"text":"The Slovene lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the latter's dissolution at the end of World War I. In 1918, the Slovenes joined the Serbs and Croats in forming a new multinational state, which was named Yugoslavia in 1929. After World War II, Slovenia became a republic of the renewed Yugoslavia, which though communist, distanced itself from Moscow's rule. Dissatisfied with the exercise of power by the majority Serbs, the Slovenes succeeded in establishing their independence in 1991 after a short 10-day war. Historical ties to Western Europe, a strong economy, and a stable democracy have assisted in Slovenia's transformation to a modern state. Slovenia acceded to both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004; it joined the euro zone and the Schengen zone in 2007."
"text":"Austria 299 km, Croatia 600 km, Hungary 94 km, Italy 218 km"
}
},
"Coastline":{
"text":"46.6 km"
},
"Maritime claims":{
"territorial sea":{
"text":"12 nm"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"Mediterranean climate on the coast, continental climate with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaus and valleys to the east"
},
"Terrain":{
"text":"a short southwestern coastal strip of Karst topography on the Adriatic; an alpine mountain region lies adjacent to Italy and Austria in the north; mixed mountains and valleys with numerous rivers to the east"
"text":"a fairly even distribution throughout most of the country, with urban areas attracting larger and denser populations; pockets in the mountainous northwest exhibit less density than elsewhere"
"text":"Sava River polluted with domestic and industrial waste; pollution of coastal waters with heavy metals and toxic chemicals; forest damage from urban air pollution and resulting acid rain"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"despite its small size, this eastern Alpine country controls some of Europe's major transit routes"
"text":"Slovene 83.1%, Serb 2%, Croat 1.8%, Bosniak 1.1%, other or unspecified 12% (2002 census)"
},
"Languages":{
"text":"Slovenian (official) 91.1%, Serbo-Croatian 4.5%, other or unspecified 4.4%, Italian (official, only in municipalities where Italian national communities reside), Hungarian (official, only in municipalities where Hungarian national communities reside) (2002 census)"
},
"Religions":{
"text":"Catholic 57.8%, Muslim 2.4%, Orthodox 2.3%, other Christian 0.9%, unaffiliated 3.5%, other or unspecified 23%, none 10.1% (2002 census)"
"text":"0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)"
},
"Population distribution":{
"text":"a fairly even distribution throughout most of the country, with urban areas attracting larger and denser populations; pockets in the mountainous northwest exhibit less density than elsewhere"
"text":"related to the Slavic autonym (self-designation) \"Slovenin,\" a derivation from \"slovo\" (word), denoting \"people who speak (the same language)\" (i.e., people who understand each other)"
"text":"previous 1974 (preindependence); latest passed by Parliament 23 December 1991"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by at least 20 National Assembly members, by the government, or by petition of at least 30,000 voters; passage of amendments requires at least two-thirds majority vote by Assembly members; referendum required if agreed upon by at least 30 Assembly members; passage in a referendum requires a simple majority vote if a majority of eligible voters participated; amended several times, last in 2015 (2016)"
"text":"18 years of age, 16 if employed; universal"
},
"Executive branch":{
"chief of state":{
"text":"President Borut PAHOR (since 22 December 2012)"
},
"head of government":{
"text":"Prime Minister Miro CERAR (since 18 September 2014)"
},
"cabinet":{
"text":"Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister, elected by the National Assembly"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 11 November 2012 with a runoff on 2 December 2012 (next to be held in 2017); following National Assembly elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually nominated prime minister by the president and elected by the National Assembly"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Borut PAHOR elected president; percent of vote in second round - Borut PAHOR (SD) 67.4%, Danilo TURK (independent) 32.6%; note - a snap election was held in July 2014 following the resignation of Prime Minister Alenka BRATUSEK in May 2014, Miro CERAR (SMC) elected prime minister; National Assembly vote - 57 to 11"
}
},
"Legislative branch":{
"description":{
"text":"bicameral Parliament consists of the National Council or Drzavni Svet (40 seats; members indirectly elected by an electoral college to serve 5-year terms) and the National Assembly or Drzavni Zbor (90 seats; 88 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 2 directly elected in special constituencies for Italian and Hungarian minorities by simple majority vote; members serve 4-year terms); note - the National Council is primarily an advisory body with limited legislative powers"
},
"elections":{
"text":"National Assembly - last held on 13 July 2014 (next to be held in 2018)"
},
"election results":{
"text":"percent of vote by party - SMC 34.6%, SDS 20.7%, DeSUS 10.2%, ZL 6%, SD 6%, NSi 5.6%, ZaAB 4.3%, other 12.6%; seats by party - SMC 36, SDS 21, DeSUS 10, ZL 6, SD 6, NSi, 5, ZaAB 4, Hungarian minority 1, Italian minority 1"
"text":"Supreme Court (consists of the court president and 37 judges organized into civil, criminal, commercial, labor and social security, administrative, and registry departments); Constitutional Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and 7 judges)"
"text":"Supreme Court president and vice president appointed by the National Assembly upon the proposal of the Minister of Justice based on the opinions of the Judicial Council, an 11-member independent body elected by the National Assembly from proposals submitted by the president, attorneys, law universities, and sitting judges; other Supreme Court judges elected by the National Assembly from candidates proposed by the Judicial Council; Supreme Court judges appointed for life; Constitutional Court judges appointed by the National Assembly from nominations by the president of the republic; Constitutional Court president selected from among their own for a 3-year term; other judges elected for single 9-year terms"
"text":"Alliance of Alenka Bratusek or ZaAB [Alenka BRATUSEK] ++ Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia or DeSUS [Karl ERJAVEC] ++ Modern Center Party or SMC [Miro CERAR] ++ New Slovenia or NSi [Ljudmila NOVAK] ++ Slovenian Democratic Party or SDS [Janez JANSA] ++ Social Democrats or SD [Dejan ZIDAN] ++ United Left or ZL (collective leadership)"
"text":"American Embassy Ljubljana, US Department of State, 7140 Ljubljana Place, Washington, DC 20521-7140"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[386] (1) 200-5500"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[386] (1) 200-5555"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red, derive from the medieval coat of arms of the Duchy of Carniola; the Slovenian seal (a shield with the image of Triglav, Slovenia's highest peak, in white against a blue background at the center; beneath it are two wavy blue lines depicting seas and rivers, and above it are three six-pointed stars arranged in an inverted triangle, which are taken from the coat of arms of the Counts of Celje, the great Slovene dynastic house of the late 14th and early 15th centuries) appears in the upper hoist side of the flag centered on the white and blue bands"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"Mount Triglav; national colors: white, blue, red"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Zdravljica\" (A Toast)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"France PRESEREN/Stanko PREMRL"
},
"note":{
"text":"adopted 1989; originally written in 1848; the full poem, whose seventh verse is used as the anthem, speaks of pan-Slavic nationalism"
"text":"With excellent infrastructure, a well-educated work force, and a strategic location between the Balkans and Western Europe, Slovenia has one of the highest per capita GDPs in Central Europe, despite having suffered a protracted recession in 2008-2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis. Slovenia became the first 2004 EU entrant to adopt the euro (on 1 January 2007) and has experienced one of the most stable political transitions in Central and Southeastern Europe. ++ ++ In March 2004, Slovenia became the first transition country to graduate from borrower status to donor partner at the World Bank. In 2007, Slovenia was invited to begin the process for joining the OECD; it became a member in 2012. However, long-delayed privatizations, particularly within Slovenia’s largely state-owned and increasingly indebted banking sector, have fueled investor concerns since 2012 that the country would need EU-IMF financial assistance. In 2013, the European Commission granted Slovenia permission to begin recapitalizing ailing lenders and transferring their nonperforming assets into a “bad bank” established to restore bank balance sheets. Export-led growth fueled by demand in larger European markets pushed GDP growth to 3.0% in 2014, while stubbornly-high unemployment fell slightly to 12%. ++ ++ Prime Minister CERAR’s government took office in September 2014, pledging to press ahead with commitments to privatize a select group of state-run companies, rationalize public spending, and further stabilize the banking sector."
"text":"ferrous metallurgy and aluminum products, lead and zinc smelting; electronics (including military electronics), trucks, automobiles, electric power equipment, wood products, textiles, chemicals, machine tools"
"text":"defined by the EU's Maastricht Treaty as consolidated general government gross debt at nominal value, outstanding at the end of the year in the following categories of government liabilities: currency and deposits, securities other than shares excluding f"
"text":"see entry for the European Union for money supply for the entire euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 18 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of"
"text":"public TV broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV), operates a system of national and regional TV stations; 35 domestic commercial TV stations operating nationally, regionally, and locally; about 60% of households are connected to multi-channel cable (2007)"
"text":"since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Croatia and Slovenia have each claimed sovereignty over Pirin Bay and four villages, and Slovenia has objected to Croatia's claim of an exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea; in 2009, however Croatia and Slovenia signed a binding international arbitration agreement to define their disputed land and maritime borders, which led to Slovenia lifting its objections to Croatia joining the EU; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Slovenia has implemented the strict Schengen border rules to curb illegal migration and commerce through southeastern Europe while encouraging close cross-border ties with Croatia; Slovenia continues to impose a hard border Schengen regime with Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013 but has not yet fulfilled Schengen requirements"
