Language: Slovene
Currency: Euro € (EUR)
Calling Code: 386
Slovenia , officially Republic of Slovenia is a
sovereign country in Central Europe , member of the European Union.
It borders Italy to the west; with the Adriatic Sea , to the
southwest; with Croatia to the south and east; with Hungary , to the
northeast; and with Austria to the north. It has a population of
2,080,908 inhabitants as of January 1, 2019. The capital and most
populous city is Ljubljana . About this sound
The present
-day Slovenia was formed on 25 of June of 1991 to the independence
from Yugoslavia , after a relatively short armed conflict called
ten-day war (which was the first war of the dissolution of
Yugoslavia), which opposed the army former Yugoslav federation. At
that time, it was already the most developed country of that
federation.
Culturally and historically, Slovenia gravitates
towards Italy, Austria and Germany (Catholic and Protestant
culture). Throughout history, Slovenia has always been part of
empires, kingdoms, etc. Central Europe and has never been part of
the political bodies that ruled most of the Balkans, for example. of
the Eastern Roman Empire (Orthodox Church) and the Sultanate of
Turkey (Islam).
In 2004 he joined the European Union.
Slovenia joined the euro on January 1, 2007, and in the Schengen
area, in 2004. Already in 1993 it had joined the Council of Europe
and since July 2010 is part of the OECD .
1 Bled on Lake Bled.
2
Kranjska Gora (Občina Kranjska Gora)
world famous winter sports resort.
3 Koper is the only seaport in
Slovenia and thus the Slovenian gateway to the world.
4
Ljubljana the provincial capital.
5
Maribor. the second largest city in the country, in the east on the
Drava.
6 Piran is one of the loveliest coastal towns in Slovenia,
situated on a promontory jutting into the Mediterranean Sea.
7 Ptuj,
the oldest town in Slovenia.
8 Velenje internet wikipedia commons.
fifth largest city in Slovenia.
Slovakia has been a member of the Schengen area since December 2007.
This means that border controls are only available at the EU's external
border with Ukraine.
By train
There are good international,
partly direct, rail connections from the neighbouring countries Austria,
the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine. The fastest route from the
Polish capital Warsaw to the Slovak capital Bratislava is via the Czech
Republic.
The most important international railway lines with
border crossings (Gr):
Austria: Vienna - Marchegg - Marchegg/Devínska
Nová Ves–Gr) - Bratislava hl.st .; Vienna - Bruck a.d. Leitha - Kittsee
- Kittsee(Gr) - Bratislava-Petržalka
Czech Republic: Prague - Brno -
Břeclav - Lanžhot/Kúty(Gr) – Bratislava; Bohumín - Mosty u
Jablunkova/Čadca(Gr) - Žilina
Poland: Warsaw - via Czech Republic
(Bohumín-Ostrava-Břeclav) - Bratislava; Katowice / Krakow -
Zwardoń/Skalité–Gr) - Žilina
Hungary: Budapest - Szob/Chľaba(Gr) –
Štúrovo – Bratislava; Miskolc – Hidasnémeti/Kechnec(Gr) - Košice
Ukraine: Čop (Chop) – Čierna nad Tisou(Gr) - Čierna nad Tisou - Košice
ZSSK (Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko) is the state-owned Slovak
railway company, it maintains the railway network and is the largest
railway service provider in public transport (ÖPV). All information is
available in English on their website, but only occasionally in German.
The long limited connections with Hungary were established on the
routes Lučenec (ungr. Losonc) — Hatvan as well as — Košice (Kassa) -
Hidasnémeti improved by introducing 1- or 2-hour intervals in the
summer. On the route between Lučenec – Fiľakovo (Fülek) – Salgótarján –
Hatvan there are connections to Zvolen (Zólyom), Rimavská Sobota
(Rimaszombat) and Rožňava (Rozsnyó).
RegioJet, a Czech
alternative low-cost rail service provider, operates on some routes in
competition with the ZSSK. From abroad, there are currently train
connections with RegioJet only from the Czech Republic. The tickets are
train-bound and primarily available online and are priced according to
quotas. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, they are also sold at
RegioJet counters in some railway stations. RegioJet only accepts its
own tickets.
InterRail and Eurail passes and the European East
Pass are valid on ZSSK trains, but not on RegioJet trains.
Ticket
Tickets purchased at ZSSK for domestic Slovak routes are usually cheaper
than when you buy them abroad. In individual cases, it is necessary to
check whether it is not cheaper to travel by train to the eastern parts
of the country with separate tickets to Bratislava plus a domestic
ticket.
Some foreign railway companies offer contingent savings
for travel to Slovakia with train connection. For cross-border trips
between some East-central European and South-eastern European countries
(Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, the
Czech Republic, Ukraine), the CityStar ticket is available as a cheap
return ticket. At ZSSK they are also available for trips to Austria and
Switzerland, but not vice versa.
If you stay in Slovakia for a
longer or more often, a ZSSK discount card may be advantageous,
especially for children and seniors who are entitled to free
transportation (for details, see Public transport).
From Austria
From Vienna there are half-hourly connections to Bratislava: a
connection via Marchegg to Bratislava hl.st . (Hauptbhf.) (Travel time
about 1:00 h), the other via Kittsee to Bratislava-Petržalka (travel
time about 1:15 h). From the central station you can get to the center
by tram, from Petžalka by city bus (for details, see Bratislava/How to
get there by train and Petržalka/How to get there by train).
There are only two direct connections from Vienna beyond Bratislava: a
daily connection (travel time 6 hours) and a night train (EN 60406) to
Košice in eastern Slovakia.
Bratislava ticket: For the journey
between the capitals Vienna and Bratislava (only 60 km away), the ÖBB
offers the cheap Bratislava ticket, a return ticket that is valid for 4
days, but the journey must be started on the first day of the validity
period and only on the first day it is also valid as a day ticket for
city transport in Bratislava. The ticket is valid on both routes: both
via Marchegg and via Kittsee. The ticket costs 16 € at the ÖBB (8 € for
children) and is therefore even cheaper than the single ticket (normal
price) Vienna – Kittsee – Bratislava-Petržalka! It is possible to take a
bicycle with you at no extra charge. The ticket is available at ÖBB
ticket counters and also at the ÖBB ticket machines throughout Austria,
but not via the usual destination selection, but you have to click on
"Other offers" and then on "Tickets for neighboring countries".
(Although the Bratislava ticket can be purchased online, it is not
available as an online ticket, but must be "picked up", i.e. printed
out, at an ÖBB ticket machine with the code sent to you.)
Sparschiene: The cheapest Sparschiene prices from ÖBB to Slovakia are:
to Bratislava from Linz and Graz 19 €, from Salzburg 24 €; from Vienna
to Poprad 24 €, to Košice 29 € (as of 01.01.2018).
Due to the
lack of available cheap Sparschiene tickets, travelers from Salzburg via
Vienna should check the offers of the WESTbahn in combination with the
Bratislava ticket.
From Germany
From the north and east of
Germany, the fastest connections are via Prague, from the center and the
south via Vienna. There is a direct daily connection Hamburg – Berlin –
Bratislava (EC 173 "Hungaria"), but no direct night connections; night
transfer connections from the north partly via Munich and Vienna. From
the south of Germany there are only transfer connections (day and night)
via Vienna.
Savings price: The cheapest savings prices of DB to
Slovakia are: Munich - Bratislava 39,90 €, Hamburg - Bratislava 49,90 €
(with the BahnCard 25 on all savings prices another 25% discount).
Due to the lack of available cheap economy price tickets, travelers
from southern Germany via Salzburg and Vienna should check the offers of
the WESTbahn in combination with the Bayern ticket and the Bratislava
ticket.
From Switzerland
There are no direct connections, but
only transfer connections (day and night) via Vienna. It is unclear
whether SBB offers pass-through tickets for trips to Slovakia.
By
bus
In addition to other cities, there are mainly regular bus
connections from Vienna, Prague and Budapest to Bratislava, including
with the bus operators Postbus / line 1195 (in cooperation with Slovak
Lines), Flixbus and RegioJet, also between Vienna Airport and Bratislava
Airport.
If you want to get to the Tatra Mountains, you can also
get there via Krakow. Buses run from there to various places in the
Slovak Tatras and in the Polish-Slovak region Orawa/Orava (eng. Arwa).
From Užhorod (Uzhhorod) in Ukraine there is a bus connection to
Michalovce in eastern Slovakia.
By bike
Slovakia is located on
the Danube and thus on the Danube cycle path Vienna–Budapest. There are
also numerous signposted, regional cycle paths, especially from Austria
and the Czech Republic.
By boat
The Danube is the navigable
river with the largest ports in Bratislava and Komárno. There is a boat
connection between Vienna and Bratislava: the TwinCityLiner.
A
car Danube ferry (up to 3.5 t) connects Neszmély (47° 43' 58" N 18° 20'
42" O) (HUN) with Radvaň nad Dunajom (47° 44' 46" N 18° 21' 59" O)
(SLO), called Dunaradvány in Hungarian.
Street
Overall,
Slovakia is quite well developed for road traffic, with the motorway
network being expanded. In addition, there is a well-developed
long-distance road network. In general, the highways and motorways run
along the railway connections. The four major highways are:
the
D1 from Bratislava to Košice, (80% completed, individual sections are
still under construction (as of 07/21))
the D2 from Bratislava to
Brno (Czech Republic),
the D3 from Čadca to the Polish border, as
well as
the D4 from Bratislava to the Austrian border.
By
plane
Bratislava has its own airport Bratislava (IATA: BTS) with a
limited number of connections, mainly by Ryanair.
The other
alternative is the Vienna-Schwechat Airport (IATA: VIE), which is
located only 35 km from Bratislava. In contrast to Bratislava, this
airport has more connections, but can also be correspondingly more
expensive. Buses run from Vienna Airport to Bratislava every hour, among
others with the bus operators Postbus / Line 1195 (in cooperation with
Slovak Lines), Flixbus and RegioJet.
There are good train connections in the country, which are
supplemented by regional buses as well as some local trains. The travel
speed is slightly slower than in western countries, but the fares are
sometimes much cheaper.
The railways in Slovakia leave a somewhat
ambiguous impression. The local trains of the State Railway company ZSSK
often make an unkempt impression and are "decorated" with graffiti. The
express trains of the ZSSK run partly with car material, which has been
partially refurbished and in this form offers a passable driving
comfort. In some cases, especially on the Bratislava–Košice route, the
express trains are equipped with wagons that have been totally converted
from vehicles originally from the GDR (air-conditioned, chemical
toilets, some large rooms, every place - min. in the 1st car class -
with a socket) and offer a high level of driving comfort and leave a
well-groomed impression. There are several express trains running on
this route every day. They usually carry a dining car with them, in
which you can eat relatively cheaply.
The Czech provider RegioJet
offers itself on some routes as an alternative to the state railway
company ZSSK. RegioJet mainly uses very modern, well-equipped and clean
car material. In addition, the prices are usually a little cheaper than
at the ZSSK. However, the line network is significantly smaller than at
the ZSSK. On the main route Bratislava–Košice, trains do not stop at all
stations, but the travel time is about 50 minutes shorter.
The
travel time between Bratislava and Košice is about 5 to 6 hours (about
450 km). Extensive construction work is underway on the route between
Bratislava and Žilina. The line is to be upgraded for speeds up to 200
km / h. Therefore, waiting times in front of the construction sites are
to be expected in part. But punctuality hardly suffers from this.
The tickets of ZSSK and RegioJet are not mutually recognized.
Train types
Os (Osobný vlak): "passenger train", local train with
stops in (mostly) all stations, only 2nd Kl.
REX (Regionalný Expres):
"Regional express", fast local train, usually only 2nd class.,
Reservations are possible on some trains
RR (Regionalný Rýchlik):
"Regional express train", 1.Kl., 2ndKl., Reservations are possible
R
(Rýchlik): "Express train", long-distance train (national,
international), 1.Kl. and 2.Kl., Minibar or dining car, Reservation
possible
Ex (Expres): Long-distance train (national, international),
1st class. and 2.Kl., Minibar or dining car, Reservation possible
EN
(EuroNight): international night train, 2nd class., 1stKl. (only in a
sleeper car), seats only for trips abroad subject to reservation
EC
(EuroCity): international long-distance train; 1.Kl., 2ndKl., Dining
car, Reservation possible, subject to surcharge
SC (SuperCity):
Long–distance train (type Pendolino) Prague – Čadca – Žilina - Košice;
1.Kl., 2ndKl., subject to surcharge and reservation, dining car
IC
(InterCity): Express train Bratislava - Košice (just under 5 hours),
1.Kl., 2ndKl., subject to reservation, own tariff with 3 train- and
time-dependent price levels, dining car
RGJ (RegioJet): Trains of the
alternative provider RegioJet (also referred to by the abbreviation RJ;
risk of confusion with the Railjet, but which is not used in Slovakia),
3 classes, prices are staggered according to quota, the tickets are
train-bound, reservation is included in the fare
Here you will find
further information about the train categories of ZSSK.
Prices
and timetable information
The prices are moderate for Western
Europeans (ZSSK): Bratislava – Košice – Bratislava 1st class incl. Seat
reservation 54 €, 2nd class 36 € (when booking online, as of January
2016), but booked in Slovakia!
Current timetables of ZSSK as well
as a route planner for train and intercity bus (incl. the alternative
provider RegioJet) are available online, also in German and English.
Train discount Tickets
ZSSK offers the following discount cards
(as of June 2018):
Klasik Railplus (35 €): With this card you get
a discount of 25% on the normal price 1.Kl. and 2nd grade.
Junior
Railplus (€ 16.50) for young people under the age of 26: With this card
there is a discount of 25% in the 1st class and 40% in the 2nd class.
Senior Railplus (9,90 €) for seniors from the age of 60: With this card
there is a discount of 25% or more in the 1st class and 40% in the 2nd
class.
There are minor surcharges to be paid for EC and SC trains.
For IC trains the mentioned discount rates do not apply, for IC trains a
separate tariff applies, whereby the discount varies depending on
distance and time of day.
The international RailPlus supplement
is also included in all discount tickets, which means that normal-price
tickets for cross-border rail journeys are discounted by the RailPlus
discount.
Free transportation of children and seniors
On the
ZSSK trains, children up to the age of 15, students up to the age of 26,
pensioners under the age of 62, and generally seniors from the age of 62
are entitled to free transportation. For this purpose, it is necessary
to register once at a cash desk of the ZSSK free of charge upon
presentation of a photo ID and, if necessary, other documents.
In
order to be able to use a train for free, a free ticket for the desired
route must be purchased at the ticket office in advance – Attention: the
free tickets are allotted. Purchased free tickets are valid without
restrictions for all trains of the categories Os and REX, but for the
other train categories they are train-bound. There are minor surcharges
to be paid for EC and SC trains. IC trains (InterCity) cannot be used
for free, they have their own reduced fare. Detailed information on the
website of the ZSSK (in German).
The ID cards for free transport are
free of charge and can be applied for by all EU citizens.
There is an
even more unbureaucratic option for seniors over the age of 70: if you
do not have an ID card for free transportation or the quota of free
tickets is exhausted, you can buy tickets at a symbolic price (€ 0.15
per 50 km) on presentation of a photo ID. Even in this case, minor
surcharges have to be paid for EC and SC trains. There are no tickets
for IC trains at a symbolic price, they have their own reduced fare.
Annual pass for the entire railway network
MAXI KLASIK allows
unlimited train trips in Slovakia with the trains of ZSSK. With the
exception of SC and IC trains, all trains (including EC trains) can be
used free of charge. There is a small surcharge to be paid for SC
(SuperCity) trains. In general, the lowest price level is to be paid for
IC trains (InterCity). The pass is available for 1st and 2nd class and
can be purchased for 6 months or a 1 year. In addition, you can choose
between non-transferable and transferable for all passes. For tourists,
a passport is not profitable.
On the street
The current
motorway network has not yet been fully developed and the trunk roads
are heavily used, but construction is being carried out diligently in
several places. The ascents and descents of the motorway are sometimes
kept riskily simple with very short turning lanes. The carriageways of
country roads are often damaged at the edges and have ruts. However,
this is undergoing constant improvement. There is a high volume of
transport on the country roads, often a truck pulls a long queue of cars
behind it. Caution is advised.
The petrol prices are about the
same as those in Austria (about € 1.20 /l Super, € 1.00 /l diesel, as of
January 2016).
The traffic rules are similar to those in Germany.
The speed limits are 50 km /h in villages, 90 km/h on country roads and
130 km/h on motorways. The 0.0 per mille limit applies, which is
strictly controlled, especially at night (caution: high penalties). You
also have to drive with low beam during the day.
An electronic
vignette has been required for the use of motorways since 2016. The
prices are 10 € (10 days), 14 € (30 days) and 50 € (1 year). Vehicles
with a permissible total weight (towing vehicle + trailer) up to 3.5 t
require only one vignette. Motorcycles do not require a vignette. The
electronic vignettes replace the previous stickers. They can be
purchased online, at almost all gas stations and at self-service
machines.
By bike and on foot
Meanwhile, there are many
well-signposted and developed bicycle connections almost throughout the
country. In any case, there is also very little traffic on secondary
roads, which makes it easy to ride a bike. The only disturbing thing is
that most of the country is mountainous.
There are also many
well-signposted hiking routes in the Carpathians, which means that you
could cross almost the entire country from west to east on foot.
By plane
In a small country, air traffic hardly plays a role. Only
the domestic flight connections Bratislava-Košice are reasonably usable,
although due to the expansion of the road and rail network, the air
travel time center-center is hardly any faster than by train or car.
Slovak and Hungarian (especially on the border with Hungary), but also Romanes in eastern Slovakia, other minority languages are e.g. German, Czech, Ruthenian, Polish. Younger people speak at least English or German, they are trying very hard to overcome the language barrier "mimically or with hands and feet" in an emergency.
Slovakia has been a member of the eurozone since 1 January 2009,
which means that the euro is now an official means of payment. Payment
cards are more widely accepted in Slovakia than in Germany. In many
cases, even contactless payment with the card is possible.
The
prices in the gastronomy - especially outside Bratislava - are still a
lot lower than in western central Europe. There are hardly any price
differences in retail anymore. Nevertheless, many Eastern Austrians go
to Bratislava for shopping, but this is mainly due to the fact that the
opening hours in Slovakia are much more liberal: shops are sometimes
open until late in the evening and also on Sundays.
Popular
souvenirs from Slovakia are:
Wine - especially white wine such as
Riesling (Rízling) from the region around Bratislava
Beer - Slovak
beer is hardly known internationally. But the Slovak brewing tradition
is in no way inferior to the big neighbors Czech Republic and Austria!
Local handicrafts, especially woodwork, painted Easter eggs, glass
blowing shops, etc. But beware: in the tourist markets, the majority of
the offer is mass-produced goods from China (and also identical to the
offer in other countries).
There is a 15 cent deposit on disposable
beverage containers. Recognizable on the label by a red Z bordered by
two arrows.
Slovak cuisine is strongly influenced by the location of the country
in the mountains and is hearty, but tasty. Meat, cabbage and flour
dishes, as well as fatty dairy products (cheese, sour cream, brimsen)
are typical components of Slovak dishes. Many dishes are similar to
those from Czech, Austrian or Hungarian cuisine. This can also be
explained by the time of the Imperial and Royal monarchy, when the
cuisines of the ethnic groups influenced each other.
Highly
recommended are the traditional sauerkraut soup (kapustnica), which is
also an integral part of the Slovak Christmas dinner, or the Brimser
nockerl (bryndzové halušky), a type of pasta, usually made from potato
dough, which is eaten with a processed variety of sheep's cheese
(bryndza) and fried bacon. The bryndzové halušky are also considered the
national dish of Slovakia. Furthermore, pirogy, which can be filled with
meat, cheese, but also jam, are very tasty. It is best to go to a Salaš
(sk. for Sennhütte). They are usually decorated in typical Slovak style,
and with Slovak music you get a very large selection of Slovak
specialties served there. Freshly tapped kofola (čapovaná kofola), a
counterpart to cola/Pepsi, which is available in Slovakia and the Czech
Republic, should definitely not be missing for dinner.
For
vegetarians, in a country of meat dishes, as Slovakia certainly is,
there is traditionally very little choice. True, in the big cities there
is an extensive offer of modern catering, which takes into account all
kinds of diets (vegetarian, vegan, organic, etc.). In the province,
however, you have to stick to fried cheese (vypražaný syr) or fried
mushrooms (vypražané žampiony), potatoes (zemiaky), croquettes (krokety)
or French fries (hranolky) and a nice portion of Slovak Tatar sauce
(tatarská omáčka), which are quite filling, but not very varied in the
long run. Pure vegetable dishes are not so common, but you can easily
put together a plate of side dishes. But sometimes you have to be a
little more tolerant as a vegetarian, because it can happen that you
order a bean soup because it is listed as a vegetarian soup, which was
then cooked in beef broth or similar anyway. In small inns, vegetarian
dishes are rarely extra excellent, you should ask the waiter if
necessary.
To a lesser extent, there is viticulture in Slovakia
(mostly white wines). For this, the beer brewing tradition is widespread
and the numerous domestic beers are definitely among the better ones in
Europe.
In particular, the capital Bratislava has a colorful nightlife, with
numerous bars and nightclubs for a wide variety of tastes, from cheap to
noble and from reputable to wicked.
In Slovakia, finding a good
pizzeria or restaurant is not a big problem.
Slovakia is a safe holiday destination today. The high level of crime
from the early 1990s has almost completely disappeared, but it continues
to weigh on the country's image to this day. Tourists are most likely to
be confronted with pickpocketing and trickery. Car theft or car
break-ins also occur. However, the situation is no worse than in other
holiday countries. In general, you should follow the usual safety
precautions.
Especially in the east of the country, there is
strong resentment on the part of the Slovak population against Sinti and
Roma as well as against homosexuals. Here there are always insults to
the point of violent attacks on darker-skinned people or people
perceived as gay.
Bars and clubs in the east of the country
sometimes carry signs at the entrance "Slovaks only". What is meant here
is that Sinti and Roma in particular are undesirable. The considerate
traveler will nevertheless avoid such places in order not to support
racism and exclusion!
The following information was written by
the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany:
The Slovak Republic is basically a safe country to travel to. However,
travelers are advised of the increased risk of theft when traveling by
car. In particular, newer vehicles of the BMW, Mercedes, Audi and VW
brands with foreign registration plates are at risk, even if they are
equipped with an electronic immobilizer. Petty crime in the form of
pickpocketing and car burglary is a frequent occurrence. Thefts in
hotels cannot be ruled out either.
The Slovaks are hospitable and obviously glad that tourists show themselves even in rural areas. In restaurants and hotels you are treated very friendly. Those who approach the Slovaks with a few chunks of their native language can expect to be treated even more kindly. Also, the suddenly existing knowledge of the German language is always amazing.
Mobile communication
There are four network operators, in terms of
size, these are Orange (France Télécom; low-cost brand FunFón), Slovak
Telekom (T-Mobile), O2 (Telefónica Slovakia) and SWAN (only 4G/LTE). The
purchase of a SIM card requires registration, which is carried out
either online or in the store. For the basic packages, Orange offers the
Prima card for € 10 with the same amount of credit, while the Easy
package from Deutsche Telekom costs € 9. In 2015, the network of the
newcomer SWAN only covers the Bratislregion, with a third of the
country's population. In contrast to the others, Man offers fast data
transfer and "unlimited" Internet, i.e. 100 GB (!) per month. Tesco
mobile on the O2 network offers 250 MB per day for € 0.50.
It is believed that the Slavic ancestors of the Slovenes moved to the
territory of present-day Slovenia in the 6th century and settled there.
In the 7th century, the Slavic principality of Carantania arose. In the
course of the next two centuries, Carantania came first under Bavarian,
then under Frankish domination. The victory of the king and later
Emperor Otto I in the battle on the Lechfeld (near Augsburg) in the
middle of the 10th century enabled the Holy Roman Empire to expand to
the east. The Hungarians, who had previously spread to the territory of
present-day Slovenia, Austria, southern Germany and Italy, largely
retreated to the Pannonian Plain and established the Kingdom of Hungary
here under the Arpades. Due to the Hungarian settlement and the
expansion of the Bavarian-German-speaking population along the Alps and
the Danube to the east, the settlement areas of the western and southern
Slavs were separated from each other. Regardless of the linguistic and
cultural expansion of certain population groups, attractive and dominant
power structures spread. Thus, Carantania was annexed by the Duchy of
Bavaria and thus incorporated into the East Frankish Empire. Since 976
it formed the Duchy of Carinthia of the Holy Roman Empire.
The
Margraviate of Carniola came to the (Austrian) Habsburgs through the
Styrian dukes, Babenberg (Frederick II) and Ottokar of Bohemia. In the
course of the rise of the Habsburgs in the middle of the 13th century,
large areas of present-day Slovenia came under their rule. An exception
was the county of the Sanegg in Cilli, which was able to assert itself
against the Habsburg hegemony by skilful marriage policy until the
dynasty died out in 1456. After that, the later Slovenian territory was
under Habsburg rule until the end of the First World War – with a short
interruption during the Napoleonic Wars.
As in Austria, women who
paid taxes could vote in municipal elections from 1849 on the same
conditions as men. However, they could not cast their vote in person,
but had to give a close male relative a power of attorney for him to
vote for them. Universal suffrage for men was introduced at the national
level in 1907.
The national consciousness, which had already been increasingly
flaring up in the 19th century and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary
towards the end of the First World War, initially led to the formation
of a National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs on October 6, 1918.
When Italian troops entered the Slovenian coastal region and fought for
Carinthia in the north (Carinthian Defensive Battle), the National
Council asked the Kingdom of Serbia for military assistance. From this
cooperation, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (SHS state) was
formed on December 1, 1918.
The Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919
granted the SHS state the Lower Styria with the capital Marburg
(Slovenian Maribor) as well as majority Slovene-speaking parts of the
Carinthian Lower Region, the area around Unterdrauburg (Slovenian
Dravograd), the Mießtal and Zealand (Jezersko). In the event of a
positive outcome of a referendum for the SHS state in an already
militarily occupied mixed-language area of Carinthia (zone A), a vote on
remaining with Austria should have also been held in an area named zone
B, which also included the Carinthian state capital Klagenfurt. By the
Treaty of Trianon with Hungary in 1920, the Übermur region in the north
(Slovenian Prekmurje) passed to the SHS Kingdom. On the other hand, in
the border Treaty of Rapallo (November 1920), Italy received the
occupied Slovenian coastal region.
In 1929 - nine months after a
coup by King Alexander Karađorđević – the country renamed itself the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This strengthened the already increasing
dominance of the Serbs in the kingdom; in addition, the Slovenes
suffered from the loss of their coastal region. Increasingly disturbed
by domestic politics, the kingdom maintained neutrality.
On March 25, 1941, Prince Paul, who had been the head of government
in the SHS state until then (the minor Peter II had been the head of
state since 1934, Prince Paul was his uncle), was forced by the Axis
powers to cooperate. However, the military leadership staged a coup two
days later and installed the 17-year-old King Peter II as ruler. The
Axis powers regarded these events on their southeastern flank as a
source of danger and occupied the whole of Yugoslavia in the Balkan
campaign in April 1941. Slovenia was then divided between Italy, Hungary
and Germany. Just a few days after the occupation of Slovenia, the
Liberation Front (Osvobodilna Fronta) was founded as a communist-led
resistance organization, which led the National Liberation Struggle of
Slovenia. Numerous partisan associations were formed among the royalists
and, after the beginning of the German War against the Soviet Union,
also among the communist oppositionists (under the leadership of Tito).
At the beginning of the Second World War, about 80,000 Slovenes were
deported from the territories occupied by Germany, mainly to Germany,
but also to Romania and Bulgaria, in order to perform forced labor
there. In addition, during the war, children of Slovenian partisans, who
were forcibly separated from their families in retaliation, were sent
mainly to Franconia.
At the end of the Second World War, almost
the entire German-speaking minority fled or was expelled, interned or
murdered. Slovenian and Croatian units, which had stood on the side of
the Axis powers and which continued the fighting against the Yugoslav
People's Liberation Army after May 8/9, 1945, fled to Carinthia and went
to the protection of the English occupation forces. However, they handed
over the Slovenian and Croatian prisoners of war and civilians to the
Tito partisans, who murdered them on death marches and in the Bleiburg
massacre in Carinthia, in the area around Marburg and in the gorges of
the Horn Forest.
After the war, the Democratic Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia
was founded on November 29, 1945, from 1963 it called itself the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). As the Socialist
Republic of Slovenia, Slovenia was a sub-republic of the SFRY. On August
10, 1945, women were granted the right to vote in the Socialist Republic
of Slovenia. This became part of Yugoslavia, which guaranteed women's
suffrage in the Constitution of January 31, 1946. The full legal,
economic and social equality of the sexes and thus the active and
passive women's right to vote were guaranteed for the first time in the
Constitution of 1946.
The Free Territory of Trieste, which has
theoretically been under UN administration since 1947, with a large part
of Istria, was provisionally divided between Italy and Yugoslavia in the
London Memorandum in 1954, but it was not until November 10, 1975 that
this provisional division was sealed in the Treaty of Osimo. In the
course of this division, Slovenia came into the possession of Koper
(Capodistria) and Portorož (Portorose) with almost 50 kilometers of
Adriatic coast, but the demarcation between the former Yugoslav
republics of Croatia and Slovenia in this area is still not completely
precisely regulated.
The growing dissatisfaction with the Belgrade leadership during the
1980s resulted in the declaration of independence of Slovenia on June
25, 1991. After the Slovenian territorial defense, the troop withdrawal
of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) ended the 10-day War, which enabled
the adoption of a democratic constitution on the European model on
December 23, 1991 and the establishment of a separate republic. Within a
month, the new state was recognized by all (then twelve) members of the
EC. Women's suffrage was confirmed.
The ethnically relatively
homogeneous population and the few acts of war with little destruction
made it possible to quickly stabilize and democratically develop the
state. This was rewarded with the start of accession negotiations to the
EU in November 1998. The negotiations were successfully concluded and
the Slovenian population approved the country's accession to the
European Union (89.6 percent) and NATO (66.1 percent) by a clear
majority in a referendum on March 23, 2003. On 1. In May 2004, Slovenia
– together with nine other countries – joined the European Union
("Eastern Enlargement"). On this day, the Slovenian government ratified
the Schengen Agreement, which led to the abolition of border controls at
the borders with Austria, Hungary and Italy on December 21, 2007. Since
January 1, 2007, the euro has been the valid currency in Slovenia, the
tolar has been replaced.
The Republic of Slovenia experienced the
largest demonstrations in its history in 2013. The government's
austerity measures were denounced by the trade unions, but also by many
citizens who were outraged by the corruption of the political class.
During the demonstrations, many denounced the European Union, and many
demonstrators waved flags of the former state of Yugoslavia.
As
of autumn 2015, Slovenia was a transit point for half a million refugees
and migrants, most of them on their way to Germany and northern Europe.
In the course of this, the government under Miro Cerar adopted stricter
asylum laws, erected a border fence on the border with Croatia and
limited the number of asylum applications to 50 people per month.
At the beginning of 2021, the Slovenian economy initially recovered
well from the COVID-19 pandemic, but suffered setbacks due to the energy
situation and geopolitical tensions resulting from the war in Ukraine.
Slovenia at that time was considered one of the most prosperous
countries in the world. With a Human Development Index of 0.926, it
ranked 26th in the world in 2022.
In August 2023, the country was
hit by severe floods, which caused almost 5% of GDP in direct damage.
The government responded with emergency legislation to support those
affected and began reconstruction work.
The year 2024 began with
intensive negotiations between the government and the public sectors on
the reform of the wage system, in particular on the reduction of salary
differences (China-CEE Institute). In addition, the country has focused
on large-scale infrastructure projects, including the start of
construction of new train and bus stations in Ljubljana (China-CEE
Institute).
The current self-designation of the South Slavic Slovenes, as well as that of the West Slavic Slovaks, is derived from the original designation of all Slavs, the Sloveni. For example, Slovenians call their country Slovenija, while Slovaks call Slovakia Slovensko. The Slovenian language is called slovenščina in Slovenian, the Slovak language is called slovenčina in Slovak. The word for Slovenian (in Slovenian) and Slovak (in Slovak) is the same in both languages: Slovenka. The only major difference today is in the masculine form: while the original masculine form Slovenec has been preserved to this day among the Slovenes, a transformation occurred among the Slovaks in the 15th century (under Czech and Polish influence), in which the original masculine name Sloven was replaced by the current name Slovák.
The most important rivers of Slovenia from west to east are the Soča
(Italian lower reaches: Isonzo), the Sava (Slovenian Sava), the Drava
(Slovenian Drava) and the Mur (Slovenian Mura). Soča and Save originate
in the Julian Alps, Drava and Mur come from Austria. In addition, to the
southeast, the Kolpa River, which originates in Croatia, forms the
border with Croatia at about 100 km. All the rivers mentioned are
essentially not navigable, but at least some of them were used by rafts
in the past (e.g.: Drava near Maribor).
The Soča drains to the
Adriatic Sea. The Sava and Drava are tributaries of the Danube
(estuaries in Serbia and Croatia, respectively). The Mur is a tributary
of the Drava River (estuary on the border of Hungary and Croatia). The
Kolpa flows into the Sava in the Croatian Sisak.
Despite its small extent – Slovenia is slightly larger than
Rhineland-Palatinate – the state has very different landscape forms.
About 62% of the national territory is covered with forest.
In
the northwest run the high mountain ranges of the Julian Alps,
Karawanken and Steiner Alps, which geologically belong to the southern
Limestone Alps. In the Triglav National Park, with the eponymous peak of
Triglav (2864 meters), is the highest elevation in the country, which is
symbolically depicted on the state coat of arms.
The north-east
of the country is characterized by low mountains and hilly country: the
Bach Mountains (Slovenian Pohorje, foothills of the Central Alps up to
1500 meters high), the Matzel Mountains (Haloze, up to 880 meters) and
the Windische Bühel (350 meters), which merge northeast of the Mur into
the plain and hills of the Übermur region (Slovenian Prekmurje), while
in the Drau-Mur estuary the 50 times The so-called Mur Island
(Međimurje), which is about 20 kilometers in size, is already largely
located on Croatian national territory. Both lowlands merge into the
Pannonian Plain beyond the Hungarian border. The center of the country
and the south (part of the Istrian peninsula) occupy extensive, typical
karst areas.
In the extreme southwest of the country is the
46.6-kilometer-long Adriatic coast (Slovenian Riviera), which also
geographically marks the lowest point (0 m above sea level) of the
country. Since the break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatia has been in dispute
over the exact border in the Bay of Piran (see International Conflicts
of the successor states of Yugoslavia). In the course of Croatia's
accession to the EU, it was agreed to settle this conflict before an
international arbitration commission.
The longest international border of Slovenia is the border between
Croatia and Slovenia (670 km). It runs in the south and east and to a
large extent in rivers (Kupa, Sotla, Čabranka) and often in impassable
mountainous regions. The border with Austria (330 km) in the north runs
mostly in the mountains (e.g. Karawanken). To the east is the border
with Hungary (102 km). In the west, Slovenia borders with Italy (218
km). Above Trieste, the border initially runs parallel to the Adriatic
coast on the mountains. Further south, the country borders on the
Adriatic Sea for about 47 km. The country is therefore a Mediterranean
state.
The border with Croatia has been the administrative
dividing line between the two republics since the founding of the second
Yugoslavia and became the international border with the declaration of
independence of the two countries in 1991. There were disputes about the
exact course of the border, which was still insignificant in the common
state.
In the course of the refugee crisis in Europe in
2015/2016, Slovenia erected a 176 km long fence on a section of its
border with Croatia.
The climate region of Slovenia forms (according to the Austrian classification) the core area of the Illyrian transitional climate between the Alps and the Dinarides, the Mediterranean and Pannonia. In the south-west of the country there is already a clearly Mediterranean climate with warm summers and mild, humid winters (wine-growing region), but winter and spring often bring cold down winds, the dreaded Bora, with snow at high altitudes on the coast. In the interior of the country, the climate is more continental, the northwest is characterized by a typical Southern Alpine climate (south Föhn, winter rain, with comparatively little snow). The east is already distinctly Pannonian, with hot summers and cold winters.
Slovenia is one of the EU states with the greatest biodiversity:
every fiftieth of the mainland animal and plant species known worldwide
occurs here. According to its own account, the country is making great
efforts to preserve this fauna, flora and habitat diversity. The
Ministry of Environment points out that an intact nature represents a
value for tourism, which is why the tourist offer is aimed at people who
are looking for peace and quiet, who want to enjoy the landscape and are
interested in the animal and plant world. The country has placed around
13% of its national territory under protection (Germany: 3.6% [2021]).
Slovenia declared its first and only large-scale protected area in
1981 with the Triglav National Park (WDPA 2517), named after the
country's highest mountain. With an area of 83,982 hectares, the park
covers 4.1% of the country's land area. It is also a Natura 2000 Bird
Protection and Habitats Directive area, recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere
Reserve (since 2003) and has had the Council of Europe's European
Diploma since 2004.
There are also 3 regional parks, 52 nature
reserves, 44 protected landscape parks, 1217 natural monuments, 26
Natura 2000 bird sanctuaries and 260 Natura 2000 Habitats Protection
Areas.
By designating the Natura 2000 sites, Slovenia has placed
35.52 percent of the national territory under protection. By way of
comparison, an average of 18.16 percent of Natura 2000 sites were
designated throughout the European Union, 15.47 percent of the national
area in Germany and 14.96 percent in Austria (as of December 2013). 312
animal and plant species (including 109 bird species) and 60 habitat
types are protected in the Slovenian Natura 2000 areas.
Slovenia
has a significant share in the Green Belt of Europe and is located in
the Blue Heart of Europe.
In the 1990s, there were more than 50
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the environmental and
nature conservation field nationwide in Slovenia.
Slovenia had 2.1 million inhabitants in 2021. The annual population growth rate was + 0.3%. Despite an excess of deaths (birth rate: 9.0 per 1000 inhabitants vs. death rate: 11.0 per 1000 inhabitants), the population grew due to migration. The number of births per woman in 2021 was statistically 1.6, that of the European Union was 1.5. The life expectancy of the inhabitants of Slovenia from birth in 2021 was 80.9 years (women: 84, men: 77.9). The median age of the population in 2021 was 43.2 years. In 2021, 15.2 percent of the population was under the age of 15, while the proportion of people over the age of 64 was 20.5 percent of the population.
According to the 2002 census, the inhabitants of Slovenia were 83.06%
Slovenes; furthermore, 1.98% Serbs, 1.81% Croats, 1.1% Bosniaks lived in
Slovenia at that time. Many of them had already come to Slovenia as
internal migrants at the time of Yugoslavia. No ethnic classification
was possible for 8.9% of the population, as no data were provided.
In 2017, 11.8% of the population was born in today's foreign
countries.
Two small indigenous groups of Italians in the western Primorska
region (0.11%) and Magyars in the eastern Prekmurje region (0.32%) are
recognized as minorities. The autonomous minorities of Italians and
Hungarians have a guaranteed ethnic group mandate in the Slovenian
parliament. In matters that exclusively concern the respective rights of
the minority, these ethnic group members have an absolute right of veto.
The now very small German-speaking remaining group in Gottschee and
Lower Styria is not recognized as an ethnic minority. In the 2002
census, 499 people (0.03%) declared themselves as Germans and 181
(0.01%) as Austrians; however, 1628 people (0.1%) declared German as
their mother tongue.
The official language is Slovenian (Slovenščina) according to Article
11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia (Ustava Republike
Slovenije) of 1991; in addition, "ethnically mixed areas" are defined as
"autochthonous" minorities in which Italian and Hungarian (Art. 64)
enjoy special protection. Romani is not a protected minority language:
Article 65 of the Constitution requires specific protection for the Roma
ethnic group, but its legal implementation is pending. Currently, 19
municipalities in Slovenia are appointing a Roma commissioner to the
municipal council. The languages of the other minorities – including the
formerly important German or the Croatian and Serbian, which are
traditionally widespread in White Ukraine - do not enjoy protection.
Once widespread in the Kočevje region, the Gottscheerian, a Bavarian
dialect, is threatened with extinction.
In addition to English,
German and Italian are foreign languages taught at an early age, so that
numerous Slovenians have mastered one or more foreign languages. Due to
the country's accession to the EU, Slovenian also became the official
language of the EU.
A total of 50 religious associations are registered in Slovenia, but
46 of them make up only about five percent of the total population. The
Roman Catholic Church is the largest religious community with about 60
to 80 percent of the citizens (57.8 percent according to the last census
in 2002, 71.6 percent in 1991), if baptism is taken as the formal
criterion. According to data collected by the "Research Center for
Public Opinion and Mass Communication" of the Faculty of Social Sciences
of the University of Ljubljana, ca. 70 Percent of Slovenian citizens
consider themselves "belonging" to the Roman Catholic faith. However,
the Catholics are considered a heterogeneous group; many of them are far
from being strictly religious or practicing.
In addition to the
Roman Catholic Church, there are other "traditional" religious
communities: Muslim communities (about 2.5 percent of the Slovenian
population, the majority of whom come from Bosnia and Kosovo), the
Serbian and Macedonian Orthodox Churches (about 2.3 percent), the
Slovenian Evangelical (Lutheran) Church (one percent) and a very small
Jewish community with less than a hundred members. The remaining
registered communities can be considered as new religious movements,
among which there are also those that are regularly classified as
destructive cults or sects in the government reports of major European
countries. In addition, there are numerous new religious movements that
have not been officially registered, but act as a legal entity or as
interest groups without a formal organization.
A representative
survey commissioned by the European Commission within the framework of
the Eurobarometer in 2020 showed that religion is important for 28
percent of people in Slovenia, for 22 percent it is neither important
nor unimportant and for 50 percent it is unimportant.
The Head of State of the Republic of Slovenia is the President, who
performs a predominantly representative function and is elected directly
by the population every five years. As part of the executive power, he
is supported by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, both of which are
elected by the State Assembly.
The Slovenian Parliament consists
of two chambers: The State Assembly (Državni zbor) and the State Council
(Državni svet). The State Assembly is composed of 90 deputies, each of
which is determined in part by direct election or by proportional
representation. The autonomous minorities of Italians and Hungarians
have a guaranteed ethnic group mandate. In matters that exclusively
concern the respective rights of the minority, these ethnic group
members have an absolute right of veto. 40 deputies from social,
economic and regional interest groups are sent to the State Council.
Parliamentary elections are held every four years.
In the course
of NATO's eastern enlargement, Slovenia became a member of NATO on 29
March 2004. It has been a member of the European Union since May 1,
2004.
The exact border between Slovenia and Croatia has still not
been clarified. On June 6, 2010, it was decided in a referendum to
resolve these disputes with the help of an international commission led
by the EU.
Slovenia has been a member of the OECD since 21 July
2010.
Accompanied by protests from its own population and harsh
criticism of the EU on the political developments in Slovenia by the
government of Janez Janša, the country took over the EU Council
Presidency from Portugal on July 1, 2021. The EU lamented the
curtailment of press freedom by the ruling SDS, as well as the lack of
appointment of Slovenian investigators to the European Public
Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). The motto for Slovenia's EU Presidency was
"Together.Resilient.Europe“. Slovenia already held the Presidency of the
Council in the first half of 2008.
In 2004, the former Yugoslav republic became a member of the EU along
with nine other states. On January 1, 2007, it was the first of these
ten countries to switch to the euro as its currency, with a ratio of
239.64 tolars for 1 euro. The transitional period during which both the
euro and the tolar were legal tender was two weeks (1 to 14 January
2007).
The country has a mixed economy, relatively balanced
between agriculture, industry, services and tourism. Notable employers
are, for example, the oil and energy company Petrol, the household goods
manufacturer Gorenje, the pharmaceutical company Krka, the motorhome
manufacturer Adria Mobil or the Revoz car plant in Novo mesto, a
subsidiary of Renault. The per capita income of Slovenians is in the
European midfield. In comparison with the GDP of the EU, expressed in
purchasing power standards, Slovenia achieved an index value of 83
(EU-28:100) in 2016, which is about 67% of the German value.
During the negotiations on accession to the EU, Slovenia insisted on
numerous derogations and refused to fully open up some key sectors of
the economy to competition. Thus, the country is the only one in Central
and Eastern Europe that has retained control over its banking sector.
The country has also preserved an important public service built up
during the socialist period; Slovenia still has one of the best health
care systems in the world, and education is free up to the third level
of university.
The GDP per capita in 2013 was $ 23,289. Thus,
Slovenia was still ahead of Portugal and significantly ahead of all
other Central Eastern European EU countries such as the Czech Republic,
Poland or Estonia. The external debt amounted to approximately EUR 9.8
billion in 2014. Economic growth was 2.9% in 2015, and growth is
expected to be just under 2% in 2016. The average growth in the years
1997 to 2014 was 2.53%. The country's GDP in 2015 was $ 38.543 billion.
The gross domestic product per capita is 18,680 euros. In the Global
Competitiveness Index, which measures the competitiveness of a country,
Slovenia ranks 48th out of 137 countries (as of 2017-2018). In the
Economic Freedom Index, the country ranks 97th out of 180 countries in
2017.
In January 2023, the registered unemployment rate in
Slovenia was 5.6%, that is, 1.3% lower than in January 2022. The lowest
rate of registered unemployment was recorded in the regions of Upper
Carniola (Gorenjska) (4.2%) and Goriška (Goriška) (4.5%). This is
followed by the coastal inland (Primorsko-notranjska) (4.2%) and Central
Slovenia (Osrednjeslovenska) (4.9%). On the other hand, the following
regions had a higher rate than the national average: coastal and karst
region (Obalno-kraška) (5.7%), Southeastern Slovenia (Jugovzhodna
Slovenija) (5.8%), Upper Sava region (Zasavska) (5.9%), Lower Carinthia
(Koroška) (5.9%), Sann region (Savinjska) (6.4%), Drava region
(Podravska) (6.6%), Lower Sava region (Posavska) (7.0%) and Mur region
(Pomurska) (8.4%).
The independence of Slovenia brought about a phase of "market
cleansing" in the country's agriculture. The number of farms decreased
rapidly: a development that slowed down only at the beginning of the
2000s. In 2005, the total agricultural area was 648,113 ha and the total
number of farms was 77,000, of which 85% had less than ten hectares of
agricultural area. The total value of agricultural output in 2005 was
959 million euros, which at that time was slightly less than 2% of the
country's GDP. From the point of view of the Slovenian government, the
age structure of farmers is a cause for concern: only 18.8% of them are
younger than 45 years, while 56.9% are older than 55 years.
An
important branch of Slovenian agriculture is cattle breeding. It
contributes to more than 50 percent of the production output (2005: EUR
511 million). The proportion of meadow and pasture land and forage areas
is correspondingly large, with 60 percent and 20 percent of Slovenia's
agricultural land respectively. Despite a slight decline since the
mid-1990s, the livestock of cattle and pigs make up the largest part of
livestock breeding (452,517 cattle and 547,432 pigs in 2005,
respectively). The number of goats and sheep (together) as well as
horses has roughly doubled since 1997, but remains significantly behind
with 154,832 and 19,249 units.
The food and beverage industry in
Slovenia has had to cope with two major crises in the last 20 years: on
the one hand, the collapse of the sales markets in the former Yugoslavia
since the early 1990s and, from 2004, the strong competition of the
major European corporations after the country's accession to the EU. The
accession to the EU was advantageous for the disadvantaged agricultural
areas (within the meaning of Council Directive 75/268/EEC of 28. April
1975 on agriculture in mountain areas and in certain disadvantaged
areas.) For these hard-to-reach and often low-yielding areas, of which
Slovenia owns 440,349 ha, the EU provides for support measures to
prevent the abandonment of agriculture in these areas. A significant
economic growth potential is attested to the forestry industry. 59.8
Percent of Slovenia's area is covered with forest, which is surpassed
only by Sweden and Finland in European comparison. Spruce (32 percent)
and beech (31 percent) dominate the forests, which are predominantly
mixed forests. Despite the large extent of Slovenian forests, forestry
contributes to only 0.2 percent of the country's GDP. A stronger
economic use is opposed by the fact that the forests are very fragmented
in terms of their ownership. 72 percent of the total area is privately
owned by about 489,000 owners, which results in an average size of less
than three hectares per owner. This fragmentation makes the optimal
forestry use of the Slovenian forests more difficult.
Viticulture
occupies a relatively high share of the agricultural area. About 40,000
private and professional winegrowers often cultivate viticulture in the
fifth or sixth generation. Improved know-how and the selection of the
grapes led to a quality gain in the broad mass of wines offered. The
quantities from the Habsburg and pre-communist times were reached again.
About 40 percent of the working population works in industry. The automotive industry has the largest share of Slovenia's exports with over 20 percent. In addition to this, the electrical and electronics industry (about 10 percent), metal processing and mechanical engineering (10 percent) as well as the chemical and pharmaceutical industry (9%) are of the greatest importance. A growing branch of industry is provided by the automotive industry (and automotive supplier industry in the broadest sense), among other things, due to the Renault plant. The industry contributes a total of 27 percent to GDP. Pipistrel, an aircraft manufacturer for ultralight aircraft, is based in Slovenia.
Since its independence in 1991, Slovenia has been able to
significantly expand its service sector. This now represents 53 percent
of the jobs in the country. Slovenia already has a well-developed
transport system for Central Europe. In addition to the cultural and
economic centers in Ljubljana, the capital with its own international
airport, as well as Maribor, tourism with appropriate infrastructure
exists mainly in the Julian Alps, in the caves of Postojna and on the
coast of the Adriatic Sea. The Lipica stud farm enjoys a high
international reputation with its renowned Lipizzaner breeding. In
addition, health tourism has been gaining in importance in the
north-east of the country of thermal spas for several years now. In the
first half of 2017, more than 1.9 million tourists came to Slovenia.
With the seaport Koper (Italian Capodistria), Slovenia has overseas
trade connections to all over the world and is a transit country for
goods to Central Europe.
The state budget in 2016 included expenditures of the equivalent of
20.51 billion US dollars, which was offset by revenues of the equivalent
of 19.32 billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 2.7
percent of gross domestic product. The national debt in 2016 amounted to
$ 34.7 billion, or 78.9 percent of GDP. The country's government bonds
are rated A+ by the rating agency Standard & Poor's (as of November
2018).
The share of government spending (in % of GDP) of the
following areas:
Health: 9.1 percent (2009)
Education: 5.2 percent
(2007)
Military: 1.0 percent (2014)
The Slovenian school system consists of primary and secondary education. There are the state universities of Ljubljana, Maribor, Primorska, as well as numerous private universities, educational and research institutes.
In 2019, 950 professional and 167,454 volunteer firefighters were organized in the fire brigade in Slovenia, who work in 1,341 fire stations and fire houses, where 2,505 fire trucks and 43 turntable ladders or telescopic masts are available. The proportion of women is 33 percent. 42,656 children and young people are organized in the youth fire brigades. The Slovenian fire brigades were alerted to 153,758 incidents in the same year, and 4,427 fires were extinguished. Here, 13 dead were recovered by the fire brigades during fires and 209 injured were rescued. The National Fire Brigade Association Gasilska Zveza Slovenije represents the Slovenian fire brigade in the World Fire Brigade Association CTIF.
The total paved road network covered about 38,985 km in 2012.
Slovenia has a good infrastructure with a modern motorway network. The
centers are the capital Ljubljana and Maribor. The tourist and ski
resorts in the Julian Alps and on the short Adriatic coast are also well
integrated.
A new toll system has been in force in Slovenia since
1 July 2009. There is a short-term vignette (seven days) for 15 euros, a
monthly vignette for 30 euros and an annual vignette for 110 euros.
Motorcyclists pay 7.50 euros for seven days, 30 euros for half or 55
euros for a whole year.
The two longest motorways in Slovenia are
the A1, which runs in a north-east-south-west direction from Maribor to
Ljubljana and on to Koper, and the A2, which runs in a
north-west-south-east direction from the Karavanke Tunnel also via
Ljubljana to the Croatian border towards Zagreb. These two highways were
completed in 2009 and connect the centers of the country.
The largest international airport is called Letališče Jožeta Pučnika
Ljubljana and is located near Brnik near the capital Ljubljana. There
are also two smaller airports, Maribor and Portorož.
With the
port of Koper (Italian Capodistria), Slovenia has overseas trade
connections to all over the world and is a transit country for goods to
Central Europe.
The Slovenian State Railways Slovenske železnice operate an extensive
route network with a length of 1229 km – of which 504 km are electrified
with 3000 volts DC – that connects many Slovenian cities, including the
important connection to the seaport Koper. The two most important rail
connections run along the Sava from Villach in Austria via Ljubljana to
Zagreb in Croatia and from Vienna via Graz, Maribor, Ljubljana to
Rijeka/Koper/Trieste (Spielfeld-Straß–Trieste railway line). Another
important railway connection through Slovenia connects Italy with
Hungary. After independence, the previously closed Zalalövő–Murska
Sobota railway was rebuilt as a direct connection to Hungary.
The
route of the Wocheinerbahn, which used to be an important connection
between Vienna and Trieste, but now mainly serves local traffic, is
particularly scenic.
The public broadcasting company Radiotelevizija Slovenija has its
headquarters in Ljubljana as well as regional studios in Maribor and
Koper. It also produces content for the Hungarian-speaking and
Italian-speaking minority in Slovenia. RTV produces three nationwide
television and three nationwide radio programs.
The Slovenska
tiskovna agencija (STA) is the state news agency of Slovenia. According
to SZ, the agency is being "bled out" under the Janša government. The
100% state agency has not received any money since the beginning of
2021. Janša publicly called for criminal investigations against the
director and his dismissal.
As a private media provider, the SDS
party is trying to establish the far-right media conglomerate Nova 24
TV. The media network and several regional newspapers are under the
influence of Prime Minister Janša and his party. Nova 24 TV is
financially backed by businessmen from the environment of the Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Fidesz).
The most important
newspaper in Slovenia is Delo (The Work). It has been published since
1959 and is one of a total of eight daily newspapers in Slovenia. Delo
had a circulation of around 78,500 copies in 2014.
In 2021, 89
percent of Slovenian residents used the Internet. In 2023, Slovenia
became a guest country at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
RSF complains of frequent libel suits and insults of important politicians against the media. Especially since the right-wing conservative Janez Janša became Prime Minister again in the spring of 2020, the climate against critical journalism has intensified. Critical journalists would be massively attacked in social networks and pro-government media. According to RSF, Janša is also actively trying to influence the Slovenian media: Jansa is shortening the funds and is influencing the appointment of supervisory bodies of the public media. His government also put pressure on the Slovenian state news agency Slovenska tiskovna agencija (STA), whose reporting Janša described as a "national disgrace". Pro-government private media, such as Nova 24 TV, are promoted by his government, according to RSF. According to SZ, the Prime Minister is building a "conservative empire" around the broadcaster. They often involve businessmen from the environment of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán; according to observers, Orbán and Janša are connected by the same political agenda.
Max Fabiani (1865-1962)
Jože Plečnik (1872-1957)
In addition to football, basketball plays a prominent role in team
sports in Slovenia. Probably the most famous Slovenian professional
basketball player is Luka Dončić, who has been signed by the Dallas
Mavericks in the US basketball league NBA since 2018.
In
addition, handball has been experiencing a new upswing in its own
country since the men's European Handball Championship in 2004 and the
Vice European Championship title achieved in the process. In club
handball, the Slovenian teams attract attention at the European level
with remarkable results. In the 2003/04 season, the series champion RK
Celje was even able to bring the most important European club title to
Slovenia by winning the EHF Champions League. RK Krim achieved this feat
in the women's competition back in 2001 and 2003.
Winter sports
have a similar importance in Slovenia as in Austria or Switzerland. The
FIS World Cup final of ski jumpers is regularly held in Planica on the
Letalnica bratov Gorišek ski jump there. This ski jump is the second
largest in the world. World-class jumpers of recent times are the four
hills tournament winners Primož Peterka and Peter Prevc as well as the
World ski Flying champion Robert Kranjec. In alpine sports, Tina Maze,
Mateja Svet, Bojan Križaj, Jure Košir, Špela Pretnar or Urška Hrovat are
to be mentioned. The Alpine Ski World Cup stops annually in Maribor at
the races for the Golden Fox and in Kranjska Gora at the Vitranc Cup.
The Slovenian ski company Elan became known in particular with the
victories of Ingemar Stenmark.
Slovenia has had successful athletes
in climbing since the 2010s: Janja Garnbret (Olympic champion 2020/2021,
winner of the European Championship 2022), Mia Krampl (runner-up of the
European Championship 2022 in the combination).
Cycling: In 2020, a
Slovenian won the Tour de France for the first time with Tadej Pogačar.
His compatriot Primož Roglič took 2nd place in the overall standings.
In the field of motorsport, the Slovenian Grand Prix of the Speedway
World Championship is regularly held in Krško.
The lake of Bled has
been the venue of international rowing regattas (World and European
Championships) several times.
Special Olympics Slovenia was founded
in 1993 and participated in Special Olympics World Games several times.
The association has announced its participation in the Special Olympics
World Summer Games 2023 in Berlin. The delegation will be looked after
by Kassel as part of the Host Town Program before the games.