Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Hungary Ksenija Skrilec spoke at CEU as part of the Ambassadorial Lecture series, a joint program of CEU's Center for EU Enlargement Studies (CENS) and the CEU Rectorate. Skrilec's Nov. 23 talk “Slovenia: 25 years, achievements and new challenges” focused on three elements: 1) the development of Slovenian-Hungarian bilateral relations 2) the challenge of mass migration and 3) achievements of gender equality in Slovenia.
Slovenia is one of the countries that has been affected by the economic crisis, but the ambassador noted that it is on the right path toward exiting from the crisis. Its priority is to establish a stable and predictable business environment, to consolidate public finances and to increase competitiveness. Skrilec highlighted that export is the engine of growth and that Hungary is Slovenia’s 6th largest trading partner. One of the strongest areas for the country is tourism which provides jobs for every tenth employee.
She continued by saying that Slovenia and Hungary maintain excellent political relations and have bilateral agreements in almost all fields. One of the strongest connecting points between the two nations is the protection of minorities. However, she emphasized that more could be done in the area of economy, infrastructure, energy and culture.
Skrilec also talked about the refugee crisis issue. Slovenia is the smallest country on the Balkan route and, since Oct. 17, more than 255,000 migrants have entered Slovenia. She outlined that the mini summit in Brussels that took place on Oct. 26 has improved cooperation and information exchange, but there is still a lot to be done. She called for solving problems along the entire route from Greece onwards.
She concluded her speech by speaking about the role of women in the Slovenian society and political decision-making. There is a high share of female politicians in the government: 36 percent of MPs and 43 percent of ministers, according to a Deloitte survey. Furthermore, the gender pay gap is considerably low. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report ranked Slovenia at the 9th place. Also, some 15 percent of board positions in large companies are occupied by women which is higher than the EU average.
Slovenia was the 11th EU nation to approve same-sex marriages in March 2015, which makes it the first country to do so out of those that joined the EU in 2004 or after. This law will probably be contested in a referendum on December 20. If the law is implemented, Slovenia will become the first country in Central Europe (in the former Soviet bloc) and the first Slavic country to allow same-sex marriages. According to the Eurobarometer data from this year, 54 percent of Slovenians think that same-sex marriages should be allowed throughout Europe.
The discussion was chaired by Peter Balazs, director of CENS and former Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs.





