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President Drnovšek receives the European Commissioner for Enlargement
Ljubljana, 03/06/2003 | press release
The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Janez Drnovšek, today received the European Commission member responsible for enlargement of the EU, Günther Verheugen, who is currently on a working visit to Slovenia.
In the talks President Drnovšek thanked the Commissioner for the support given to Slovenia so far in the enlargement process. He expressed his expectation that enlargement would continue to follow the planned timetable with a view to full membership of the EU on 1 May 2004. Dr Drnovšek went on to express his hope that current European differences regarding solution of the Iraq crisis would not continue and therefore jeopardise the European enlargement process. In the current situation the unity of the international community would be most helpful in President Drnovšek’s opinion, chiefly as part of efforts undertaken in the UN Security Council. The current situation was indeed most problematic for the EU candidate countries, since there were attempts to confront them with a choice between Euro-Atlantic partners, which was unacceptable.
Commissioner Verheugen gave a high estimation of Slovenia’s degree of readiness for EU entry, expressing satisfaction at the fact that the enlargement negotiations were closed in December last year in Copenhagen. In today’s circumstances this would undoubtedly have been more difficult to achieve. It seems indeed that the current divisions in Europe regarding the Iraq crisis may have far-reaching consequences. As for the forthcoming NATO and EU referendums, Mr Verheugen stressed that two different organizations were involved which nevertheless complemented each other – one offering member states military security, and the other economic security.
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Office of the President of the Republic
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