Superior Slovenia?

The only state in the former Yugoslavia to be admitted to the European Union on 1 May has created an impressive AML framework, says Sue Grossey. How well it works in practice though and whether it will serve as a model for Slovenia’s near neighbours remain open questions.

Slovenia covers about 20,000 square kilometres of central Europe. It shares land borders with Austria to the north, Italy to the west, Hungary to the east and Croatia to the south. It has a tiny 47km coastline on the Gulf of Venice. The Slovene lands were part of the Holy Roman Empire and Austria until 1918 when the Slovenes joined the Serbs and Croats to form a new nation, known as Yugoslavia from 1929. After World War II, Slovenia became a republic of the renewed Yugoslavia, which – though Communist – distanced itself from Moscow’s rule. Dissatisfied with exercise of power by the majority Serbs, the Slovenes established independence in 1991 after a short ten-day war.