STA, 25 March 2020 - Nine EU leaders, including Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Janša, have called for eurozone countries to jointly issue debt in order to fight the devastating impact of coronavirus on the European economies. The leaders presented their idea in a four-page letter addressed to President of the European Council Charles Michel.

The leaders of Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia propose in the letter "a common debt instrument issued by a European institution to raise funds on the market on the same basis and to the benefits of all member states".

They believe this is necessary for "ensuring stable long term financing for the policies required to counter the damages caused by this pandemic."

"The case for such a common instrument is strong, since we are all facing a symmetric external shock, for which no country bears responsibility, but whose negative consequences are endured by all. And we are collectively accountable for an effective and united European response."

The common debt instrument should have sufficient size and long maturity to be fully efficient and avoid roll-over risks now as in the future, the leaders argue.

The idea of a mutualised debt is a frequent request of heavily indebted EU nations and is championed by the European Central Bank, but Germany and other rich northern members, which usually carry the biggest part of the burden in such projects, oppose it.

France, Spain and Italy have long called for some kind of eurobond, that is in effect joint borrowing by the 19 members of the euro single currency.

They say it could serve as the bedrock of a safer and more unified European economy and would become a globally respected asset on par with the US Treasury bills that help make the dollar the world's reference currency.

EU leaders discussed the possibility of an EU "corona bond" to finance urgent measures and help deal with the consequences of the epidemic at a videoconference last week.

In today's letter, EU leaders say the coronavirus pandemics "is an unprecedented shock and it requires exceptional measures".

All European countries have taken or are taking containment measures to stem the spread of the virus, but the success of these measures will depend on the timing, the extent and the coordination of sanitary measures implemented by different governments, they say.

They urge "an alignment of practices across Europe, based on past successful experiences, on experts' analysis, on thorough exchange of information".

"This is necessary now, during the peak phase of the epidemic... It will also be necessary tomorrow when we will roll-back the extreme measures taken today, both to avoid too hasty a return to normality and to prevent re-importing the virus from other countries."

The leaders are calling on the European Commission to "come out with agreed guidelines, a common base for the collection and sharing of medical and epidemiological information, and a strategy to deal in the near future with the staggered evolution of the epidemic".

Preserving the functioning of the single market is essential to give all European citizens the best possible care and the strongest guarantee that there will be no shortage of any kind, the letter reads.

"We need to recognize the severity of the situation and the necessity for further action to buttress our economies today, in order to put them in the best condition for a rapid recovery tomorrow. This requires the activation of all existing common fiscal instruments to support national efforts and ensure financial solidarity, especially within the eurozone."

EU leaders are expected to hold a video conference on Thursday, where they are expected to greenlight a pandemic crisis instrument to help European countries with precautionary loans from the European Stability Mechanism.

STA, 17 February - Slovenian Foreign Minister Miro Cerar has assessed that the EU 7-year spending plan recently proposed by European Council President Charles Michel is still inadequate for Slovenia. There are slight improvements in cohesion policy in comparison with the previous proposals, but this is not enough, Cerar believes.

The foreign minister assessed the compromise proposal for the 2021-2027 EU budget to the press in Brussels on Monday as he is attending a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.

Cerar pointed to the Slovenian priorities, which are keeping cohesion funds at an appropriate level, an appropriate solution for Western Slovenia, the more developed of the two Slovenian cohesion regions, and an increase in funds for rural development.

The minister noted that the outgoing Prime Minister Marjan Šarec was the main negotiator, and that Foreign Ministry State Secretary Matej Marn would represent Slovenia's position at a working meeting in the afternoon.

This will be the first meeting after Michel presented the proposal based on talks with the EU 27 leaders, which is not significantly different than the December proposal by the Finnish EU presidency, which satisfied no one.

Michel has proposed a budget worth EUR 1,095 billion or 1.074% of the gross domestic product of the EU 27. This is very close to the Finnish proposal and much less than the European Commission's proposal, but still much more than the net contributors would be willing to pay.

Support for new Libyan action

Cerar also announced that the EU would launch a new operation in the Mediterranean Sea to ensure the implementation of the embargo on arms imports in Libya, which was to upgrade the current operation Sophia.

The EU wants to be active on land, at sea and in the air in preventing arms trafficking which facilitates conflict in Libya, he said, adding he was happy that a commitment had been made today at the political level.

According to Cerar, specific aspects of the new operation are yet to be defined, which is something the EU foreign ministers will discuss at the next meeting, in March.

It is important that the EU does not allow the vacuum which is being created in Libya and around it to be filled by countries such as Turkey and Russia, he said, adding that the EU must show it was a partner to Africa.

Cerar noted that the operation would cover a slightly different area than Sophia, as it would be focused on the east of the Mediterranean, on the routes used to bring arms to Libya.

He stressed that it should not be understood as an invitation for migrants as it was a military, and not a humanitarian operation. "If migrations increase because of the operation, it will have to be aborted."

The purpose of the operation is to mitigate the conflict and find a political solution for the hot spot that is Libya, Cerar said, adding that land operations remained a sensitive element.

STA, 6 February 2020 - Meeting EU Council President Charles Michel on Friday, outgoing Prime Minister Marjan Šarec will highlight Slovenia's key priorities regarding the EU 2021-2027 budget, including cohesion policy, the situation in the Western Slovenia cohesion region and funds for rural development.

As the EU leaders are in the process of hammering out the bloc's next long-term budget, the EU Council president is meeting as many as 16 of them this week.

After wrapping up all the bilateral meetings, Michel will draw up a new compromise proposal replacing the Finnish presidency's document, which failed to meet any expectations.

What will follow is an emergency meeting of ministers in charge of EU affairs on 17 February, with a special budget summit starting on 20 February.

The latter will mark the first actual time the EU leaders will discuss the next long-term budget even though the EU Commission presented its proposal as early as in May 2018.

Rumour has it that Michel plans to coop the leaders up until they reach an agreement even if that takes days. Other unofficial sources state that he will not keep at it if hours-long negotiations do not prove fruitful.

It will be easier though to predict possible outcomes after the compromise proposal is presented. However, currently it is believed that a final agreement will not be reached as early as in February.

Given how budget talks went in the past, at least a couple of summits are usually needed for the member states to agree on a next long-term budget.

Budget negotiations always serve as an opportunity for the largest EU net contributors, striving for the smallest possible budget, and net beneficiaries, opposing any cuts to cohesion funds, to fight it out.

This time around though, the differences are the most profound so far, with Brexit looming over the negotiations.

Interested in Slovenia's euro coins? Check out Slovenia in Your Pocket: Coins that Celebrate the Culture

Following the UK leaving the EU, the remaining major net contributors, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands, labelled the frugal five, are determined that the budget should equal 1% of EU 27 gross national income (GNI), which is the traditional budget volume.

Meanwhile, the so-called cohesion countries call for at least 1.11% of GNI, a solution proposed by the EU Commission in 2018. The EU Parliament proposes the figure to be even stronger - 1.3% of GNI.

At the end of last year, Finland's Presidency proposed the budget to amount to 1.07% of GNI or EUR 48 billion less than the EU Commission-proposed sum, envisaging cuts to cohesion and agriculture funds. The Finnish proposal has been deemed impossible to implement, but it will be used as one of the starting points for further negotiations.

Slovenia supports the EU Commission-proposed budget in theory, with the country's top priorities being cohesion funds, the smallest possible cuts to the funds for the more developed of Slovenia's two cohesion regions, Western Slovenia, and to the rural development funds.

Taking into account the EU Commission's proposal, Slovenia is set to get EUR 3.1 billion in cohesion funds.

In December, Šarec labelled the Finnish presidency's proposal extremely bad for Slovenia, saying that it would reduce cohesion funds by 28% compared to the current multi-annual EU budget. It would thus put Slovenia among those countries which would suffer the greatest loss.

Slovenia is also urging that no country would lose more than 40% of funds given the current financial framework, thus trying to maintain the status of the more developed Western Slovenia region.

The country welcomed the Finnish proposal's rural development policy though, since it envisages a significant increase in relevant funds - by EUR 10 billion.

Moreover, in December, Šarec pointed out in Brussels that pursuing the 2050 climate neutrality target should not be done at the expense of cohesion policy.

Following a recent ministerial meeting about the green deal, the Finance Ministry said that a number of countries were reluctant about moving funds from cohesion and agriculture programmes into green investments.

STA, 27 November 2019 - Janez Lenarčič, Slovenia's former ambassador to the EU who has taken over as crisis management commissioner, is a seasoned diplomat. He has served as ambassador to the OSCE, director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, secretary of Slovenia's permanent mission at the UN, and the PM's diplomatic adviser.

Lenarčič, who speaks English, French and Serbian, was born in Ljubljana on 6 November 1967. He graduated in international law in Ljubljana in 1992 and started working for the Foreign Ministry the same year.

Between 1994 and 1999 he worked with Slovenia's permanent mission at the UN, initially as the third and then as the first secretary. In 2000 he started serving as adviser to the foreign minister and the following year he became the diplomatic adviser to the prime minister, the late Janez Drnovšek.

In 2002 and 2003 Lenarčič worked as state secretary in the prime minister's office, to be appointed in 2003 the head of the Slovenian mission to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). During Slovenia's OSCE presidency in 2005 he headed the organisation's permanent council.

In 2006 he was appointed state secretary for European affairs, serving also during Slovenia's first presidency of the EU in 2008 during the centre-right government of Janez Janša. He was the head of the task force in charge of preparing Slovenia's EU presidency.

In July 2008 he was appointed the director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and confirmed for a second and final term at the same post in May 2011.

In September 2014 Lenarčič became state secretary in the office of the then Prime Minister Miro Cerar, where he was in charge of foreign and European affairs.

He served under Cerar's centre-left government until July 2016, when he took over as Slovenia's permanent representative to the EU.

Lenarčič decided to quit the Foreign Ministry after 19 years last month. He criticised a legal provision that financially penalises diplomats who suspend their status at the ministry to serve abroad and then return to the ministry for a period shorter than half of the duration of the absence.

Lenarčič is considered apolitical. In his opening address at the committee hearing in the European Parliament, Lenarčič listed improved crisis response, prevention and preparedness as his priorities. He also called on MEPs to support a 30% increase in the humanitarian aid budget for the next multi-year budget.

STA, 25 November 2019 - Businesses from north-east Slovenia are worried that companies providing cross-border services in the EU could be severely affected if Slovenia introduces into its law the new directive governing cross-border services and posted workers "too rigorously". A study by an economist was presented to corroborate their view.

Earlier this year, the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) asked the European Commission to investigate Slovenia for dumping in temporarily posting workers in other EU countries.

The EFBWW maintains Slovenia's law enables paying lower contributions and taxes for posted workers in the markets where they work, making them more competitive, explained the head of the Štajerska region's association of providers of cross-border services, Albert Kekec.

Related - Temporary Posting of Slovene Workers “Exports Cheap Labour” (Feature)

Slovenian companies believe these are false allegations, and have complained against them, waiting for the final decision, Kekec noted in Maribor on Monday.

He believes Slovenia was challenged because it is a small country and because it has a poor record of defending itself in such cases.

But since the dispute could result in case law which would also apply to other EU countries, it is important that our country realises the weight of the case and acts appropriately, he said.

This is why the regional Štajerska Chamber of Commerce has commissioned a study of exports of construction and engineering services, and posted workers.

Economist Jože P. Damijan, presenting his study, said legislative changes would considerably lower or entirely stop the export of construction, engineering and transport services by Slovenian companies to the EU.

This is particularly true for the part of Štajerska along the Drava river, which has an above-average number of such companies.

Damijan predicts a loss of more than 10,000 jobs around the entire country, and even up to 13,000 in the worst-case scenario, of which some 5,000 in the Drava area.

The chamber wonders whether the government is aware of all the consequences that could result from transposing the directive indiscriminately.

It points to direct and indirect impact on the country's GDP, while the area around the river Drava would be affected the most.

Damijan's study shows Slovenia's construction, engineering and transport companies generate around 20% of all exported services, and almost 4.5% of the country's overall exports. The majority or 80% is exported to the EU.

These companies employ more than 70,000 workers and post around 12,000 workers abroad monthly. Slovenia is thus preceded only by Poland.

Over the past few years Slovenia's services sector has been growing the fastest in the EU.

Damijan said it was true the three sectors employed over 70% of foreign workers, mostly from the Balkans, but noted these were still Slovenian-owned companies paying taxes in Slovenia.

The chamber also criticised the government for not providing enough information, including about the appeal against the EFBWW's request to investigate Slovenia.

State Secretary at the Labour Ministry Tilen Božič has recently said the ministry intends to tackle the issue of posted workers, including alleged violations of worker rights as highlighted by Slovenian trade unions, by changing the law on cross-border services "in a foreseeable future".

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 23 November

Mladina: Slovenia’s weakness at applying for EU funds

STA, 22 November 2019 - The left-wing weekly Mladina criticises Slovenian ministries for doing a poor job of preparing projects eligible for EU funds. The only exception seems to be the Justice Ministry, which has led to a situation in which Slovenia will be building a massive EUR 68 million prison, but not much-needed retirement homes and not-for-profit flats.

The prison project has been in the works since the term of former Justice Minister Lovro Šturm (2004-2008), Mladina editor-in-chief Gregor Repovž notes, adding that experts have said it resembled a prison serving medieval inquisition.

But surprisingly, the project was continued by Šturm's successor Aleš Zalar, who had said that the situation in Slovenian prisons was so poor that the country was paying compensation to prisoners. And then Justice Minister Goran Klemenčič stated the most important reason: Slovenia could get EU funds for the project.

When the next EU financial perspective is being negotiated countries pitch their plans and Brussels approved for Slovenia EUR 50 million for prisons in Slovenia in this perspective.

So the Justice Ministry made a simple calculation: the EU funds can cover up to 75% of the investment, thus Slovenia will be building a EUR 68 million prison. The project and its price are not based on actual needs but on the amount of EU funds available.

"And the most absurd thing? If this project goes through, Slovenia will once again be good at drawing of EU funds and the Justice Ministry (and the Prison Administration) will be the golden birdie."

Slovenia could also be drawing EU funds for much-needed retirement homes, but not a single retirement home has been built in the country for 15 years. "Simply because the Social Affairs Ministry has not stepped up in the recent years."

"The same could be said for the Infrastructure Ministry, which has failed for the past 20 years to become more active in building public flats, creating a crisis for 20 people who are unable to buy their own flat."

This shows it is very important what sort of a person heads a ministry. "Because the Justice Ministry has had two strong ministers in recent years, we will be building a disproportionately big prison, but not retirement homes and flats."

Demokracija: Deep state should be voted out of office

STA, 21 November 2019 - The right-wing weekly Demokracija calls on "the good people" in Thursday's editorial to go to the polls in the next election to vote out of office "the bad guys" who are in power in Slovenia, which it says is ruled by the deep state.

The magazine gives several examples, including Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković's being untouchable for courts because he has "a membership card of the mafia deep state".

To join "this elite of first-class citizens", it takes publicly displaying hatred to opposition Democrat (SDS) leader Janez Janša, editor-in-chief Jože Biščak says.

But it is not enough to hate Janša, he and his SDS must also be excluded from public life, which Prime Minister Marjan Šarec did by not inviting him to a recent session of the National Security Council, says Biščak.

The leader of the largest opposition party was not invited to the session nor was he informed about it, which Biščak says amounts to a coupe d'etat with which the largest opposition party was excluded from parliamentary democracy.

Biščak sees similar "stiffness" at the Constitutional Court, which has recently prevented a hearing in parliament in which prosecutor Niko Pušnik could reveal "the mafia workings of the deep state" by explaining how State Prosecutor General Drago Šketa exerted pressure on him in a case related to former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler.

"If the Government Palace has turned into a swamp under Šarec, then the Constitutional Court under its president Rajko Knez and the State Prosecution under Šketa and Zvonko Fišer are turning into a sewage system populated by rats. And these will never allow their comrades to be found guilty, giving each other immunity."

Biščak thus urges people to "clean Augeas' stables, to topple the bad boys ... so that a bad and corrupt government voted into office by the good people who do not go to the polls happens never again".

He says in the editorial Mafia Sends Cheques by Mail this is the only way "to give justice a chance and for mafia cheques to be no longer delivered by couriers."

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 20 November 2019 - Slovenia's draft budgetary plans for next year contain risks that could lead to non-compliance with EU budget rules, the European Commission said on Wednesday, adding the country might still end up complying with the rules considering the high degree of uncertainty in output gap estimates.

Today marks the first time since 2002 that none of the eurozone countries is subjected to excessive public finance deficit procedure, which means that all of them managed to contain their deficit under 3% of GDP.

The Commission found that the budgetary plans of Germany, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Austria are compliant with the 2020 requirements under the Stability and Growth Pact, Estonia and Latvia are broadly compliant, while the plans of Slovenia and seven other countries contain risks of non-compliance.

The budgetary plans of Slovenia, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia and Finland "might result in a significant deviation from the adjustment path towards their respective medium-term budgetary objective," the Commission said.

Slovenia is expected to soon bring its general government debt below 60% of GDP and with its surplus in nominal terms the country is far from the deficit limit of 3% of GDP.

However, the country is not making progress fast enough, said Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who is in charge of financial stability.

Taking into account the country's surplus of 0.5% of GDP and the uncertainties in the output gap calculations, Slovenia may come closer than expected to its medium-term budgetary objective, Dombrovskis said, adding that this may be confirmed in spring.

Slovenia's medium-term budgetary objective is a structural deficit of less than 0.25% of GDP, however, the Commission's autumn forecast for the country in 2020 puts the deficit at 0.9% of GDP.

According to unofficial sources, the Commission is not too worried about Slovenia and the country could become broadly compliant with the Stability and Growth Pact in the spring.

In a response, the Finance Ministry pointed to the differences in certain calculations in Brussels and Ljubljana which result, among other things, from different projections of economic growth and the output gap.

The Commission has estimated that Slovenia will record a nominal surplus of the general government sector of 0.5% of GDP this year and keep it at this level in 2020. The ministry has meanwhile assessed that the surplus will be at 0.8% this year and at 0.9% next year.

The ministry added that the assessments of the draft budgetary plans were based on the Commission's autumn projection of 2.6% GDP growth for this year and 2.7% growth for 2020.

This is a downgrade compared to the Commission's spring forecast and to the autumn forecast by the government macroeconomic think tank IMAD, which was used to draft the budgetary plan for 2020, it said.

"Since the Commission's projection is more pessimistic, its assessments of revenue and nominal balance are consequently somewhat lower."

STA, 5 November 2019 - A summit of the Friends of Cohesion, an informal group of EU members opposing cuts to cohesion funds, urged the EU to adopt a 2021-2027 budget with a sufficient amount of cohesion funds. Slovenian PM Marjan Šarec said that "a strong EU needs a sufficient and future-oriented budget" which will address the bloc's key challenges.

Premier @sarecmarjan se v Pragi udeležuje drugega vrha Skupine prijateljev kohezije. Cilj vrha je zagotoviti podporo predlogu večletnega finančnega okvira, ki bo ohranjal pomen kohezijske politike kot temeljne politike proračuna EU ?? in ji namenil tudi ustrezen obseg sredstev. pic.twitter.com/G8M7ZEqjql

— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) November 5, 2019

The EU will not be able to achieve this if cohesion funds are cut, so a strong cohesion policy should be preserved, Šarec said at the summit of 17 net recipients of development funds from the EU budget in Prague on Tuesday.

Friends of Cohesion leaders, coming from central, east and south Europe, adopted a declaration which highlights the importance of cohesion policy for reaching some of the EU's key goals, such as economic and social convergence, a functioning internal market and the fight against climate change.

The summit comes before the December EU summit at which key stage in the talks on the next seven-year budget is to be launched, and after the European Commission proposed a cut in cohesion funds.

"If we want to protect cohesion policy, the volume of the multi-year financial framework should stay close to the Commission's proposal of 1.11% of the EU-27's GNP," said Šarec.

It is several net contributors - unofficially the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Germany - that would like the budget to amount to only 1% of GNP, but Šarec said this would not be acceptable for Slovenia. He added the Friends of Cohesion did not want the funds for cohesion and agriculture to drop.

"For us, cohesion funds are of exceptional importance, they have enabled Slovenia and other countries to develop," he told reporters after the summit.

Last May the Commission proposed the 2021-2027 budget of EUR 1,135 billion, of which cohesion funds - a major source of development funds for Central and East European as well as poorer Mediterranean EU members - would amount to EUR 331 billion.

Under this proposal, which is based on per capita GDP statistics for 2014-2016, Slovenia would be entitled to EUR 3.073 billion in cohesion funds. However, it was later agreed data for 2015-2017 would be used, as a result of which Slovenia would lose some funds.

Šarec said Slovenia was pushing for the latest statistics not to be used because they placed it among developed countries, "but we know that our two cohesion regions are not as developed as we would wish".

"Member states cannot lose a significant share of cohesion funds simply because of updated statistics. It is also unacceptable for any EU region, especially if it has half of a country's population, to lose the majority of money from structural funds overnight," said Šarec.

This referred to Slovenia's western cohesion region, for which a budget of 1% of GNP would according to Šarec entail "a drastic cut in funds".

The talks on the EU's next budget were launched in July 2018 and are expected to be completed in spring 2020. Šarec said it was hard to say whether a deal would actually be reached in spring, and expects the talks to be "long and tough".

The Prague summit was hosted by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. It featured prime ministers and representatives of Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain, and European Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger.

STA, 18 October 2019 - Slovenia's MEPs have urged leaving the decision on Croatia's readiness to join the Schengen zone to Ursula von der Leyen's European Commission, arguing that such a strategic decision should not be taken by an outgoing Commission.

Ljudmila Novak (EPP), Franc Bogovič (EPP), Irena Joveva (RE), Klemen Grošelj (RE), Tanja Fajon (S&D) and Milan Brglez (S&D) say in their call it would be completely incomprehensible and hard to accept if a decision with long-term and strategic consequences for the EU was to be made by Jean-Claude Juncker's Commission, whose term runs out soon.

The Slovenian MEPs also believe the decision should be taken based on an objective expert assessment of whether Croatia meets all the technical and security conditions.

The Commission must also make sure there is absolutely no doubt the assessment of Croatia's ability to protect the Schengen border is not based on political reasons.

Aware of the advantages of Croatia's joining the passport-free zone for Slovenia and the EU, the six out of Slovenia's eight MEPs say its entry is "in our common interest", but must not pose a security threat to the EU.

The MEPs say there are very serious doubts about Croatia being technically and legally fit to protect the EU's external border.

What is more, there are very serious doubts about its compliance with EU standards, foremost in respecting and implementing treaties and court decisions.

The MEPs are also "deeply worried about statements coming from some media outlets and Croatian government officials which bring up serious questions about their privileged access to information and a serious doubt about relevant procedures being transparent, independent and based on expertise".

The appeal was addressed to Juncker and von der Leyen, to European Council President Donald Tusk and his successor Charles Michel as well as to Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec.

The Commission is expected to discuss Croatia's meeting the technical conditions to join the Schengen zone on Tuesday.

The appeal to the top EU officials was not signed by the two European People's Party (EPP) MEPs from the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS).

Novak said that Romana Tomc and Milan Zver had not explained why they would not join the appeal. "We were only told they had decided not so sign it."

However, Tomc later took to Twitter, saying she agreed that Croatia's Schengen entry was in Slovenia's interest and that Croatia must meet all the conditions before joining the zone.

But she also believes that the answer to this very sensitive political question should be sought at the highest diplomatic level.

STA, 14 October 2019 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec made a case for the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans ahead of a two-day European Council meeting on Thursday and Friday. In a letter to the Council president and EU heads of states and government, he said the enlargement should have no alternative.

"There is no other process of such transformative and stabilising power. The region's geostrategic location in Europe, on the North-South and East-West axes, is critically important and represents an immense potential in terms of human, economic and cultural capital", the PM says in the letter.

According to Šarec, yet another postponement of the decision on the start of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania should not be an option.

Slovenia proposes "two individual decisions based on merit".

Šarec believes that the recommendations of the European Commission, the reform process and the enormous political will, courage and political capital invested in addressing outstanding bilateral issues must be taken into account.

He stresses that the Prespa Agreement between North Macedonia and Greece as well as the Friendship Treaty between North Macedonia and Bulgaria should "become the norm" and "provide guidance on how to deal with remaining outstanding issues".

He also warns of the possible consequences of a non-decision. "A stable region is not to be taken for granted," he says, mentioning "long-lasting spillover effect" of this week's decisions and their "immensely important message for the people, especially youth".

Noting that concerns of some members states must also be taken into account, the PM proposes that they be addressed internally, so that this does not slow down the enlargement process and obstruct the progress that these countries deserve.

"Let us not undermine the region's trust in the European perspective and let us not forget the importance of sustaining its political and security stability."

"Granting the start of the negotiations will only mark the beginning of the process not the end of the journey," Šarec notes.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Miro Cerar told reporters in Luxembourg today that he would strive to present these arguments as clearly as possible to his counterparts on Tuesday.

He too believes that a negative decision or the absence of a decision could undermine the stability of the region. This would mean the EU would betray its principles, break its promise and put the "very brave creators of the Prespa Agreement and reforms in both countries" in a very difficult position, he said.

Slovenia is among some fifteen EU member countries that are advocating for the start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. The heads of four EU institutions recently also called for this move in a joint letter.

In July, a decision was postponed because of reservations voiced by Germany, France and the Netherlands. According to unofficial information, France is now also strongly against. The Netherlands is now only against the start of accession talks with Albania because it deems its battle against corruption insufficient, while it supports talks with North Macedonia.

Several scenarios are being mentioned ahead of the upcoming summit, one of them being the start of talks but with additional conditions for the two countries. Another postponement of the decision is also possible.

Macedonia has been waiting to start the talks since 2005, when it got the status of a candidate country, while Albania became a candidate in 2014.