By: UKOM
Prime Minister Janez Janša talked to journalist Andrea Romoli on the television channel Rai 2 about the current situation in Ukraine, the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, and the state of relations between Italy and Slovenia.
“Slovenia shares with others in Europe and beyond the concern for peace in our eastern neighbourhood. We are putting in efforts to avoid armed conflict. At the same time, we stand on the firm and principled position that every country has the right to decide independently on its foreign policy orientation, on its membership of the European Union and NATO, and that third countries, in this case Russia, do not have the right to veto this self-determination of a nation,” the Prime Minister said about the situation in Ukraine.
“The enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkan countries that are not EU members is in fact the only positive perspective for the region. It brings something that makes one of the key causes of conflict and dispute, that is to say the issue of borders and so on, much less important. In other words, with membership of the European Union, the questions of where the borders are, who has been hard done by in the past and so on take a back seat and the common future comes to the fore,” Prime Minister Janez Janša said in relation to EU enlargement.
As regards relations between Slovenia and Italy, the Prime Minister stressed, “I find it difficult to judge the whole history, but in the history that I know, relations between Slovenia and Italy have never been better, the multinational communities that Slovenians in particular lived in in the past notwithstanding, and we can only wish that this situation lasts and that we continue to build on these friendly relations, on these good and solid foundations.”
The interview as broadcasted on RAI 2 is available at RAI News (in Italian).