Slovenia initiated the organisational and substantive preparations for the
Presidency in December 2004. At the beginning of January 2005, the Government of
the Republic of Slovenia appointed a Core Working Group for the EU Presidency
chaired by the PM Janez Janša, and with the Minister of Finance, Andrej Bajuk,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dimitrij Rupel, the Minister of Public
Administration Gregor Virant, and State Secretary for European Affairs, Janez
Lenarčič, as members. The Core Working Group defined the organisational
structure for the preparations, and tasks which need to be carried out within
the framework of the preparations.
Organisational Structure
The operational management of the preparations was run by the Operational Group for Preparation Activities and Holding the Presidency, headed by State Secretary for European Affairs, Janez Lenarčič, and comprising representatives of ministries.
The Project Group for the Coordination of Preparation and Holding the Presidency of the EU in the Government Office for European Affairs was established to provide support to the Core Group, monitor the presidency project and its preparation, and act as the focal point for communicating with the other two countries of the presidency trio.
Five core tasks were defined, which were managed by five sub-groups established at ministries and the Protocol of the Republic of Slovenia. The sub-groups were:
- Presidency Programme Sub-group (chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Human Resources Sub-group (chaired by the Ministry of Public Administration)
- Public Relations and Promotion Sub-group (chaired by the Government Communication Office)
- Presidency Secretariat (chaired by the Secretariat-General of the Government)
- Presidency Budget Sub-group (chaired by the Ministry of Finance)
The Ministry and Government bodies cooperated with the sub-groups. With regard to the preparations, the ministries had full responsibility to provide and train human resources and carry out the planned events.