By: Bogdan Sajovic
The new government has abolished the right of foreign citizens to vote in Slovenian local elections. And of course, the Slovenian left reacted explosively, loudly claiming that the law is unconstitutional. The constitution, however, contains no provision granting foreigners the right to vote in Slovenian elections, but that does not stop the left from repeating the claim. In general, left‑leaning politicians are strongly inclined to grant all kinds of rights to foreigners, even when this comes at the expense of Slovenians.
For a long time, the left has been trying to secure a constitutional majority in order to grant minority rights to immigrants from the former Yugoslavia – Croats, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosnians, Albanians, and Roma. The reason? Because we once lived in a common state. Well, if that is the reason: Slovenians also lived in the common Habsburg state (the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, and Austria‑Hungary), and for much longer than in Yugoslavia. By that logic, we would have to grant minority rights to Germans, separately to Austrians, Sudeten Germans, Alsatians, and “Reich Germans”, as well as to the Welsers of South Tyrol, Czechs, Moravians, Silesians, Poles, Lorrainers, Burgundians, Flemings, Walloons, Luxembourgers, Dutch, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Ukrainians. Since in Habsburg Galicia there must also have been some Russians, Belarusians, Cossacks, or Tatars, we would have to grant rights to them as well. And also, to Romanians, Moldovans, Vlachs, Turks from Bosnia, Muslims from Sandžak, and Jews – both Sephardic and Ashkenazi. And of course, to colonial subjects from the Philippines to Mexico and everyone in between. Ah yes, we also lived in Napoleon’s empire, “Illyria revived” and all that, so by this logic the French, Bretons, and Corsicans could also be considered minorities.
This would, of course, mean the end of Slovenia, but that would not bother the left if it allowed them to show how progressive, multicultural, and all‑inclusive they are. The collapse of Slovenia is, for them, a small price to pay. And we must not forget that their undisputed leader from Murgle – by his own words – never considered Slovenia an “intimate option”. So why would it be an intimate option for his loyal followers…
