Today, as part of the ‘EU back to school’ project, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia and President of the European Council, Janez Janša, together with the European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik, visited Kranj Grammar School and the Josip Jurčič Grammar School in Ivančna Gorica.

 

(Photo: Kristina Kosec/Bobo)

 

The ‘EU back to school’ project is an European Commission initiative in which officials and senior representatives of the Member State holding the EU Council Presidency go back to high schools and give students a first-hand presentation of the EU, sharing with them their personal experience and discussing Europe and its future. Today, 112 officials and senior representatives of the Slovenian Government and the European institutions discussed the functioning of the European Union with students from 79 high schools throughout Slovenia.

 

After meeting the students from both grammar schools, the Slovenian Prime Minister said that the young generation today had more opportunities than there had been when he was at school. In his opinion, today’s debate with the students of the grammar schools in Kranj and Ivančna Gorica showed that young people are aware of the benefits brought by Slovenia’s entry into the European Union. The main focus of today’s discussions with students was the importance of knowledge, since, as Mr Janša said, it is on the knowledge, ambitions and abilities of the younger generations that the continued establishment of Slovenia’s reputation in the European family will depend.

 

Mr Janša also took the opportunity to assess the first half of the Slovenian EU Presidency as positive. “Downstream, some important final tasks still await and further efforts will be required when Slovenia, at the helm of the European Union, has to hold negotiations with four global partners of the EU: Japan, Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States and the Russian Federation,” said the Prime Minister, describing some of the main challenges facing Slovenia in the second half of its Presidency, and added that he was convinced that Slovenia would demonstrate its ability to perform the task well.