Defence Minister Karl Erjavec received on Wednesday a wooden relay baton from his Portuguese colleague Nuno Severiano Teixeira in what was a symbolic hand-over of the presidency over the EU Council in defence matters. Erjavec took the opportunity to reiterate Slovenia's EU priorities in this field.
He said Slovenia would continue to follow the 18-month programme, began by Germany and Portugal, focus on the stability and European future of the Western Balkans, and continue developing the EU's military and civil capacities as well as cooperation with the UN and NATO.
"Kosovo will surely top the list of our priorities," Erjavec said, adding that the stability of the Western Balkans depended on this province.
"We will push for the observing of all UN decisions and aim at reaching agreement on this issue in the EU," he stressed.
The next big challenge for Slovenia is the situation in Chad, according to Erjavec. "The strength of all the EU member states will be needed to solve this situation," he said.
Erjavec said Portugal did a very job, making it easy for Slovenia to take over.
Texeira pointed out that the presidency programme was the result of a joint effort of the troika, which was now also trying hard to reach the goals set.
The Portuguese presidency focused on the already established operations and missions and on setting up new missions in Kosovo and Chad. These are the challenges that remain in place for Slovenia, Texeira said.
He also highlighted the importance of having a strategic partnership, saying that Germany focused on relations between the EU and the UN, whereas Portugal devoted more attention to NATO.
He believes agreements are necessary that would define the possibilities of cooperation between the EU and NATO.
Another focus of the Portuguese presidency were the partnership relations between the EU and Africa, the Portuguese minister also said, highlighting the achievements of the recent EU-Africa summit.
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