Full Sovereignty Proclaimed by Slovenian Parliament
The lawmakers who replaced the Communists as leaders of the prosperous northern republic of Slovenia have proclaimed the state's full sovereignty, but stopped short of calling for secession. There was no immediate reaction to the Slovenian declaration from federal authorities or from rival Serbia. Monday's parliamentary declaration provides for establishing an independent legal system that would take precedence over federal laws and for Slovenian control over armed forces stationed in the republic, state media said. The document said Slovenia should adopt a new democratic constitution within the next 12 months, but made no mention of earlier calls for the republic to secede from the troubled Yugoslav federation. The media said a joint session of the republic's 240-seat legislature voted unanimously to adopt the Declaration of Sovereignty of the State of Slovenia. Slovenia contains 2 million of Yugoslavia's total population of 23 million. The Ljubljana nightly television news said the declaration asked Slovenian authorities to ``assume control over units of the (Yugoslav) armed forces stationed on Slovenian territory,'' and said a 30 percent cut in defense spending would be implemented. A coalition of center-right parties formed a new government last month in Slovenia, the most prosperous of Yugoslavia's six republics, after trouncing reform Communists in the first free state elections held in Communist-ruled Yugoslavia in 45 years. The republic's new authorities demand that Yugoslavia transform itself into a loose confederation of sovereign states. They threaten that Slovenia will declare full independence from Yugoslavia if the remaining republics do not accept its proposals for a confederation. Yugoslavia, including Slovenia, was created in 1918. Premier Lojze Peterle and other Slovenian leaders also say Slovenia should take urgent steps to join the European Community, no matter what Yugoslavia's Communist-ruled southern states say. The demands have been echoed in Croatia, the country's second-largest state. A center-right party came to power there last month in free elections. The hard-line Communist government in the largest state of Serbia vehemently opposes turning Yugoslavia into a confederation. Serbia rejects Western-style democracy and does not plan to hold free elections for at least another year. The Slovenian declaration also said police should take over control of frontiers with neighboring Italy and Austria, replacing border guards deployed for the past 45 years by Yugoslavia's Communist government, Ljubljana TV said. It said the state would establish its own intelligence and counter-intelligence services, that would be independent of their Communist-controlled federal counterparts. The adoption of a declaration of sovereignty has been under discussion in the new Parliament since the new government was installed in May. Slovenia's president, Milan Kucan, has said that Slovenia intends to proclaim sovereignty as part of its drive for liberal political and economic reform in Yugoslavia. The timing of Monday's proclamation by Slovenia may have been affected by Serbia's sudden decision last week to hold a special referendum Sunday and Monday on adopting consitutional reforms that would virtually destroy any remaining autonomy for its troubled province of Kosovo. Slovenia and Croatia increasingly have sided with Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority in its drive for autonomy from Serbia. In Kosovo's capital of Pristina, after Serbian police on Monday barred about 100 ethnic Albanian deputies from entering the province's Parliament, about 40 deputies proclaimed Kosovo equal to the six Yugoslav republics. The deputies want to revoke a constitutional amendment that gave Serbia almost total control over Kosovo.
communist-ruled yugoslavia;federal authorities;independent legal system;troubled yugoslav federation;loose confederation;yugoslav republics;slovenian control;full sovereignty;slovenian declaration