NEWS

In Brussels today ended the European Council meeting where EU Member States leaders tried to reach an agreement on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 period. At the press conference following the meeting the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša said that a consensus on the multiannual financial framework has not yet been reached, however, a great step towards bridging the divergences has been made. The current proposal has been "reshuffled to a large extent" and the lines of the final agreement, which will probably be possible in the beginning of the next year, have been drawn.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso were given the mandate to continue the work in the coming weeks, as a sufficient degree of potential convergence has been achieved to make an agreement possible in the beginning of the next year.

The today's discussion clearly showed that existing divergences can be bridged, as there were no serious proposals concerning additional cuts to cohesion or agriculture funds. Discussions will continue from the point of convergence achieved, and we may hope, said the Prime Minister, that the new proposal will be better than the current one.

Speaking about the conclusions of today's meeting Janša pointed out the possible extension of the principle of macroeconomic conditionality, which makes the implementation of reforms even more urgent. It would be a lack of common sense if Slovenia, because of its incapacity to implement the promised structural reforms would jeopardise the investment potential provided by the funds from the next financial framework. "Slovenia's problem is not its potential; it has plenty of potential to overcome the crisis by itself," stressed the Prime Minister and added that the real problem of Slovenia are "obstructive actions hindering the implementation of long-term structural reforms."