Euro Balkan Brotherhood in New Millennium - Foreign Policy Strategy of the Republic of Slovenia towards the Republic of Serbia (2000-2011)
Euro Balkan Brotherhood in New Millennium - Foreign Policy Strategy of the Republic of Slovenia towards the Republic of Serbia (2000-2011)

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the Foreign Policy strategy of the Republic of Slovenia towards the Republic of Serbia from 2000 to 2011, focusing on Slovenian interests and based on the theory of foreign policy of small states. Slovenia’s independence from former SFRY in 1991 was not only a political, but an ideological departure from the Balkans. By joining the EU in 2004, the small state of Slovenia fulfilled one of its most important foreign policy goals. By strategically focusing back to the region where most of Slovenia’s advantages (political, economic, historical, etc) lay, enabled Slovenia to achieve its foreign policy goals of a new millennium: obtaining credibility in the EU by building a ‘bridge’ between the EU and Serbia, while consolidating its position in the area. This article addresses the development of the Slovenian Foreign Policy priorities from the former SFRY to the EU and back to the Western Balkans and Serbia as a part of it. The actions regarding Serbia’s EU bid, preventive diplomacy during Kosovo declaration of independence, intense development cooperation and thus enabling Slovenian economy to develop even more in Serbia, proved Slovenian foreign policy towards Serbia as a success.

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