European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expects Slovenia to ratify Croatia's Treaty of Accession with the European Union by 1 July this year, when Croatia is due to join the 27-strong bloc, the Ljubljana-based Delo daily said in its report on the new Slovenian President Borut Pahor's visit to Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Concluding his first two-day visit to EU institutions in his capacity as the new Slovenian head of state, Pahor on Wednesday met Barroso and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. However, there were no public statements after the meetings and Pahor "shrouded himself in silence" declining any comment on internal matters in Slovenia, such as the finding of the national anti-corruption commission that Prime Minister Janez Jansa was in conflict of interest.
The newspaper said Pahor stopped short of commenting on Croatia-Slovenia relations in the light of the former's forthcoming admission to the EU, which, the daily reported, was one of the topics on the agenda of his talks with European Commission officials.
