Dimensionamiento de baterías de climatización

The process of Slovenia’s secession from the SFRY began in the 1980s.¹¹¹ With the overarching influence of Tito gone, the growing economic crisis and the rise of nationalist tendencies, the Yugoslav federation began to crack. Serbian calls for greater centralisation were met with resistance from the other states, especially Slovenia and Croatia. Following the amending of the federal constitution in 1988, which sought to give more powers to the central

111 Here, I am only interested in certain internal legal aspects of the Slovenian secession. For the internal law perspective, see for instance Iglar 1992, Radan 2002, Crawford 2007.

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government on the account of the republics, in 1989 the Slovenian authorities also began amending their republican constitution – presumably in order to bring it in line with the amended federal constitution following the principle of the supremacy of the federal constitution. However, the amending process in fact served to begin the process of dissociating Slovenia from the federation.¹¹² The adopted amendments paved the way for the transition into a new, independent and sovereign state by seeking, among others, greater liberalization of politics and economic life, strengthening democratic processes and, most importantly, providing the legal foundations for the re-acquisition of sovereign powers which were (temporarily) transferred to the federation. One of the most important amendments (Amendment X) explicitly declared the right to self-determination of the Slovenian people, including the right to secede from the federation (see Iglar 1992).

Although the process of disassociation was met with criticism, both internally and internationally, the Slovenian authorities pressed on and in April of 1990 the first multiparty elections after the Second World War were called in Slovenia. One of the defining moments in the process was the referendum on the sovereignty and independence which took place on 23 December 1990 (the plebiscite). The plebiscite was called on the basis of the Referendum on the Sovereignty and Independence of the Republic of Slovenia Act (the Referendum Act) adopted on 6 December 1990.¹¹³ The Referendum Act set the date of the plebiscite, determined the question and defined the electorate. It also established that if the majority would vote in favour of the secession, the parliament was to adopt within six months all the necessary measures and legal acts in order for the Republic of Slovenia to assume the exercise of all of its sovereign rights. With regard to the electorate, the Referendum Act stated that all persons who had the right to vote under the Law on the Elections to the National Assemblies had the right to take part in the referendum. That meant that all adults over the age of eighteen with permanent residence in Slovenia on the day of the plebiscite were able to participate – that included non-nationals from other SFRY republics with permanent residence in Slovenia.

On the same day as the aforementioned act, the Statement of Good Intentions (the Statement) was adopted.¹¹⁴ The Statement, likewise adopted by the National Assembly, was intended as a reassurance of the domestic and the international public as to the future actions of the Slovenian authorities following the (positive) result of the referendum. It laid out the basic

112 More on how this process was conducted, see Hayden 1990.

113 Official Gazette of RS, n. 44/90.

114 Official Gazette of RS, n. 44/90.

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political intentions of the new state: it declared, for instance, that once independent, Slovenia will be a democratic and a welfare state governed by the rule of law and will safeguard civil rights and liberties. It vowed continued protection of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities and promised all other ethnicities and nationalities the right to a comprehensive cultural and linguistic development. Most importantly for our purposes, the Statement clearly provided that citizens of other republics with permanent residence in Slovenia will be able to obtain Slovenian citizenship if they will so desire.

In this context, we should add that on the same day (6 December 1990), all parliamentary parties and groups signed an agreement on joint action at the plebiscite (the Agreement). In it (point 9) they pledged that the political status of the members of the Italian and the Hungarian national minorities, as well as of all members of other Yugoslav nations will not be altered because of the referendum – they poetically declared that these individuals will “share our common destiny”. They finally reiterated the pledge that members of other Yugoslav nations with permanent residence in Slovenia will be able to acquire the Slovenian citizenship if they wanted to.

The plebiscite was held on 23 December 1990: the turnout was 93,2% with those voting in favour of the independence amounting to 88,5% of all eligible voters. On the basis of this overwhelming decision in favour of the secession and independence, the national authorities were obligated to begin preparing the legal basis for establishing a new sovereign state. In the six months following the referendum decision, the National Assembly adopted a series of crucial legislation which was symbolically called “the independence legislation” (see below, 4.3.). The process culminated in the adoption of the Basic Constitutional Charter on the Independence and Sovereignty of the Republic of Slovenia (the Basic Constitutional Charter) on 25 June 1991.¹¹⁵ The Charter is the most important state-founding legal act as it was with its adoption that Slovenia formally declared its independence.¹¹⁶ Besides its general fundamental importance, the Charter and the Act for its implementation¹¹⁷ are particularly relevant for evaluating the Erasure. Among the reasons for the secession, the Preamble of the Declaration states that the SFRY no longer functioned as a state ruled by law and seriously violated human rights. Moreover and more importantly, Article III of the Declaration states

115 Official Gazette of RS, n. 1/91.

116 While normally these effects are achieved by the declaration of a new constitution, the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia was adopted only six months later, on 23 December 1991.

117 The Charter was implemented on the basis of the Constitutional Act Implementing the Basic Constitutional Charter on the Independence and Sovereignty of the Republic of Slovenia (the Constitutional Act) adopted on the same day as the Charter. See the Official Gazette of RS, n. 1/91.

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that Slovenia guarantees the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms to all persons on its territory, regardless of their nationality, without any discrimination. Finally, we need to bear in mind Art. 13 of the Constitutional Act which determined that citizens of other SFRY republics with permanent residence in Slovenia who actually resided there on the day of the referendum held equal rights and obligations as citizens of the Republic of Slovenia – that is, until they obtained the Slovenian citizenship (under the conditions set in the Citizenship Act) or until the deadline specified in the Aliens Act expired.

The documents I have briefly presented just now legitimized and legalized Slovenia’s secession from the SFRY. They represent the basis upon which the transfer of powers from the federation to the new sovereign state was made (albeit unilaterally). They set up the fundamental political and juridical characteristics of the Republic of Slovenia (i.e. a democratic republic, founded on the principles of rule of law and respect for human rights etc.). Beyond this fundamental State-constituting role, these acts also demonstrate the legal (constitutional) and political commitment of the new authorities towards all of its residents, especially those who were not ethnic Slovenes. While members of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities were already prior to independence granted privileged protection, these acts served to appease the significant population of citizens of other SFRY republics who (permanently) resided in Slovenia. The pledges made in these documents represented an important legitimization of the new state, especially for the international community, while at the same time they aimed to convince as many of these individuals to vote favourably in the referendum and back the independence efforts. By allowing citizens of other SFRY republics with permanent residence in Slovenia to vote in this all-important referendum, the Slovenian state demonstrated, both legally and symbolically, that it perceived them as co-equal members of its body politic.¹¹⁸ In so doing it raised in them legitimate expectations that once under the rule of the new sovereign State, they will be treated equally to Slovene nationals and will be afforded the right to obtain the Slovenian citizenship.

The manner of the acquisition of the new Slovenian citizenship was determined by the new Citizenship Act. This and relevant other “independence” laws are examined in the next section.

118 While this is true, we should not overlook the fact that there was already in this initial period a slight, yet important shift in the treatment of citizens of other SFRY republics. While in the pre-independence period they were treated (at least at the declarative level) as equal to Slovene citizens in all respects, this equality is already temporally limited and conditioned in the Constitutional Act. See more on this in Zorn 2007 and below (4.3. and 5.1.)

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