Three characteristics. Slovenia now holds the EU Presidency - an event that deserves to be underlined from three points of view: a) this is the first time that the Council (including Summits), the Committee of Permanent Representatives and all the bodies that depend upon it are presided by one of the member states that joined the EU in 2004; b) after Portugal, it is again a small country; and c) its leaders are aware of the importance of their task as well as of the limits to what can be achieved during their term of office.
I take the view that the first point mentioned provides a good opportunity to overcome the bad habit of making a distinction between member states according to their date of accession. Such a criteria no longer corresponds to anything. If there is division within the EU, it is not due to the chronology of accession dates (mainly since Poland has regained its pro-European convictions and motivations) - as the Slovenian Presidency will go to show. As for the “small country” aspect, experience shows that this category of countries may play an essential role in giving fresh impetus and inspiration to the edifice of Europe. Small countries do not have dreams of national grandeur. Their ambitions are quite different and they are often of a kind that reconciles the positions and the susceptibilities of the “large” countries. Their European convictions are sometimes valuable for all, as just two names show: Jean-Claude Juncker and Guy Verhofstadt.
Adhering to institutional balance. The Portuguese Presidency that has just come to an end had already confirmed the above remarks. The Portuguese prime minister and the ministers that presided the sectoral councils effectively carried out the double task of maintaining (and when necessary strongly reaffirming) the objectives and ambitions of Europe, mainly at international level, and of reconciling the orientations of the large member states on issues where interests were contradictory, such as financing and the functioning of the Galileo project, a number of taxation and agricultural issues, and some aspects for relaunching and consolidating the Lisbon Strategy (a strategy that the Portuguese authorities master better than anyone, having been largely at its origin). Such results take as read close cooperation with the European Commission, which has the monopoly of proposals and the “droit de regard” on any changes that the Council may make (member state unanimity is necessary to distance oneself from a Commission project if the Commission does not agree). This is a mechanism that is in line with the spirit and letter of the “Community method”, but that the large member states do not always practise. Institutional balance, which is respectful of the Commission's authority and the growing powers of the European Parliament, is essential and it will take a great deal of tact and precaution in the future to avoid this being upset by a future permanent European Council Presidency and by the future rules on the composition of the Commission (which could compromise democratic legitimacy).
We shall have an opportunity to look at this double danger in the future. Let us for now note that the presidencies of small countries tend, through conviction or need, to respect the spirit of the Community method and the role of the other institutions better than the “large”. Slovenia is, moreover, well aware of the fact that substantive debates on several key issues (such as reform of the common agricultural policy and preparation of institutional innovations set out in the Lisbon Treaty) will only get going during the next half year, and it has set out a reasonable programme of its presidential ambitions. See our previous bulletins for details and in particular to our special dossier on Slovenia Today (No 2007 of our series EUROPE/Documents).
A dual image. I shall simply say that, from the guidelines set out by the Slovenian Presidency, there is a spirit that corresponds to the image that the public must have of European construction, connecting Community integration with respect of national identities. The history and geography of the Western Balkans are so entwined that some problems between Slovenia and its neighbours, such as Italy and Croatia, are inevitable. What counts is the spirit with which such difficulties are seen and tackled, and the fact that ambitious and clearly defined cooperation projects have been conceived and are making progress (see this column in the previous bulletin). Moreover, Slovenia will be among the first to ratify the new Treaty with a view to setting an example concerning an objective that the new Presidency has added to its priorities: that of smooth continuation of the ratification process. This is an objective on which there is still some uncertainty and on which we shall have to return. (F.R.)