Today in the European Parliament, Prime Minister Janez Janša presented the six-month programme and the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2021. This traditional presentation of priorities is held at the beginning of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The presentation took place at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg after which the Slovenian Prime Minister attended a press conference together with President of the European Parliament David Sassoli and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

As the Prime Minister said at the press conference, Slovenia is presenting these priorities in the hope of seeing a return to normality in the next six months, to the times before the crisis, and that some of the strategic priorities, or at least discussions about them, will be put back on the agenda. "Over the last year, we have worked together in the trio with the German and Portuguese Presidencies on these priorities, especially on recovery and resilience. There are still some steps to be taken, the national recovery and resilience plans still need to be approved by the Council, but the Commission has already done most of the work after the historic agreement was reached last July on the Next Generation EU instrument and the resources needed to speed up the recovery," stated the Prime Minister. He went on to say that the positive economic growth forecasts for the euro area and the EU are encouraging, "especially as Slovenia is at the top of the list in terms of these forecasts and low unemployment figures."

On the margins of the plenary session of the European Parliament, the Slovenian Prime Minister also met EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, the leader of the Group of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, and the leader of the Renew Europe Group, Dacian Cioloş. Prime Minister Janša also met Marco Zanni, Member of the European Parliament and President of the Identity and Democracy Group in the European Parliament.

In the discussions, the Prime Minister spoke in particular about the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency.

In the evening, he received an award from the French Jewish Community at the Strasbourg Synagogue as an expression of gratitude for his friendship towards the Jewish community and Israel.  On this occasion, a short ceremony was also held at the Strasbourg Synagogue where Prime Minister Janša addressed the participants.