OREANDA-NEWS. Slovenia has taken over the EU presidency from Portugal. Ljubljana on Thursday, July 1, headed the Council of the European Union (CE) on rotation. The President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied by several EC members, went to Ljubljana.

Recently, the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa has been repeatedly criticized by Brussels. One of the reasons for this was the suspension by the authorities of the financing of the only news agency in the country — the Slovenian Press Agency.

Brussels is also dissatisfied with the fact that Slovenia is in no hurry to send it's investigators to the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which started working on June 1. It's tasks include identifying and bringing to justice those responsible for subsidy fraud, embezzlement and corruption, money laundering or misappropriation of EU funds. In addition, this one should fight against cross-border VAT fraud. The Prosecutor's Office will be able to conduct it's own investigations at the national level, issue arrest warrants and bring charges.

Finally, a number of experts in Brussels criticize the ideological proximity of the positions of Slovenian Prime Minister and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is actively criticized in the European Union for violating fundamental European values.

The EU presidency has a decisive influence on the priorities of Brussels and the timetable for decision-making by the member states of the community.