On 25 June 1991 the Slovenian Assembly passed the Basic Constitutional Charter and the Declaration of Independence, the culmination of years of yearning and months of preparations to break away from the former Yugoslavia.

The charter was passed on the basis of a December 1990 plebiscite when 88.2% of the voters opted to break away from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The referendum result was a reflection the unity which fuelled independence efforts in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

Unity which only grew when Slovenia was forced to repel an attack by the Yugoslav People's Army in a ten-day war.

With Yugoslav forces trying to wrest back control of key installations, the Slovenian Territorial Defence stood up, causing a stand-off which in the morning of 27 June resulted in the first shots which then developed into a ten-day war of independence.

The hostilities resulted in the deaths of 19 Slovenian soldiers and police, 12 foreign civilians and 44 soldiers of the Yugoslav People's Army, according to official accounts. Another 192 Slovenian soldiers were injured, while the JLA saw 146 soldiers injured and nearly 5,000 captured.

The fighting ended on 7 July 1991 when Slovenia pledged in an EU-brokered declaration to suspend its independence efforts for three months.

When the moratorium expired in October 1991, Yugoslav troops left Slovenia and the country introduced its own currency and eventually obtained international recognition in the months thereafter.

A driving force of the independence efforts, unity remains a central topic - even if more of a wish - today, when everyday issues commonly become subject to political squabbling along ideological lines dating all the way back to divisions from WWII.

A desire to overcome this once and for all was highlighted by President Borut Pahor in his address to the national ceremony on Tuesday evening.

Pahor announced he would launch dialogue addressing the most delicate patriotic issues, such as those stemming from recent history and use of symbols.

This after differences were again on display ahead of National Day, as the Association for the Values of Slovenian Independence cancelled its attendance in protest against the presence of flags by the WWII Veterans' Association which bear the Communist red star.

The association is instead scheduled to stage its own ceremony together with several municipalities near Ljubljana today, at which Democratic Party (SDS) leader Janez Janša has been announced as the keynote speaker.

Janša, a central independence figure, is expected to address the event via video link from prison, after he began serving a two-year prison term stemming from his conviction in the Patria bribery trial last week.

His case - he has maintained his innocence and accused political opponents of orchestrating the trial against him - has become subject to divisions based predominantly on political convictions.