|  Deputy Head of Slovenia’s Government Office for European Affairs Gregor Krajc led a six-member delegation to Budapest on October 1 and 2. The aim of the visit was to share experiences on preparing and implementing Slovenia’s first six-month EU presidency with Hungarian diplomats and government officials. The Slovenian delegation paid a courtesy visit to Senior State Secretary Marta Fekszi Horvath. State Secreteary and European director Gábor Iván held talks with the guests during a working lunch. They also held expert talks with the staff of the relevant departments of the Foreign Ministry. The consultations briefly touched on general experiences relating to the preparations and implementation of the Slovenian presidency and organisational issues, as well as the challenges encountered during the preparation and execution of the presidential programme. They also reviewed Slovenian practices related to the selection and training of presidency staff, the multi-faceted nature of co-ordination and organisation, presidency communication, creating elements of a presidential image as well as questions related to the presidency’s budget. At a conference on October 2, some 150 government officials were briefed on the experiences and lessons of the Slovenian EU presidency. The guests emphasised that the success of the Slovenian presidency had been reinforced by a partnership sustained by the main parliamentary parties and broad co-operation with civil organisations during preparations. They noted that great care must be paid to co-operation with the European Parliament as well as consultation preparations. They added that success would be greatly advanced if the presidency’s staff were built around those who have already worked on European Union matters or had tasks in a similar area. (October 2, 2008) |