"Slovenia and Italy have a joint mission in European projects which concern the future, and that is the enlargement of the European Union and the European constitution," Rupel told reporters after an hour-long meeting with D'Alema.
Rupel said that Slovenia and Italy believed that the Western Balkans should be in the EU and that efforts should be made to make it possible for Western Balkan countries to win the status that was now enjoyed by Slovenia and Italy, as well as that the future European constitution should integrate as many elements as possible from the constitutional agreement ratified by Slovenia and Italy, whose adoption was halted after the referendums in France and the Netherlands.
"Both countries want stronger European institutions," Rupel said, adding that he and D'Alema also discussed the situation in Serbia and Kosovo, the position of the Slovene minority in Italy and of the Italian minority in Slovenia, as well as future cooperation in the northern Adriatic.