Greetings to all those present, and my special thanks to my dear
colleague, the Prime Minister of the Duchy of Luxembourg, Bettel, my dear
friend Xavier.
In fact, this visit is a continuation of the very good cooperation that I
established with my colleague Mr Bettel at the European Council.
I think it was a very easy decision to first invite him to Ljubljana and
then to continue in Luxembourg.
Because we have all been able to see together that, precisely in the
debates on how to make Europe not only stronger but better, we need to
be based on common values, and these values are definitely shared by the
Duchy of Luxembourg and, above all, by the Prime Minister, and we share
the same views on most, if not all, of the challenges that the European
Union is really facing in these complex times.
If I said that our visit today is a continuation, I would also like to
underline that a lot has already changed since February.
We had hopes to establish closer cooperation with Luxembourg,
including bilateral cooperation, because Luxembourg, as has been said,
is the second largest investor in the Slovenian economy, which is no small
thing, especially given the distance. From this point of view, trade
between the two countries is also something that we want to promote,
and especially trade in this positive development sense.
Three areas already identified during the February visit are being
revisited today.
The most and the fastest, which is logical in its own way, things are
advancing in aerospace, in high technologies.
We also have a memorandum to be signed today.
It is in the area of cooperation between economies, between the
business worlds of Slovenia and Luxembourg.
In the field of space technologies, we have high hopes, not least because
Luxembourg is a kind of front man, a real forerunner, a pioneer in this
field. Our industry is also keeping pace very well with developments in
some niche areas and I believe that together they will be able to shape a
success story at European level.
We have high hopes for this.
On the other hand, Slovenia has great potential in the timber industry,
since, after all, almost 60 % of our land area is covered by forests,
which is in fact still underused in a positive sense.
And it is precisely the higher value-added products and investment
in this part of the wood processing industry that definitely represent a
great potential for Slovenia in the future. And, as has been said, we are
delighted that in two days' time on Thursday, a direct link between
Luxembourg and Ljubljana will open, which will also allow tourism to move
up a gear. That is also why we have representatives of our national
tourism organisation, the STO, with us, in order to present Slovenia in
Luxembourg to the wider population and not only to the business world,
which obviously knows it well, given the level of investment Luxembourg
has in Slovenia.
A large part of the discussions today was also devoted to the European
scene, not so much because of the elections, we have more or less
avoided the topic this time, but mainly from the point of view of what
are the changes that Europe will have to make, on the one hand, in order to
face the challenges of the future more easily, and, on the other hand,
what is our attitude, in particular, towards the enlargement process. Last
but not least, we are all aware that expectations in the neighbourhood are
very high, both on the Western Balkan side and on the Ukrainian and
Moldovan sides, and I think that we in Europe have a duty to respond. The
answer can be positive, it can be negative. But we have a duty to give
it. The situation that we have seen in the Western Balkans over
the last 20 years, where for various reasons there has been a
delay in giving an answer on the way forward, is the worst
possible situation.
I think we share a common view.
If I say that enlargement is practically impossible under the
existing conditions, that is to say, if we want to create an enlargement
of the European Union to new members, then we will have to reform inward in
some way, or find a new formula for enlargement, and not just the formula
by which, for example, Slovenia entered. There is a fairly strong
consensus on this at European level, but we do not yet have solutions.
This will be a topic that will be discussed in the coming months and
most probably at the December summit in Brussels. We may already have an
answer. This was one of the important topics, but of course not the only
one. I agree that the place we are to going now, which is Schengen, is a
place that is in a way ours, because of the rights we get as citizens, by
being able to move freely around Europe, It is a place that is really
close to us. That is to say, when we hear about Schengen, we all warm to
it because we believe that it is one of the key foundations for the
successful functioning of the European Union.
The free movement of people and, of course, consequently the free
movement of goods is what Europe is based on, one of its foundations, and
I believe that any closures within Europe are not only unnecessary, but
counterproductive, because they do not really achieve the declared
objectives, and they definitely make it more difficult for nations to
cooperate with each other. And this is something that goes against the
basic European idea. And I myself believe that any closure or
abandonment of Schengen, or regression in this area, is something
that should be avoided at all costs and by all means.
But I look forward to visiting Schengen, maybe we can get some
inspiration to do better in the future, and I believe that we should
have more stories like Schengen in Europe.
I am also looking forward to more contacts between our people, both in
terms of student exchanges, business exchanges and, as I said, tourism
exchanges. And I believe that after this, everyone will be able to see
for themselves that it is very easy to be friends with someone from
Luxembourg. Just as I found out when I met my colleague Bettel.
It is not difficult to like you and I believe that this will continue.
Thank you very much.