Slovenia wants to retain the key elements of the EU constitutional treaty, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said in Portoroz on Thursday. Europe is in the middle of a transformation, with discussions on the treaty playing a key role, Rupel said at the opening of the Slovenian days of political sciences.
According to Rupel, the scope and range of the existing proposal will probably need to be reduced. However, the new document must not be to different from or to similar to the existing one.
If it was too different the countries that already ratified it would find it unacceptable, if it was too similar new referendums would be needed, Rupel said.
According to the minister, talks under the German EU presidency are tiring, as some countries - Rupel pointed to Poland and its insistence on changes to the system of voting - are behaving as if no agreements had been reached in the previous rounds of talks.
While Rupel accepts that the current complications arose from fear that the union would dominate over national countries, but is however convinced that the EU would have to strengthen its links in order to compete with the big global players, such as China and India.
Rupel said that Slovenia was preparing well for its upcoming spell as EU president and would carry out the task in a way that should pleasantly surprise many.
He also said he hoped open issues with Croatia could be solved after the November parliamentary election there, which would bring a more constructive official line.
The 18th Slovenian days of political sciences run through to Saturday and focus on topical EU challenges.
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