EU Affairs Officials Meet Over EU Presidency in 2008
European Affairs State Secretary Janez Lenarcic met on Wednesday French Secretary General for European Affairs Pascale Andreani to discuss the EU presidency in 2008, which will be held successively by Slovenia and France.
The officials discussed issues which are expected to top the agenda in the EU next year, including the future institutional make-up of the EU, the Lisbon Strategy, energy policy, climate change, EU enlargement and the budget reform, the Government Office for European Affairs said in a press release
Andreani also met chairs of the parliamentary EU affairs an foreign policy committees, Anton Kokalj and Jozef Jerovsek. The officials discussed cooperation between the parliament and the government in the EU-related issues in both countries and the role of both parliaments as regards the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.
They also touched on the future of the European Constitutional Treaty, which French citizens rejected in the 2005 referendum.
Andreani and Jerovsek agreed that some kind of document was necessary. Andreani explained that France's standpoint on the issue would be clearer after the presidential election.
The pair discussed the preparations for Slovenian EU presidency in the first half of 2008, especially in the light of the fact that France will succeed Slovenia at the helm of the bloc.
Jerovsek also told Andreani that Slovenia supported Croatia's EU accession as well as the European prospects of other countries in the region. The pair discussed the future status of Kosovo and Jerovsek expressed support for the plan put forward by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
Kokalj and the French official discussed EU expansion, the question of two-tier Europe and the future of the EU energy policy.
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