On the first day of the European Council meeting in Brussels, chaired by its current President, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, the EU Heads of State or Government focused in the main on rising food and fuel prices and the situation that had emerged after the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty last week.

 

(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

They have not yet adopted final conclusions as the discussion will continue tomorrow. “At dinner, we heard the Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s assessment of the reasons behind the ‘no’ vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and opened a discussion on the subject,” explained Prime Minister Janez Janša at the end of the first day of the last European Council under the Slovenian Presidency. “Our discussions were frank, aimed at exchanging views and at assessing the consequences of this outcome for both Ireland and the European Union,” said the Premier at the press conference, going on to add that, at the end of discussion, several proposals had been formulated which would be examined in detail during the next day’s discussions.

 

PM Janez Janša and his colleague Brian Cowen(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

“Our discussions so far have indicated the great unity of resolve on the part of European Council members to find a solution to this situation. There is an exceptional readiness to deal with this situation, since we are all aware that the European Union needs fresh answers to global challenges,” stressed Mr Janša. He went on to add that this was the basis on which the European Council members were seeking solutions. The Prime Minister said that no deadline would be set for Ireland to outline practical proposals for dealing with this situation.

 

(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

The Prime Minister also expressed his firm belief that the European Union would find a solution to the Lisbon Treaty issue before the next candidate countries were ready to join the EU. “I see no point in focusing on the area of enlargement as being the key victim. It is not the key issue,” stressed the Premier. He underlined, in this regard, that there was no reason for candidate countries seeking EU membership to delay the necessary reforms in any way or even slow down the process. He maintained that, for its part, the European Commission had no intention of slowing down the process.

 

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša and Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi (Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

The 27 Heads of State and Government devoted a great deal of discussion time to the impact of soaring food and oil prices, focusing in particular on the impact of the rise in prices on the standard of living of EU citizens. They took note of the short-term and long-term measures proposed by the European Commission, which can be adopted by national governments with a view to alleviating the impact of rising prices. “This is an important issue. On the basis of discussions held at different levels in the past few months, the European Council is about to adopt certain important conclusions,” commented PM Janša. He said that debate had been lengthy and would continue the following day.

 

Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico and PM Janez Janša (Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

In the afternoon, prior to the European Council meeting proper, the Council had met in the composition of Heads of State and Government and had discussed the European Commission and the European Central Bank reports on Slovakia’s progress in fulfilling the criteria for adoption of the euro. There was general agreement that Slovakia meets the criteria for the adoption of the single currency and is set to become the sixteenth member of the eurozone as of 1 January 2009. 

 

The President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering and PM Janez Janša (Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

The Heads of State and Government then also had a meeting with the President of the European Parliament, Mr Hans-Gert Pöttering, and acquainted themselves with the views of this European institution on the issues on the agenda of the June European Council meeting.

 

    Press Conference by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia and the President of the European Commission