MY FUTURE IN EUROPE
Author: Lara Prosen
School: Gymnazija Poljane Ljubljana/Slovenia
Teacher: Veronek Nika
In this essay I am going to write about life in the years before and after 1990 and about the future of Slovene people in the European Union.
Socialism developed in Slovenia after Second World War. Slovenia was in that time a part of Yugoslavia. The whole power was centralized in the capital city Beograd. The principal person was Tito. He led the whole Yugoslav federation. I remember the words of my friend: "In socialism everything was OURS. We all were equal and had the same amount of money. There were no rich people but only ?poor?".The living standard was very low. In socialism there was no freedom of speech, no voting right because there was only one political party. On the other hand there was no unemployment, every person had his own place to work, although the payment was very low. The employees used to say: "You can never pay me that little as I work." The country had no competiton with foreign countries, because the production was protected by the state.
But at the end of 1990 there was the turning point in history of Slovenia. In a referendum Slovenes voted for a sovereign and independent state. The Slovene National Assembly adopted the Declaration of Independence, and on 25 June 1991 an independent Slovenia was proclaimed. This Declaration expressed the independence and sovereignity of Slovenia, and therefore the end of the Yugoslav constitution in Slovenia.
The transition from socialism to a member of the European Union is for
Slovenia very important. Since the day that Slovenia became independent,
people have proved that thay can lead - with some ups and downs - this
small country for themselves. Slovenia became a democratic republic. Changes
are: people got back their private property, new political parties were
established, new legislation, new education system, new currency, new
traffic system, new government…
Hardly a new state system was established, already we have been changing
it again and conforming it to a European one, by requesting in 1991 to
become a member of the European Union. We need better economical and political
connections with other countries, which aready are members of the European
Union.
The economical partnership with members of the European Union started in 1993 already and in 1996 Slovenia made a deal with the European Union to join in. The European Commission examined the Slovenian application for finding out if we accomplish the Kopenhagen criteria. About Slovenia they had a very good opinion, so we became one of the first six candidates. Nowadays Slovenia is intensively changing and conforming its legislation to the European one and is hoping to enter the European Union soon. But the last word about membership have our citizens, who will vote on a referendum.
What is going to change with the entrance into the European Union? This is the most common question of the Slovenian citizens. It is obvious that many things are going to be different, like traffic system, army, frontiers, legislation, education system, living standard, employment, economy, freedom of religion and speech. But everything has some bad and some good sides.
I will start with the traffic system, travel and frontiers. In the European
Union there is only one exterior frontier. So people can travel without
a passport and do not need to stop at the entrance into another country.
I think there is one problem, the criminals, who can escape far away and
can hardly be caught. But it is true that against the crime there are
also organisations, like INTERPOL.
Next change is legislation. Legislation in the European Union is much
more uniformed and complicated. Because the laws are everywhere the same,
you must conform to it and accept positive and negative sides of it. For
example, someone from foreign country wants to buy land in Slovenia and
we have no way out as to sell it, although it is hard because of our tradition.
The good side of the same legislation in the European Union is that you
can choose a lawyer or court in another country.
The education system is also changing. There are already some new elements in the education system, like nine years of primary school. There will be better possibilities for studying in foreign countries. But I think that only the best students and those of the wealthiest families can study in foreign countries. This would be very unfair for people with less money, because their life dream about becoming a successful person will never come true.
Employment is the big issue in everyday life. In socialism there were around 100% of employed persons, nowadays around 90% and in the European Union we expect from 88% to 94% of employed persons. In socialism people couldn't have houses and other private property, they all had the same property. Now there are big differences between people, some of them are very rich and have own houses with swimming-pool and some of them are poor. I think that in European Union the differences are going to be greater and greater.
Some people in Slovenia do not want to join the European Union, because they do not want to sell land to foreigners. Slovenia is a very ?nationally?-thinking nation, we are very proud of our country and tradition. We have our own milk-products factory, beer factory, pharmaceutical factories and we do not want to sell them to foreigners.
In conclusion I would like to quote words of my friend: "Slovenia is on the right way to enter the European Union". Slovenia is a part of Europe geographically as culturally. It would be good for our political and economical development, if we become a member of the European Union. Of course there are some ups and downs with conforming our system to the European one, but I still see a beautiful future for Slovenian people and Slovenia as a member of the European Union.