Slovenia officially took over the half-yearly presidency of the European Union, thus becoming the first former Communist block country to hold this position. The last semester has Portugal as leading country.
Slovenian priorities currently include ratifying the Lisbon treaty on European institutions and the Balkans situation. Slovenia is one of the first countries that will ratify the treaty at the beginning of the year. The country will use is statute of former Yugoslavia country in order to serve as a bridge between EU and the Balkans, as the self-proclaiming independence of the Kosovo province seems inevitable.
With a populace of only two million people, Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 and became a member of the Euro currency zone on January 1, 2007. The next country to serve in the EU presidency is France.
Under the Portuguese presidency, two major projects became reality: the reform treaty and the enlargement of the Schengen zone with nine new states.
