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President of the Republic, Dr Janez Drnovšek, received the President of the European central Bank

Ljubljana, 01/15/2007  |  press release

Click to enlargeThe President of the Republic, Dr Janez Drnovšek, today received the President of the European Central Bank, Jean Claude Trichet.

Mr Trichet congratulated President Drnovšek on the integration of the Slovenian monetary financial institutions into the euro area banking system and emphasized that this was the result of a long-year successful financial and economic policy. With the entry of Slovenia into the euro area the "family" using the euro increased to 317 million people. Jean Claude Trichet underlined that the euro was a successful project and said it was evident today already that different sceptical forecasts on the future of the common European currency proved to be unjustified. Structural reforms of the European economy and overcoming the technological backlog of Europe behind the United States will guarantee further strengthening of the common currency.

Click to enlargeThe President of the Republic, Dr Janez Drnovšek, considered the implementation of Slovenia's strategic goal to enter the euro area as an important turning point in the development of the country. He expressed the opinion that Slovenia would be a successful and constructive member of the European Monetary Union.

Dr Drnovšek thanked Mr Trichet for the support offered to Slovenia by the European Central Bank throughout the entire period and also for his attendance at today's Euro Ceremony.