Eleven years after its enactment, the Denationalization [Restitution] Law of 1991 still remains one of the most important acts of the democratic social order in the Republic of Slovenia. The Restitution Law was the first legislation which exposed the full extent of inhumanity of the communist regime and held forth the possibility of correcting the injustice in the domain of private property rights.

Since its inception, implementation of the Denationalization [Restitution] Law represented the arena in which the fledgling Slovenian democracy is confronting the communist practices which remain very much alive. The most important government institutions remain obdurate in their hostility toward property restitution and the situation is becoming a political problem of increasing importance.

Since 1992 Slovenia has been under control of a leftist political group consisting of the leaders of the reorganized communist regime. This is the root cause of the subversion of restitution to its antithesis.

Rather than willingly and timely return the confiscated properties, Slovenia seeks new ways as how to delay, thwart, or altogether evade its responsibility.

The victims of expropriation note with dismay that the mere statistics of how many cases have been "resolved" (both favorably and unfavorably) do not show how well the government complies with the law. Rather, it is important to examine how have these cases been resolved. There have been altogether too many unjust "resolutions" because of invidious interpretations of existing laws to the detriment of the claimants. Moreover, changes in legislation were made in the course of its implementation with the sole purpose to reduce or otherwise infringe on the rights of the claimants. All this leads to enduring discrimination against the claimants. Generally, discrimination is widely practiced in the domain of property rights. Denationalization does not merely involve the return of seized property. It addresses, first and foremost, the credibility and trustworthiness of the government, its respect for the rule of law and legal obligations and, above all, respect for human rights.

It is noteworthy that the Republic of Slovenia is not carrying out the recommendations set forth in the Resolution 1096 of the Council of Europe, adopted in 1996, a declaration of which Slovenia is a signatory.

Because of numerous negative developments in the process of attempted recovery of expropriated properties, Slovenian expropriated persons ask the following questions:

1. Will the adverse approach to property restitution -- and by extension to the European concept of property rights and human rights -- continue in the future, that is, after the Republic of Slovenia becomes a member of the European Union?

2. Will the European legal order in its entirety become applicable in Slovenia at least after its admission to the European Union? Will the discriminatory practices in the less visible aspects of private property rights (rental properties, users' rights, hunting...) that have been interfering with Slovenian owners of expropriated property for eleven years, cease following Slovenia's admission?

3. Will the non-European laws and their inherent communist discriminatory practices, which are now being drafted in Slovenia (such as, for example, the law on rental properties), continue the unjust practices in the domain of private property and its use for many years after Slovenia' admission to EU?

4. May we expect, that the Republic of Slovenia will be in the course of the final negotiations for its admission to EU, called upon to immediately apply European norms in matters concerning private property and faithfully and without discrimination respect the human rights in the process of returning unjustly seized properties?

5. Will a government which does not observe its own laws (for example the Denationalization [Restitution] Law) and which in introducing new legislation (e.g., the Law on Rental Properties) seeks solutions based on the communist approach to private property, be able to function as a full member of the European Union?

6. May the Slovenian owners of expropriated property expect that Slovenia's entry in the European Union wil bring to an end our ten year's conflict with our own government which is still infested with persons and ideology of 45 years of communist heritage.

Notwithstanding our worst experiences we hope that hope still remains.