Council of EU's Slovenian Presidency says covered wide issues during tenure

By Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - During the current Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the body played an important role for EU security in Afghanistan and the Belarusian border, while also dealing with diverse issues from pandemic resilience to digitalization, environmental matters, and the future of Europe, according to a series of recent statements.

"The EU promptly gave a united response to developments in Afghanistan," the Slovenian Presidency of the council said on Wednesday in a statement as it approaches the end of its term this month.

Slovenia's six-month term presidency will end on Dec. 31, 2021, with France to take over on Jan. 1, 2022 until June 30, 2022.

Noting that it had moved to organize an extraordinary meeting of internal ministers among the bloc's members in response soon after the Taliban took over the country's capital Kabul in August, the statement said members unanimously adopted a common response to the situation there and on the "potential impact on the security and migration situation in the EU."

The ministers called for stabilization in the region as well as the "provision of humanitarian aid to the vulnerable, and support to third countries hosting large numbers of migrants and refugees" at the meeting, it added.

"This firm, united European voice is one of the reasons we are not currently experiencing the increased migratory pressure from Afghanistan that seemed imminent before the meeting," it said.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan after taking Kabul on Aug. 15, two weeks ahead of a planned US withdrawal, forcing President Ashraf Ghani and other top officials to leave the country.

The unexpected power grab triggered a rush to flee Afghanistan, including civilians who assisted foreign soldiers or groups, fearing the Taliban's retribution.

On a recent migrant crisis with Belarus, the statement underlined that Slovenia "closely and continuously" monitored the situation, along with the European Commission and EU agencies.

"The EU responded to hybrid threats with sanctions in the area of visa policy. The Council adopted a decision partially suspending the application of the EU‑Belarus visa facilitation agreement," it added.

Since August, the EU countries bordering Belarus -- Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland -- have reported a major increase in the number of irregular crossings.

In 2021, over 8,000 people tried to enter the EU through the Belarus-EU border, up from only 150 the previous year.

According to the EU, Belarus reaches out to potential travelers through seemingly official channels, including diplomatic missions and travel agencies, and invites them to Belarus by offering them visas.

Slovenia’s six month term presidency will end on Dec. 31, 2021 and France will take over the presidency of the council on Jan. 1, 2022 until June 30, 2022.

- Europe's Future

In a previous statement on Tuesday, the presidency underscored that the EU needed to have a comprehensive debate on its common future given the many challenges the bloc has faced in the last decade.

"The EU wants to address these challenges through the Conference on the Future of Europe, with European citizens at its heart. Following discussions on the procedural aspects of the conference, we started key content-based discussions with citizens during the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU," said the statement.

It noted that at the 16th Bled Strategic Forum, held in September with a focus on this issue, had attracted over 170 panelists from the fields of politics, business, science and technology and civil society, as well as young leaders.

In the second half of the year, EU citizens discussed issues including the economy, education, culture, youth, sport, digital transformation, climate change, and migration at European citizens' panels, the statement added.

"A total of 200 European citizens, mostly young people, chosen through random selection took part in each of the panels. For the first time these citizen representatives actively participated in the October plenary meeting of the conference," it said.

"It is particularly important for Slovenia that representatives of the Western Balkans, with whom we share responsibility for the future of Europe, participated as stakeholders. The practice of involving stakeholders with the aim of making the debate as broad and open as possible should be continued."

- EU threat response

Another separate statement on Monday said the Slovenian Presidency "made an important contribution to strengthening the EU's resilience to future health crises, natural disasters, cyberattacks and other threats to the EU."

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of the EU health system, said the statement, adding that the presidency reached "important milestones for the better preparedness of the EU for possible future pandemics and other major health crises."

It reached an agreement on strengthening the role of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), as well as the establishment of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), to coordinate the exchange of information between member countries and their actions more effectively, it said.

"Ministers of finance confirmed 22 national recovery and resilience plans. A total of €291 billion ($330 billion) in grants and €154 billion in loans have been approved," said the statement, adding more than €54 billion have been received by 20 EU member states in pre-financing.

"The funding from the plans will help speed up recovery and resilience, the green transition and digitalisation, boost innovation and make the economy more competitive, and consequently improve the quality of life in the EU," it added.

To help bolster cybersecurity across the bloc, the council agreed to examine the potential of the Joint European Cyber Unit initiative in October, said the statement.

It also confirmed a proposal for measures towards "a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union," which, it noted, was part of a larger package meant to help improve resilience and respond to cybersecurity incidents.

Turning to its environmental efforts, the term presidency under Slovenia said it prepared the EU mandate for the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow last month and steered the EU in its negotiations.

"We left Glasgow with a clear signal that we will do our utmost to keep the objective of 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach. Measures to mitigate, adapt to and finance climate change were adopted, which will enable the implementation of the Paris Agreement," said the statement.