Lisbon Treaty to Keep Slovenia's EU Presidency Busy

Brussels, 14 December

Slovenia's EU presidency will have its work cut out with the ratification of the recently signed Lisbon Treaty, as EU leaders called on Friday for a swift completion of national ratification processes with a view to allowing the treaty to enter into force on 1 January 2009.

The ratification process has been set as one of the main tasks of Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008; to lead by example, Slovenia wants to ratify the treaty in parliament in January.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa told the press today that Slovenia would work with France (the next presiding EU country) in trying to ensure smooth ratification.
According to Jansa, the EU leaders also accepted Slovenia's proposal that the European Council manage the procedure of preparations for the implementation of the treaty.
"This is vital, as some procedures which need to be sorted out if the treaty is to take effect on 1 January 2009 are delicate," he said.
But Jansa was quick to point out that there were "no big political dilemmas, rather it is about relations between individual political institutions."
"Neither Slovenia nor France want the debate in these procedures to mix with the ratification procedure," he stressed.
The EU leaders agreed today that preparations for implementation would be "discreet, starting with less sensitive issues and carefully coordinating the work between Slovenia and France over the coming year."
Jansa announced he would discuss the matter with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Monday.
The Lisbon Treaty, which was signed in Lisbon on Thursday, is widely seen as a more acceptable version of the constitutional treaty which was voted down in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2004.
The treaty scrapes the system under which the EU presidency rotates among member states every six months. Instead, a president chosen by member states will serve a 30-month term.
The number of commissioners will be cut from the current 27 to 17 as of 2014 and commissioners will be selected for five-year terms on a rotation system. The European Parliament will be given more sway over EU legislation.
A new voting system will also be put in place in 2014, requiring that decisions be passed with 55 percent of the EU states representing more than 65 percent of the EU's population. The EU will be able to take decisions by majority rather than unanimous voting in 50 new areas including judicial and police cooperation, education and economic policy.

Lisbon Treaty to Keep Slovenia's EU Presidency Busy

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