Prime Minister Janez Janša’s address is published below (please note this is not yet the finalised version):

Distinguished Speaker of Parliament, distinguished President of the Commission, distinguished Members of the European Parliament.

Almost exactly thirty years ago, we Slovenians established our own country. One year before that we fought for and held our first multi-party elections. At that time, as many as 90% of voters supported the dream of an independent country at the referendum. On only one other occasion did so many Slovenian citizens support one specific decision, and that was the decision for Slovenia to join the European Union. Being a part of the European Union was never merely an economic opportunity for us Slovenians. It was the return to a family connected by the values of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and democracy. All that had been taken from us or violated in communist Yugoslavia. This return to Europe coincided with the fundamental historical mission of the European Union, spurred by the fall of totalitarian communist regimes in Europe: the mission to establish an integral and free Europe which is at peace with itself and its neighbourhood.

Today, the European Union is very different than it was at the time of Slovenia's accession as well as the first Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU. We could say that the Slovenian presidency in the first half of 2008 was the last presidency not marked in one way or another by a severe crisis. After that, they have come one after another: financial crisis, migrant crisis, the occupation of Crimea, the creation of frozen conflicts in our eastern neighbourhood, Brexit, and the coronavirus pandemic since the beginning of last year. During these crises, the EU has been forced to respond and try to mitigate them as soon as possible.

We strongly hope the time has come in this semester when the actions of the European Union can and must become more strategic and long-term, oriented towards achieving the goal set by the fathers of the European Union. A Europe that is free, whole and at peace with itself and its neighbourhood.

For the second time since joining the European Union, Slovenia is taking over the helm of the Council of the European Union. It will round off the work of the current Trio, which also includes Germany and Portugal, while its initiatives and activities were part of the Trio’s work from the very beginning. We thank Germany and Portugal for their sound work in the very difficult times of the pandemic. In the second half of this year, in our semester, we will focus on a set of challenges and priorities that are based on the current situation of the European Union and contribute to the further existence and development of the Union.

The first are the resilience and recovery of the European Union after the pandemic and the establishment of a strategically autonomous Union. This is about developing or upgrading plans and instruments to reinforce the resilience of the European Union to pandemics as well as to large-scale symmetric or asymmetric cyberattacks. We are happy that the recovery is also reform-oriented and that it will run parallel to the implementation of the green and digital transition.

The next priority is a Union of the European way of life, the rule of law and equal criteria for all, for every member state and citizen of the European Union. This is also about a Union of balanced rights and responsibilities, a high level of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression.

Another priority is a credible and secure European Union. A union that is capable of ensuring security and stability not only in its territory, but also in its neighbourhood. It is a question of good cooperation within the North Atlantic Alliance, a projection of our values and stability onto our neighbourhood. It is about a Union of protected external borders and a clear distinction between legal and illegal migration.

We have already made a good start with the Conference on the Future of Europe, or more precisely, first the conference and talks on the future of the European Union and then the talks on the future of Europe as a continent. In the next six months, we want to organise a as many discussions as we can, open to all who would like to contribute proposals on how to build a common European future. As this is a question of a common European future, everybody is welcome to join this debate, without anyone feeling chosen and called to teach others about the European future. We must ensure an equal debate so that everyone, regardless of differences, can contribute their views and ideas of this common European future. The foundations for this debate lie in the applicable treaties, and in this context, all views are welcome, even if they contradict each other, because only an open debate can take us forward.

Let me present some key highlights, since they cannot all be presented.

I'll start with the challenge we are still dealing with: the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences of the crisis are self-evident. We can see them every day, including here today, with all of us wearing masks. We all wonder what will happen in the coming weeks and months when the number of delta variant infections will inevitably increase, and what we will be facing in the autumn.

While witnessing with great caution the easing pressure of the pandemic and the opening of public life, we are doing everything we can to be prepared for this possible fourth wave and avoid the hindrances and trials that we witnessed last autumn.

We are especially optimistic to see the European vaccination strategy working and producing results. More optimistic expectations are tied primarily to an accelerated vaccination programme and the actual willingness of the vast majority of our citizens to be vaccinated and not wait for others to get vaccinated instead of them, hoping to achieve a sufficient level of vaccination without their participation. The key question is how to convince our fellow citizens that everyone who gets vaccinated contributes us being able to live normally in the future, anywhere in Europe, because we have seen that the virus knows no borders and this is our common challenge.

One of the things that allows us to live much more normally despite the virus, or to expect a normal life over the summer and autumn, is the European digital COVID certificate. I offer my congratulations on your reaching an agreement between the institutions in such a short time, so that this certificate can actually be used, and that this certificate enables member states to organise matters in their national jurisdiction much more freely than they could without it.

If our first short-term priority is to do everything possible to avoid a fourth wave that would shut down public life again and jeopardise development in the European Union, then our greatest hope for these six months is to carefully return to normal, to the time before COVID-19, while recognising that certain precautionary measures will have to remain in force for some time.

The resilience, recovery and strategic autonomy of the European Union is a priority at this time, regardless of who presides over the Council of the European Union. In addition to a vigilant and careful fight against the pandemic that is as coordinated as possible, we are facing the responsible task of recovery and building a more resilient EU, a higher level of readiness for combating a crisis such as the pandemic.

Much has been done in Europe since the start of the COVID crisis, when we were unprepared and did not know quite how to respond. No country in the world, with the exception perhaps of a couple of countries outside the European continent that reacted quickly, was prepared for this. At the beginning, we were rather lost. Today, the picture is very different. We have reached agreement on the recovery plan in good time, which is a great success. Those of us who were present at the four-day European Council meeting last July have first-hand knowledge of this. I thank the Commission, which at the outset eased some of the restrictions on the instruments needed for the financial response to the crisis. We did not therefore experience dramatic drops in our standard of living as we did during the financial and economic crisis, especially in 2009, which also makes recovery easier. The European Union is also a leader in vaccine research, production and export. The European vaccination strategy is working. What still needs to be done at this point is no longer up to the European Commission, the European Parliament, or the governments of the member  states, but up to each individual. We have the instrument, we have the vaccines, now it is up to you, the citizens, the Europeans, to use it and actually stop this epidemic. We are also at the point where we can help others. The EU is by far the largest solidarity donor of vaccines, with over 100 million doses of vaccines for less developed countries made available so far, and this can and must be significantly strengthened.

We have learned some very important lessons during the COVID crisis, let me mention but a few:

We need a common European plan to deal with crises such as COVID, a plan for cases where such a crisis or threat is symmetrical and affects everyone, as well as plans for situations where the threat is asymmetric and affects only some member states that can be helped by others.

It is important to know what can be done together and when to take that action. As we saw last year, national measures, which we need when there is no common plan, can have a great cross-border impact that affects other member states. The EU's internal market and the four freedoms are very vulnerable during a crisis. We have experienced all this. Remember the long queues of lorries all over Europe over one year ago and it is clear what needs to be done.

It has become apparent how vulnerable and dependent on third countries the European Union is for some key strategic goods, such as personal protective equipment, medical equipment, constituents of medicinal products and also vaccine components.

Our goal must be to replace the ad-hoc solutions adopted in response to the current crisis with permanent structural measures, plans made in advance. We wish to finish the work to set up the European Health Union. A lot of work has already been done, and I think there is a high degree of consensus around this between the member states and the European institutions as to what steps need to be taken to build a health union.

As recent events in the US and Ireland have shown, we can quickly find ourselves in a situation where a large-scale cyberattack can have fateful consequences that resemble the spread of a virus. The consequences can also be much worse if, for example, our energy network is attacked. Our primary task is to develop common plans of defence against cyberattacks and to build joint capacities, and on this the work has already started. One of the EU’s tasks is to successfully deal with this kind of symmetrical or asymmetrical threat. No member state, not even the largest, is strong enough in the event of such a threat, because we have common energy networks. Only a common plan and common capacities allow for an effective defence. There are at least two sources of serious threat that no single EU country, according to the information known so far, can tackle alone.

In the national recovery plans, all member states are committing themselves to major investments in the digital and green transition. The European Union faces significant challenges on digitalisation and digital transition. But on digitalisation Europe is lagging behind other major players in the world in many aspects.

For example, although there are companies in the EU that produce the best equipment for photolithography – the key technology for the manufacture of semiconductors – the semiconductors assembled and manufactured in Europe make up less than 1% of the world's production. And although the EU has prestigious universities and the most technologically advanced laboratories, we design or manufacture only 1% of semiconductors on the global market. Without semiconductors, of course, we cannot dream of digitalisation. So we have the knowledge and capabilities. We have to take advantage of them. We need to decide where trade cooperation ends and where European autonomy begins when it comes to critical infrastructure and critical products. The EU must become as autonomous as possible. However, in this also we want to stay true to our European values, such as the right to privacy and the protection of personal data. These are values which some of our competitors perhaps put less emphasis on when it comes to digitalisation. The regulation of digital services, artificial intelligence and the related area of data management is therefore a greater challenge for us than for some outside the EU. These are all topics where the Slovenian Presidency will seek a balance between competitiveness and respect for European values. If in our internal debate we succeed in finding the right balance, then I believe that the EU can also take a leading role in shaping digital standards at the global level.

In December last year, we set ourselves the ambitious goal of reducing carbon emissions by 55% by 2030. With this goal, we want to encourage other countries around the world to follow our example. But this is not just about ambitions. It is also about convincing others to comply with the standards needed to achieve these goals. More than 90% of CO₂ is emitted outside Europe and success in this area can only be achieved globally. Europe can lead the process but cannot reach the goal on its own. We have to make sure that there are not areas of Europe that have to pay too steep a price in the process, that we do not destroy European industry and, what is of greatest concern to our citizens, that the price of electricity and fuel does not rise disproportionately and significantly reduce the quality of life.

Next week, the European Commission will propose an important legislative package on climate and energy (Fit for 55). We expect it to present a proposal that is balanced and fair for all. In this way, we hope that agreement on how to translate our ambitious climate targets into binding law can be reached as soon as possible. This will be a good basis for the EU's engagement in international climate negotiations in Glasgow in November.

A union of the European way of life, the rule of law and equal criteria for all

Let's be honest, Europeans do not often think about what the European way of life means, because we live it, we are in the middle of it. We take it for granted, but we should not. The social market economy is a European invention. Elsewhere in the world, economic and social relations are regulated slightly – or very – differently than are in Europe. There are also many who are envious of our solutions. We should bear this in mind when discussing European legislation on the minimum wage or the cross-border transfer of social security rights. Furthermore, we have the European Sports model. It is not based on elitism or exclusion, but on equal starting opportunities for all, the integration of local communities, and belonging.

Certain common European values – the equal dignity of every human being and the inalienable human rights and fundamental political freedoms that come with it – are at the very heart of the European way of life.

Respecting the rule of law based on equal criteria is vital for citizens' trust in public institutions and a prerequisite for mutual trust among EU member states. With regard to the rule of law, it should be clear that decisions on what is right and what is not must always be made by an independent judicial authority and not a political body. The operational quality of the judicial system is equally important and must be based on an independent, impartial and non-selective judiciary that, in every member state, strives for justice and ensures legal protection without delay and unreasonably long time limits. For as long as humans have talked about law, there has been a rule that justice delayed is justice denied.

We will devote special attention to the freedom and plurality of media and the fight against fake news. This is particularly necessary in environments with media monopolies, which, unfortunately, also exist in the European Union.

In this regard, the Slovenian Presidency points out the Resolution 1096 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Resolution of the European Parliament on European conscience and totalitarianism. Their guidelines and warnings are of lasting importance for the development of resilient, vital democracies, in particularly for the realisation of the historical goal of a Europe whole and free and at peace. Certain guidelines and warnings from the resolutions have not yet been realised in some younger European democracies. We consider this to be part of the deeper reasons for mutual misunderstandings regarding the rule of law in individual EU member states.

Many are not prepared or are not capable of seeing cases in which the standards and guarantees of the rule of law do not actually protect the European values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union; on the contrary, the rule-of-law institutions that in the transition to democracy assumed new roles only as a formality but did not internalise them, and use these standards and guarantees to protect unjustified privileges and preserve the culture of operation built during the decades of non-democratic arrangements and practices, which shrink the space of freedom and maintain deeply-rooted inequalities and injustices.

These issues will also be discussed at the international conference to be held in Slovenia on the occasion of European day of remembrance for victims of totalitarian regimes on 23 August 2021. It is our joint responsibility and ongoing task to clearly remember that the awareness of the need for European integration developed in the difficult and undemocratic historical struggles of the 20th century that marked the nations of today's EU member states, although each in its own way and for varying lengths of time.

A credible and secure European Union, capable of ensuring security and stability in its neighbourhood

We believe that the time has come for the European Union to become more strategic in its thinking and its actions around the world, especially when it comes to its immediate neighbourhood. As the member state holding the presidency of the Council of the EU, Slovenia will therefore focus on EU cooperation with the Western Balkans region and the eastern neighbourhood. As the Western Balkans is a region of strategic importance for the EU, Slovenia will, together with the President of the European Council, organise an EU-Western Balkans summit in Slovenia in October. In our view, EU enlargement is a logical response to the strategic challenges the EU faces and will face in future, in both the eastern neighbourhood and the Western Balkans.

Slovenia knows very well from its own experience how important the European perspective is for the implementation of reforms in the process of accession negotiations. This perspective must be tangible, and such that its fulfilment can be truly credible in the lifetime of the current generation, otherwise it is no longer any kind of incentive. This tangibility must inspire and be the source of the political energy needed to implement urgent reforms at the political level. It must be a source of energy and a focus of citizens' political awareness, so that they can support the bottom-up reforms that are needed. Our goal is to reaffirm, revive and revitalise the European perspective for the Western Balkan countries, which was opened at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003. If we do this, we will prove that we are a strategic player in our neighbourhood. If we are not able to do this, if we do not take a step forward in the Western Balkans, this step will be taken by someone else, someone with different interests and values.

The issue of migration is closely linked to the Western Balkans region, as it is crossed by one of the two major migration routes in the EU. I am talking about illegal migration. As regards migrations, we have a difficult dossier on the table. I think that we mostly agree on the importance of cooperation with countries of origin and transit for migration. We are also of one mind as regards the importance of strengthening control of the EU's external border. There may be less agreement on some parts of the Migration Pact, such as the issue of relocation and solidarity and responsibility. This is where we must find solutions acceptable to all member states. This is the only way to ensure that the new system will eventually come to life in practice.

Illegal migration has also placed a heavy burden on the functioning of the Schengen area in recent years. Schengen is one of the most important achievements of the European integration process. We believe that now, as we hopefully return to normality, is also an opportunity to put the issue of Schengen enlargement back on the agenda. We believe that every eligible member state should be allowed to join the Schengen area. To keep Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia waiting is unnecessary. This does not benefit either them or the EU.

The Conference on the Future of Europe

And now, let me say a few sentences on the Conference on the Future of Europe. I am pleased that the discussion on the organisational aspect of the conference has been concluded. Now is the time for the discussion on content and for the voice of Europeans to be heard. Next spring, we will be able to adopt concrete conclusions based on this discussion. We have a great opportunity for an open discussion, as the time of the Conference on the Future of Europe coincides with many open issues. As part of this year's Bled Strategic Forum, we will organise debates on the future of the EU, inviting many guests from the EU institutions, national leaders, former leaders who participated in the debate on the Constitution for Europe and the Lisbon Treaty, European think tanks, citizens and representatives of all political groups in this Parliament.

There are many open issues. Unfavourable demographic trends in most EU member states and different views on solutions to demographic issues. Low voter turnout in the European elections and other fundamental issues of European democracy, including the divide between an average European and EU institutions. Attempts by unelected entities to take on the role of those elected by voters. More and more time is spent on political disputes in the EU, which leaves less time for serious discussions on strategic and development dilemmas. We are at the crossroads of many paths.

We also need answers to strategic foreign policy and security dilemmas, or at least a broader and more open discussion about them:

How can we strengthen the EU's role, making its influence on globalisation trends more powerful? When we were adopting the Lisbon Treaty – I am one of the signatories – we said that with this treaty the EU would be able to direct globalisation. Today we must ask ourselves in which areas we are actually capable of doing that and where much still needs to be done. We must reach an agreement on whether a rapid EU enlargement to the Western Balkans and the eastern neighbourhood is a strategic answer to strategic challenges. Is there a sound alternative to a stronger EU security and military engagement in the Sahel region, where terrorism prevents the implementation of the most basic humanitarian, educational and development projects and this threat is spreading?

How should we define the long-term relationship between the EU and the Russian Federation? Or between the EU and Turkey, which is becoming the most influential actor in the Mediterranean?

Where is the line between EU-China economic and trade relations and the necessary strategic autonomy of the EU?

How can we comprehensively and more quickly strengthen relations with India, the biggest democracy on the planet?

We also need an open conversation about our responsibility for the victims and sufferings there have been to date and those to come as a result of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and leaving the people there at the mercy of the Taliban. We must reach an agreement that in the future we will not participate in actions that only destroy, but do not enable the creation of something new, better, and permanent.

We also need to face the sobering realisation that the EU's great, good and indispensable soft power, unprecedented in this global world, is not enough as long as we are unable to provide people with fundamental security and basic human rights. The EU, if it wants to become the first regional and then also a global power, simply has to have a combination of soft and hard power.

Members of the European Parliament,

The most important thing for our short-term future at the moment is to stop the pandemic and recover economically as soon as possible. This recovery must include the green and digital transition. Overall, the most important thing for a positive future, and for the future of our generation and the next generations of Europeans, is that we must talk openly about unresolved strategic dilemmas and find common solutions that will pave the way forward.