This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS  LJUBLJANA 000576 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR EUR DAS CONLEY and EUR/NCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIAN OPPOSITION FORMS NEW POLITICAL "FORUM", 
WITH FOREIGN MINISTER RUPEL A FOUNDING MEMBER 
 
REF: A. LJUBLJANA 547 
 
     ¶B. LJUBLJANA 258 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Hailed as a "brilliant political move" by 
some pundits, and criticized by ruling LDS party members for 
putting personal gain ahead of the national interest, FoMin 
Rupel joined many of his former DEMOS associates in 
establishing a new forum dubbed the "Assembly for the 
Republic (AFTR)" earlier this week.  The decision comes on 
the heels of the opposition's unexpected electoral success 
during Sunday's European Parliamentary elections, claiming 
four out of seven seats.  Presented as a non-partisan 
democratic institution, the organization is the opposition's 
answer to former President Kucan's Forum 21 political action 
committee, and represents a concerted push to unseat the 
ruling coalition in the upcoming fall elections.  Rupel's 
decision to join the AFTR, as well as his blunt and public 
criticism of his party's leadership (LDS), has attracted as 
much attention as the organization's establishment.  The 
AFTR's formation may reflect the start of a true evolution 
of Slovenia's political system in which we could see the 
streamlining of political parties and the formation of 
clear(er) and more idealogically distinct party platforms. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
THE ASSEMBLY FOR THE REPUBLIC (AFTR) 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) Following its surprising showing at the European 
Parliamentary elections (ref A), particularly Nova 
Slovenia's (NSi) victory over the senior government 
coalition Liberal Democracy Party (LDS), members of the two 
major right-of-center parties, the Slovenian Democratic 
Party (SDS) and NSi, along with like-minded academics, 
announced the establishment this week of "the Assembly for 
the Republic (AFTR)."  Presented as a non-partisan 
democratic institution seeking to overcome the politics of 
"polarization" by promoting non-partisan dialogue between 
all political parties and Slovenian citizens, the 
organization reunites a number of DEMOS members. [NOTE:  In 
1987, a group of Slovenian intellectuals that opposed the 
Communists gathered around the periodical Nova Revija and 
advocated abandoning the Communist system and introducing a 
pluralistic democratic system in an independent Slovenian 
state.  This movement gathered steam and contributed to the 
creation of the political coalition DEMOS in November 1989. 
In the first democratic elections in April 1990, DEMOS 
defeated the Communist successor party and formed the first 
Slovenian democratic government with Lojze Peterle as PM, 
Dimitrij Rupel as FoMin, and Janez Jansa as DefMin. 
Somewhat ironically, it was Peterle who led NSi to victory 
in Sunday's EP election.  END NOTE].  See para 9 for a 
complete listing of Assembly for the Republic members. 
 
¶3.  (U) In its press release, which was purportedly written 
by Rupel himself, the founding members expressed their 
concern that "moderate politics" were losing ground to a 
more leftist agenda in Slovenia. The night of the EP 
election, Rupel offered sharp, on-the-record criticisms of 
LDS saying that it had veered too much to the left.  The 
AFTR's communiqu also noted that its members' biggest worry 
was "the use of party connections for financial advantages, 
the unscrupulous abuse of capital and positions by cronies, 
political intolerance and an appetite for daily publicity 
and ratings." Members of the opposition parties, led by 
SDS's Janez Jansa and Nsi's Andrej Bajuk, have recently used 
extraordinary parliamentary sessions to examine allegations 
of corruption and abuse of power by government officials. 
The sessions have failed to produce any substantive results. 
The AFTR is due to hold its first formal session on 23 June. 
 
THE RIGHT'S OWN VERSION OF KUCAN'S FORUM 21? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) In March, former President Milan Kucan formed Forum 
21 - a think tank ostensibly established to improve the 
decision-making by the country's political, social, and 
cultural elites (ref B).  Widely regarded as the 
establishment's think-tank cum political action committee, 
Forum 21 members hold influential government positions and 
lead the country's largest companies.  In fact, the leading 
financial newspaper concluded that Forum 21 members, through 
personal or by association with their companies, control 
 
 
over 60  of the shares traded on the Ljubljana Stock 
Exchange.  Business representatives are absent from the 
AFTR's membership list, but in light of parliamentary 
elections this fall, members claimed that "the forum might 
turn into a winning coalition of democratic and nation- 
building parties." 
 
THE RUPEL FACTOR: REALIGNMENT OF POLITICAL TENDENCIES 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶5.  (U) After the EP election results were known, current 
FoMin and LDS member Dimitrij Rupel criticized the party's 
leadership for pursuing policies that go too much towards 
the left, and warned that the governing coalition needed to 
"turn the wheel back in the right direction."  Two days 
later, the press release announcing the formation of the 
AFTR was published, with Rupel's signature among the very 
first to appear in the document.  Political pundits and 
insiders have qualified Rupel's move as politically 
"brilliant," but critics have countered that the FoMin is a 
"big man with small ideas" and principles.  PM Rop, who has 
had highly public disagreements with Rupel over ministers' 
appointments, foreign policy, and party direction, has 
limited his comments, likely in an attempt to diminish the 
significance of the new forum. [NOTE:  After some question 
about whether they could be in the same room this week, the 
FoMin did accompany Rop to the EU Summit in Brussels.  END 
NOTE]. 
 
¶6.  Anton Rous, Chairman of the junior coalition Pensioners' 
Party (DeSus) expressed his indignation over Rupel's 
decision, noting that "we will not demand Rupel's dismissal, 
but we expect him to step down on his own, and leave his 
post so his students might finally see him."  (Latter 
comment is a reference to Rupel's tenured professorship at 
the University of Ljubljana).  Borut Pahor, the National 
Assembly's Speaker and one of Slovenia's most popular 
politicians, noted that "Minister Rupel has a right to 
personal judgments." Pahor added that he would not seek 
Rupel's dismissal as a coalition party member unless the 
relationship between the PM and the FoMin made it impossible 
for Slovenia to lead a successful foreign policy. "We will 
not interfere in the freedom of individuals, in this case 
that of Minister Rupel." 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The formation of the Assembly for the Republic may 
reflect the start of a significant political realignment in 
Slovenia.  Although the opposition's strong showing in EP 
elections set off warning signals throughout the coalition 
parties' headquarters, it would be a mistake for the 
opposition to interpret the win as a mandate or a shift in 
political tendencies.  With less than one-third of the 
electorate voting, both the incumbent and opposition parties 
understand that they will have to energize their core 
constituencies and attract the undecided swing vote in the 
fall.  The AFTR's appeal and influence remains to be seen, 
particularly as its resources pale in comparison to Forum 
21, which is expected to support LDS.  AFTR's challenge will 
be to convince average voters that it is a credible 
alternative.  AFTR will have to attract voters who feel that 
the governing coalition has unfairly capitalized on 
connections at the expense of the nation as a whole.  And, 
all this depends on how and if AFTR decides to package 
itself for the campaign. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Rupel's decision to join an opposition group is a 
savvy tactical move, likely having been orchestrated for 
sometime. Rupel understood that his influence in the LDS 
decision-making process had diminished dramatically.  The 
truth is that factions within his own party have leveled 
personal attacks and started legal investigations against 
him - investigations which legal experts have stated were 
"purely political."  Although Rupel kept a low profile 
following his scathing criticism of the Government's support 
for Zdenka Cerar as Minister of Justice, he resurfaced to 
blame the LDS's EP elections defeat on its migration to the 
left of the political spectrum.  And now, he has signed on 
the dotted line to become a member of an opposition forum, 
attempting to capitalize on the center-right surge.  Rupel 
seems to have completely exploited Rop's political 
inexperience, and in many ways has humiliated the PM by 
somehow maintaining his Foreign Ministry posting while 
 
 
lambasting the PM's party. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Although the two principal figures in Slovenian 
politics are supposedly above party politics, former 
President Kucan and President Drnovsek remain very 
significant power brokers.  Even though Drnovsek handpicked 
Rop to succeed him as PM and as LDS President, the young PM 
has developed a much closer relationship with Kucan than 
with his mentor.  Kucan's Forum 21 is the establishment's 
power base, gathering a number of former Communists and 
CEO's of state-owned companies.  On the other hand, the AFTR 
will attempt to establish its credibility by linking the 
current struggle to the past, when DEMOS pushed for an 
independent and democratic Slovenia.  We don't know the 
level of Drnovsek's involvement in the formation of the 
AFTR, but we certainly can see him sympathizing with its 
stated objectives.  END COMMENT. 
 
ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC MEMBERS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) The following are the members of the Assembly of 
the Republic and their professions: 
 
-- Dimitrij Rupel, current FoMin; former Slovenian 
Ambassador to the U.S.; FoMin during DEMOS government. 
 
-Barbara Brezigar, recently confirmed as Slovenia's 
Representative to Eurojust, an EU institution focusing on 
legal matters; 2002 presidential election runner-up as an 
independent; served as a prosecutor for 20 years. 
 
-Peter Jambrek, Vice President of the Expert Council of SDS; 
former Constitutional Court Judge; Minister of the Interior 
in Bajuk's six-month government; former DEMOS member. 
 
-Niko Grafenauer, editor of Nova Revija, an alternative 
press publication that works to develop civil society in 
Slovenia; former DEMOS member. 
 
-Janez Jansa, President of SDS and DefMin from 1990-1994; 
former DEMOS member. 
 
-Andrej Bajuk, President of NSi; PM for six months in 2000. 
Born and raised in Argentina as a Slovenian expat, but now a 
Slovenian citizen, he received his BA and MA in Argentina as 
well as an MS and PhD from the University of California, 
Berkeley.  He worked for the Inter-American Development Bank 
in Washington, DC from 1975-1994 and in Paris from 1994- 
¶2000. 
 
-Drago Jancar, writer and publicist; former DEMOS member. 
 
-Mr. Tine Hribar, Professor of Philosophy and member of the 
Academy of Science and Art (SAZU); former DEMOS member. 
 
-Bostjan Zeks, President of SAZU and former professor at the 
Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Ljubljana. 
 
-Frane Adam, Head of the Center for Theoretical Sociology at 
the Faculty of Social Sciences at University of Ljubljana; 
vocal political adversary of Forum 21 member Niko Tos. 
 
-Viktor Blazic, writer/publicist, mostly for Nova Revija. 
 
-Drago Demsar, attorney who defended Janez Jansa and three 
others in case brought against them by the Yugoslav Army. 
In 1988, Jansa was working for the popular magazine Mladina 
and was accused and convicted by the Yugoslav Army for 
disclosing an army plan of attack on Slovenia. After Jansa 
and the other three were arrested, Slovene civil society 
organized a Human Rights association and demonstrated for 
their release.  This case furthered the push for Slovenian 
independence. He was also a member of DEMOS. 
 
-Tone Jerovsek, ex-Constitutional Court Judges and member of 
Bajuk's Government (2000); professor at the Law Faculty, 
University of Ljubljana; former DEMOS member. 
 
-Lovro Sturm, ex-Constitutional Court Judge and member of 
Bajuk's Government (2000); professor at the Law Faculty, 
University of Ljubljana; former DEMOS member. 
 
-Grega Virant, State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, 
in charge of governmental administrative reform; professor 
 
 
at the Slovenian Police Academy. 
 
-Matjaz Sinkovec, Slovenian Ambassador to NATO in Brussels; 
SDS party member who was very public about his pacifism; 
former DEMOS member. 
 
-Ivan Stuhec, member of the Secretariat of the Slovenian 
Bishop Conference. 
 
-Dane Zajc, poet; former DEMOS sympathizer and contributor. 
 
-Aleksander Zorn, editor at Mladniska knjiga, the largest 
publishing house in Slovenia. 
 
-Ivo Urbancic, member of the Managing Board of Slovenska 
Matica, a literary society which focuses on philosophy and 
the preservation of Slovenian culture. 
 
-Ljubo Sirc, economist, LDS's candidate for President of the 
Republic in 1992, head of the Centre for Research into 
Communist Economies in London. 
 
-Vasko Simoniti, professor of history at University of 
Ljubljana and organizer of Brezigar's presidential campaign 
in 2002. 
 
-Mr. Andrej Rahten, Vice President of the Slovenian Pan- 
European Movement which connects members of the Slovenian 
Diaspora. 
 
-Dean Komel, philosopher. 
 
-Matej Makarovic, professor of Sociology at the Faculty of 
Social Sciences at University of Ljubljana. 
 
-Sasa Slavec, profession unknown. 
 
 
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