Interest, and Not Friendship

Talking with Jelko Kacin, former charismatic Minister of Information at the time of the splitting of Yugoslavia and currently president of the Board for foreign policy of the Slovenian Parliament, we have tried to find out if the time is coming for thawing the relations between Slovenia and FRY.

Would you give an estimate of the current state of relations between FRY and Slovenia?

As there are no relations, I cannot estimate them.

From the writings of the Serbian press it could be understood that you were in fact the initiator of the idea to establish diplomatic relations, and not Ljubisa Ristic. Not so long ago, your initiative would have caused bitterness in Ljubljana, some people would even have accused use of betraying national interests...

It is true that Mr. Ristic hasn't written a word in his letters about establishing diplomatic relations; Ristic has asked me in writing, would I be ready to talk with him about forming a consultative Assembly of the Parliaments of the South-East European states. Before I constructed my reply, I called a session of the Board for international relations of our Parliament. At this session, we had detailed talks about the possibility of establishing international relations, both diplomatic, economic and other, with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Board also adopted a basis for talks between a delegation of our Board and a delegation of the Board for International Relations of the Federal council of FRY's Parliament.

And what is this basis?

The Board has invited the government of the Republic of Slovenia to establish cooperation between the two states in areas of interest to both states, and to give special attention to the economic sector. Of course, cooperation would have to develop within a framework of a comprehensive agreement between the two states. We have also invited Drnovsek's government to make an effort and, through its active foreign policy, support the inclusion of FRY in the international community, after diplomatic relations come to life. The Board has also requested that future agreements between the states comprise a clause which says that both states are successors of FRY with equal rights...

You have invited Ljubisa Ristic to Ljubljana. Meanwhile, he has accepted the invitation to visit the English Parliament, and the planned date (January 16) for the visit to Ljubljana was canceled. Have you scheduled a new date?

No. I have invited Mr. Ristic to Ljubljana for talks, and at the same time I have enclosed the conclusions and standpoints of the Board for International Relations of our State Council. It was all absolutely in accordance with his letter, in which he let me decide about the place of our meeting. I haven't received a reply to my letter from Mr. Ristic, therefore I cannot talk about dates at this moment.

Isn't it unusual that Slovenia now insists that much on establishing relations with FRY? Shouldn't it be vice versa - that FRY "fights" for Slovenian sympathy, now when Slovenia has become a member of numerous international institutions, and a non-permanent member of the Security Council?

Slovenia hasn't been trying with all its might and main to establish those relations, although it's true that FRY is the only European state with which Slovenia has not live diplomatic relations, which isn't logical. FRY has mostly problems with itself, which causes its closure and self-isolation. This state of things harms first of all FRY, which is today less European than it could be. This is the core of the problem; the more it closes itself from Europe, the more it lags behind it, and it will need to do more catching up once this necessary turn happens. The damage that FRY brought to itself and by itself is much greater than any real or imagined enemies could bring together.

Does that mean that Slovenia can and is willing to help FRY in its efforts to join international institutions?

It certainly could help, but first FRY has to cooperate with Slovenia, at least in exchanging experience about it. To support this idea, I will quote only some of the successes of the independent Republic of Slovenia: not only that we gained international acknowledgment, but that we have been invited to negotiate regarding full membership in the European Union; also, we are the only state from the former East and Central Europe whose citizens do not need visas for entering the USA, we are the only candidate for NATO membership, we are a non-permanent member of the Security Council... Yugoslavia was once a member of the Security Council, although only for a year, long ago, in the fifties, in the time when I was born... Meanwhile, new generations were born and now Slovenia is the one who sits in the same place, and it will have a chance to participate in making decisions about important issues. Isn't that indisputable proof as to Slovenia's success in the area of its foreign policy? We can share these successes with FRY, if it would like to.

Have you heard about the Society of Slovenian-Serbian Friendship which was recently formed in the Slovenian Parliament?

This story is a little bit different - in our parliament we have several Friendship groups in which representatives from our State Assembly are organized. I am also a member of the Group for Friendship with FRY, whose leader is my friend and also the vice-president of the State Assembly and member of my LDS party, Andrej Gerencer. This group is no exception, because we have similar groups for all European and some non-European countries. If Mr. Ristic visits us, he will certainly meet also the president and the members of the mentioned Friendship group.

Can we conclude that you have made thorough preparation for the renewal of relations?

The Slovenian parliament is getting ready in the same way for talks with other countries, which means that FRY is no exception. We have Friendship groups for Germany, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Great Britain, Denmark... The difference is only that our Parliament's Board for international relations approached the issue of (non)relations with FRY in a separate session. We have prepared this session very carefully, believing that finally this step has to be made in order to establish normal relations.