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State Secretary Marko Štucin holds consultations in Luxembourg

State Secretary Marko Štucin met with Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and Minister of Immigration and Asylum Jean Asselborn. He also held consultations with Director-General for European Affairs and International Economic Relations Jean-Louis Thill.
Rokovanje.

State Secretary Marko Štucin's courtesy meeting with Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn. | Author Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs

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State Secretary Štucin and Minister Asselborn confirmed the excellent political relations between Slovenia and Luxembourg, two smaller and like-minded EU member states that wish to further strengthen their cooperation on the bilateral, European and multilateral levels. They exchanged views on the issue of EU enlargement, the situation in the Western Balkans, and the Schengen area. They advocated the effective operation of the area, without the controls that individual EU member states are exerting at Schengen's internal borders. They agreed that the EU needed to make progress on the issue of migration.

State Secretary Štucin and Director-General Thill mostly discussed current European issues. They spoke about the rule of law and the possibilities for further cooperation within the Group of Friends of the Rule of Law. They agreed that since the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, enlargement has again become a geostrategic priority of the EU and that the EU must also focus on the Western Balkan countries. Internal EU reforms must go hand in hand with the enlargement process. They also talked about cooperation on more effective decision-making in relation to the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy within the existing EU treaties and exchanged initial views on the proposed mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework.

They two officials endorsed strengthening economic relations and cooperation between Luxembourg and Slovenia, particularly in the fields of space technologies, quantum communication, the circular economy, the wood industry and defence. For several years, Luxembourg has ranked second among foreign direct investors in the Slovenian economy. At the end of 2021, the value of Luxembourg's direct investment in Slovenia exceeded €2.2 billion, with encouraging trends in foreign trade between the two countries.