EU Insists Slovenia Be Treated as One Region, Says Barnier

Ljubljana, 11 January - The European Commission maintains that Slovenia should receive regional aid as one statistical region. "In the interest of an efficient and coherent regional policy, I have clearly called upon Slovene officials on behalf of the EU that Slovenia should receive the EU's development funds as one region," Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Regional Policy and Institutional Reforms, told the press Friday after meeting with outgoing Slovene Europe Minister Igor Bavcar. Slovenia, on the other hand, has sent to Brussels its proposal to divide the country into three regions.