At the last day of the Informal Meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers at Brdo pri Kranju, the Ministers discussed new challenges, i.e. adapting European agriculture to climate change, biofuels, environmental protection and risk management in agriculture and food safety. They agreed they had to be more ambitious in the review of the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).
Specific measures should also be considered, as well as options for
providing additional financial resources for their implementation.
The current President of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council,
Slovenian Minister Iztok Jarc stressed, “Reaching the objectives of food
safety and environmental safety cannot be left to market forces. We need
active, development-oriented agricultural and economic policies in Europe
and in the world. Effective measures supported by adequate funding are
needed to enhance the multifunctional role of agriculture."
The gradual increase of milk quotas has also been debated by the EU Ministers during the three-day informal meeting.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel expressed Slovenia's support for Ukraine's EU membership as he met in Ljubljana on Wednesday his visiting Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Ohryzko. Ohryzko arrived to Slovenia a day before the EU-Ukraine troika meeting. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel received on Tuesday newly appointed Brazilian Ambassador to Slovenia, Debora Vainer Barenboim, the first resident ambassador of a Latin American country in Slovenia. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel received on Sunday the copies of the credentials of the new US Ambassador to Slovenia Yousif B. Ghafari. The development comes nine months after the term in office of the former US Ambassador Thomas B. Robertson ended last August. More »
Possibilities for strengthening economic cooperation between Hong Kong and Slovenia topped the talks as Honk Kong Finance Minister John Tsang was received by counterpart Andrej Bajuk and Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak in Ljubljana on Monday. More »
Bilateral relations and preparations for the June EU summit topped the talks between Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his Belgian counterpart Yves Leterme in Ljubljana on Wednesday. More »
Representatives of employers and private sector trade unions wrapped up on Thursday negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement for 2008 and 2009. The document is expected to be singed on 30 May. More »
Consumers Commissioner Meglena Kuneva called for including consumers into the EU's plan to liberalise the energy market. Even the best ideas regarding liberalisation cannot work in practice if they are not supported by the citizens, Kuneva told participants of a conference held at the Brdo pri Kranju on Thursday. More »
Slovenia has climbed eight spots to 32nd in the rankings of the 2008 World Competitiveness Yearbook, an annual report compiled by the Lausanne-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD). The US remains the most competitive of the 55 economies listed, followed closely by Singapore and Hong Kong. More »
Slovenia places among the top three countries in the EU with the smallest inequality of income distribution, according to a report on the social situation in Europe which the European Commission released on Thursday. Slovenia is preceded only by Sweden and Denmark. More »
After the plenary session of the Informal Meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers, European Agriculture Commissioner Marianne Fischer Boel has said she is confident the EU can agree on changes to its farm support scheme by the end of the year, despite differences between member states on the nature of the reforms. More »
The European Commission's proposal to use unspent EU farm aid to help farmers in developing countries buy seeds and fertiliser, has been received coolly by the bloc's agriculture ministers, who said at a meeting in Slovenia on Tuesday that the EU should instead boost long-term aid on agriculture. More »
Addressing a forum marking the 60th anniversary of the Hague Congress in the Hague on Saturday, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said that while 60 years ago the key challenge was to secure peace and unite Europe, it is now necessary to focus on three challenges coming from outside; peace and security, climate change and poverty. More »
Top Ukrainian and EU officials expressed satisfaction Thursday with the progress the two sides have achieved in talks on a bilateral agreement. "The EU-Ukraine working relationship truly works," European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner said after talks at Brdo pri Kranju. More »
Participants in a two-day conference on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which got underway in Kranjska Gora on Thursday, agreed that the EU and its member states need to make sure that the provisions of convention are implemented. More »
Officials at an EU-Nigeria meeting agreed on Tuesday to boost ties between the African country and the 27-member bloc. Nigeria would like to improve above all cultural ties and cooperation in energy security, Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe told the press. More »
Polish writer, poet, essayist, and literary critic Andrzej Stasiuk is the winner of the 2008 Vilenica Award for literature, the Slovenian Writers' Association (DSP) announced on Thursday. More »
An exhibition on the most famed Slovenian architect, Joze Plecnik (1872-1957), opened on Friday in a gallery situated in Tokyo's biggest park Ueno. Ambassador Miran Skender told STA that this was the biggest cultural event Slovenia had so far organised in Japan. More »
Young Slovenian composer Nina Senk won the composition contest at the 9th Weimarer Fruehjahrstage fuer zeitgenoessische Musik contemporary music festival last week. More »
Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to the most important positive change in Europe in the last century, Slovenian Prime Minister and Chair of the European Council Janez Jansa said on Monday, as he presented the last president of the Soviet Union with the special Energy Globe Award (EGA) 2008 for lifetime achievements. More »