document: The lawmakers who replaced the Communists as leaders of the prosperous northern republic of Slovenia have proclaimed the state 's full sovereignty , but stopped short of calling for secession . There was no immediate reaction to the Slovenian declaration from federal authorities or from rival Serbia . Monday 's parliamentary declaration provides for establishing an independent legal system that would take precedence over federal laws and for Slovenian control over armed forces stationed in the republic , state media said . The document said Slovenia should adopt a new democratic constitution within the next 12 months , but made no mention of earlier calls for the republic to secede from the troubled Yugoslav federation . The media said a joint session of the republic 's 240-seat legislature voted unanimously to adopt the Declaration of Sovereignty of the State of Slovenia . Slovenia contains 2 million of Yugoslavia 's total population of 23 million . The Ljubljana nightly television news said the declaration asked Slovenian authorities to `` assume control over units of the -LRB- Yugoslav -RRB- armed forces stationed on Slovenian territory , '' and said a 30 percent cut in defense spending would be implemented . A coalition of center-right parties formed a new government last month in Slovenia , the most prosperous of Yugoslavia 's six republics , after trouncing reform Communists in the first free state elections held in Communist-ruled Yugoslavia in 45 years . The republic 's new authorities demand that Yugoslavia transform itself into a loose confederation of sovereign states . They threaten that Slovenia will declare full independence from Yugoslavia if the remaining republics do not accept its proposals for a confederation . Yugoslavia , including Slovenia , was created in 1918 . Premier Lojze Peterle and other Slovenian leaders also say Slovenia should take urgent steps to join the European Community , no matter what Yugoslavia 's Communist-ruled southern states say . The demands have been echoed in Croatia , the country 's second-largest state . A center-right party came to power there last month in free elections . The hard-line Communist government in the largest state of Serbia vehemently opposes turning Yugoslavia into a confederation . Serbia rejects Western-style democracy and does not plan to hold free elections for at least another year . The Slovenian declaration also said police should take over control of frontiers with neighboring Italy and Austria , replacing border guards deployed for the past 45 years by Yugoslavia 's Communist government , Ljubljana TV said . It said the state would establish its own intelligence and counter-intelligence services , that would be independent of their Communist-controlled federal counterparts . The adoption of a declaration of sovereignty has been under discussion in the new Parliament since the new government was installed in May . Slovenia 's president , Milan Kucan , has said that Slovenia intends to proclaim sovereignty as part of its drive for liberal political and economic reform in Yugoslavia . The timing of Monday 's proclamation by Slovenia may have been affected by Serbia 's sudden decision last week to hold a special referendum Sunday and Monday on adopting consitutional reforms that would virtually destroy any remaining autonomy for its troubled province of Kosovo . Slovenia and Croatia increasingly have sided with Kosovo 's ethnic Albanian majority in its drive for autonomy from Serbia . In Kosovo 's capital of Pristina , after Serbian police on Monday barred about 100 ethnic Albanian deputies from entering the province 's Parliament , about 40 deputies proclaimed Kosovo equal to the six Yugoslav republics . The deputies want to revoke a constitutional amendment that gave Serbia almost total control over Kosovo .
extractive_keyphrases: full sovereignty slovenian declaration federal authorities independent legal system slovenian control yugoslav republics troubled yugoslav federation loose confederation
abstractive_keyphrases: communist-ruled yugoslavia