Weekly Review of Events Involving Slovenia from 24 to 30 November

Ljubljana, 1 December - In the past week, Slovene President Milan Kucan paid his second official visit to Croatia. Discussions with senior Croatian officials focused on the initialed agreement on the border between the two countries, which is currently deadlocked in Croatian Parliament. In what was his first ever official visit to Slovenia, Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis held talks with Slovene Prime Minister and President. Slovenia also attended the second meeting of the Austria-sponsored regional partnership, which was assessed as a useful form of regional co-operation that can work in certain areas even after the EU candidates become full-fledged members. EU enlargement was at the forefront in Brussels as well, as Slovenia has managed to close the EU negotiating chapter on competition and state aids, the 22nd successfully closed chapter for the country. In the mean time, Parliament Speaker Borut Pahor attended the first meeting of parliament speakers of the quadrilateral partnership between Italy, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia.