EU-SLOVENIA JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE INAUGURATED.

The first meeting of the EU-Slovenia Joint Parliamentary Committee took place in Strasbourg on December 15-17. Its chairpersons are Michl Ebner for the European Parliament, and Darja Lavtizar-Bebler from the Slovene National Assembly. It underlined the need for Slovenia to speed up its adoption of the acquis communautaire, and pointed in particular to the field of justice and home affairs as a priority. The JPC also recommended that the process of land and property restitution and privatisation should be accelerated.

The JPC meeting also welcomed the prospect that at last the Europe Agreement with Slovenia may enter into force on February 1, 1999, after a long ratification process. It also raised again the need for "full implementation of the Europe Agreement with particular...