Slovenia was the richest of the former Yugoslav republics, with strong tourism and roads connecting Europe to the Adriatic. Since independence, the UN embargo on trade with Serbia has meant loss of a large market and an end to cheap Serbian raw materials. Slovenia is lowering wages and increasing productivity to compensate. The EU should be doing more for Serbia, but it isn’t. Relations with Croatia are good but complicated by several issues. Slovenian leaders criticize the west for failing to intervene earlier to stop Serbia's aggression against a UN-recognized state, and for terming the Bosnian war civil or ethnic.
Slovenia was the richest of the former Yugoslav republics, with strong tourism and roads connecting Europe to the Adriatic. Since independence, the UN embargo on trade with Serbia has meant loss of a large market and an end to cheap Serbian raw materials. Slovenia is lowering wages and increasing productivity to compensate. It is privatizing industries and implementing market reforms, determined to become a market-oriented, multi-party, parliamentary democracy. Relations with Croatia are good but complicated by several issues. Slovenian leaders criticize the west for failing to intervene earlier to stop Serbia's aggression against a UN-recognized state, and for terming the Bosnian war civil or ethnic.