European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has said she expects Serbia to hand over archives of former Yugoslav security services relating to Slovenia, as the issue threatens to become a point of contention in Belgrade’s EU accession process.
Speaking to Slovenian media on 4 November, as she presented the European Commission’s annual enlargement package, Kos said unresolved bilateral issues between EU member states and candidate countries should be addressed in a European spirit. She pointed to the 2001 Agreement on Succession Issues of the former Yugoslavia, signed by six successor states, including Serbia and Slovenia, stressing the importance of respecting past agreements and maintaining good neighbourly relations. However, she also said she expected Slovenia to support Serbia’s EU accession negotiations and believed outstanding issues could be resolved bilaterally, without ultimatums.
Janša has called on Serbia to hand over all archival material from the former Yugoslav security services relating to Slovenia, arguing that the obligation stems from the succession agreement. He reiterated that Serbia, as one of the successor states, must return property and archival documents belonging to the former Yugoslav republics.
His Democratic Party (SDS) had previously raised the issue in response to the student-led movement’s electoral success in Serbia.
Belgrade maintains that the relevant secret service files have been destroyed. According to an official response received by the Archives of Slovenia several years ago, archival collections of the Federal Secretariat for Internal Affairs, which included the former State Security Service, known as UDBA, were destroyed or severely damaged during the 1999 NATO bombing of the Interior Ministry building.
Slovenia’s Foreign Ministry has said it will continue to insist on the transfer of documents covered by Annex D of the 2001 succession agreement, which provides for immediate and unhindered access to the archives of the former common state. Ljubljana also proposed in 2014 that archival material shared by the successor countries and not subject to division should be digitised.
The initiative has since been accepted by all parties, with discussions under way on its implementation. However, the ministry maintains that digitisation cannot replace the return of materials to which Slovenia is entitled in their original form.
