PM Stresses Commitment to Enlargement, Calls for Fresh Vision

Bled, 26 August

Prime Minister Janez Jansa stressed Slovenia's commitment to EU enlargement when it takes over the rotating EU presidency in 2008. "Furthering the enlargement agenda will be one of the top tasks of the Slovenian presidency," he said in his address to a Bled Strategic Forum conference on Sunday.

Accession talks are already under way with Croatia and Turkey, while Slovenia would try to help Macedonia. "We will do our utmost to allow the rest of the Western Balkans to make further steps as soon as conditions are met," Jansa told the conference "European Union 2020: Enlarging and Integrating". Yet Jansa also said that the EU would have to come up with solutions to accommodate aspirations from one of the most dynamic regions in Europe - the East and the Caucasus. "Putting together a fresh vision that will appeal to more than 30 European nations over generations is a great challenge. However, reconciling Europe's diversity within its unity has always been at the core of European enterprise."
Jansa also touched on the EU's role in the world, saying that if the EU is to remain credible, it must take into account "external realities that will shape the global environment in the future." Jansa is convinced that the vision of the EU as a global player does not put alliances or effective multilateralisms in question. On the contrary, a more active role would enhance the EU's engagement in its neighbourhood and strengthen its commitments in the wider world.
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel also highlighted the EU's global role, saying the bloc needed to contribute to the creation of a sustainable world order and the quest for solutions in combating climate change and poverty, and in efforts towards peace, stability and economic development. The foreign minister reiterated Slovenia's commitment to EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans, saying it was time to carry out the Thessaloniki Agenda. Rupel urged all policy-makers to become "visionaries - and responsible at that."

PM Stresses Commitment to Enlargement, Calls for Fresh Vision

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