This choice of destination for the PM's first visit carries a symbolic message that the EU is of strategic importance to Slovenia.
This will not be Šarec’s first meeting Tusk and Juncker – they shook hands at the informal EU summit in Salzburg in September – but now is an opportunity to hold substantial discussions. Migration, Schengen, Brexit, the Western Balkans and the next budget cycle; these are all topics to be discussed by state and government leaders at the summit next week and they are also the topics which, according to announcements, the Slovene PM and the European Council President will discuss today. Šarec’s vision for solving those issues remains in accord with established Slovene positions.
The meeting with Commission President Juncker will also be held in the light of preparations for the October European Council. If and to what extent they touch upon the field of the rule of law and discuss the Slovene-Croatian border question in this context, will only be made known after the meeting. Šarec will make a clear statement that Slovenia advocates consistent respect for the rule of law, including the judgements of the courts.
Elections to the European Parliament and the rise of populism are topics for a possible discussion with the European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, but Šarec has no meeting scheduled with him. One direct contact with this institution will be his meeting with Slovenia’s MEPs. And, on the fringes of his visit, the PM may take up an invitation by European Commissioner Andrus Ansip, coming from the Alliance of European Liberals for Europe group, to which the PM’s party is drawn.