After the biggest enlargement of the EU in 2004 when Slovenia was accepted as one of the 10 new members of the association, the first half of 2008 was the first time that one of these new members took over the EU Presidency.

For Slovenia this was at least a triple challenge: we are a rather small country with 2 million people; with "only" 17 years of independence we are relatively young and we were also the first of the new member states who did not belong to the so-called Western block during the cold war period to lead the almost 500 million large association.

For the rest of the members and especially new members the latest was probably the biggest object of interest and the Slovenian experience was therefore of specific symbolic importance for the others.

This was also the main reason for establishing realistic goals we wanted to achieve and not to plan something too exceptional. But due to the process of further expansion and at the same time deepening of the EU institutions, holding the presidency of such a demanding body is already a huge challenge by itself.

When signing the Lisbon Treaty in December 2007, the EU Member States committed to ratify the Treaty at the earliest possible opportunity; this was achieved by 19 Member States, while ratification procedures are under way in the remaining countries.

The signing procedure was slightly overshadowed by the negative result of the referendum in Ireland. We will cooperate with Ireland in trying to find a uniform solution acceptable to all member States and enabling further development of the Union as rapidly as possible.

At the 2008 spring meeting of the European Council we successfully launched the second three-year period of the renewed Lisbon Strategy (2008-2010).

It was agreed that radical changes as to the content of the Strategy or the process of its implementation were not necessary and that we needed continuity and effective carrying out of the set reform programs. The compromise reached between the member states on the need to continue the reform process after 2010 was especially successful.

The Slovenian Presidency left a particular mark in the following areas such as knowledge and innovation, climate and energy issues, enlargement and the European Neighborhood Policy, intercultural dialogue, and EU-third country summits.

The overall priorities of the Slovenian Presidency as well as local priorities in Beijing were to a large extent determined in the 18-month program of the German, Portuguese and Slovenian Presidencies and in the inherited agenda of the Council of EU.

The Slovenian Presidency in China followed the already established orientation of the EU-China comprehensive strategic partnership, also confirmed by the Joint Statement of the 10th EU-China Summit in November 2007. Slovenia has worked closely with the European Commission and the member states, including France as the next Presidency.

The main guideline orientation of the Slovenian Presidency in Beijing was to ensure openness, transparency and smooth flow of communication among the member states and in relation to China. The general working approach with China was established on the basis of equally shared responsibility with regard to the growing role of China in the political, economic, trade, scientific, environmental, cultural and other fields in the global arena.