Ljubljana, 20 February 2008: Ivan Žagar, PhD, minister responsible for local self-government and regional policy, Slovenia,presentated the Priorities and activities of the Slovenian Presidency in the field of cohesion policy to the ambassadors of the EU Member States accredited in the Republic of Slovenia. Minister Ivan Žagar, PhD, said that cohesion policy is one of the fundamental EU policies and underlined the contribution of cohesion policy in strengthening the competitiveness of the EU as a whole and its contribution in retaining the European model of social market economy.

Minister Ivan Žagar, PhD, underlined three main areas in the field of cohesion policy, namely:

1. the debate on the future of cohesion policy,
2. the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy,
3. the territorial dimension, special emphasis being put on the subsidiarity principle.

The minister gave an in-depth presentation of the activities in all of the above-mentioned areas and also presented the wider framework of the debate on the future of cohesion policy, namely the discussion on the review of the EU budget as a whole.