Two Years After Joining NATO Slovenia Participates in Major Peacekeeping Operations

Two years after Slovenia became a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the majority of people believe that the country has a stable security and political environment, while NATO obtained a trustworthy, reliable and helpful partner. Slovenia has carried out all of the duties pertaining to membership both at home and in peacekeeping operations. Slovenia is also participating in all the major international peacekeeping missions of the Alliance, and is already preparing to take part in future projects.

Slovenian troops participated in the peacekeeping operations of the Alliance before joining NATO. Since 1997, over a thousand Slovenian soldiers have taken part in international operations, which means that, on average, one in five members of the Slovenian Armed Forces has participated in an international operation. Currently, there are two hundred and ten Slovenian troops deployed in international peacekeeping operations, while thirty-one members of the military police platoon are 'on-call' and available to NATO's Rapid Reaction Force. The Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) are most active in the Balkans, where they participate in the EUFOR peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the KFOR peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. They are also on active service in Afghanistan under the command of ISAF. They recently joined the NATO Training Mission Iraq, where they are training members of the Iraqi Armed Forces. This mission has met considerable disapproval from the Slovenian public. The SAF are scheduled to participate in the peacekeeping operations to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Darfur region in Sudan.

Slovenia's military personnel also participate in all other NATO structures. Twenty-four members are stationed in various NATO command centres. They are mainly commissioned and non-commissioned officers who have been assigned to important positions, and who carry out demanding tasks and participate in important decision-making. Slovenia's cooperation is not limited only to military participation, but includes civilian participation. Last May, Slovenia successfully organised a session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Ljubljana.

The SAF emphasise that the allies are largely satisfied with Slovenia's participation in NATO, and that Slovenian troops are held in high esteem, a view repeatedly endorsed by the chiefs of general staff of allied countries visiting Slovenia, particularly those heading individual operations.

The second anniversary of Slovenia's NATO membership has not been marked by public appearances by high profile Slovenian politicians assessing Slovenia's achievements after two years in one of the most important and powerful military organisations in the world, nor has the public been asking about the point of being a NATO member with the same intensity as two or three years ago, when the preparations for NATO membership were in full swing. At that time, many people warned about the supposed dangers posed by NATO membership. Despite this, the electorate supported NATO membership in a referendum on 23 March 2003 by a convincing two-thirds majority.

The main arguments of opponents to Slovenia joining NATO included warnings about the high costs of the membership. One of the easiest costs to measure is the contribution to the three NATO budgets. According to the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, Slovenia has so far contributed around SIT722.4 million (just over €3 million) to the Military Budget, SIT265.6 million (€1.1 million) to the NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP), and SIT194.3 million (just under €810,000) to the Civil Budget.

According to international military experts, the skill and know-how of the SAF impressed NATO. By adhering to the 'quality over quantity' principle, the SAF supports a number of NATO operations, in particular those outside the primary mission area, such as NATO operations in Afghanistan and in Kosovo, and also NATO's training mission in Iraq.

The SAF has been successful in accomplishing its missions in providing Slovenian support for NATO's Rapid Reaction Force. The 10th Battalion will be ready by the end of this year, and in 2006 it is expected to be in full operational readiness to conduct operations outside Slovenia, particularly in Kosovo. The SAF is already preparing to participate in operations in other parts of the world, mainly in Africa.

The accession of Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Bulgaria was the biggest enlargement of the alliance in its fifty-five-year history. While the previous enlargement, when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic entered NATO, took place during the Kosovo War, which was the first war of the alliance, and the one which closed the final chapter of the Cold War era, the new members are entering a new geo-political environment marked by terrorist threats and the battle against terrorism following the 2001 attacks on the USA.