US embassy cable - 05LJUBLJANA206

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000206 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/NCE 
DEPT FOR OES/CASHDOLLAR 
AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST FOR POSNER-MULLEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIS, SENV, SI 
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: "WE DON'T HAVE WHALES, BUT WE WANT TO 
JOIN THE IWC ANYWAY" 
 
REF: SECSTATE 52722 
 
1. (SBU) Econoff and Econ Specialist delivered reftel talking 
points 30 March to Emil Ferjancic, Post's chief interlocutor 
at the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).  Ferjancic stated 
Slovenia is considering joining the International Whaling 
Commission (IWC) and ratifying the Convention.  He said that 
Slovenia has been demarched by other EU member states on the 
same topic.  Ferjancic said the MOE feels it "has to" support 
the IWC and was already moving in that direction prior to the 
delivery of reftel points.  He noted, however, that while the 
Minister for the Environment, Janez Podobnik, would support 
Slovenia's membership, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) may balk 
at the costs. 
 
2. (SBU) Econoff also delivered reftel points 31 March to 
Jasna Lhotka, Head of the MFA's Division for International 
Organizations.  Lhotka, who has been in close contact with 
Ferjancic on this matter, told Econoff that Slovenia "should 
ratify" the Convention in order to "contribute to the 
conservation" of whales.  She said the MFA has been pushing 
the government to ratify the Convention "for years" and 
seemed pleased that some action was finally being taken. 
Despite the lack of a direct interest in Slovenia due to the 
fact that whales are not regularly present in Slovenian 
waters, Lhotka said given Slovenia's active participation in 
other conventions to protect endangered species, Slovenia 
needed to be a part of the IWC as well.  She said Germany, 
the UK and New Zealand have all encouraged Slovenia to ratify 
the Convention.  However, Lhotka echoed Ferjancic's concern 
that the MOF may attempt to block the ratification due to the 
costs involved. 
 
3. (SBU) Comment: The specter of the budget once again proves 
to be a problem for Slovenia.  The budget deficit is a 
growing concern and one of the major challenges facing the 
GOS as it attempts to adhere to the Maastricht criteria. 
With adoption of the Euro as the primary economic goal of 
Slovenia over the coming two years, it often seems that all 
attention at the MOF is focused on deficit reduction. 
However, even if the MOF ultimately does give its support, 
actual ratification is far from certain.  Even with clear and 
strong support at the Ministerial level, whether or not the 
Parliament will ratify a convention which the casual Slovene 
observer might question the logic for remains to be seen. 
End Comment. 
ROBERTSON 
 
 
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 2005LJUBLJ00206 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED 


 
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