PM Jansa Sees Great Potential in Business Cooperation with Luxembourg
Prime Minister Janez Jansa told managers in Luxembourg on Wednesday that there is great potential for cooperation with Slovenia, in particular in financial services, the chemical industry, tourism and investments. Jansa and his Luxembourg counterpart Jean-Claude Juncker have urged the British EU presidency to double its efforts in ensuring that an agreement on the EU's 2007-2013 budget framework is reached at the December summit in Brussels.
December is the last useful date for an agreement, Juncker said after holding talks with Jansa on Wednesday. The Slovenian prime minister added that "time is running out quickly." Jansa said he was not overly optimistic, but he nevertheless hopes that an agreement may be reached in December. "New member states need more time to prepare for the new perspective and carry out structural budget reforms to phase the funds efficiently," he said. Juncker agreed with Jansa that the new member states need a budget agreement as soon as possible, whereby he stressed that the compromise proposal of the Luxembourg presidency, which was not endorsed, was "not perfect, but it was the best possible solution." EU topics dominated Jansa-Juncker talks, including the EU constitutional treaty, which Juncker said was not dead. He said the member states should use the period of reflection and make sure they all adopt it when the time is right. As the chairman of the euro group, Juncker voiced the expectation that Slovenia will be the first new member state to enter the eurozone. Prime Minister Jansa said that preparations for adoption of the euro in 2007 were on track, with inflation the only criterion that Slovenia is yet to meet. "We are currently 0.3 percentage points off the mark, and I am confident that we will meet all Maastricht criteria by June next year," Jansa said. Jansa was also glad that Luxembourg would reveal "the secret of success" for the EU presidency, which Slovenia will need when it takes over as the presiding country in the first half of 2008. The prime ministers also briefly touched on the Balkans and EU enlargement, with Jansa underlining Slovenia's support for the EU accession of countries in the region. "This will be one of the priorities of Slovenia's EU presidency (in the first half of 2008); the other will be a review of the overhauled Lisbon Strategy," Jansa explained. Jansa and Juncker moreover discussed bilateral cooperation, with Jansa saying that Slovenia "admires Luxembourg's ability to adapt to new circumstances... We want to come close to that, as well as to its GDP." Delivering an address at a Slovenia-Luxembourg business conference, Jansa said that Slovenia could be interesting for Luxembourg, as it is on track to adopting the euro in 2007, and preparing reforms to accelerate growth. "This is true of economic and trade cooperation as well as investments. Slovenia's entry in the eurozone could provide an additional boost for investors from Luxembourg," said Jansa, who paid an official visit to the duchy. The head of the Slovenian business delegation, president of the Chamber of Commerce (GZS) Jozko Cuk, said that the business conference was successful as the managers forge many ties. Cuk highlighted financial services as a prime interest, but also noted that Luxembourg was a strong steelwork base. Luxembourg is not among Slovenia's top 20 trade partners. Trade topped EUR 72m last year and reached EUR 46.6m in the first half of this year. Luxembourg accounts for 1.4% of foreign direct investment in Slovenia (EUR 78.6m). Slovenia has no investments in Luxembourg.
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