Public personalities, including Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek and the former head of the government reforms committee Mico Mrkaic, have sent a petition to the government, calling on it to cancel plans for a military parade to mark the 15th anniversary of Slovenia's independence.
"The anniversary of the statehood should not be drowned by the sound of military boots! The National Day deserves a peaceful celebration," the signatories believe.

They also called on the cabinet to explain why it had opted for the parade and to reveal its costs.

The document, published on the web site of the left-leaning Mladina weekly on Friday, was also signed by the head of the recently abolished Commission for the Prevention of Corruption Drago Kos, academic Spomenka Hribar alongside several other distinguished personalities.

Meanwhile President Janez Drnovsek has reiterated his position that the current manner of marking the day is adequate and that a military parade is unnecessary.

Upon visiting the town of Ivancna Gorica (central Slovenia) Drnovsek added that he does not know yet whether or not he will join the celebration, as the government has not yet decided on how it will mark the event.

The government removed a discussion on plans for celebrating the National Day from the agenda of its Thursday's session after the proposal to mark the day with a military parade had been criticised by Drnovsek.

Drnovsek called the parade "inappropriate and unnecessary" on Wednesday. "Military parades have become a rare form of state celebrations in developed democracies," he said.

Meanwhile the Saturday edition of Delo, Slovenia's largest broadsheet daily, quoted a 1985 statement by PM Janez Jansa, who then wrote in Mladina that experiences show that the more backwards a nation the larger its celebrations.