page_title: Milan Kučan
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: Milan Kučan / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Milan Kučan and Vladimir Putin in 2002 at Novo-Ogaryovo
context_page_description: Milan Kučan is a Slovene politician who served as the first President of Slovenia from 23 December 1991 until 22 December 2002. Before being president of Slovenia, he was the 13th President of the Presidency of SR Slovenia from 10 May 1990 to 23 December 1991.
  Kučan also served as the 7th President of the League of Communists of Slovenia from May 1986 until December 1989.
context_section_description: Slovenia was the first of the federal units of Yugoslavia to introduce multi-party democracy and the first multi-party elections were held in April 1990. Kučan was elected President of the Presidency, then a collective body, in 1990, in a ballot against the DEMOS candidate Jože Pučnik.
  Kučan strongly opposed the preservation of Yugoslavia through violent means. After the concept of a loose confederation had failed to gain support by the republics of Yugoslavia, Kučan favoured a controlled process of non-violent disassociation that would enable the collaboration of the former Yugoslav nations on a new, different basis.
  Slovenia declared its independence on 25 June 1991. In his speech on the occasion, Kučan ended with the words: "Today dreams are allowed, tomorrow is a new day." On June 26, Yugoslav army embarked on troop movements that later escalated into the Ten-Day War. At the peace talks began at Brioni, with the European Community as a mediator, the Army started its withdrawal from Slovenia. Kučan represented Slovenia at the peace conference on former Yugoslavia in the Hague and Brussels which concluded that the former Yugoslav nations were free to determine their future as independent states. On May 22, 1992 Kučan represented Slovenia as it became a new member of the United Nations.
  After the independence and the international recognition of Slovenia, Kučan was elected as the first President of Slovenia in 1992 with the support of the citizens list. He won another five-year term in 1997-2002, running again as an independent and again winning the majority in the first round.
  His presidency ended in December 2002. He was succeeded as President by Janez Drnovšek.
  In March 2003 Slovenia held two referendums on joining the EU and NATO. Milan Kučan took an active part in campaigning for these memberships, in order for Slovenia to achieve the goals it had set upon its independence. In May 2004, Slovenia became a full member of both the EU and NATO.
  Since November 2004, Kučan has been a member of the Club of Madrid, an association of former democratic statesmen that works to strengthen democratic governance. He chairs the International Collegium together with Michel Rocard, former French Prime Minister. Since 2004 he is the chairman of Forum 21, a Slovene left-wing think-tank reflecting on issues of relevance for the future development of Slovenia and its position in a global society.
  Kučan is also a Member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, a not-for-profit organization established in 2008 to monitor tolerance in Europe and make recommendations on fighting xenophobia and intolerance on the continent.
caption: Kučan with Vladimir Putin in 2002
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:10:22 11:04:29", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "176", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "338", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4602", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF SubSecTime": "218", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "500", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "334"}