Slovenian President receives the Prime Minister of Luxembourg

Ljubljana, 26.7.2010  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, received the Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, who is on an official visit to Slovenia.

The Slovenian President first recalled the friendly assistance and favourable attitude demonstrated by Luxembourg when Slovenia was striving for independence and said that this provides a solid foundation for good relations between the two countries, which today also maintain a high level of cooperation within the European Union. In their talks, President Türk and Prime Minister Juncker focused mainly on the development of the European Union, whereby the Slovenian President drew attention to the excessively slow adoption of EU strategic priorities. President Türk mentioned three areas in which, in his opinion, the European Union is responding too slowly: establishing the common internal market, further enlargement and the Eastern Partnership with Russia and other countries of that region.

Prime Minister Juncker said that there is a noticeable lack of the enthusiasm in the European Union that has so far generated the integration process and cooperation among Member States, and that enlargement exhaustion is appearing among the old Member States, which is often a result of poor knowledge of the countries that wish to join the European Union. As regards Russia, the guest from Luxembourg advocated a new attitude of the European Union to this country, which should not be based on prejudice and a superior, patronising attitude. President Türk said that Russia is undergoing some important positive changes and a process of modernisation of the country, which the EU Member States should not overlook.