Slovenia and the EU: 20 Years of Membership in Perspective

This book addresses a range of aspects essential to a better understanding of Slovenia’s 20 years in the EU and its exposure to the European integration process, including changes to its policies on e.g. competitiveness, industry, innovation, foreign policy and diplomacy, security and defense, but also its relations to neighboring countries, its experience with European elections, and different forms of Euroscepticism and citizens’ trust in EU institutions. Subsequent chapters explore how Slovenia has been coping with the Maastricht criteria and EU law more generally in its polities and politics, benefitting from EU funds, and defending its language as an official language of the EU. In concise contributions, the authors - with diverse scholarly backgrounds and hailing from Slovenia and abroad - assess these aspects and share their perspectives on Slovenia’s experiences after 20 years of full EU membership.

Dr. Michael Kaeding is the Professor for European Integration and European Union Politics at the Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He is a senior research fellow at the University of Ljubljana and visiting fellow of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, member of the flying faculties of the College of Europe in Bruges, and the Turkish-German University in Istanbul.

Dr. Bostjan Udovič is the Professor of Diplomacy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has been a guest professor at the Department of Political Sciences at the PLUS University of Salzburg (Austria), and for years member of the Strategic Council of Foreign Policy at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.