LJUBLJANA, June 15 (Hina) - Slovenia will be ready to become a full-right member of the European Union in 2004, Slovene President Milan Kucan said in Ljubljana on Friday on the occasion of the country's decade of independence. He told
a news conference it had been the conviction that it belonged to associated Europe that led Slovenia to break free from the former Yugoslav federation. It was done legally and legitimately, after ex-Yugoslavia's party, military and state elites, increasing Serb nationalism, and the difficult political and economic crisis disintegrated the former federation, he said. In the past decade Slovenia has shown that it is a successful and democratic law-based state, which is now "at the doors of the European Union and NATO," said the president. Asked to assess why Slovenia was the host of this weekend's summit of the presidents of the United States and Russia, Kucan said it proved that S
LJUBLJANA, June 15 (Hina) - Slovenia will be ready to become a full-
right member of the European Union in 2004, Slovene President Milan
Kucan said in Ljubljana on Friday on the occasion of the country's
decade of independence.
He told a news conference it had been the conviction that it
belonged to associated Europe that led Slovenia to break free from
the former Yugoslav federation. It was done legally and
legitimately, after ex-Yugoslavia's party, military and state
elites, increasing Serb nationalism, and the difficult political
and economic crisis disintegrated the former federation, he said.
In the past decade Slovenia has shown that it is a successful and
democratic law-based state, which is now "at the doors of the
European Union and NATO," said the president.
Asked to assess why Slovenia was the host of this weekend's summit
of the presidents of the United States and Russia, Kucan said it
proved that Slovenia was a stable and democratic state.
He voiced concern at signs that EU expansion might be slowed down.
It is an irreversible process and the dilemmas should be discussed
by current members and candidates, he said.
In view of preventing a standstill in the expansion process, Kucan
said transitional periods should be ensured to deal with
contentious issues, for instance restrictions in the flow of labour
from candidate countries.
(hina) ha