Power relations
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Slovenia is a democratic parliamentary republic. Since the last general elections in 2011 the country has been run by a centre-right coalition under the Slovenian Democratic Party. The party leader is the current prime minister, Janez Janša. The president, a position of great authority but no major executive power, is Borut Pahor. Most power is held by the government, which is supervised by the 90 parliamentary deputies. There are seven political parties in parliament. The largest opposition party is the centre-left Positive Slovenia, led by Zoran Jankovič. Successful leadership
One of Slovenia’s major policy successes was joining the European Union. This was one of its first major goals following independence in 1991. After years of negotiations, Slovenia succeeded in joining the organisation with nine other countries on 1 May 2004. In 2005 it assumed the presidency of the OSCE, and then two and a half years later, on 1 January 2007 to be precise, Slovenia was the first of the new EU members to join the euro, before becoming the first new member to hold the presidency of EU in the first half of 2008. Slovenia has been part of the Schengen Area since the end of 2007, which means that there is no control of border crossings with neighbouring countries in the EU. Slovenia presided over the Council of Europe’s committee of ministers in 2009, and has joined the OECD in 2010. Rapid economic development
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As a member of the EU, Slovenia now has trade relations with the countries of western Europe, Germany, Austria and Italy in particular. Slovenia is known as a small but reliable partner, with a rational way of acting, and a skilled workforce. Its economic development since independence has been a considerable success, particularly between 1995 and 2008, when the economy grew by an average of 4% each year. The official unemployment rate stood at 6% at the end of 2008, although the true rate was even lower. Slovenia saw its first significant decline in economic growth in 2009 as a result of the global economic crisis.Slovenia’s per capita GDP is 91% of the EU average, ranking it 16th of the 27 countries.
