A mysterious panther has become the novelty of the unveiling process of the priorities of the Slovenian EU Presidency and as the process goes on until June 1, when this country takes the helm of the Union until the end of the year, people in the country and some member countries continue to question its symbolism.   

Under the motto declared by Prime Minister Janes Jansa: “Our goal is Europe - whole, free, safe and at peace with itself’ the Slovenian platform is symbolically veiled with the declared scheme that Jansa’s government plans to give cufflinks featuring a panther as a gift to senior European officials during its presidency of the Council of the EU.

“Jansa, a right-wing populist who polarizes domestic opinion, sees the panther as a symbol of Slovenia. He likes panthers so much he once wrote a novel set in 203 BC called ‘The White Panther’,” said politico.eu in an article dated May 17, 2021 which has been republished by numerous media outlets across Europe.  

Why such a publicity? Is it simply symbolism or more than that in this diplomatic ‘gift’ courtesy?

Historians are quoted as saying that the “Carantanian panther” promoted by Jansa is fake; it is merely a symbol that some began attributing to the small southeast European nation in the 1980s in an effort to create a glorious past.  “What’s more, the panther has been adopted by extreme-right groups in Slovenia - and some Slovenians now associate it with far-right nationalist ideology.”

“During the 7th century, a political unit, called Carantania in contemporary sources, emerged as the first Slavic principality of the wider area of Eastern Alps/North Adriatic,” said Miha Kosi, a historian and senior research fellow at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Peter Stih, a professor of medieval history at the University of Ljubljana, who is also the president of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, called the panther “a modern Slovenian historical myth and nothing more.”

“As a historian I regret that it is used for official purposes,” he said in an email.

“Slovenia has many symbols that unite our nation, engraved in our heritage and in our identity - Triglav mountain, the linden tree leaf, the colors of our flag - that embrace the European values of brotherhood, freedom and human rights,” MEP Tanja Fajon, leader of Slovenia’s Social Democrats, said in an email.

Slovenia’s diplomatic mission to the EU declined to confirm whether the country plans to give out panther-themed cufflinks as part of its presidency. “The procurement procedures regarding the gifts of the Slovenian Council Presidency are still ongoing,” a spokesperson said. “The gifts selected will be presented to the public in the beginning of June.”

Ways to face challenging circumstances

Leaving alone symbolism as a novelty it has drawn the attention the motto of the Slovenian platform “Europe - whole, free, safe and at peace with itself” which is seen as the quintessence of the seriousness that Ljubljana has shown to face the challenging circumstances in the post-epidemic period, in the time of recovery and efforts for greater resilience, in the post-Brexit period and in the time of many turbulences that Europeans have experienced for the past decade and a half.

"We are happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel after over a year-long epidemic, and that recovery is ahead. However, this must also be a time of achieving greater EU resilience in the event of similar crises, and Slovenia is determined to make this a priority during its presidency, since the memories are still fresh and because it is easier to make progress in such conditions," said Prime Minister Janes Jansa in a statement for the media after a virtual meeting with President of the European Parliament David Sassoli and the leaders of the European Parliament's political groups on May 26, 2021. 

The focus of the meeting was the discussion with the leaders of the European Parliament's political groups on the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of the year. This meeting was preceded by many visits and talks of the Slovenian state and government leaders with Brussels’ authorities, leaders of the EU member countries, including those of some Western Balkan countries which aspire to join the Union. 

The release and reinforcement of support funds to deal with the impact of the pandemic will be a key priority of the Slovenian presidency, which also wants to discuss the EU’s crisis management system.

The head of Slovenian diplomacy Anze Logar said that the EU should be better prepared for crisis management, pointing out that this unpreparedness was not only visible in response to the 19-Covid pandemic but also in the management of migration and the economic and financial crisis of 2008.

The EU could not respond in a coordinated action as soon as the outbreak of the pandemic causing a hostile atmosphere in the Union when the ‘strongest’ did not look beyond their garden. The example of Italy when it was ‘let alone’ in the gravest health crisis in spring last year has left bitter feeling and memories among the so- called weakest members of the group.  

In the meantime, another crucial topic of the platform, or maybe the most sensible one, is the recovery of the EU from the devastating pandemic and bring back to normalcy the EU and the Continent, which have passed one of the worst times of self-isolation because of the virus.

"We are counting on the European Commission to approve the national recovery plans as soon as possible in the coming weeks," said Prime Minister Jansa, adding that the common great success of the Union is the agreement on the Next Generation EU and the necessary resources. According to him, the latest forecasts of macroeconomic indicators at the EU level are more favorable than last year's autumn forecasts, so "we expect that it will be possible to ensure a recovery in the second half of this year and next year to compensate for last year's losses."

But FM Logar said that a “robust and resilient” Europe needs fundamental infrastructures and strategic autonomy, noting that vaccination was ‘a problem’.

“The UK is producing vaccines, the US is producing vaccines, China is producing vaccines, India is producing vaccines, Russia is producing vaccines… and at an early stage, the European Union was mainly buying vaccines,” he compared. “This is one of the critical infrastructures that show that we should invest heavily in research and capacity,” the head of Slovenian diplomacy maintained, stressing, “We are witnessing a diplomacy of vaccines.”

Health and cybersecurity will be priority topics of the Slovenian presidency, which will continue with the Conference on the Future of Europe, which opens up to citizens the reflection on “the best functioning” of the EU.

WB enlargement as “a strategic opportunity”

It might seem for the reader as presumptuous to start this presentation with the Western Balkans EU accession priority contained in Slovenia’s platform but the zealous argumentation and numerous preceding activities on the topic of the Ljubljana’s highest officials have been exemplary. In addition, it should be said that this is a pending issue transferred by Portugal and Germany, two members of the EU Trio, which did the best to start EU’s first intergovernmental talks with Albania and North Macedonia, but without success leaving the ball to Slovenia.  

In a preview of the priorities of Slovenia’s upcoming presidency, PM Jansa advocated for a return to the ‘aggressive’ enlargement of the European Union that ushered his own country into the club in 2004, with a focus on admitting all countries of the Western Balkans.

“As regards the enlargement of the EU, this is a strategic answer to a lot of current challenges,” Jansa said at a news conference with European Parliament President David Sassoli after a virtual meeting between Slovenian national ministers and Parliament’s Conference of Presidents to preview Slovenia’s Council presidency, which begins on July 1. Jansa suggested that absorbing all of the Western Balkans into the EU could help solve numerous problems, including with migration and with malign interference by unnamed geopolitical rivals.

An example of Slovenia’s zeal to promote the WB enlargement before taking the EU Presidency was the Summit of Brdo-Brijuni Process, which was held in Ljubljana on May 17, 2021 organized by Slovenian President Borut Pahor, who came to Tirana on May 6 in the frame of the preparations of the event.

Speaking to Albanian Daily News in exclusive interview Pahor stressed what he would like to see is a sort of fresh look on how to speed up the enlargement process of the EU towards the Western Balkans. “The question is if we are ready to inspire Brussels, the European Union, with some sort of new idea how to boost this process. Among others, I wanted to ask my colleague, and I will do the same in Kosovo, Serbia next week, as I did with my friend Milanovic on the idea that the EU should take more into consideration the WB,” said Pahor during the interview.

“No presidency closes all the dossiers on the table,” the Slovenian foreign minister, Anze Logar noted in an interview with LUSA Portuguese news agency at the end of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers held on May 27 in Lisbon, commenting on the current Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU, from which he may inherit unfinished dossiers among which is that of the accession process of Albania and North Macedonia.

“We all share the idea that the Western Balkans belong to the EU, and therefore we have to find a solution to support and invest more in the reform processes (in these candidate countries) to reach the standards the EU requires,” the FM, Logar said defending his diplomacy’s challenge as “a strategic opportunity”. He stressed that “the new geostrategic position of the world superpowers reveals that if you are not there, somebody else will be and that can pose a strategic or even security threat”.

“To maintain its strategic position, the EU cannot disconnect itself from a part of the continent, and the Western Balkans is one of those parts. If we are not there, someone else will be,” the Slovenian minister warned.

In 2003, the European Council stated its determination to support the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries. Slovenia was the first country from the region to enter the European circle in 2004, followed by Croatia in 2013. Around the same time, Serbia and Montenegro started negotiations, and in 2020 there was a political agreement to open talks with Albania and North Macedonia. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are, for now, only potential candidates.

The conference on the relationship between the EU and the Western Balkan countries that Slovenia intends to hold during its presidency of the Council will serve “not to discuss individual countries and their failures in the negotiation process”, but “to discuss the issue at a more strategic level,” the minister stressed.

Several EU powers have sought to slow the membership proceedings for candidate countries in recent years, in part out of concern that the EU, which now has 27 members, has become increasingly difficult to manage, especially when unanimity is required for policy decisions.

In March 2020, after years of disagreements, the EU gave a green light for Albania and North Macedonia to begin the accession process. But in November, Bulgaria blocked the next formal step. Serbia and Montenegro have already begun the process, but overall existing EU countries have shown general ambivalence about increasing their ranks.

‘Future of Europe’, a discussion space for all 

The deliberations of the Conference on the Future of Europe, which was launched on May 9, the Day of Europe, and will last more than one year seem to be as a matter of fact the emergency of the necessity of change in many aspects in the EU and the entire Continent and the hopeful expectations to achieve a reshaping of Europe in the post – COVID era.  

And one of the events held during Slovenia's presidency of the EU Council is this very Conference, which is considered as important because it comes when there is an increasing appeal for change in the Union and the Old Continent. It takes special importance because it has been hinted that even treaties dating back to 1950 could be rewritten.

“This debate must be open, and everyone must be able to participate,” said Prime Minister Janes Janza.

Research in Slovenia shows that there is a great deal of people's interest in participating in this debate. “An interest in participation has also been expressed by two thirds of our citizens, and Slovenia will strive to open a space for discussion for all,” said the Prime Minister, announcing that this will be the central topic of the Bled Strategic Forum held in early September, where diverse participants from various European institutions are expected. “We are also discussing the participation of the chairs of the parliamentary groups from the European Parliament in this forum.”

In the frame of the cohesion of the Union, Slovenia sees the role of the European Parliament as very important and thus its commitment is to make this cooperation the focal point of procedures in the second half of 2021.

But special attention will also be paid by Slovenian EU Presidency to the freedom of speech and expression of the individual, which is an essential building block of democratic processes in both the member states and in the European Union, as well as in all legal proceedings. And the Conference on the Future of Europe is the largest round table of the people where this freedom of speech has started to be echoed without limits in the most democratic way. 

In this frame PM Jansa pointed out that Slovenia proposes the establishment of a European Institute for Constitutional Law. “When facing a dilemma, the EU usually sends the Venice Commission, which is a Council of Europe institution. We need our own similar institution and one of our proposals is aimed at that,” he said.

The answer how Slovenia sees future Europe in its EU Presidency platform can be summarized in the following quotation of PM Jansa: “Our goal is a Europe, whole, free and at peace with itself, and a Europe capable of extending this area of freedom of high standards of human rights and fundamental freedoms to its neighborhood, because the wider and larger this area is, the safer we will be together.”