Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Tuesday, and his visit to the German capital will be his first destination in the EU and symbolizes the importance that Ljubljana attaches to all relations with Germany.

As his cabinet reported, Golob will discuss European and bilateral topics with his German counterpart as well as political and economic relations between Berlin and Ljubljana.

Last year’s trade between Slovenia and Germany, which is Slovenia’s largest foreign trade partner, was slightly more than €13 billion.

The Golob-Scholz talks are expected to focus on the further development of the bilateral cooperation, as well as on the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis and its consequences on the economy, inflation and rising food prices.

Slovenian media outlets in particular underscored that Golob symbolically chose Germany as his first destination for bilateral meetings with European partners, after Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon did so at the beginning of the month, who met with her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.

Both Golob and Fajon announced that the new government will return foreign policy to the core of the founding states of the European Union, with fostering closer relations with Germany, France and Italy, thus distancing themselves from the policy of the previous Janez Jansa cabinet which directed its foreign policy towards the east and the Višegrad group of countries, mostly Hungary and Viktor Orban.