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THE GREATEST RISK WOULD LIE IN FORCED PRESERVATION OF YUGOSLAVIA
Declaration of independence of the Republic of Slovenija
Speech by the President of the Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia, Milan Kucan
Ljubljana, Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, 25 June 1991
"From the principles of international law and in particular from the Helsinki Final Act comes our commitment to be prepared for negotiation and the settling by agreement of our mutual relations. A political position which is not capable or prepared to negotiate is a bad position, and leads to the use of coercion and even to war. We have promised our citizens that we will implement the plebiscite decision by peaceful and democratic means, without aggression and without endangering their security and peace.
In view of the constant warnings from abroad, particularly from certain of our neighbouring countries, which are calling on us to negotiate and show patience, we cannot accept that these warnings should only relate to us, for we have always been and still are prepared to negotiate, and have even offered a range of concrete proposals. Yet these warnings are not directed towards those who have no desire to negotiate, for they are counting on the assumption that through coercion and through economic and financial pressure they will keep us in the common state, on whose internal policies and economy we have long been without influence.
Indeed this has brought about the complete exhaustion of our economy, along with the loss of the economic, social, environmental and political strength we would need to keep up the tempo of our urgently needed reforms. This has also raised with complete justification the question of the very existence and future of the Slovene nation" said Milan Kucan, president of the Presidency of Slovenia.
Mr Speaker, honourable deputies,
Before you today lies a decision by which the Republic of Slovenia will become an independent state. The proposed constitutional act and constitutional law to implement it enable the Slovene state to assume all the rights and duties whose execution had hitherto, by our own will, been transferred through the federal constitution to bodies of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). By passing these acts, the Assembly will be fulfilling the duty with which it was charged by the plebiscite, that within six months of the announcement of the result of that plebiscite decision it would secure the institutional and legal conditions for the Republic of Slovenia to establish effective authority over its own territory. So today as a sovereign state Slovenia has also initiated the procedure for acquiring international recognition. Today's decisions in the Assembly will enable Slovenia to apply to the governments of other countries for recognition as an independent and sovereign state, and to set up diplomatic relations with them. At the same time Slovenia will request membership of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and other international organisations.
Today's decision in favour of our own state means that the Slovene people have created the conditions for equal and constructive cooperation with those nations with which until now we lived in a common state, with our neighbours and with all the other nations of Europe and the world. It means that we accept equal responsibility for our common peace and security. Here where the Slovenes live, at the meeting point of the Balkans and Central Europe, peace, stability, prosperity, preserving the natural balance, international cooperation and all the other values pursued by humanity today, are essential conditions for the peace and security of all European nations and states. Peace and security are possible only if in this area, among each nation and each state we can guarantee human rights, the freedom of the individual and the freedom of nations as an expression and confirmation of this freedom.
We live in a time of democracy, peace and unity in Europe. In Slovenia it is only if we are free as people and as a nation that we can make a creative contribution and assume our share of responsibility for democracy and peace in this part of the world, and in this way for the increasing unity of Europe. (There can be no guarantee of democracy or peace, nor the building of a common European home through the forcible imposition of a system based in some other time, symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall and by forced relations with other nations without considering their will, interests or sovereignty.) A forced system and forced relations between nations can only lead to instability, imperilment and violations of human rights, towards the limiting of national identity and equality, and therefore in place of coexistence towards nationalist conflict and hegemonistic limitation. Such conditions become a permanent threat to peace and democracy and the most serious obstacle to the process of European integration.
With pride and historical justification, Slovenia is now entering the international community as a democratic state. It has founded its development on the principles and criteria of that European democracy which evolved from the very sense and foundations of the victorious antifascist struggle of all democratic peoples of the world, among whom the Slovene people, with their resistance and struggle against fascism, their armed forces, government, state and territory, can claim a rightful place. For this reason Slovenia places at the very centre of its statehood human rights, which are based on the principle that all people are born free, with equal worth and equal rights. In accordance with the general declaration on human rights, this represents the foundation of freedom, justice and world peace.
We do not wield such great influence over the international situation or the position of the international community, nor on the position and relation of the other republics (of Yugoslavia) towards us. Yet internal democracy, along with a high level of respect of human rights, are dependent entirely on us. Indeed it is the level of true respect of human rights which is the fundamental yardstick by which we may recognise the democratic or undemocratic nature of a society and state. There is no reason why any European state should have a higher level of respect or protection of human rights than us, not simply in the formal aspect, but also in their observance in everyday life.
Given the conditions in Slovenia today, we cannot be entirely satisfied in this respect. We would be advised to respect and observe this definition of principle in our new Constitution, and in the first instance, from this aspect, address those issues which now appear to us as the chief obstacles to adopting the Constitution. We would be advised to consider how democracy is very much more than simply anti-communism, and how it is very much more than exchanging one monopoly over the truth for another.
The primary role in the legal protection of human rights and the foundation of a state based on the rule of law, which provides the framework for this protection, is undoubtedly played by the Constitution of the sovereign state of Slovenia. In the opinion of the Presidency of the Republic, which in June last year proposed to the Assembly that it begin the procedure for adopting the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, it is therefore essential that the political parties demonstrate appropriate responsibility by rising above their political differences and effecting the earliest possible adoption of the Constitution, which would serve as an expression of general national consensus. After all, the decisions already passed by this noble house are inextricably bound to such a goal, as are most particularly the commitments deriving from the plebiscite decision expressed by the Slovene people and citizens.
Respect for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary represent an essential condition for the protection of human rights, and for freedom and peace. Our duty here is to do everything to ensure that we can present ourselves to the international community as a democratic society, and not as one ideologically split and revanchist, constantly harking back to its past, towards the old and perennial divisions which drain our power to face the problems of today and the future. I might add that whoever brings up and fuels such divisions at this time, will not be doing so in the interest of his own people!
As we in Slovenia embark in full statehood on our path towards inclusion in the international community of sovereign countries, the Republic of Slovenia expresses its full and consistent commitment to the principles and standards set down in the Founding Charter of the United Nations, in the Helsinki Final Act, in international documents on human rights and in all those international charters which govern international relations and cooperation between nations and countries in the European and world communities. The Republic of Slovenia recognises, respects and supports the sovereignty, equality, independence and uniqueness of all other states as well as all other rights pertaining to whichever state from international agreements and other provisions of international law. The Republic of Slovenia wishes to observe all the obligations with which it is charged by international law as a sovereign state, and recognises the same rights which it demands for itself in all other states, including those states which, as we have done, might emerge in the territory of the SFRY. In accordance with the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act the Republic of Slovenia recognises the borders of all the countries of Europe and the world as inviolable, and this of course applies to its own borders. For this reason we may also justifiably expect that the finality of our borders shall not be brought into question by any of our neighbours, given that this has been settled in an agreement that has been formally signed by the SFRY, and with our will and consent. Slovenia respects the territorial integrity of all countries and renounces any action which would be counter to international law. We renounce the use of force or threat of force against any other country or in the settling of any kind of international dispute. We will use our armed forces - while we yet have them, given the possibility that in the future this may become a demilitarised zone - exclusively for our own defence and in line with the authority deriving to us from the UN Founding Charter and the Helsinki Final Act. Through our own example and initiative we will strive for the disarming and demilitarisation of the part of Europe to which we belong.
The Helsinki Final Act also binds us to the process of establishing our independence. Although at today's session we will declare ourselves an independent and sovereign state, we wish to effect a gradual take-over of those functions which signify effective authority. Indeed I believe that we are bound by the Helsinki Final Act itself to work gradually, and to avoid interrupting the free flow of people, goods, capital, services, information, ideas and other values, to avoid jeopardising through unilateral and improperly considered decisions the very foundations and aims of the linking processes of European countries and their institutions, and in which we wish to be included at the earliest opportunity and with all due responsibility.
The gradual take-over of the actual execution of these functions is essential in order for us not to interrupt the economic and other flows vital for our livelihoods, and thereby threaten the interests of others within and outside Yugoslavia. We are also bound to act in this way in our own interest, as a state which is entering the international community, so as not to prevent the free flow across the new state borders of the Republic of Slovenia. For what we are doing now is taking place in Europe, which sees its future in the dismantling of borders as physical obstacles between people, nations and states. While we expect full respect and guaranteeing of our state sovereignty, we must - and desire to - establish a policy of open borders. We have said many times that our goal is not to create a closed nation-state. Our state is the means and goal by which we might join as an equal the institutional and non-institutional associations forged between other nations and countries. The take-over of the state borders by bodies of the independent Slovene state should not, and indeed does not, mean the closing or hindering of the flow of people and goods, but simply the action which may be expected of any independent state. We wish the international borders with our neighbours to become more open than before, and our new border with neighbouring Croatia to remain entirely open, of course with an appropriate agreement and in our mutual interest. On our borders there can be no barbed wire and walls, and certainly not any barricades, and the barriers should be raised as a signal of welcome to our friends and neighbours. It is in this spirit alone that the present arrangement of border posts with Croatia should be understood. These aspirations should also be served by an appropriately protective economic policy, linked to the settling of our relations with the European Community, EFTA and other international organisations.
We wish to be a European country; but not simply by our position on the map. For this we must come into Europe in a European way. This presupposes democracy, respect of the rights and interests of others, their security and peace. Let us tell ourselves this, so that others will not need to come and tell us, and of course so that we need not hear it from the federal government, which must in the end begin to negotiate with us over our gradual take-over of what is ours and what we transferred by our own will to common execution in federal bodies. We expect and propose that the federal government negotiates with us over the method and time of the take-over of these functions of ours, but not over whether they are indeed ours or whether we now have the right to take them back. We require nothing which is not ours and which we would not admit to others. Yet we cannot and do not wish to agree to conditions which would be determined only by others, where our interests and actions would be marked in advance - as has been consistently done to date - as unilateral, coercive and separatist actions. Such accusations would make it easier to settle the score and easier to convince the world that we were pursuing undemocratic actions and decisions. The proposed resolutions in the Federal Chamber of the Assembly of Yugoslavia on the Slovene proposal for a resolving by agreement of the process of secession are an ominous sign, and it would be hard to interpret them as anything other than dictates.
We should therefore take this opportunity to express our desire as a state to fulfil all our obligations we hold towards those with whom we have until today lived together, particularly since we also have obligations towards other countries and international organisations. We wish therefore to honour all the international agreements, both bilateral and multilateral, which Yugoslavia has concluded with foreign partners in our interest and with our consent. In the process of separation, all issues related to legal succession as well as other issues should be resolved - as we have already proposed - gradually and by agreement, in accordance with the established principles and rules of international law.
In the process of separation the Republic of Slovenia will do everything to avoid damaging the legitimate interests of the new states that will emerge in the area of the SFRY, and to avoid jeopardising the future multilateral cooperation between them or indeed the interests of third countries and international groups. We wish to settle all unresolved issues and possible disputes by peaceful means, and in such a way that will not threaten international peace, security and fairness, and to act in good faith, conscientiously and decently, on the basis of international law. Yet in order to fulfil such intentions we require equal goodwill and intentions from the other side. Instead of this we have thus far run up against pretence, scorn of the plebiscite decision made by the citizens of Slovenia, and open threats and fear-mongering. I regret to say that the proposal from the Slovene Assembly for separation has in the majority of republics fallen on deaf ears, although such a proposal allowed each republic to determine entirely for itself its future position, in line with its own interests and capacities, and on this basis to decide on the form and nature of a possible future common life. Our proposal was in no way intended to impose or prohibit anyone or anything; and we certainly will not permit anyone else to do so to us.
Today no country can live in isolation. The future of any nation lies in the processes of free association and cooperation. True, our efforts towards independence and international recognition have for the moment not met with any great sympathy in the international community. We may see evidence of this in numerous meetings, including with the leading representatives of the European Twelve and with US Secretary of State James Baker, who came with the authorisation of the CSCE. Such positions are formulated on certain firm assumptions and assessments, on which unfortunately we have no significant influence. Yet it is all the more incomprehensible that Yugoslav - and therefore still our - foreign policy is contributing to these assessments with views such as could be heard recently at the conference in Berlin and which, at least as far as Slovenia is concerned, have no basis in real conditions or facts. The Presidency of Slovenia has already expressed its protest over this and its shock at the denunciation and seeking of allies against us, the very people whose interests Yugoslav foreign policy should be representing. But we should not now be reproaching this world which has shown us such lack of favour. It wishes to protect its interests, above all peace. These are the realities which should have been clear to us long ago. I trust that they are also finally clear to those who at the plebiscite and after it, right up until very recently, seduced the Slovenes with talk of rapid international recognition.
I trust in view of this that instead of pursuing false hopes we might all together concentrate on that solid work which some time ago - and long before the fall of the Berlin Wall - made us much more European and more attractive to the democratic world than the majority of former Eastern European countries. It was not without reason then that we forged a path into Europe, and demanded via the customs and principles functioning there our political recognition, which we might now expect in view of the services we have done for our own and Yugoslav democracy. After all, this process was started chiefly for our own sake. We should not now forget the years of good work which brought us closer to Europe and which involved us in Europe's economy, thought, information flow, technology and communication. It was this work, more than any declaration, that set us apart from certain differently thinking and orientated parts of Yugoslavia, which did not desire this Europeanisation and were not able to sustain it. If we seriously desire to be independent and European, we will have to make a sober analysis of the situation, and in place of conceited rejection of messages from abroad - which merely suggests our smallness and provincialism - we should prove through intelligent, convincing arguments and above all through our actions, that the assessments in such messages are unfounded, and in this way gradually create the conditions for cooperation and also formal recognition.
It is precisely through this logic and characteristic of the modern world that the Republic of Slovenia remains open to the possibility of forming a potential new community of the republics of the SFRY; a community which would have to be fundamentally different from the current one, for it could only be a community of sovereign states. But our ambitions cannot stop here. On the basis of the model published last year of a Yugoslav confederation, a definite proposal should be drawn up which would demand from the other republics a clear position and response, and in this way clear up the situation in which the impression is created that each one of us has an interest in such an equal and fair community. This should not of course be a vague proposal, which would allow all parties to agree to it but for entirely different reasons and expectations. This is what happened with the proposal from Presidents Gligorov and Izetbegović, which appeared to satisfy all of us, and fostered many unrealistic hopes, while in truth it postponed the debate on the real issue of who would be the subjects of this new community and in what legal status. It is clear to us that this could only be a community of sovereign states subject to international law. These states would on the basis of their own freely determined interests establish a community through an international agreement, and in this way they would define the form and content of their mutual relations. The principle involved here is that you can only manage your sovereignty if you actually possess it. We wish on this basis as an equal partner to enter the process of European integration.
In its future work, the Republic of Slovenia will have the status of a sovereign and independent country, and as such will cooperate in ascertaining the interest in and possibility of a community of sovereign states in the territory of the current SFRY. The Presidency of Slovenia believes that in this work we should give primary consideration to the following principles:
- that the new states which emerge through the dismantling of the SFRY should be sovereign and hold full authority over their territory within the existing boundaries of each current republic;
- that the new states should recognise each other as sovereign states and as subjects of international law, as well as recognising each other's territorial integrity in line with the existing borders within the SFRY and in line with the internationally recognised state borders the SFRY shares with neighbouring countries. The new states should refrain from actions which might damage the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states, particularly such actions which might represent the threat of force or the use of force;
- that these states guarantee to all their citizens, irrespective of nationality or other differences, equal rights and freedoms;
- that these states guarantee all the rights and freedoms of the individual and the rights of nations, national groups and other collective rights in line with the provisions and principles of international law;
- that these states guarantee the right to ownership of property, free enterprise and the forming of trades unions, as well as the free flow of goods, people, capital and labour in line with adopted international agreements and the rules of the European Community;
- that these states guarantee a system of collective security, including mutual cooperation in the area of defence and security, in line with the general efforts to preserve and strengthen peace and security in this part of Europe;
- that these states respect the integrity of the European ecological space and the general and international standards adopted for the protection and care of the environment;
- that these member states of the new community may form associations with other states in Europe, and have the right to make bilateral and multilateral agreements.
On the basis of these principles and in the recognised interests of political and economic cooperation, as well as cooperation in the area of defence and international relations, it is possible for democratic countries of the modern world to cooperate and forge ties, regardless of whether this cooperation is institutionalised or not. We cannot go below the level of these principles, on which we are prepared to cooperate with other states, not even in our reconsidering of the usefulness and need to cooperate with the states of the current Yugoslav peoples. Our main consideration is that this region is to a certain extent a functional unit, and that forging ties and cooperation in this unit is possible and useful, but not dictated to us as the supreme value and goal, to which all else should be subordinated, including the sovereignty and equality of nations and their democratic life, a goal which must then be achieved at any price.
The proposal of the Slovene Assembly for a dismantling by agreement of the SFRY has met with a response only from the Republic of Croatia, which has accepted our proposal. Since to date it has not been possible to secure with the other republics a consensus on the community of sovereign states, the Republic of Croatia has decided in accordance with a prior announcement to go ahead at the same time as Slovenia and declare itself a sovereign and independent state. However Croatia, like Slovenia, is still prepared on the basis of its interests and will as a sovereign state to enter into a possible federation of sovereign states with the other republics of the SFRY, if they also show an interest and capacity to do so. Through its representatives, Croatia has shown an interest and readiness to conclude with the Republic of Slovenia an interstate agreement on cooperation in all those areas where a common interest is established. Such cooperation is also without doubt of interest to Slovenia, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, while the possible institutional forms of this cooperation would be the subject of expert analysis and special decision-making. In any event the cooperation between our two independent countries must also be open to other republics, irrespective of what form of state system and mutual relations they will arrange. I do propose, however, that the Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia today recognises the independent and sovereign Republic of Croatia, which itself is expecting in today's session of the Croatian Sabor to recognise the independent and sovereign state of the Republic of Slovenia.
Honourable deputies,
From the principles of international law and in particular from the Helsinki Final Act comes our commitment to be prepared for negotiation and the settling by agreement of our mutual relations. A political position which is not capable or prepared to negotiate is a bad position, and leads to the use of coercion and even to war. We have promised our citizens that we will implement the plebiscite decision by peaceful and democratic means, without aggression and without endangering their security and peace. In view of the constant warnings from abroad, particularly from certain of our neighbouring countries, which are calling on us to negotiate and show patience, we cannot accept that these warnings should only relate to us, for we have always been and still are prepared to negotiate, and have even offered a range of concrete proposals. Yet these warnings are not directed towards those who have no desire to negotiate, for they are counting on the assumption that through coercion and through economic and financial pressure they will keep us in the common state, on whose internal policies and economy we have long been without influence. Indeed this has brought about the complete exhaustion of our economy, along with the loss of the economic, social, environmental and political strength we would need to keep up the tempo of our urgently needed reforms. This has also raised with complete justification the question of the very existence and future of the Slovene nation. We cannot accept a position where the unwillingness of others to negotiate would prevent us from fulfilling our natural and constitutional right, guaranteed in international law, to self-determination and in this way remove from us the possibility of finally taking into our own hands the responsibility for our own fate and the instruments to facilitate this. The Helsinki Final Act in particular binds the participating countries to respect the equality of nations and their right to self-determination, according to which "all nations always have the right entirely freely, whenever and however they so desire, to determine their internal and external political status without outside interference, and according to their will to fulfil their political, economic, social and cultural development". We can of course understand and entirely respect the concern of other states, particularly our neighbours, that the independence of the republics of the SFRY and the arranging of future relations between them on the basis of their full equality and national independence should not harm other states nor threaten peace and security in Europe. Yet we should note that a lack of understanding of the conditions in Yugoslavia, and particularly of the legitimate interests of each nation to ensure the prospects of its own development on its own path and in its own way, and the insistence on the unity of the SFRY, which sadly relies on the legitimisation and legalisation of aggression, including armed aggression, in practice prevents the formation of new relations and a possible new community of states in this region, and in this way indeed threatens peace and security both here and in Europe as a whole.
The resolving of the Yugoslav problem will not be without any risks. But the greatest risk would lie in the forced preservation of the current Yugoslavia, in which the common life founded on outmoded ideology has engendered nationalist intolerance and hegemonistic ambitions among several nations. We are left now with nothing but to continue on our peaceful, carefully considered and determined course via secession to full sovereign statehood, at the same time settling by agreement all relations both retrospectively and in our search for the possibility of a new coexistence in the future, and to patiently explain this to our partners around the world.
Honourable deputies,
At this moment, when the Republic of Slovenia is declaring itself an independent state, when it is announcing this to the world and embarking on its arduous path towards international recognition, the Presidency of the Republic is bound to state here its view on how much we are truly prepared for this path.
The Presidency of Slovenia has continuously, even before the adoption of the plebiscite decision, advised that the most important issue is how and how much Slovenia is and will be prepared for life as an independent, free, democratic and free-market country. We have cautioned in all our public statements, including here in this Assembly, that the period of six months to prepare for this is extremely short. In spite of this relatively short time and the fact that we cannot foresee and prepare for everything, where the establishing of a new state and development of its entire infrastructure are concerned, and particularly in such unfavourable and negative international circumstances, we cannot escape the fact that for a long time the necessary planning and coordination work was put off. This work should have involved the opposition parties, which committed themselves to creative and responsible cooperation through their statement on the adoption of the law on the plebiscite, yet no programme was put forward for implementation of the plebiscite decision, as stipulated by the law, and the Assembly was not continuously, fully and multilaterally kept informed of the status of preparations. The Assembly therefore lacked sufficient material insight into how matters had, should and could have been prepared. The Slovene Presidency has drawn attention several times to the status of these preparations, and believes that more or less through a general oversight of their importance, matters have not been prepared entirely as they could and should have been. I expect that the prime minister will in today's session acquaint you with the level of preparation and with the realistic possibilities for the actual take-over of power by peaceful means, and in particular with the conditions, preparations and envisaged measures designed to avoid serious obstacles and break-downs in the functioning of the economy. You have at your disposal all the available data and information to allow you to assume full responsibility for the decisions ahead of you.
We propose that the Assembly, which will now be relieved of the responsibility to deal primarily with these essentially and expressly political issues, adopt those decisions which in its judgement will be needed and sufficient for the more successful linking of political and legal enactments on the independence of Slovenia to the restructuring and market orientation of the economy, to the resolving of social and environmental issues and to everything necessary for the successful development of the Republic of Slovenia as a sovereign and democratic state based on the rule of law and on social welfare. If there is now no rapid reorientation towards the very acute economic and social questions, and thereby an improvement in the living and working conditions of our people and a higher quality of their life and environment, then all our efforts for our own sovereignty will have no true sense or justification. It is only actions and results that count, not words. And this must be the common point of departure for Slovene political parties, both within and outside parliament. We are not talking here about some project managed by one party or grouping of parties, but about common Slovene decisions and a common responsibility.
A society in which the key point of political activity is for one group to displace another, is neither democratic, creative nor successful, and for this reason it is not European.
Now that we have taken this decisive historic step, our actions must be guided by reason, democracy, respect of others and loyalty to the highest democratic and humanist tradition of the Slovene people. I am convinced that today each one of us is aware just how decisive and critical these moments are for our nation and for the other nations of Yugoslavia, and that on our decisions depends the fate of our people, and possibly the fate of several generations to come. It is not always possible to foresee all the consequences of a decision, and sometimes extraordinary courage is needed. With this awareness, honourable deputies, may you raise your hands in favour of the proposed decisions and take upon yourselves the honour and responsibility which history places before you.
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