SLOVENIA: Slovenian media broadly welcomed the appointment of former Yugoslav dissident Mr Janez Jansa (46) as the country's new prime minister yesterday after he pledged to root out corruption and prepare the new EU member for adoption of the euro in 2007.
Mr Jansa easily won the approval of parliament to become premier, riding on the victory of his Slovene Democratic Party (SDP) in last month's general election, when it ended more than a decade in power for the centre-left Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
All eyes are on who Mr Jansa will include in his cabinet after softening tough campaign criticism of opponents with a conciliatory acceptance speech on Tuesday night.
"Our main strategic objective is the well-being of Slovenia and all its citizens. I won't promise you 100,000 new jobs, huge economic growth and a swift rise in wages and pensions. But I do promise to lead the country efficiently, justly and honestly."
Despite leading Slovenia's two million people into the EU and NATO this year, the LDP failed to enthuse voters, and watched the SDP almost double its popularity in four years, from 15.8 per cent in 2000 elections to 29 per cent this time.
The run-up to the election was dominated by a clash over a disputed border with Croatia, which saw a dozen right-wing parliamentarians detained and allegedly manhandled by Croatian guards when they tried to cross the frontier without passports.
Mr Jansa first won popularity and patriotic kudos in 1988 when he and three other political dissidents were arrested by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army for allegedly divulging state secrets, It was a case that became a cause celebre in Slovenia by being heard by a military court that only used the Serbo-Croat language.
Two years later, Mr Jansa was Slovenia's defence minister during a victorious 10-day war with federal forces sent by Belgrade to crush the republic's drive for independence.