Today we celebrate Independence and Unity Day. Today we celebrate the day that we decided to live in our own country. But this did not happen overnight. This decision was the culmination of a thousand years of efforts to build the two pillars of Slovenian sovereignty. The first pillar has always been a democratic society of equals. In Carantania, the first Slovenian state, the Carantanian prince was elected by direct ballot – the people. And after his election, the people approached him and gave him two symbolic slaps on the face as a lasting reminder that he was only the first among equals. This tradition has stood the test of time, as someone in my position can attest to, receiving a slap or two every single day, so as not to forget that I am only the first among equals. The second pillar is our culture and the Slovenian language. Some of you know that I come from Solkan, located near Nova Gorica and Soča. The first mention of Solkan as a town was, believe it or not, a thousand years ago, in the Slovenian language. And to this day, the people of Solkan are proud of having preserved, throughout this millennium, both the Slovenian language and our special pronunciation of the letter G that has made us the envy of the whole country. Where we fail sometimes is the dual. That is our weak spot. But we cannot have it all. In the course of time, the turmoil of history took away our democratic society. We lost it somewhere along the way. But what we did not lose in the process was our culture and our language. And language and culture were what made it possible for the Slovene nation to survive through history. I will not list all the men, as well as women, whom we have to thank for that.

Instead, I will go back to Cankarjev dom, the place we are at today. Even before the referendum, it was the artists who set an example, who guided us. And they were the driving force in the fight to restore democracy in Slovenia. This was followed by a plebiscite. This was followed by the day, 23 December 1990, when nearly 90 percent of all citizens made their decision and went to the polls. Nearly 95 of whom voted yes. It was a day of unity. It was a day of which we can be rightfully proud, a day that was, and still is, the envy of the entire Europe and the world. Because we were able to unite in reaching this uniquely important decision. Later, we somehow managed to retain this unity in decisions concerning the Euro-Atlantic Integration. We joined the European Union. We joined NATO and adopted the euro. We joined the Schengen area. Things might have gone a little off course after that. It felt as if we had reached the end of our history. But history is never-ending, and periods of bounty and prosperity are always followed by periods of uncertainty and challenges. And that has also been the case in Slovenia.

A few years ago, nearly half a million refugees crossed our land in search of a better life. And in response, we started putting up barriers. First on the border, then in our heads. Today we know that barriers do not work, so we are taking them down.

This was followed by the Covid pandemic. And once again, we started building walls. We built walls on our borders, we built walls between our municipalities and in our homes. We fenced ourselves off from our fellow citizens, our friends, our loved ones, even our families. Today, we are determined to live with Covid as an open society. Today we are determined to face this disease in a way that does not mean giving up our loved ones, our friends and families. We want to socialise freely, in spite of the disease. We want no more walls in our heads.

In February this year, Russia attacked Ukraine. This war has plunged the entire Europe into a major crisis. One that is not only an energy or a food crisis. This crisis demanded firm and effective action on all levels. And we took decisive steps. We capped prices. We increased child benefits, we increased salaries, we increased pensions. And our response to the energy and food crisis has been admirable. Our response is considered one of the most successful in Europe. The same Europe that we idealised before joining. Our expectations were enormous. We thought that it was a land of milk and honey and that we would be taken care of there. Later, of course, we were bitterly disappointed in the Europe that we had feared for many years and therefore remained isolated in. Until we began to realise that Europe was really us, and that our place, our reputation and our power in Europe depended only on ourselves. They depend on our knowledge and on our courage. You see, I can also pronounce the letter G without the H sound.

Let me tell you a story from Europe. It was at a session of the European Council in Brussels which lasted all day. All day long, we, the government representatives, i.e. the prime ministers, challenged each other with arguments, everyone striving to promote their own particular interests. There was no solution in sight. We were very much divided, to put it simply. Then the evening came, we had dinner and we sat down at a round table. It was two in the morning when we finally came to realise that no country, no matter how small or big, when trying to advance its own interests, can achieve anything unless these interests are based on the two principles of Europe, which are solidarity and unity. Solidarity between our countries and unity to seek only the solutions that we can all agree on. And so at two in the morning, we reached a unified position that the message we had to get across was that we were united in our fight for energy prosperity. And we did succeed in getting this message out. The following day, Europe managed to save tens of billions of euros in a single night. In Slovenia alone, we were richer by 400 million, thanks to just one night of solidarity and unity. That is the strength of Europe that I am talking about. That is the strength of unity, the strength that we showed when we went to vote on independence and the strength that we have to demonstrate at European level every day. Because only in this way can we effectively face global challenges. And Slovenia, our reputation and our strength in Europe are all based solely on our knowledge and courage. If we lack the knowledge or courage, no one will step in to save us from global challenges.

Where do we get our self-confidence from? We get it from a national vision that was first articulated ninety years ago by intellectual Josip Vidmar, who said that we wished to build a new Athens and a new Florence on this soil: Athens as a symbol of democracy, Florence as a symbol of culture and the enlightenment. We want to live in a country that is democratic, based on an open society, on the rule of law and respect for human rights. One that is built on solidarity for all, and in which the weakest members will be taken care of. At the same time, however, we do not want to forget our culture; on the contrary, we want to give it a special place, because it is the culture that is responsible for our existence as a nation. That is why we are going to build a new Slovenian National Theatre Drama Ljubljana. In doing so, we are aware that the path to a better future is based, as I have highlighted before, on one crucial thing, which is knowledge. That is the reason why we are also going to build a new National University Library – NUK II. And just as we were united on Independence Day 32 years ago, we will have to stand united now in how we face and tackle all the planned reforms in the coming year. We will have to be united in undertaking the health reform in such a way as to preserve the public health system, putting the patient at the centre of healthcare and making the public health system accessible to everyone. And to ensure that the public health system will actually do its job. Furthermore, we will have to stand united in the reform of justice and education, and in the reform of the tax and pension systems. Only if we are united in seeking solutions will we be able to find those that suit us best,as this is the key to the issue. When we start the process of finding solutions, everyone has their own opinion and their own point of view. And it should be so, because we want the problems to be illuminated from all possible perspectives. However, at the end of the day or at the end of the night, or even at the end of several months, we need to reach a unified position in order to carry out the reforms. Because this is the only way to build a modern country, a modern Slovenia, of which we will all be proud, wherever in the world we might have the opportunity to present it.

Dear Slovenians, I congratulate you on our common holiday, Independence and Unity Day!

Since it is now the most beautiful time of the year and since I believe that the heart-felt warmth in this hall is the same warmth that we all long for as December approaches, I wish you to spend the coming days in peace, both inner peace and the peace of family, and to spend the holidays in the company of those close to you. I wish you to receive an abundance of love and to share that love with fellow human beings. And I also wish you to embrace the new year with immense positive energy and plenty of courage.

Good fortune to you, Slovenia!