Slovenia was among the countries with the highest increase in voter turnout in this year's European elections compared to 2019, the 12 percentage point surge to 41.4% coming second only to Hungary's 15 points climb to some 59%.

From June 6th to 9th, around 370 million Europeans will elect 720 members of the new European Parliament, which is 15 more than the current number. Slovenia will have one more MEP, totaling nine.

In the closing decades of the 19th century, there was a noticeable rise in antisemitism sweeping across Europe and in Slovenian lands as well. It was deeply embedded in all layers of the Slovenian society, regardless of the differences in ideology or class, and it was no stranger to Austrian state administration as well, as evidenced by the documents preserved in the fonds of the State Prosecutor’s Office in Ljubljana, pertaining to a rather bizarre case against Abraham Diamant in 1887.

In the 17th century, the Hrastovec seigniory was one of the centres of witchcraft trials. A comprehensive report on the trial of Marina Vukinec, written by the blood court (Blutgericht) judge Volk Lovrenc Lampertič on December 20, 1673, has been preserved. Lampertič was summoned to the Hrastovec Castle by Erazem Friderik Count Herberstein to continue the trial of Marina, who had been imprisoned there together with her husband and other suspects since December 1.

Brežice, as the first of the Slovenian cities, will host the European Youth Event (EYE) from May 23 to 26, 2024. Young people from across the EU will discuss key social issues and exchange ideas about the future of Europe. Prior to Brežice, similar events took place this May in Berlin, Vilnius, and Forlì, Italy.

Did you know that the population of Slovenia has increased by 6 percent since 2004, when we joined the EU? And that in mid-2019, the number of men surpassed the number of women for the first time? Since then, Slovenia has been one of the few EU member states where men outnumber women. The other countries with this demographic characteristic are Sweden, Luxembourg, and Malta.

At a ceremony held at the presidential palace, President Nataša Pirc Musar marked the 20th anniversary of Slovenia's membership in the EU and NATO by awarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and e Negotiating Team for Accession of Slovenia to the EU with the Golden Order of Merit. This recognition was given for their significant contributions to achieving these key foreign policy objectives.

In the first half of 2004, the Presidency of the Council of the EU was held by Ireland, which organised the Day of Welcomes on 1 May 2004 in Phoenix Park, Dublin, for the new Member States. The late Irish Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney wrote a poem for the occasion, entitled Beacons at Bealtaine, which he also read at the event.

Between June 6 and 9, 2024, citizens of the EU Member States will have a chance to elect new members of the 720-seat European Parliament. Elections of nine members from Slovenia will be held on Sunday, June 9. Slovenia elected its first members of the European Parliament on June 13, 2004, just a month and a half after its accession to the European Union. Let us see some of the documents related to this process.

Twenty years on, the largest EU enlargement presents an opportunity to draw lessons from past communication efforts and to prepare for the upcoming EU enlargement, which is once again high on the EU political agenda. For this reason, together with the Club of Venice, we decided to organise a conference in Slovenia, 26 April 2024, and invited Government representatives and communication experts to discuss and share knowledge and experiences on the subject, with a special focus on disinformation.

From 12 to 19 April 2024, the European Youth Week (EYW) will be organised by the European Commission. This event is organised biannually with aim to promote youth engagement, participation and active citizenship of young people all over Europe and beyond. Many activities will take place within this week and a lot of them will focus also on opportunities and achievements of the implementation of the European programmes in the field of youth.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a decision of declaring the year 2024 as the Year of General Rudolf Maister, since it marks the 150th anniversary of his birth and the 90th anniversary of his death. The Archives of the Republic of Slovenia is paying its respect to this great Slovenian man by presenting to the audience a short documentary film that was written and directed by Milan Ljubić. By using documents, photographs and film shots of places where Maister resided, the author of the film portrays a narrative of Maister’s life and work.

Twenty years ago, Slovenians convincingly decided to join the European Union. The referendum took place on March 23, 2003, with nearly 90 percent of voters in favor of accession. Voter turnout was just under 60 percent, and the outcome of the referendum was binding and irrevocable for the national parliament.

If we know the rights and options that we have when shopping or travelling within the EU, we can better utilise the advantages of the European single market while avoiding various problems, risks and unnecessary expenses. Even more – with our awareness, we contribute to a higher quality of goods and services offered and to limiting unfair providers on the domestic or foreign market.

Since independence in 1991, Slovenia's key foreign policy objective was to become a member of the European Union. The National Assembly played an important role in achieving this goal. At the time of accession, its most important "European" tasks were to adapt the Slovenian legal order to European legislation and to approve Slovenia's negotiating positions for the negotiations with the European Commission.

This is the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). It was established in March 2011 by the Third Energy Package legislation and is one of the EU decentralised agencies.

This month's archivalia is a letter from the commander of the Reserve Police Troop »Wien« to the District Councillor in Celje Anton Dorfmeister, in which the German Captain asks for a written praise for his work in Celje or a written recommendation. In addition to having a direct effect on the fates of many inhabitants of Lower Styria, Mechels's wartime activities also left an indelible mark in the Dutch village of Trimunt, where in May 1943 he was responsible for the death of sixteen people.

This May, we are not only celebrating the 20th anniversary of Slovenia's accession to the EU, but also 20 years since the largest EU enlargement. Therefore Belgium, the current Presidency of the Council of the EU, has invited all ten countries that joined the EU at that time to illuminate the European path of the BRIGHT festival in Brussels with light installations.

Twenty years ago, the European Union consisted of 15 member states. In 2004, ten more countries were expected to join them. The enlargement posed a significant challenge in terms of ensuring the continued effectiveness and legitimacy of EU institutions. For example, only two of the candidate countries had a population larger than the average of the existing member states, which would mean that the political power of smaller countries would disproportionately increase after the enlargement.

The family of the famous diplomat Sigmund Herberstein is first recorded in Styria at the end of the 13th century. From the beginning of the 15th century, one of the family’s feudal estates was also the seigniory of Lupoglav. In 1525, however, the family decided to exchange their estates in Istria and in the Karst for the Neuberg Castle and two villages near Hrastovec. In February 1524, Sigmund wrote an interesting letter to his Estates's colleagues, informing them about this exchange of his family’s estates and stressing that the Herbersteins had no intention of continuing to pay taxes into the treasury of the Carniolan Estates.