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Ljubljana, 30 August 2017 – The world has been changing rapidly. While globalisation and digitalisation have significantly increased the pace of our lives and brought us closer than ever before, we are confronted with fundamental challenges to our perceptions of politics, the economy, security and society. Organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centre for European Perspective under the title New reality, the twelfth Bled Strategic Forum, to be held on 4 and 5 September, will try to find ways to adapt to the new realities without forgetting the foundations on which our modern societies were built. The political-security Forum event will again be accompanied by the Business BSF and Young BSF, as well as several side events.

A new website www.roseslovenia.eu was developed and the website www.slovenskieracun.si was updated for providing support and useful information to the public service providers in carrying out their upcoming responsibility to receive eInvoice when sent in European standard. The website will be regularly updated as it tracks developments of “Readiness Of Slovenian E-invoicing (ROSE)” Action, whose implementation is under way and supported by the European Union.

“Readiness Of Slovenian E-Invoicing” (ROSE), a Connecting European Facility Action, co-financed by the European Union and implemented by the Public Payments Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, ZZI d.o.o., Mojdenar IT d.o.o. and Centre for European Perspective, is entering the analytical and conceptual solutions phase, throughout which the partners will continue to raise awareness and promote exchange of e-Invoices in the EU. They discussed the achievements so far and future goals at the second Steering Board Meeting hosted by the Centre for European Perspective on 27 July 2017.

Slovenia has built up a sound development programme over the last 12 years, particularly in the Western Balkans, and should now work on tightening its focus in other regions in order to get the most impact from its aid contributions, according to a new OECD report. The first DAC Peer Review of Slovenia welcomes a steady rise in Slovenia’s foreign aid budget in the last few years, although it notes that an increase in funds spent on hosting foreign refugees arriving in Slovenia has been a factor pushing up official development assistance (ODA) levels. In-donor refugee costs made up 11.2% of Slovenia’s ODA in 2015.

The Report of the second Reflection Forum organized in Trieste on 26-28 June 2017 has been published by Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE) and Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe (ÖFZ/CFA), on the run-up to the Summit of Trieste on the Western Balkans, scheduled to take place on 12 July 2017.

The Report was written by Dr. Matteo Bonomi, who has been a visiting scholar to the SWP Brussels office in the first half of this year. SWP has participated in the proceedings of all the Reflection Forums organized ahead of the previous Summits of the Berlin Process for the Western Balkans.

Read the report below and watch the video from the second Reflection Forum.

Reflection Forum on the run-up to the Summit of Trieste on the Western Balkans

Second Reflection Forum took place in Trieste, Italy between 26th and 27th of June and convened a wide range of different experts working in national and European administrations and institutions, as well as researchers affiliated with European think-tanks and Universities in the EU and Western Balkans. Event was organized under the patronage of Italian MFA as a process leading to the next intergovernmental conference on the Western Balkans hosted by Italy in July, 2017.

On the margins of the International Development Cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia within the framework of support to the Republic of Macedonia, on 29 June 2017 the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Macedonia Oliver Spasovski received a Slovenian delegation in the following composition: Andreja Dolničar Jeraj, CEP Programme Director and Head of Delegation; Harij Furlan, Head of State Prosecutions Office for Organised Crime and Corruption; Darko Majhenič, Director of National Investigation Bureau; Damjana Slapar Burkat, Head of Sector for Investigation in the Financial Administration; Jože Levašič, District State Prosecutor in the State Prosecutions Office for Organised Crime and Corruption; Igor Razpotnik, Head of Investigations in National Investigation Bureau; and Karmen Šemrl, Expert for Knowledge Transfer.

An international mobility project in the scope of Erasmus + programme of the European Union “Be Ready for European Values” under the title “Non-Formal Education System in Slovenia” has concluded yesterday with an awarding ceremony.

In the period from 26 to 29 June 2017, the first phase of the capacity building process in the field of financial investigations and confiscation of unlawful proceeds and property of unlawful origin took place in Macedonia.

Centre for European Perspective is hosting an international mobility project “Be Ready for European Values – Non-Formal Education System in Slovenia” with 50 young participants from Montenegro. The mobility program, funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union under the Key Action 2: Capacity Building in the field of Youth - KA2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, includes a week-long exchange in Slovenia.