Slovenia's Agenda

Speaking during a meeting with top EU officials in the estate of Brdo, near the capital Ljubljana, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said that his government would assist Balkan states joining the EU. He added that he hoped membership talks would not be slowed down over the coming months.

"We need to find solutions that will stabilize the region in the long term," Jansa told reporters.

Slovenia has close ties with the other Balkan nations that used to form Yugoslavia, including Croatia and Bosnia-Herzogovina.

And dismissing objections from some quarters, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said Serbia should be allowed to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) - a precursor of accession negotiations proper - with the EU "as soon as possible, possibly by the end of this month."

Several EU member states have argued that Serbia should first prove its full cooperation with the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague by arresting former general Ratko Mladic and other fugitives wanted for alleged crimes against humanity during the 1990s Balkan Wars.

But speaking after a meeting with his Finnish counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also said that an SAA could be signed with Serbia as early as the end of January.

Neighboring problems

But Slovenia may have to spend part of its presidency doing damage control. Many experts expect the potentially explosive situation in Kosovo, Serbia's breakaway province, to keep Slovenian officials busy over the coming weeks,

On Monday, the two largest political parties in the predominantly ethnic-Albanian province agreed to form a coalition government tasked with declaring independence from Belgrade.

The EU is later this month due to decide on sending a law-enforcing mission to replace a UN administered system which has governed Kosovo since 1999, in spite of objections from Serbia and Russia.

Slovenia is the first former communist country from Eastern Europe, as well as the first new EU member state, to assume the bloc's presidency.

With a population of just two million, the country has to rely on the help of France, its much bigger successor in the EU presidency.

And observers in Brussels say it risks by overshadowed. Tellingly, France has already started publicizing its own agenda for when it becomes EU President on July 1.