Financial Times Says Slovenia's Approaching EU Presidency Sign of Maturity
The London-based Financial Times writes on Tuesday about Slovenia's approaching spell as EU president, saying that assuming the rotating EU presidency in the first half of 2008 is a sign and a test of Slovenia's growing maturity.
Prime Minister Janez Jansa told FT that every country gets its turn at the helm of the EU. "The question is not yes or no - it's when," Jansa told the London-based daily. According to the daily, Jansa said Slovenia was taking the presidency very seriously and was paraphrased by the FT as saying that "smaller countries were sometimes better at running the EU because they focus on the job and are less able to push their own national agenda". Jansa also told FT that he hoped the long-running saga of the EU's revamped constitutional treaty would be largely sorted out under the current Portuguese presidency and ratification of the text would be under way by the time he took over.
Jansa does not expect to have to get bogged down in EU battles over future budget priorities and agricultural spending, hopes the question of Kosovo's future status will be resolved by January and is ready to tackle EU's plans to combat climate change as well as address the potentially explosive question of burden-sharing.
European Affairs State Secretary Janez Lenaric meanwhile sees the approaching presidency as a reminder of how far Slovenia has come since independence in 1991. Apart from the prestige and publicity, past experience suggests income directly related to presidency activities are more than double the costs of the presidency, FT quotes Lenarcic as saying.
When FT asked why Slovenia volunteered to take on the job so soon, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel jokingly terminated the interview by saying "it was very nice speaking to you," FT writes under the heading "Slovenia ready to take on EU giants".
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