Official: Choosing Tasks Key Factor for Slovenia's EU Presidency
A correct and realistic choice of the priority tasks and good cooperation between the parliament and the government will be of key importance for the success of Slovenia's stint as EU president, the head of the Government Office for European Affairs (SVEZ) Janez Lenarcic said on Wednesday.
Lenarcic presented a report on Slovenia's preparations for the countries EU chairmanship in the first half of 2008 to members of the parliamentary foreign policy and EU affairs committees.
He highlighted the European constitutional treaty and the EU's future, the Western Balkans, the European Neighbourhood Policy, energy and cultural dialogue as the most likely priorities of Slovenia's presidency.
Other possible priorities include the Lisbon Strategy, an interim survey of the Cohesion and Common Agricultural policies and the role of the EU as a global player, Lenarcic explained, adding that the finalisation of priorities should be concluded by mid-2007.
Some of the opposition MPs voiced concern over some of the possible priorities, calling for the parliament to be included in the decision-making process.
Feri Horvat of the Social Democrats (SD) said that a discussion about these "big issues" is needed in Slovenia, not only because of the presidency but also because the country need sto form clear positions on them.
While Milan M. Cvikl of the Liberal Democrats (LDS) wondered why the government chose this very set of priorities, Bogdan Barovic of the National Party (SNS) and Aurelio Juri of the SD noted that reviving the constitutional treaty might be an unrealistic priority.
Lenarcic assured that the government welcomes the contribution of the parliament but pointed out that individual countries were far from "independent" when choosing the priorities, as more than 90% of the agenda for presiding countries are "inherited" from earlier presidencies.
Turning to the organisational aspect of the chairmanship, Lenarcic said the tasks involved include the chairing of more than 4,000 meetings, 30 official ministerial meetings in Brussels and Luxembourg and up to 15 informal meetings in Slovenia.
Government estimates have put the sum needed for the entire project at SIT 13.7bn (EUR 57.2m). The staff has already been chosen and includes 1,100 people, according to Lenarcic.
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