Weekly Review of Events Involving Slovenia from 23 February to 1 March

Ljubljana, 2 March - The top Slovene news were made abroad this week as Slovene officials asserted the country's political aspirations in Brussels and Austria. The most important event for Slovenia in light of the impending accession to the EU was undoubtedly the launch of the convention on the future of the EU, which convened just as 12 European currencies were bidding farewell and the euro finally became the only legal tender. Slovene officials at the convention said they want to play an active role al all levels of decision-making in the future. If the convention is set to deal with the future, the Austrian-Slovene commission which was addressed in Vienna by Slovene and Austrian foreign ministers is set to examine the past, more precisely 20th century relations between Slovenia and Austria. Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel was very busy this week, as he also received his Macedonian counterpart Slobodan Casule and U.S. permanent representative to NATO, Ambassador Nicholas Burns. Meanwhile, President Milan Kucan paid his first official visit to Jordan, and Slovenia was shaken by a scandal surrounding allegedly unlawful operations of one of the Slovene Red Cross.