The hour of European truth for Slovenian intellectuals

In: Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino: Contributions to the contemporary history = Contributions à l'histoire contemporaine = Beiträge zur Zeitgeschichte, Band 63, Heft 2

Abstract

In this paper, the author presents and analyses the political activity of Slovenian opposition intellectuals during the period of Slovenia's EU accession (1995-97). In the summer of 1997, a group of intellectuals from the Nova revija circle published a public letter "An Hour of European Truth for Slovenia", in which they criticised the social and political situation and the government's poor policy of EU and NATO approximation. The signatories of the public letter perceived the then rule of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDS), which was the successor of the official youth organisation under socialism, as undemocratic rule by former communists who held all the strings of power. In approaching the EU, they opposed the agreement with Italy on the purchase of Slovenian real estate (the so-called Spanish Compromise). Although they were in principle in favour of EU membership, they also collaborated in their activism with a group of outspoken Eurosceptics. In the first part of the paper, the author presents Slovenian politics in the 1990s, while in the second part he briefly describes the process of Slovenia's accession to the EU and NATO. In the third part, the author describes the background and activities of the group of intellectuals in question. The fourth part analyses the public letter and the public reactions. In the conclusion, the author poses a question whether the actors mentioned were Eurosceptics. In his opinion, the concept of Euroscepticism does not help to understand the complex and ambivalent attitudes of political actors towards Europe and the EU. In conclusion, the author highlights the trajectory of Slovenian anticommunist political thought up to the present day.