[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 27, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S1268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING JANEZ DRNOVSEK

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I have come to the floor to pay tribute to 
a good friend, Janez Drnovsek, who passed away on Saturday. Dr. 
Drnovsek served as the second Prime Minister of Slovenia from 1992 to 
2002, and as President from 2002 to 2007. In these and other 
capacities, he played a truly historic role in giving birth to a free 
and independent Slovenia, while avoiding the bloodshed and warfare that 
engulfed other nations as they seceded from the former Yugoslavia.
  Dr. Drnovsek was born on May 17, 1950, in Celje. He graduated from 
the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Economics. In 1986, he 
finished his doctoral studies in economic science at the University of 
Maribor. In 1994, he received an honorary doctorate from Boston 
University. In 2004 he was named Protector and Honorary Senator of the 
European Academy of Sciences and Arts in Salzburg.
  But Dr. Drnovsek will be best remembered as a statesman of enormous 
ability, vision, and courage. A brilliant economist, he unleashed the 
entrepreneurial spirit of the Slovenian people and played a historic 
role in establishing his new nation as a robust democracy with one of 
the most successful economies in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, 
thanks in large measure to Dr. Drnovsek's leadership, Slovenia is a 
full member of the European Union and NATO, and a force for stability 
and democratic reform across the Balkans.
  The world looks at Slovenia's success in the nearly 17 years since 
she declared independence, and it wonders: How could a nation of just 2 
million people accomplish so much in so short period of time? As an 
American, I know the answer. Bear in mind that, when Jefferson wrote 
the Declaration of Independence, America was also a nation of just 2 
million people. Like Slovenians in 1991, Americans in 1776 dared to 
break away from a much larger and more powerful mother country. Like 
Slovenians, Americans demanded a democratic course for their new 
country.
  But the most important parallel between our two countries is this: 
Historians of the American Revolution have marveled that a tiny nation 
of just 2 million people was blessed with such an extraordinary 
collection of thinkers and leaders, including Washington, Jefferson, 
and Franklin. At this crucial crossroads in Slovenia's history, it, 
too, has been blessed with extraordinary leaders. And Dr. Drnovsek will 
be remembered as one of the most talented of these Founding Fathers.
  On a personal note, I was very fortunate to spend time with President 
Drnovsek during my trip to Slovenia in August 2005. Clearly, he was an 
independent thinker and a free spirit. One obituary in the Washington 
Post on Sunday noted that in his youth and early adulthood, he was a 
member of the Communist Party, which was the only political force in 
the former Yugoslavia. But he was never a Communist at heart, and he 
made a point of going off to ski whenever the party held a congress.
  Mr. President, with the passing of Dr. Janez Drnovsek, the world has 
lost an important leader and a wonderfully decent human being. He was 
instrumental in founding and nurturing a free, democratic, successful 
Slovenia. History will not forget him, nor will the citizens of his 
grateful nation.

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