Slovenia is commonly seen as a rare success story in the former Yugoslavia region. It was the first to manage a virtually bloodless secession from the federal republic. It joined NATO and the EU in 2004, and the eurozone in 2007. What are the problems facing the country today, how is it resolving them, and what objectives has the Slovenian government set for its embassy in Kyiv? We cover all of it in our exclusive interview with new Ambassador of Slovenia to Ukraine Natasha Prach.
“SLOVENIA FACES AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CRISIS”
Madam Ambassador, the snap election in Slovenia saw the Party of Miro Cerar, established just six months before the election, to emerge as the winner, while the traditional conservative parties have lost. What is the cause of it?
“Like many European countries, Slovenia faces an economic and social crisis, and the traditional political parties were part of the problem. Of course, people were looking for something new, looking for someone who would bring stability, economic growth, social protection, and full respect for the rule of law.”
And the Party of Miro Cerar offered exactly that...
“Miro Cerar himself is not a new face in the Slovenian politics. He is a well-known, respectable professor of Ljubljana University’s faculty of law. His family has long been prominent in the Slovenian society, as his father was a lawyer and Olympic champion, and his late mother served as prosecutor general and minister of justice. Therefore, his family has been respected in the Slovenian society. We have high hopes that this coalition government, headed by Prime Minister Cerar, will lead the country out of crisis.”
By the way, the Cabinet includes the Pensioners’ Party as well... Are its members in fact just pensioners?
“No, it was a party which united pensioners at first, but now it is a fully-fledged center-left party, which, incidentally, is headed by current Minister for Foreign Affairs Karl Erjavec, who served previously as minister of defense and minister of the environment. The party has a MEP as well.”
“THE SLOVENIANS HAVE VERY LOW TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION”
How do you interpret the statement published in the Vecer newspaper, which says that Slovenia has become a victim of the global economic colonization?
“This publication sees Slovenia as a country governed by foreign capitalist interests, if I understand correctly the article to which you refer. I do not think so, though. Slovenia’s biggest economic problem are its non-consolidated banks which owe a huge sum of several billion euros. What has led to this situation? Privatization in my country was distinct in that we did not invite foreign investors. In my opinion, it was a mistake. We did not open our economy to foreign investors wide enough, and thus, we have made it possible for some of our state enterprise managers to privatize their companies.
At the same time, these managers did not have enough resources to pay for privatization, so they took huge loans from banks. When the crisis erupted, they, of course, could not pay the loans. The banks have been left with unpaid debts, and businesses have lost their value. As a result, a big hole, amounting to several billion euros, has appeared in the banks’ balance sheets. In order to save the financial system of Slovenia, we invested approximately 4 billion euros in the troubled banks last year. I do not think that we are hostages of foreign capital. Quite the opposite: we are hostages of mismanagement and greed.”
According to press reports, one of the reasons for the defeat of the traditional parties in the elections was corruption. Is it really highly prevalent in Slovenia?
“Whenever I am asked this question, I say that I personally have never encountered corruption in Slovenia. We have the anti-corruption bureau, which is very active, and we also have a very tough anti-corruption legislation. Thus, our standards in this field are very high. Of course, the Slovenians have very low tolerance for corruption. The basis of our values has always been honest work, honest life. If someone behaves in a different way, they face public opprobrium and criticism. Since the bureau is working effectively, of course there are results, and they become causes celebres to boot.”
“THE KEY POINT IS THAT UKRAINE DECIDED WHERE IT WANTS TO GO”
As you know, various Ukrainian governments also declare their desire to fight corruption, which is more than 300 years old...
“I see that a lot has changed in Ukraine over the past few years. I think that now the majority of Ukrainians understand they are Ukrainians. This is important. And they understand that Ukraine belongs with the West. I have not seen the same several years ago. And now I think there is no doubt left about this. Of course, the most crucial issue today is to achieve peace and stability, and also to carry out necessary reforms to enforce the rule of law, toughen the war on corruption, and to undertake all other steps towards reforming Ukraine into a modern and successful European state. I know this process will be long. It cannot be done overnight. It is clear that it is impossible without ups and downs. But the key point is that Ukraine decided where it wants to go. Meanwhile, the population’s support means a lot.”
What is Slovenia’s standpoint in relation to Russia which annexed Crimea first, and now virtually not only Russian armaments, but Russian troops are deployed in eastern Ukraine?
“Slovenia, which supports the peaceful settling of the conflict, supports the sanctions and fully implements them. Meanwhile, we are in a very complicated situation. Slovenia is a small state whose economy is almost fully export-oriented. Besides, Russia is one of our largest trade partners. Despite this, we agreed to sanctions. In such cases values must be given higher priority. Now we are helping our exporters find new markets.
“As regards sanctions. Of course, there are critics who say the sanctions are not harsh enough. In my view, they are effective enough and have already affected Russia’s economy and some of the Kremlin’s steps that concern Ukraine.”
“IF RUSSIA’S AGGRESSIVE TENDENCY CONTINUES, THE EU WILL RESPOND WITH HARSHER SANCTIONS”
But Russian troops are not withdrawn, ceasefire does not work.
“But there is de-escalation, and negotiations continue. You have seen the tendency of imposing sanctions as a response to Russia’s actions. If Russia’s aggressive tendency continues, the EU will respond to it, perhaps also in the form of harsher sanctions. Obviously, this depends on the consensus of the 28 member states.”
By annexing Crimea, Putin violated the system of international agreements in Europe in general. How can the international order that used to exist be restored: by conducting new negotiations or by forcing Putin to retreat?
“How can we come back to it? It is hard to say. The violation of international agreements, and the Charter of the United Nations in particular, and the breach of confidence are an accomplished fact now. I think we need to sum up what has been done. We do not recognize the annexation of Crimea. We see Ukraine as an independent state within the internationally recognized borders. Some point must be reached first, when we can start discussing the future European security system. Who is to discuss it now? Today our attention must be focused on the restoration of Ukraine’s borders. And then we will be able to move on.”
“UNDOUBTEDLY, UKRAINE IS AN IMPORTANT COUNTRY FOR SLOVENIA, IN AREAS OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION”
I have read on GlobalPost that the new foreign minister will pay attention to the US, Russia, France, and Turkey. Why does this list not include Ukraine, which is territorially the largest European country?
“Undoubtedly, Ukraine is an important country for Slovenia, in areas of political and economic cooperation. Perhaps, when talking about economic cooperation, the minister did not have time to mention this, but if you look at our work, you can see the high status and attention paid to Ukraine. The Embassy in Kyiv, which is one of the largest Slovenian embassies, has an economic department and an active Ukraine-Slovenia business club. We have good cooperation between chambers of commerce and industry. A lot of events aimed at promotion of our economy are held. At the moment, we see that Slovenian export to Ukraine dropped by 20 percent. It is clear that this is happening because of Russia’s aggression and depends on the economic situation in Ukraine. But I see that all Slovenian companies, which worked in Ukraine before these events, stay put. On the one hand, this market is very important for them, on the other, they are going through a very difficult time, but everyone knows and understands that there are prospects here, that they need to hold on, and they must be loyal to Ukrainian consumers.”
You have been a temporary charge d’affaires for a long time before becoming an ambassador. Was it your initiative to stay here as the head of the Mission?
“(Laughs.) It was my choice and the minister’s choice in the first place. You know, I have a desire to do something else here.
“Firstly, it is in Slovenia’s interest that Ukraine should be a strong, independent state in its internationally recognized borders. That is why the top-priority task is to help Ukraine in this.
“Secondly, it is in Slovenia’s interest that Ukraine approaches the European Union, draws its legislation and standards closer to the European ones. We are ready to help Ukraine achieve this. We have programs and projects. Slovenia is a small country with limited resources, but we have experience and desire to help.
“Thirdly, Ukraine is an important economic partner for us, we need to develop economic ties. But it will be much easier to achieve after we complete the first two tasks. No positive results in the economic sphere are to be expected without this.
“Fourthly, we need to know each other better. More contacts are needed for that. This will be a priority of my cadence as well: to do everything possible to strengthen contacts not only among politicians and businessmen, but among people as well, so that Slovenes and Ukrainians would communicate. We have some common periods of history, our cultures are very close. The Slovenian and Ukrainian languages belong to Slavic group. We can and we must know and understand each other well.”
I see Den newspaper on your desk. What does our periodical mean for you?
“Den is a good daily newspaper, which you must read if you want to know and understand what is happening in Ukraine. You have great journalists, commentators, and analysts. Moreover, I like that when discussing specific topics, you ask competent people to comment on them. Your readers can draw conclusions for themselves. I congratulate you upon your work.”
