Slovenia belongs to the European Union and NATO, but above all to the central part of Europe which believes in fundamental human rights and freedoms and the rule of law, future President Natasa Pirc Musar told Radio Slovenia in her first interview after the victory in Sunday's election.
As her first trip abroad as the Slovenian president, she is planning a tour of the Western Balkan countries. She wanted, she said, to visit Germany as the biggest trade partner first and because she has great respect for the German president, but the recent events in the Western Balkans have made her decide to tour those countries. According to her, Slovenia is to the region a country that presents a window and a door to the European Union.
Of course, I’m not forgetting Croatia, but it is involved a bit too much in what is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where passions will have to calm down a bit. But I am most worried about the relations between Serbia and Kosovo, so this tour will very likely be my first trip, said Pirc Musar, as carried by the Slovenian press agency STA.
The future president announced she was planning to continue the Brdo-Brijuni Process, and she does not want it to be a meeting held once a year but several times, with commitments made during those talks, all to make Western Balkans part of a united Europe as soon as possible.
Pirc Musar also announced she would appear in the public when she deems it necessary, but she guaranteed she would not interfere in daily politics.
She said that one of the topics she intended to deal with more intensively was the issue of poverty, especially among women, since unmarried women over the age of 65 are the most vulnerable. She also said she would have an advisor on climate change, after she had been warned about the issue during the campaign, especially by young people.
She expects help and advice from outgoing president Borut Pahor and other former presidents, and one of her first tasks, after she officially takes office in December, will be to convene a meeting with presidents of all parliamentary parties.
She will not close her current channels on social networking sites because she has had them for a long time, but her communication, she said, will definitely be different than the communication of the current president.
Pirc Musar, a lawyer and independent candidate, won the presidential runoff in Slovenia on Sunday, becoming the first female president in the country’s history. Her rival was Anze Logar, a candidate of the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party, led by Janez Jansa.
