Slovenia Report

Slovene policy documents do not explicitly formalise a WGA. However, as mentioned above, there are some examples of clear implicit references, such as in the strategy for activities related to international operations and missions (Government of the Republic of Slovenia 2009). What’s more, taken together, there are a number of documents that de facto present and form Slovenia’s WGA-like framework. From the Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia, there is a resolution on the country’s foreign policy (2015a), the foreign policy strategy itself (2015b), a resolution on the country’s national security strategy (2010b), a strategy on international development cooperation and humanitarian aid (2018b), and a declaration on the Western Balkans (2010a). From the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, there is an action plan regarding the fight against human trafficking (2019a), an action plan regarding the Western Balkans (2019b), and a strategy on migration policy and coordinating related activities (2019c).

The documents are focused, of a high quality, and geared towards the nation as a whole. There is a clear guidance approach in these and related operational documents. What’s more, there are various action plans in place to spell out the specific aspects of implementing the various strategies.

In these documents, one will find a combination of an explicit (binding) approach and an implicit (suggested) approach. For example, paragraph 21 of the resolution on development cooperation (Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia 2017) says that the government has to regularly inform the parliament about the progress of implementing this resolution, while the binding aspect is found in paragraph 19. Seven months later, the parliament adopted the related law on development cooperation (Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia 2018a).

The related fields of action are numerous and broad. They include humanitarian aid and development cooperation, stabilisation, crisis management, peacebuilding and post-conflict transformation, all of which are backed up by economic efforts. They form an integrated, complementary set of activities whose thematic priorities have been specified in policy documents or decisions of the government and/or parliament.

In thematic terms, Slovenia’s humanitarian-aid and development- cooperation efforts focus on two sets of priorities. First, they aim to foster inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. Second, they promote the sustainable management of natural resources and the fight against climate change. Third, Slovenia pays special attention to children and women, particularly in armed conflicts, as well as to providing them with post-crisis rehabilitation and psychosocial assistance. For example, these priorities prompted Slovenia to launch the International Trust Fund for demining and the social rehabilitation of the victims of landmines in 1998.

In geographical terms, Slovenian priorities for development- cooperation and humanitarian-aid efforts encompass the Western Balkans, the so-called ‘European neighbourhood’ and sub-Saharan Africa. The priority issues here are environmental protection and social inclusiveness.

In terms of stabilisation activities, among other things, Slovenia has launched the Brdo-Brijuni Process and has contributed a police contingent to North Macedonia. Its collaborative peacebuilding efforts include contributions to KFOR and UNIFIL. And it has contributed to post-conflict transformation efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The EU Global Strategy has both inspired and influenced policy thought in Slovenia, especially regarding the formation of EU-related policies and what kind of EU Slovenia would ideally like to see (in this case, one that is strong and united). Since Slovenia views integration as being in its strategic interest, it would like the EU to become more cohesive and stable. With these goals in mind, Slovenia has influenced and supported the EU’s Global Strategy in discussions and by participating in various fora at different levels.

Furthermore, the UN Millennium Goals decisively paved the way for Slovenia’s strategy and specific policies related to development cooperation and humanitarian aid (Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia 2018a). In addition, to a large extent, all Slovene national strategies take into consideration and draw from documents of the UN, the OECD and the OSCE. In the Slovene documents, foreign policy is conceptualised as a whole. Rather than explicitly setting out a WGA, such an approach is implicitly obligatory for the most part, since it appears in policy formulations in various documents and thereby paves the way for a possible future formalisation of a WGA.

Slovenia also supports further development of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in all its dimensions: operations, institutions and capabilities. It participates in CSDP operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Chad/Central African Republic. It also took part in the CSDP operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and joined EU efforts to support the African Union in Sudan/Darfur. Together with the European Commission, Slovenia also launched the Positive Agenda for the Youth in the Western Balkans initiative in April 2015.

Management of the 2015/2016 migration crisis stands out as the clearest example of a WGA-like effort by Slovenia. With his November 2015 letter to EU and World Bank leaders, then-Prime Minister Miro Cerar set the framework for solving the crisis. The Slovene government formed a special task force with members drawn from various ministries and agencies, who collaborated in a de facto WGA manner and produced successful results. During its chairmanship of the OSCE in 2005, Slovenia published the Slovene translation of the IOM’s Dictionary of Migration (IOM 2006) to aid understanding of the issue. Slovenia also initiated efforts to strengthen regional cooperation aimed at preventing radicalisation and stemming the recruitment efforts of foreign terrorist organisations.

Other soft policy initiatives include water diplomacy, membership in the so-called ‘Green Group’ of countries advocating action to slow the pace of climate change, and participation in Responsibility to Protect (R2P) activities. During its 2005 chairmanship of the OSCE, Slovenia also launched a project to increase children’s knowledge of human rights, which has been recognised as an important tool for almost 15 years.

Generally speaking, there are explicit elements as well as strong hints of a WGA in various documents and policies. When circumstances call for an ad hoc WGA, it is goal-oriented, goal-driven and well-articulated. Hence, there should be a planned push towards contextualising those policies as a WGA whose scope is system-wide, encompassing foreign, security, development-cooperation, humanitarian-aid, economic and trade policies in cooperation with the NGO sector.