The new Centre for a European Future (CEP), designed to support countries from SE Europe and countries neighbouring the EU, opened on Tuesday at Jable Castle near Menges. The centre, opened by PM Janez Jansa, is Slovenia's contribution to EU enlargement and Euro-Atlantic integration, says the Foreign Ministry.
The centre is aimed at EU candidate countries, potential candidates and countries with politics similar to that of the EU. It wants to promote European integration and share know-how, experiences and practical advice between EU members and countries with prospects of joining the EU, as well as provide training and exchange of expertise.
The opening of the centre began with the maiden meeting of the CEP advisory committee which consists of distinguished political figures, including several former foreign ministers. They were addressed by Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel.
PM Jansa then opened a ministerial meeting, also addressed by Rupel and the foreign ministers of Bosnia (Mladen Ivanic), Hungary (Ferenc Somogyi), Macedonia (Ilinka Mitreva), Serbia and Montenegro (Vuk Draskovic) and Montenegro (Miodrag Vlahovic).
The ministerial was also attended by representatives from Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Turkey as well as a representative of the US State Department.
EU enlargement is expected to be one of the main tasks for Slovenia during its EU presidency in the first half of 2008. This makes informing countries with a European perspective with the numerous questions associated with integration all the more important, the ministry says.
The centre will provide assistance for governments, private institutions and NGOs in partner countries through training seminars and conferences. It will also promote activities directed at improving dialogue between nations, cultures and religions.
The centre is already implementing certain projects including the training of Kosovo public officials, a conference on Kosovo, and the foundation of a special working group made up of Slovenian and international experts to deal with the question of dialogue between civilisations.
For 2006 and 2007 the centre is planning other projects, including the training of Macedonian public officials and students, training in the field of preventing corruption in Bulgaria, securing the borders of Montenegro and the project "united World Colleges" in Mostar.
CEP is an independent and non-profit institution financed by the government. The funds for this year have already been earmarked, including the co-funding of projects worth SIT 150m (EUR 626,000). The centre will also apply for funds at international and national tenders.
The centre was already founded in July 2004, but under a different name (Centre for Support in EU Accession), which the present government changed to make it more recognisable and broaden its activities. Jable Castle has been renovated by the Ministry for Agriculture in order to house the centre.
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