The Slovene retail chain Mercator bought many stores in ex-Yugoslav states, expecting the standard of living to rise as their countries got closer to EU membership.
For example, with accession safely accomplished, the Slovene parliament voted to close down an EU-inspired anticorruption commission, which had to be saved by the country's constitutional court.
It took -- for an arms embargo which has already been initiated by the U.N. against Libya -- three months from the declaration of Slovene and Croatian independence for the imposition of an arms embargo.
These and other figures have offered a common assessment -- and a common prescription: German endorsement of the Croat and Slovene declarations of independence would grievously complicate efforts to end the fighting and, therefore, Germany must continue to be bound by an international consensus that denies such recognition for the foreseeable future.