The joint 18-month EU presidency programme by Germany, Portugal and Slovenia adheres to the basic philosophy of "all tugging in the same direction" and aims at securing continuity and coherent functioning of the bloc, German Ambassador to Slovenia Hans Joachim Goetz said as the programme was presented in Ljubljana on Tuesday.
State Secretary for European Affairs Janez Lenarcic, who unveiled the document to the public alongside Goetz and Portuguese Ambassador Maria do Carmo Allegro de Magalhaes, explained that the programme consists of three parts: a strategic framework, priority tasks and a comprehensive programme.
The strategic framework includes issues that can be expected to be at the forefront of the bloc's attention for years to come and have been harmonised with the troika that is to follow, France, the Czech Republic and Sweden.
These issues involve areas, which are also to be given priority status by Slovenia, the bloc's future, the Lisbon Strategy, intercultural dialogue and energy policy.
Lenarcic pointed out that the first troika will bear "the brunt of the burden" as far as defining the bloc's future steps is concerned.
Germany is to put forward a proposal on how to take on the bloc's constitution, while Portugal and Slovenia will try to find a solution for the document, rejected at the 2005 referendums in France and the Netherlands, by the end of 2008.
Along with the Lisbon Strategy that will see new guidelines for its implementation adopted by July 2008, Lenarcic also highlighted sustainable supply of energy as one of the central points of the upcoming three EU presidencies.
In the field of freedom, security and justice, terrorism will continue to be one of the priorities - side by side with the protection of human rights. So will asylum policy, migration policy and the protection of the bloc's external borders.
The union will meanwhile try to increase its international influence by furthering a more intensive dialogue with countries in its neighbourhood and in different regions: Portugal will focus on Africa, Germany on the East, and Slovenia on the Western Balkans, Lenarcic explained.
Continuity was also highlighted as the guiding principle of the troika by Goetz. He explained that Germany would for example prepare everything for the EU-Africa summit that will take place during the Portuguese presidency.
Similarly, Portugal and Slovenia will be tasked with ensuring the implementation of Germany's energy action plan, he explained.
Magalhaes confirmed that Portugal would try to continue and implement the initiatives set in motion by Germany and that it would devote most of its attention to the Mediterranean and Africa. She added that her country would also push for a continuation of the bloc's expansion.
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