The Dutch Prime Minister Presented the Priorities of his Country’s Presidency of the EU to the Slovenian President

Ljubljana, 04/19/2004 | press release

The President of the Republic, Dr Janez Drnovšek, today received the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr Jan Peter Balkenende, who is paying a visit to Slovenia. Mr Balkenende congratulated Dr Drnovšek on the forthcoming accession to the European Union and commended the progress Slovenia had made over the last decade. He has also expressed his expectation for the Netherlands and Slovenia to continue their successful cooperation as partners in the EU.

This visit is part of the Dutch preparations for taking over the EU presidency in the second half of this year. Mr Balkenende informed Dr Drnovšek of some planned activities during the Dutch presidency, including the organisation of a European conference on common European values to be held in September. They were both of the opinion that an agreement on the new European constitution should be reached during the Irish presidency and that the climate within the EU has lately been more positive for finding a compromise solution.

Among the essential tasks of the Dutch presidency Mr Balkenende highlighted the implementation of the Lisbon strategy and presented the issue of the European budget from the standpoint of the new financial perspective. In light of this, Dr Drnovšek again emphasised the disproportionately large share of agricultural subsidies in the overall EU budget. Towards the end of the meeting, they discussed further enlargement of the EU and the European perspective of the South East European countries.