International Scientific Conference “ Euroscepticism and European Integration”

1. International Scientific Conference“Euroscepticism and European Integration” ABSENCE OF PARTY-BASED EUROSCEPTICISM IN FULL MEMBERSHIP PERIOD IN SLOVENIA Alenka Krašovec and Damjan Lajh University of Ljubljana Zagreb, 12 April 2007

2. MAIN AIMS OF THE PAPER • to present some rare points in the past that revealed presence of Euroscepticism • to identify some points that might exposed Euroscepticism but did not • (try) to explain, what have been the main reasons for the absence of “real” party-based Euroscepticism in Slovenia

3. POLITICAL PARTIES AND ISSUE(S) OF EUROPEANISATION IN TRANSITION PERIOD • 1989’ slogan used by the reformed League of Communists of Slovenia • the document ‘Europe now – for the European quality of living’, prepared for its congress in autumn 1989 • the party used almost the same slogan ('Europe Now!') on first multi-party and democratic elections held in spring 1990 • at that time, as well majority of other political parties included integration or cooperation with the EU as a reference point on several policy fields in their electoral programmes • at the end of the eighties and at the beginning of the nineties in Slovenia ‘Europeanisation’ has become a kind of substitute for the old ideology

4. EARLY EMBRYOS OF EUROSCEPTICISM… • some events connected with the acceptance of the Europe Agreement in the mid-nineties produced at least a partial change in the attitudes of part of the public to accession – (limited) public Euroscepticism slowly began to emerge • reason: one EU member-state (Italy) objected to the prohibition on the purchase of real estate by non-Slovenian citizens • result: amendment of the Slovenian Constitution

5. …BUT AT THE END: BROAD CONSENSUS AMONG THE POLITICAL ELITE! • a broad consensus among the political elite and all relevant (parliamentary) parties in the pre-accession period • in 1997, except Slovenian National Party, all other parliamentary parties (as well as representatives of the Hungarian and Italian minorities) decided to sign an Agreement on Co-operation in the Accession Process with the EU • formal consensus to support the country’s rapid membership in the EU was reached • this co-ordination remained intact until the end 2000

6. THE GAP BETWEEN THE OFFICIAL POLITICS AND PUBLIC OPINION - WHO WILL SEIZE AN OPPORTUNITY? • in this period it was expected that some parties will try to take an advantage of the gap between the politics of almost all parliamentary parties and public opinion when Slovenia’s accession to the EU is in question • result: • the emergence of the New Party • some changes in the Slovenian National Party’s attitude to Slovenia’s accession to the EU • for both parties this question became especially salient on 2000’ elections • however: both parties altogether attracted only 5.0 percent of the total votes in 2000‘ elections

7. EVENT WHERE ONE WOULD EXPECT AT LEAST MINOR PRESENCE OF EUROSCEPTICISM… BUT NOT IN SLOVENIA! • the EU referendum, conducted in 2003, finally showed that there was no serious opposition in Slovenia to accession • the strongest opponent of membership as well in EU referendum campaign was the Slovenian National Party; however, the party was quite silent in the last few weeks before the referendum • unexpectedly, the non-parliamentary New Party was (also) completely silent during the whole referendum campaign • anyhow: actually all those stakeholders who stayed even a little Eurosceptic gave up and directed their attention to the NATO referendum campaign • the simultaneous implementation of two accession referendums (EU and NATO) is (at least indirect) reason for the absence of Euroscepticism • the fact that almost 90 percent of voters supported EU membership nevertheless came as a surprise

8. EXPERT SURVEY:Party positions on ‘left-right’ and ‘EU joining’ scale EU joining left-right

9. FULL MEMBERSHIP PERIOD: THE OLD STORY CONTINUOUS… • first elections to the EP • even previously predominantly Eurosceptic Slovenian National Party softened its programmatic standpoints for the EP elections • adoption of the Euro • all parties strongly supported the idea of introduction of the Euro and they also supported the economic measures that must be taken to make this possible • ratification of the EU Constitutional Treaty • ratification without a referendum came about without any problems; only some MPs from Slovenian National Party voted against ratification

10. HOW TO EXPLAIN THE ABSENCE OF “REAL” PARTY-BASED EUROSCEPTICISM IN SLOVENIA? • broad consensus among political elite as well as among other actors to support quick accession to the EU • failure of Eurosceptical parties (the New Party and the Slovenian National Party) on elections 2000 when they tried to take advantage of discrepancy among relatively high public Euroscepticism and broad formal consensus among political elite to support accession • continuing broad consensus among political elite also in the case of adoption of EURO and ratification of EU Constitution • it is obvious that EU issues are still not relevant for party and even electoral competition • absence of party-based Euroscepticism after experience of two Eurosceptic parties on 2000 elections is not surprise since even public opinion polls indicate high level of satisfaction with ‘Slovenian EU story’ – from the party competition point of view Euroscepticism is not very useful mechanism for attracting more (additional) voters