Slovak EU Presidency to round off integration process

Slovakia's first ever presidency of the Council of the European Union in the latter half of 2016 will be a milestone in Slovakia's EU membership, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák told representatives of state authorities, NGOs, political parties, academia, municipalities, employers and other stakeholders in Bratislava last week. These met within a so called National Convention about the European Union. "In a way, it can even be seen as a definite fulfillment of our integration process," believes Lajčák. According to him, there are several challenges facing Slovakia during the Presidency. It will be necessary to strengthen democratic legitimacy and political responsibility of the EU institutions. "In this process, there is a problem also in our own, inner political environment. We only slowly connect national and European issues, moreover we seem unable to get rid of the optics "us versus Brussels," said the foreign minister. "Moreover, feeling the effects of various crises, many times we wrongly blame the European Union for the problems that we have first of all had to deal with here at home." Another important challenge Slovakia will face during its presidency will be the problem of international terrorism and Europe's foreign and security policies.