President at 16th Summit of Central European Presidents

Novi Sad, 19.6.2009  |  press release

Slovenian President Danilo Türk attended the 16th Summit of Central European Presidents taking place in Novi Sad, with the President of the Republic of Serbia, Boris Tadiæ, as host. In his presentation at the plenary session of the Summit, Dr Türk noted that Vojvodina has over 30 ethnic groups with a long history of living together peacefully. He added that the complexity and tradition of coexistence of different cultural identities made Vojvodina one of the best Euro-region examples.

The President continued by addressing common interests and goals of the countries of the Central European area and referred to the theme of this year’s Summit: "3E Challenge – Economy, Energy and Enlargement". In the economic area, all countries are having to face the global crisis, so the President advocated closer consultations between countries on measures for dealing with the consequences.

Dr Türk also asserted that energy is a long-term and fundamental economic issue of existential importance for the whole of Europe. He supported international and pan-European projects in this field, such as construction of the South Stream and Nabucco pipelines, and advocated cooperation in other regional energy projects. In addition, he underlined renewable energy sources, environmentally-friendly technologies and the evolution of energy regulation.

As regards European integration, President Türk said that Slovenia was committed to further enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans and to cooperation with the Eastern neighbours of the EU. He rejected concerns that the enlargement and consolidation of European institutions were contrary, and stressed the importance of fulfilling membership criteria and individual treatment of candidate countries. He also expressed strong support of visa liberalisation for the Western Balkan countries. The President then stressed that the European Commission had expressed a strong commitment to further enlargement and a high level of creativity in this process. "Let us make use of this energy, let it not remain unexploited," urged the President, adding that future cooperation with the European Commission will be of essential importance for all candidate countries.

President Türk also held a number of bilateral meetings on the margins of the Summit. On the first day of his visit, he met the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyñski; the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano; the President of the Republic of Serbia, Boris Tadiæ; and the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus. On the second day, Dr Türk met the President of the Republic of Montenegro, Filip Vujanoviæ; the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Neboj¹a Radmanoviæ; and the President of the Slovak Republic, Dr Ivan Ga¹paroviè.