Slovenia Takes Over EU Presidency Amid Wave of Criticism

Slovenia formally took over the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union on Thursday, announcing its focus as tackling the coronavirus pandemic and recovery, enhancing resilience to future crises, and EU enlargement.

To mark the occasion, Slovenia's top state officials, led by Prime Minister Janez Jansa, hosted European Union officials at Brdo, an estate near the town of Kranj.

"Events over the last 15 months have shown that the European Union has been part of the solution and that together we have made two major breakthroughs; an agreement on how we will recover together after the epidemic and the production, development and the distribution of the [COVID-19] vaccine," Jansa said.

"The Slovenian Presidency will be decisive, the tasks will be challenging," European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen said.

During the Slovenian Presidency, around 190 various events will be organised. In autumn, the country will host the EU-Western Balkans Summit.

Under the slogan "Together. Resilient. Europe.", Slovenia's six-month programme as holder of the EU Presidency is based on four priorities.

One is "a credible and secure European Union, capable of ensuring security and stability in its neighbourhood", with special attention devoted to the Western Balkan countries, "their future in Europe and the credible continuation of the EU enlargement process".

However, earlier this year, a controversial "non-paper" allegedly composed by Jansa, that allegedly suggested that parts of Bosnia might become parts of Croatia and Serbia, and that Albania and Kosovo merge into an enlarged Albania, sparked angry reactions across the region. Jansa, who increasingly under the European spotlight, has not confirmed that he was...

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