greater equity. That is why a united Europe of awareness and solidarity has a future in a global world.

Slovenia's future is within such a Europe, it is in the confidence and excellence of our people and our actions. Let us prove that. Let us help create such a Europe. For ourselves and for the generations to follow.

Today we celebrate Slovenia. Let this be a day of wholehearted wishes for our country. Let this be a day of commitment that we shall do a lot more for this country. We are capable of that. Today's Slovenia, its image, its people and the quality of our lives are proof of that.

Let us celebrate with enjoyment. Tomorrow is again a new day. There are new challenges ahead and there are new opportunities.