NEWS

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, today attended the third meeting of the Friends of Cohesion Policy held in Brussels. In the press release he said that today’s meeting was different from the previous ones because this time, the discussion was mainly about the strategy to be followed before the European Council takes its final decisions. 

“The issue of relationship between the cohesion policy and cohesion funds and the existing situation within the EU has come into sharp focus. It is becoming increasingly clear that these funds will be vital in the forthcoming years for a large number of Member States in overcoming their economic problems; it makes little sense that the EU keeps inventing new instruments to help the countries that have been particularly stricken by the crisis if, at the same time, it neglects the cohesion policy which is crucial for investing and creating new jobs,” he said.

Prime Minister Janša stressed that the countries from the Friends of Cohesion Policy group will advocate these positions in further negotiations. “This is, after all, also the argument that is understood by the net contributors into the European budget. Economic growth and new jobs are a priority in other countries as well. It is much better to provide these through the well-established mechanisms than to keep inventing new ones for every country in trouble,” added the Prime Minister. He highlighted that cohesion funds are particularly crucial for small Member States such as Slovenia, enabling them to fund their future large investments mainly from this source.

Prime Minister Janša expects fruitful negotiations at the European level regarding the preservation of the full amount of cohesion funds. He believes that they will result in reasonable solutions for all Member States.