NEWS
Prime Minister Pahor attends European Council Meeting
On 16 and 17 December 2010, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, attended a European Council Meeting in Brussels, where the Heads of State and Government discussed the establishment of a permanent crisis mechanism to safeguard the financial and macroeconomic stability of the euro area after the adoption of the required amendments to the Lisbon Treaty planned to enter into force in 2013. The leaders also discussed the European Union's relation with its strategic partners and formally endorsed the conclusion to give Montenegro the status of an EU candidate country.
The agreed text of the draft amendment to the Lisbon Treaty reads as follows: "The Member States whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality." Slovenia supports the introduction of the European stability mechanism to safeguard the financial stability of the euro area as a whole. According to Prime Minister Pahor the euro is the Union's central cohesive bond. Slovenia advocates such legal solutions that will assure as soon as possible a successful and long-term operation of the mechanism and at the same time prevent uncertainties in the functioning of the European Union and its institutions as a whole.
On the basis of the draft amendment to the Treaty the Finance Ministers of the European Union will start to prepare a detailed proposal for the establishment of the permanent crisis mechanism. The Heads of State and Government also agreed on the general characteristics of this mechanism recently confirmed by the Finance Ministers. The work on the detailed proposal is scheduled to start shortly.
The European Council took note of the course of the summits held between the European Union and India, Russia and Africa, and the leaders of the Member States were also presented with the report on the relations between the European Union and its strategic partners. At the end of the Council Meeting, the Heads of State and Government unanimously confirmed the conclusion to give Montenegro the status of a candidate country. Prime Minister Pahor highlighted this achievement as an important milestone on the Western Balkan’s path to European integration which is also one of the priorities of Slovenia’s foreign policy.
In the margins of the Council Meeting the Slovenian Prime Minister also held a number of informal meetings and talks with other leaders of the EU Member States. He informed them of the progress in adopting the pension reform in Slovenia and thanked the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, for his congratulations on the adoption of the pension reform in the Slovenian Parliament.