The renowned mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink and bass baritone Marcos Fink enchanted the audience in yesterday's Songs without Borders concert at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels. They paid homage to the outstanding achievements of European, including Slovenian, and Argentine musical and poetic creativity.

Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs has attended a high-level videoconference meeting on countering illicit firearms trafficking in South East (SE) Europe on behalf of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, which focused on closer regional cooperation in prevention of illicit firearms trafficking.

On 8 September 2021 at 20:00, a gala concert entitled Songs without Borders will be held in Brussels, where the internationally renowned opera singers Bernarda Fink (mezzo-soprano) and Marcos Fink (bass baritone) will perform a repertoire of solo cantatas by European, including Slovenian, and Argentine composers.

State Secretary dr. Stanislav Raščan had a courtesy call with General Claudio Graziano, Chairman of the Military Committee of the European Union (EUMC).

This was the main topic discussed by the participants at the Cybersecurity Conference today in Bled, which was organised by the Government Information Security Office in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration as part of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik and Acting Director of the Government Information Security Office Uroš Svete opened the conference by addressing the participants.

Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs presented the Slovenian Presidency's priorities to members of the LIBE Committee. The priorities include the current migration situation.

An international conference on one of the thematic priorities of the Slovenian presidency – missing persons, in particular missing children – is taking place in Ljubljana today and tomorrow. The conference is held under the auspices of the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons, which was officially recognised by the Council’s Law Enforcement Working Party, and in cooperation with AMBER Alert Europe.

One of the flagship events of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the 16th Bled Strategic Forum, started with the opening addresses by its host, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Dr Anže Logar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Janša and President of the European Council Charles Michel. “It is imperative we identify strategic responses to the challenges facing both our citizens' everyday lives, and those Europe as a continent might yet see. We must identify those policies where the EU is a global example and incorporate the lessons learned from the crises of the past decade,” urged Minister Dr Logar in his opening speech in the Bled Festival Hall.

At today's extraordinary meeting in Brussels, EU home affairs ministers adopted a joint statement on the EU's response to the situation in Afghanistan and the potential implications for migration and security in the EU.

At the invitation of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares Bueno, Foreign Minister Anže Logar is visiting Spain today. He met with the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Slovenia and Spain have been deepening bilateral relations, coordinating and maintaining a regular dialogue, aiming at a stronger, more resilient European Union, acting in a coordinated manner and speaking with one voice.

Barbara Sušnik, Director-General for EU Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, conducted regular consultations with József Magyar, Deputy State Secretary for the Development of European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, via a video conference.

Today, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU organised an extraordinary videoconference meeting of interior ministers within the framework of the Council's crisis response mechanism (IPCR), which was chaired by Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs. The ministers expressed solidarity with the affected states - Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - and supported additional assistance to the member states at this section of the external EU border.

Upon the invitation of Alok Sharma, President of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention (COP26), Slovenia’s Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Andrej Vizjak is attending a two-day ministerial meeting which is to prepare and help align the positions of different regional groups and Parties to the Paris Agreement prior to the meeting of Parties in November in Glasgow.

On the second day of the informal meeting of EU environment and climate change ministers in Slovenia, discussions addressed the new proposal of global targets for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The ministers also discussed the challenges of jointly strengthening pollinator protection and setting up an EU-wide pollinator monitoring framework.

Slovenia hosted an informal meeting of environment and climate change ministers.

From 17 to 22 July, Ljubljana will host the International Choir festival Europa Cantat 2021, which will be held in hybrid form due to the COVID-19 pandemic – with events online and live. The festive opening of the festival will take place on Saturday, 17 July at 21 pm in Cankarjev dom with a musical spectacle directed by Matej Filipčič. The audience will be addressed by the President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor, who is also the honorary patron of the festival, and the Minister of Culture Vasko Simoniti. The event will be broadcast live by TV Slovenija 1 and ARS, Radio Slovenia third channel.

The Ministers of the Interior met for an informal meeting hosted by Slovenian Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs at the Brdo Congress Centre and demonstrated political will in favour of gradual progress in the formulation of the common EU Migration Policy.

Today, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan received Hungary’s Minister of Justice Judit Varga, who is also in charge of coordination of EU affairs. Minister Varga is in Slovenia to attend the informal meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, which is taking place on 15 and 16 July 2021 in Brdo pri Kranju.

A political agreement with the European Parliament on the amendment of the Aarhus Regulation was reached as one of the first achievements of the Slovenian Presidency, which would not have been possible without the positive cooperation of the trio presidencies, as Germany reached an agreement at the Council, Portugal started negotiations with the European Parliament (EP) and Slovenia successfully concluded negotiations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar presented the priorities of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency at the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament.