Today at Brdo pri Kranju, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia and current President of the European Council, Janez Janša, attended the ordinary meeting of the XXXIX Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC). In his address, the Prime Minister highlighted environmental conservation, the provision of possibilities for continued sustainable development, the success of the fight against poverty, and peace and security in the world as the principal global issues. He stressed that these issues were interlinked.
"If the success achieved in the first fifty years of the EU was measured in terms of peace and prosperity, the success of the next fifty years will have to be assessed in terms of the quality of our responses to global issues," said the PM, going on to observe that new faces of globalisation had emerged. Since, in his opinion, we cannot avoid the problems of the future, trying to avoid dealing with dire forecasts is much more irresponsible today than it was in the past. The Prime Minister stressed that the European Union had instruments at its disposal to protect itself against most harmful consequences.
Energy and climate change issues, rising food prices, measures to help European citizens feel that the openness of the European Union increased its security, and completion of the network of Stabilisation and Association Agreements in the Western Balkans are, in the words of Mr Janša, the current President of the European Council, the main areas to be addressed by the European Union in the near future.
In his address, Mr Janša observed that parliamentary democracy at the European level celebrated its 50th anniversary this year and that the pace of cooperation was intensifying. "Proof of this can be seen in recent agreements concerning the climate change and energy package, the Galileo Programme, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and all the other dossiers in which we have jointly achieved a breakthrough in the first fourth months of Slovenia’s EU Council Presidency." In terms of enhancing efficiency and promoting democracy, the Lisbon Treaty promises further progress.
The Spring European Council, according to its current President, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, had fulfilled ambitions for the first half of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency. The PM highlighted four key achievements of the March European Council: the launch of a modern three-year cycle of the Lisbon Strategy, one that affords a better balance between a competitive economy and concerns for people and the environment; confirmation of the basic principles and a timeframe for the adoption of the energy and climate change package; definition of further steps to be taken to stabilise financial markets, and the continuation of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation within the Barcelona Process, with the participation of all 27 Member States and without setting up any parallel institutions.
