In the past, we were used to Slovenia being ignored on the international stage, or perhaps mistaken for Slovakia, but today, the situation is completely different. Namely, Prime Minister Janez Janša regularly appears on the front pages of many prominent foreign newspaper, and as an interlocutor on renowned television stations, such as CNN, Sky News, BBC, and CBS News. However, this does not prevent members of the so-called Constitutional Arch Coalition (the left-wing part of the current opposition) and other like-minded people from complaining about how Slovenia’s reputation is allegedly suffering because of it.
The fact that Prime Minister Janez Janša is often a guest on foreign television shows and regularly shows up on the front page of the world media, from the British Guardian to the Wall Street Journal, has a positive impact on the promotion of Slovenia. It was impossible to even dream about such a thing during the time of the previous, left-wing governments. Former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec even turned down a unique opportunity to address the European Parliament at its plenary session and present his vision of the future.
“We don’t need money. We need time,” are the infamous words of former Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek, which she said, among other things, in her appearance as Slovenia’s Prime Minister on American CNN. As Bratušek spoke in broken English, her appearance, of course, did not help Slovenia’s reputation abroad. And the situation was not much different when Bratušek ran for the post of European Commissioner.
And in addition to Šarec not wanting to speak in front of the European Parliament, he also made a particularly disturbing statement at one of the summits of the European leaders in Brussels, where he said to the media regarding the attempt to find a compromise on leadership positions in the Union, that it is up to other people to tell him what to do. “I don’t think anything. I will see what happens and then react accordingly,” Šarec said, which clearly showed why we are not taken seriously as a country.
Meanwhile, this was not the first time that the Janša government successfully chaired the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. But if we focus on the term of the current government alone, we can see that Slovenia has bettered its reputation, not only because of a successful presidency but also because of the active foreign policy pursued by Prime Minister Janša. By making concrete proposals in the event of the Russian invasion and by visiting Kyiv, he proved that Slovenia is not just a silent observer waiting for what the greats (like Germany, France, and so on) will say, but one of the international actors who dares to speak up and make suggestions, thus contributing its fair share in finding a solution that is in the best interest of us all.
As Janša’s visit to Kyiv, in the company of the Polish and Czech prime ministers, garnered a wave of admiration and approval that did not go unnoticed in the world, it particularly upset the left-wing political opponents who are trying to create the impression in the Slovenian public that our reputation abroad is worsening. The saddest thing is, however, that even those who did catastrophically when it was their time to shine, as they had nothing to show for it, are criticising the current government. However, judging by how well the others did, it is no wonder that Reuters mistakenly published a picture of the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković when it reported on Šarec’s resignation. That is what happens if you just keep quiet.
However, as we were interested in what Slovenia’s reputation is currently like, in light of the fact that Prime Minister Janša regularly appears in the world media and is engaged in active politics, we asked the long-time distinguished diplomat and politician, Dr Dimitrij Rupel, to share his thoughts on this. He replied that the question was only seemingly simple. “It is actually related to a famous saying: whether my country does right or wrong, it is still my country!” According to Rupel, the belief that belonging to a country or homeland is not important has been established only recently. “Many of our younger people, especially on the left, judge the international events and the reputation of their country from the point of view of their ideology or politics. Moreover, in order to achieve their political goals, they sacrifice their belonging to the country or homeland. Remember the “theory” that proletarians have no homeland because this is a world revolution. They do not care about the reputation of their homeland!”
Foreign media are, in a way, also subject to such a mentality, Rupel pointed out. They are not interested in nationality but in politics. “As far as I can see, our Prime Minister is mainly interested in them as a person who does interesting things (for example, visits Kyiv). It is definitely good that this also brings some attention to Slovenia as well. As you know, some Slovenian journalists and the media have tried to slander our Prime Minister. But I do not think they managed to slander neither the Prime Minister nor Slovenia, so they actually caused the most damage to themselves,” Rupel pointed out, adding that Slovenia’s reputation is actually quite good. As he said, the most important thing for our international position is that we escaped the bad fate of Yugoslavia and created a successful country in a relatively short time, which participates in international life on the positive side of history.
The fact that Slovenia is finally becoming more visible on the European and the world’s political and economic map should be good news to all of us, as Slovenia is our shared homeland. However, this is apparently impossible because there is too much envy on the part of some, when hearing certain news, like the fact that the Slovenian Prime Minister recently attended a discussion with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and shook hands with many world leaders. Apparently, many things can happen if a person does not have a complex of smallness and dares to raise his voice and does not just silently run into a corner and wait there for further orders.
