A present from the East

“Slovenian presidency is not a welcome gift from the Union” but rather “an opportunity for the ‘elder brothers’ of the West”. These words were written by Michel Kubler in the editorial published by the French Catholic daily LA CROIX (02-01) -with a large section on the issue- on the day after the Republic of Slovenia was officially installed as President of the European Union Council. Slovenia is the “First Eastern Country” called to perform this assignment and for Kubler it is an event which holds strong historical and symbolic significance since it involves “a State which spent half of the past century under Communist dictatorship”, and where we perceive “a large part of our Continent that for a long time was seen as an enemy”. A different outlook. “For our Country – said Matjaz Malgal, cabinet Counselor of the Slovenian Commissioner Janez Potocnlk – it’s a great honour to chair the European Union. It’s a challenge which Slovenia takes very seriously. The Country counts to entertain an excellent cooperation with France (at the end of the Semester 1° January – 30 June Lubiana will pass the testimony to Paris editor’s note )”. After Napoleon’s dominion, “today our two Countries work together to guide the development of the European Union”. This assumption of responsibility, Kubler said, calls into question the dynamics which should “animate the Twenty-Seven in their mutual relations and in the relationship with the rest of the world.” “Are we ready to give faith to East-European nations whose destiny is bound to ours because that’s what we both wanted?”, the editorialist asks. The answer is “not in numbers or in the resources of these Countries, but in the way we view them, and that can no longer be limited to the indulgent understanding or the benevolent reception of these ‘healing’ populations into our court of ‘the grand ones’. The attitude “should instead be that of total respect”. To our “Eastern neighbours” who are “European just like us”, we certainly have a lot to give “since we are ‘older’ than them in the Union, something that is lacking to their young age”. But “we could also” receive in exchange “what our wisdom is sometimes missing”. The Treaty of Lisbon . Among the priorities of Lubiana’s agenda figures “the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon Country by Country, in view of its enactment scheduled for January 1st 2009”, remarked Sébastien Maillard, who pointed out that “ the method largely adopted will be that of parliamentary ratification. Only Ireland, according to its Constitution, will promote a referendum next summer”. For Maillard “the polls of last Fall lead to envisage a difficult ratification.” In addition to its adoption, “the Treaty equally envisages the preparation of the institutions which is modifies or creates, such as the stable presidency of the European Council”, Mr. Maillard continued. It will therefore be necessary “to seek personalities that can be elected to the guidance of the European Council – Jean-Claude Juncker from Luxembourg seem the favourite up to today – and as the high representative of foreign affairs, he will have his own diplomatic service”. The semester of Slovenian presidency will be marked also by the debate on “many controversial legislative plans, such as the directive on the assumption of healthcare services among the different Countries, the antidumping business defense”, the need to “fix the maximum limit of Co2 emissions”, which is linked to environmental issues, and the proposal “of seriously sharing among the Twenty-seven the urgent objective of 20% renewable energies by the year 2020”. Kosovo and Balkans. The Slovenian agenda will have to take into account foreign affairs: “the Balkan question” in particular, whose stability is crucial “for Lubiana’s economy”. The Slovenians are in fact “the first investors in Macedonia and in Kosovo, the second in Montenegro and the fifth in Serbia”, underlined Gaëlle Pério. It’s however a thorny issue. “The government is naive if it thinks that it can offer the Balkans to the EU on a silver plate – remarked Borut Grgic , analyst from the Institute for Strategic Studies of Lubiana -. Serbia doesn’t take it at all seriously”. In fact, added Pério, “in the past days Belgrade’s Parliament voted a resolution which envisages to postpone the process of Serbia’s adhesion to the European Union, if the citizens will recognize Kosovo’s independence”. This is the crucial point: Kosovo’s citizens don’t conceal their intention of declaring their own independence together with the US and the EU within the forthcoming six months” and “Lubiana will have to recognize this declaration, the same that Frane, Great Britain and Germany will have to do” in the name “of the right to self-determination of peoples. But other European Countries, because of internal independent movement are less willing to do so”, remarked Pério. “Slovenia has the difficult task of bringing the 27 Countries together around a common but flexible position”.