After the successful conclusion of the Bled Strategic Forum, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anže Logar, Ph.D., was a guest on the show Topic of the day (Tema dneva). He spoke to Luka Svetina about the success of the Bled Strategic Forum, the attendance of the Prime Ministers, criticism from the Social Democrats, the Visegrad, Slovenian foreign policy, the differences between current and previous diplomacy, and Slovenia’s preparedness for leading the EU.
When asked about the comparisons of this year’s Bled Strategic Forum to the forums of the previous years and the simultaneous criticism of the forum, especially by the opposition, Minister Anže Logar clearly stated that the comparison shows the success of this year’s forum and also proves that the opposition’s allegations are unfounded: “This year’s Bled Strategic Forum was the most attended in its fifteen-year history, many Prime Ministers attended it. Last year’s forum, under the leadership of Marjan Šarec, was only attended by one Prime Minister. Marjan Šarec.”
One of the main criticisms of the forum’s organization was that there were no representatives of the so-called Western countries, in the sense that Slovenia aspired to be the like the West from the very beginning, and now … Minister Logar firmly rejected this criticism, saying that the forum was actually a great success of the Slovenian diplomacy, and has gotten a lot of praise from abroad, as Slovenia managed to organize an important high-level diplomatic event while taking care of the health of all those involved in the pandemic.
When asked why they invited the guests they did, he answered that there was, in fact, some intent behind it, or a special purpose:
“The Three Seas Initiative is being formed in this part of Europe, 12 European countries, along with the United States, are forming an investment initiative, where the state and, of course, private capital, would be used to invest heavily in building energy and digital infrastructure. Slovenia is considering joining this initiative. In a way, this year’s forum was also dedicated to this, so we did not even invite the representatives of other, Western European countries, but we did invite the countries that are on this north-south axis, and then the connection to Italy, and here I can say that we managed to ensure high attendance. And it is precisely the high attendance that shows us that the leaders of other countries have also recognized the importance of the forum and showed us that we decided for the right approach.”
We can see how the fake news that the dominant media support is gaining ground
Tanja Fajon, who also attended the forum, expressed concern about Slovenia’s alleged move away from the “core member states.” Minister Logar described the fact that someone divides EU member states into core and peripheral as a sign of vanity. After all, the EU, which Slovenia became a member of in 2004, is based on equality and equity of all member states. But, as Logar put it, “we are already used to the fact that, even with such risky foreign policy claims, lately – ever since they became the part of the opposition, the SD party has been trying to get attention in any way possible.”
Logar and Svetina also touched on the BBC moderator’s provocative questions, addressed to the Hungarian and Polish representatives. Logar said that the reactions to the discussions at this year’s forum were exceptionally positive, in the sense that the discussions have never been this interesting before, and that this was to be expected, given the composition, but that the representatives showed that they were up to the challenges and that based on this, they can also be expected to cope with the real ones. Perhaps especially in Slovenia, we can see how fake news, which is then supported by the dominant media, becomes valid, and then the individual must apologize for making decisions that are in the best interest of his fellow citizens.
The next thing Logar and Svetina touched on was Slovenian foreign policy in a broader sense. When asked whether Slovenia is now on the Visegrad train, Logar answered that Slovenia is not on any train, that it has its own autonomous foreign policy, aimed at optimizing the country’s development, and that the types of integrations that Slovenia is considering are intended for the said optimization.
The SD party stayed silent in December when Šarec hugged Orban, but now they want to convene an extraordinary session
Furthermore, Logar and Svetina addressed the double standards of the SD party, which does not distinguish between Slovenian foreign policy, to which all governments are committed, regardless of their political beliefs – and political affiliation. The SD party wanted to convene an extraordinary session, due to the allegedly worrying changes in foreign policy, but on the other hand, they had no problems with Šarec’s delegation visiting Moscow and, after all, Budapest in December of last year. At the time, on his last visit abroad, Šarec met and even hugged Orban, but the SD party was not bothered by this. Minister Logar further explained his view on this matter:
“In Europe today, as my Hungarian colleague has rightly pointed out, looking at foreign policy through the prism of the country’s policy is very common. As long as they are in power, everything is fine, but if, by any chance, there is a change of government, we will shoot with all our cannons against the foreign policy of our own country. Slovenia is continuing with its foreign policy, which was adopted under Cerar’s government. The difference between the previous diplomacies and today’s diplomacy is that we put what is written there into practice, and the previous governments only looked to the east – and I mean, the east east.”
Advantages of local integration
Minister Logar is a strong advocate of local integration, and because of his initiative, the informal group “Central 5,” which includes the countries of Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia, was formed. The third meeting of this group will take place in Slovenia in September, and as Logar said, the previous meetings have shown that these countries have a lot in common and can also speak as one voice on larger platforms, such as the European Council. When several countries act as one voice, they become a serious partner, a serious interest group at the EU level.
Finally, the two briefly spoke about the upcoming visit of the French Foreign Minister to Slovenia and about the expectations regarding Slovenia’s preparedness to lead the EU. Minister Logar was clear and determined: “Slovenia will be ready to lead!”
Aleš Ernecl