7

Slovenia is facing a specific form of dictatorship, a monopoly that has survived through the unsuccessful transition and is a key cause of the general crisis in the country, Janša said.

One political bloc controls social sub-systems that should be independent of government, he added.

Turning to the media, Janša berated news outlets for their reporting on claims by an investigator of Yugoslav-era archives, Roman Leljak, who says he unearthed documents showing that Communist secret police carried out political assassinations abroad.

The media in neighbouring countries have been extensively covering "how the boss of the Slovenian UDBA signed off an order to kill a man", but the story was not present in Slovenian media "with a few exceptions," he said.

According to Janša, this shows that Slovenia is not living up to the standards of a quarter century ago.

"The fact that there are murderers among us wielding huge influence but are unpunished and not persecuted despite evidence, is not news for the majority of Slovenian media."

In a similar vein, Dimitrij Rupel, former foreign minister, said Slovenia is stuck in a dead-end street due to "networks that survived independence due to the generosity of democratic forces."

The current government has been trying to "falsify victories and defeats", an illustration of the "old system of government - dictatorship".

The news conference was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Slovenian Democratic Union (SDZ), one of the two predecessors of the SDS.