SLOVENIA:Slovenia is the first new EU state to host the presidency, but it faces an ethnic crisis in Kosovo, writes Jamie Smythin Ljubljana
The backpackers staying at Hostel Celica come from all over the world to get a taste of Slovenia's turbulent history. Twenty years ago, the building located in the centre of Ljubljana housed the Yugoslav army's military jail, which was used to hold dissidents seeking Slovenia's independence from the communist federation.
"Our current prime minister Janez Jana was imprisoned in this building," says hostel manager Monika Pust, "His arrest, for writing articles against the regime, sparked big demonstrations that helped to move Slovenia towards independence from Yugoslavia."
Two decades later and the once fearsome building has become a tourist attraction. The steel bars on the windows and doors remain, but artists from all over the world have transformed each prison cell into stylish bedrooms, a project that earned it the "world's hippest hostel" award in 2006.
The renovation of the prison could be a metaphor for Slovenia's progress since it gained its independence in 1991. A tiny state of two million people sandwiched between Austria, Italy, Hungary and Croatia, it boasts the best economic statistics of any of the states that joined the EU in 2004. With a growth rate of 6 per cent and a higher standard of living than Portugal, Slovenia has surged ahead of the other former Yugoslav states, which are struggling to deal with the legacy of the Balkans' bitter ethnic conflicts.
It was no surprise when it was chosen as the first of the new EU members to hold the union's six-month rotating presidency, which will see it co-ordinate all EU affairs. Diplomats note that it is one of the most efficient accession states and has been preparing its presidency for almost three years. "The only danger is that it could be too well prepared," noted one EU official wryly when asked about Slovenia's readiness.
The most difficult task facing Slovenia will be to try to prevent an ethnic crisis emerging in Kosovo, which is expected to declare its independence from Serbia shortly. The United Nations has run Kosovo since 1999, when Nato intervened to end Serb persecution of ethnic Albanians. A minority of EU states such as Romania and Cyprus oppose recognising Kosovar independence, along with Serbia and Russia, and it remains unclear if the EU can stay united while finding a solution to an explosive problem in its own backyard.
Recalling his own experience in prison in Ljubljana in 1988, when fellow Albanian prisoners were treated harshly, Mr Jana says the Yugoslav policy to "exclude them" and treat them like "second-class citizens" means that it will not now be possible to force the people of Kosovo to live with the Serbs.
He hopes Slovenia can act as a bridge to the Balkans during the presidency. But on the streets of Ljubljana, some people are nervous about taking a lead role in resolving a conflict that harbours many bad memories.
"This is not our concern in Slovenia and we shouldn't get involved in this dispute," says a schoolteacher, who doesn't want to be named. "Kosovo is not our problem anymore." Critics such as human rights watchdog Helsinki Monitor also point to Slovenia's poor record in dealing with non-Slovene citizens of the former Yugoslavia. In 1992, shortly after independence, thousands of non-Slovenes were simply erased from citizen books, when they failed to meet a six-month deadline of registration. There are also concerns about the treatment of the Roma community in parts of Slovenia.
But the government, which launched the European year of intercultural dialogue in Ljubljana this week, maintains that its knowledge of Serbia and Kosovo will be useful in brokering a stable settlement.
About 60 kilometres away from cold and foggy Ljubljana in the picturesque resort of Bled, the EU presidency is seen as an opportunity for tourist chiefs to keep rebranding the country, which officials admit is still mistaken for Slovakia or the province of Slavonia in eastern Croatia.
"Even though the war was 16 years ago, people still think of Bosnia," says Janez Fajfar, mayor of Bled. "Sixteen years later and this [ presidency] may enlighten people that Slovenia is a nice and safe country to visit."
Tourist numbers have still not recovered to their peak in the late 1980s when there were 600,000 overnight stays in Bled. The number is now 550,000, with British, Irish and other EU tourists replacing the Serbs, Croats and Bosnians that used to holiday in Bled during the years of the Yugoslav Republic.
Ironically though, just as Slovenia takes centre stage in Europe two issues, which blighted life in the last years of Yugoslavia, have resurfaced to challenge the government: rising prices and media censorship. Inflation rose to 5.7 per cent in December, up from 3 per cent a year earlier - the highest rate within the eurozone.
"Prices are going up to European levels, but wages are still stuck below this," says Tadej (28) a bookseller shopping in Ljubljana's market in its historic centre, who blames Slovenia's adoption of the euro and a lack of proper competition in the small national market for the steep rise in prices.
More than 70,000 people demonstrated in November against high food prices, promoting fears in a government that faces a general election in the autumn just months after the EU presidency ends. The political temperature has also risen following allegations by journalists that Mr Jana's centre-right coalition is systematically replacing top editors in the media to limit criticism. An anti-censorship petition signed by 571 journalists before the EU presidency prompted an angry reaction this week from Mr Jana, who has accused the Slovenian media of damaging his country's international reputation.
"If you measure freedom of the press by the capacity of the press to criticise the government, there is full freedom of the press," said Mr Jana, who later circulated a dossier to EU journalists visiting Ljubljana showing that former opposition party deputies also own major stakes in some of the biggest media outlets.
"It is true the prime minister and his team were trying to influence the main newspaper, Delo, last year, but it is also true that the last government containing the opposition parties used the same strategy," says Bernard Nezmah, lecturer of sociology at Ljubljana University.
But with his government slipping in the polls and more challenging economic times ahead this year, Mr Jana will face a tough task negotiating the pitfalls in Slovenia's EU presidency, while trying to rebuild support in an increasingly polarised domestic political climate.