Slovenia is Europe's ugly duckling

Croatia's EU accession has been indefinitely postponed. Sweden, due to assume the EU Council presidency on July 1, announced this after the breakdown of negotiations in the Slovenian-Croatian border dispute. The daily Dnevnik attributes this among other things to a misguided Slovenian policy: "In recent days it has become clear that at an international level Slovenia's incompetent foreign policy poses the greatest threat for us. … But anyone who has ears and understands the subtleties of diplomatic language realises that the words of Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt are extremely blunt and unpleasant for Slovenia. For Croatia too, probably. But the latter is no consolation for us. We have gone from having the image of the good, well-behaved and talented model pupil to being the ugly duckling, a country that sows discord. And we won't be able to improve this image so quickly. We have landed right back in the place from which we were fleeing. In the paradise of the Balkans - albeit in the derogatory sense of the word."

» full article (external link, Slovenian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU enlargement, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Slovenia, » Europe, » Croatia
All available articles from » Vlado Miheljak

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, June 24, 2009