The government has confirmed a document on Slovenia's priority tasks in the EU in 2005. Negotiations on the 2007-2013 budget, the implementation of Lisbon Strategy objectives and the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact have been put to the top of the agenda alongside preparations for euro adoption and EU presidency.
The programme is a detailed follow-up to a declaration on guidelines for Slovenia's activities in EU institutions, which was also confirmed on Thursday, according to Marcel Koprol, the head of the Government Office for European Affairs (SVEZ).
Designed to reinforce the advocation of Slovenia's national interests in the EU, it will be used mainly for the government's participation in the EU Council, the Union's chief law-drafting body.
In 2007-2013 budget negotiations, the country will continue to pursue the same goals: spending that enables the Union to tackle the challenges of internal cohesion, competitiveness and development, and ensuring that Slovenia remains a net receiver of budget funds.
It is crucial for Slovenia that negotiations wrap up as soon as possible. This would give the country enough time to prepare new programmes for the phasing of cohesion funds. The government is in favour of capping spending for the common budget at 1.14 percent of the GNP.
The document also notes that the government will have to play a more active role in budget talks. It is hard for a small country with specific problems to achieve its objectives if it merely joins coalitions of countries, so it would be better if it tries to draft own proposals and subsequently embarks on mustering support.
The next strategic priority - continued eligibility for cohesion funds - is directly related to the budget talks. The government will endeavour to ensure eligibility in light of the statistical effect of further rounds of enlargement. The budget talks will also determine the country's division to statistical regions.
For the Lisbon Strategy, the government agrees with reform proposals put forward by the European Commission yesterday. These include focusing on productivity and employment growth, the creation of a business-friendly environment and boosting R&D investment. At the same time, however, social cohesion and environmental objectives must be implemented as much as possible.
The government also continues to advocate well-known priorities in the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact: alterations must be minimal and greater emphasis must be placed on mid-term objectives that better reflect whether individual countries' government spending is sustainable.
In a set of priorities dubbed enlargement, the document stresses the start of membership negotiations with Croatia. In the negotiating process, the government will advocate the principle of differentiation that has applied to all previous rounds of enlargement - "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" - and the fulfillment of all objective membership criteria.
The government also intends to push for EU accession of all countries in the Western Balkans. provided that they fulfill membership criteria. According to Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, all countries in the region should join the EU by 2015. "This should be our political objective, but only by taking account of the other 24 members' views and objective circumstances," he told the press today.
As president of the OSCE, Slovenia also intends to be active in neighbourhood policy and improving relations with the EU's strategic partners, most notably the US and Russia.
The 85-page document furthermore lists priorities in agriculture policy (more money for rural development), trade policy (focus on SE Europe where favourable free-trade deals were phased out with accession), asylum policy (support for efforts to unify asylum policy), and activities related to the implementation of the EU constitution, which the parliament ratified recently.
A special section is dedicated to the protection of the EU's external borders. The government will continue to push for a distribution of the financial burden for the management of the Schengen border among EU members. At the same time, it opposes the formation of a European border police.
The document will also be reviewed by the parliament, in accordance with the act on government-parliament cooperation on EU matters.
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