President Drnovšek meets the President of the European Commission

Ljubljana, 03/07/2003 | press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr Janez Drnovšek today met the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi who is on a working visit to Slovenia.

During their talk, President Drnovšek and Mr Prodi touched upon several issues, including the topical international situation concerning Iraq. They agreed that the present situation called for the best possible coordinated approach by the international community, particularly in the framework of the UN Security Council. In this respect, Mr Prodi underlined the need for a clearly formulated common European position, and conveyed his hope that the present differences of opinion would not deepen further.

Mr Prodi agreed with President Drnovšek that it would be harder now to conclude the EU accession negotiations than it was only some months ago in Copenhagen. At the same time, he assessed Slovenia as one of the best prepared EU candidate countries. During their talk, President Prodi also expressed his belief that the forthcoming referendum on Slovenia's entry into the EU would prove a success and thereby demonstrate the clear commitment by Slovene citizens to the common European project.

President Drnovšek and Mr Prodi also talked about the situation in South-Eastern Europe. Dr Drnovšek stressed Slovenia's readiness to help the countries in the region join the Euro-Atlantic structures. He also informed his guest of Slovenia's assessments of the present situation and developments in this part of Europe.