At today's 31st extraordinary session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, presented the Programme of Slovenia's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. He said that the Presidency was a project on a national level in which the role of the National Assembly was very important.

 

(Photo: Kristina Kosec/Bobo)

 

The PM presented deputies with five Presidency priorities, putting ratification of the Reform Treaty by member states first, and highlighting the fact that this was an extremely sensitive process. "There are no guarantees that there will be no accidents," he said, adding that everything must be done so that the risk of failure would be minimised. In his view, neither Slovenia nor France, which is presiding after Slovenia and will inherit the ratification process, should take risks by opening new issues that could have a negative impact on the ratification. According to the PM, Slovenia could ratify the document at the beginning of 2008. Slovenia aspires to find, when it hands over the Presidency to France, that the majority of member states have ratified the Treaty and that there is a real possibility that the document has been universally accepted.

 

The second priority is the energy and climate package. "Our task is to distribute duties with regard to fighting climate change among member states," said the PM, who believes this would demand a lot of energy. Slovenia is not saying that it will resolve all the issues; however, Mr Janša believes that this would certainly be good. "What is at stake here is what we Europeans cherish the most: quality of life," stressed the PM, adding that it was impossible to expect that we would succeed in this respect if we apply different criteria to others than to ourselves.  

 

The third priority is the implementation of the renewed Lisbon Strategy aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the European economy. He said that it had become evident at the last EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon that Europe must increase development aid to third countries if it is to maintain its position as a global stakeholder.

 

With regard to the fourth priority, enlargement and European neighbourhood policy, the PM is convinced that the focus of the Slovenian Presidency will be the Western Balkans. Within this priority lies the greatest challenge – the future status of Kosovo. The PM explained that in the next steps regarding this issue, Slovenia will pursue two goals: "A solution that will not retain the status quo and will provide stability, and a solution which will ensure the unity of the EU. This is not going to be easy." The PM also said that by adopting a common position on the issue last week, the European Council had made this burden somewhat easier.

 

The fifth priority is inter-cultural dialogue. According to the PM, this will not run only within the EU, but in cooperation with the Western Balkans, Mediterranean countries and other stakeholders. There will be many activities. If everything goes according to plan, a Euro-Mediterranean University can be established in the Primorska region next year.

 

In addition, some other tasks will be on the agenda of the Slovenian Presidency, including the enlargement of the Schengen Area on air borders, the introduction of the euro in two new member states, Malta and Cyprus, and tasks pertaining to other areas, including health, transport and cohesion policy.

 

According to the PM, preparations for Slovenia's Presidency of the Council of the European Union have been carried out according to plan and schedule. Slovenia will begin this task proudly and ambitiously.