Good evening and welcome those of you who have just logged in
to the fourth day of the Delphi Forum live transmission.
As the things are coming to a close in the next few hours,
I would once more like to thank the organiser
of this extremely successful event
that the Delphi Economic Forum has been again.
I don't want to take any more time from our discussion.
Today, we have the privilege of hosting Mr. Janez Janša,
the Prime Minister of Slovenia.
Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for being here.
Thank you for the invitation and good afternoon.
For those of you watching us via the internet, we have to say
that his country
has been celebrating 30 years of independence for the past year.
One of the most experienced politicians
not only in Slovenia, not only in the Balkans, but in the wider region.
I want to start by asking you
what is your view of the Russian invasion and the war in Ukraine,
which has been raging for the past six weeks.
I guess in Slovenia as well, like in Greece, people are asking
when and how this thing is going to end.
Well...
First of all, on February 24, the world has changed,
especially for those of us who live on the European continent.
Of course, it changed dramatically for Ukrainians, but also for us.
We are not aware enough
of how these changes are affecting all of us
and how they will affect everything in our future.
I think that after the fall of the Berlin Wall
and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union,
we lived in a world
where we thought
that Europe would be united and democracy
and the free market economy would spread across the continent.
That we just needed to wait for another decade
or for the next generation to come
and the world
far away from the Cold War era
would somehow be created, but...
Because of this wishful thinking, we...
By we, I mean the European Union
or the Western part of the world, the Euro-Atlantic community.
Because of this wishful thinking,
we neglected to answer the strategic challenges.
One of the answers that we only implemented halfway is enlargement.
I'm speaking mostly about the enlargement of the EU.
During the recent period,
we didn't take it very seriously.
Not only regarding the Western Balkans,
but especially our Eastern neighbourhood.
Now we see that
if the EU does not enlarge,
somebody else will.
Now we are paying the price.
I think that currently the destiny of the...
The peaceful future of the European continent
is currently being decided on in Ukraine.
I was there in the middle of March
together with my Czech and Polish colleagues,
Mr. Fiala and Mr. Morawiecki.
When you go to Ukraine, when you go to Kyiv,
when you see first-hand what's really happening there,
when you feel the war,
you can really judge
the determination and bravery of Ukrainians.
I think that this moment is the rebirth of the Ukrainian nation
and we have to help them accelerate their EU membership
despite the current war situation
and we also have to give them all possible help
for Ukrainians to defend themselves.
As Josep Borrell said yesterday when he also visited Kyiv
with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen,
he said the war
in Ukraine will end when Ukraine will be able to defend itself.
And this is why I think now of course, we have to help refugees,
we have to think about the reconstruction after the war,
but first of all, we have to give them all kind of military help
because this is actually protecting lives
and this will also end the war.
I am sure that Mr. Zelensky has told you, as he has asked
from the EU and NATO and Slovenia is both the EU and NATO member state,
for more severe sanctions. I would like your point of view
if the sanctions that have been imposed so far are enough,
if they are working and if you need more sanctions.
Are you willing to vote for more sanctions?
Yes. Slovenia voted for all packages of sanctions.
We are also cooperating with the European Commission
now when they are imposing the sixth package.
We all know what the main problem is. The main problem is
dependency of the vast part of the EU
on Russian energy sources, especially gas and oil,
also coal. Coal is not such a problem.
I think oil is also not a problem
because the supply sources could be
easily, not overnight but still in the short term replaced by others.
The real problem is gas, but I will quote the Italian PM Mario Draghi
who said:
Here we have on the table two things. One is lives
of Ukrainians which are destroyed
and on the other side of the table is air conditioning.
So are we prepared to sacrifice
some part of our comfort
and the economic price we will surely pay
if we implement sanctions on Russian gas in the short term
and with this, we will stop the financing of Russian war machine.
Or we just stick with the sanctions
which will maybe work long-term, but short-term, we are still paying
€1 billion for Russian energy sources every day
and Kremlin is using this money
to finance the Russian war machine.
I think this is the main dilemma now on the table
in front of all EU member states and I think
that we have to answer to this dilemma yes.
We have to do it as soon as possible.
So you believe that we are ready to do that?
Make a few sacrifices? -I don't know, but we have to do it.
We know the impact
of this kind of sanctions is asymmetric and this is a problem.
Not all countries are in the same position
and every time this happens in the EU,
we need some time to coordinate ourselves.
I think that all those visits which have
followed our first visit in the middle of March...
I think that today the Austrian Chancellor is in Kyiv.
And especially the visits by the President of the European Parliament,
the President of the European Commission
and the High Representative Josep Borrell.
I think that all those visits clarified the picture
and the insights
of the people with the greatest responsibility in the EU
will accelerate the negotiations. I think that
the embargo on Russian gas is sure to arrive with lightning speed.
You talked about the possibility of EU integration of Ukraine.
I want to ask another question about EU accession.
Slovenia was the first from the ex-Yugoslavian countries
to join the EU. Croatia followed.
The others plus Albania from the Western Balkans
are still knocking on EU's door, hoping not to get a membership yet,
but a time frame.
How is the integration of the Western Balkans into EU going?
What needs to be done?
During the EU Summit in October of last year,
when Slovenia presided over the Council of the EU,
we proposed conclusions
which were unfortunately not agreed upon with consensus,
but they got the support of more than 20 EU member countries.
We proposed a creation of a strict timeline
for the accession of the Western Balkan countries into the EU
by 2030, within the next nine years.
I think we have to decide on this as soon as possible.
The Russian aggression on Ukraine
only underlined the need
to find answers to the strategic questions.
Ukraine should be included into the same timeline.
As well as Moldova and Georgia.
Both countries also applied for a fast-tracked EU membership.
I think we have to deliver this.
It's not possible overnight,
but it is possible within this decade.
The acceleration process...
The real progress
is also something that would help stabilise the Western Balkan region,
but also the Eastern neighbourhood.
But first of all, we have to stop the war in Ukraine.
We can only stop the war
with a strong military help on one side
and on the other side with effective sanctions
that will help stop the Russian war machine.
What about the question of Ukrainian refugees? Is Slovenia taking them in?
Will you cap that or can you accommodate as many as possible?
So far we accepted everyone coming from Ukraine.
We are prepared to assist further.
We are also helping their bordering countries,
Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary,
which are full of refugees.
We are also collecting humanitarian aid for those countries
and help
for the people displaced within Ukraine.
But I don't think that this is a solution.
We have to do it,
but this is not our goal.
Our goal is to stop the war and the flow of refugees
and to establish the conditions for those who escaped
to be able to return to their homes as soon as possible.
We have to be concentrated on fixing the problem.
Let's jump to another issue. Last year in Athens the EU Med 7
became the EU Med 9.
Slovenija was one of the two countries that
joined this coalition for the first time here in Athens.
What do you think, what is this coalition exactly?
Can it turn into an alliance?
What do the countries have in common besides enjoying the Mediterranean Sea?
We have a common responsibility for the Mediterranean Sea.
We are very glad that Slovenia joined the club.
We are grateful to Greece and all the other old members
of the club who support our and Croatian membership.
But we don't only share this responsibility.
We have also somehow similar positions regarding
some development issues,
and how some yet non-agreed things should be solved in the EU.
We had very similar positions when we negotiated for the RRF fund
after the pandemic in the summer of 2020.
Living in the similar area
is not only influencing ecological and other issues,
it also influences a specific
was of approach when we are seeking common solutions in the EU.
You know very well that for the past two years Greece and Italy
have been fighting to change the rules of the Dublin Treaty
for the way the EU handles the issue of migration.
The countries have been saying that they can't share the burden
for the whole of the EU.
There needs to be some kind of relocation schemes, burden sharing.
What is your view on this? It's an ongoing dialogue.
There has to be burden sharing.
We are not very far away from agreeing on this position.
The main dispute was about the obligatory immigrant quotas.
But now I think that this pressure
has somehow balanced inside the EU.
This war in Ukraine is overwhelming
the Eastern and Central Europe with the refugees.
And now the understanding of the problem is balanced.
I hope that this new situation...
Not only hope, I think that it will help us
to conclude the procedures on those
acts which are still pending.
We need to strengthen our Schengen area.
We also need to enlarge it.
We have to do everything that all those countries
that are members of the EU,
and share our external border,
should ender Schengen area and take full responsibility for it.
I don't think that this double position is good for anybody.
Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much.
It was a great discussion and it was an honour having you here.
Thank you and congratulations for very good debates.
Some of them I was able to follow during this session. -Thank you.