An idyllic venue for a tough rotating European presidency

Slovenia to host major EU events at Brdo Castle, one of Tito’s former homes

Brdo Castle, some 25 kilometers from Ljubljana, where the Slovenian presidency of the European Union will hold its main political events, starting in January.

LJUBLJANA (AFP) – The Brdo pri Kranju castle, one of the residences of former Yugoslav leader Marshal Tito, will host most of the Eurpean Union’s meetings in Slovenia during the country’s presidency of the bloc, starting on January 1.

Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic that joined the EU in 2004, will be the first newcomer to hold the rotating six-month presidency and is expected to host about 150 meetings, including 14 ministerial ones, out of the 1,000 events EU officials usually hold in one semester.

The rest will take place in Brussels or Luxembourg.

Slovenia decided to hold most of their meetings at a single pleasant, accessible and easy-to-secure location and settled on Brdo pri Kranju, a Renaissance-style castle originally built in the 16th century, and which now boasts a stylish new congress center on its grounds to host the union’s meetings.

Situated some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Ljubljana airport, the idyllic castle is surrounded by 500 landscaped hectares (1,235 acres) at the foot of the Karavanken mountains. The castle, which often changed hands in the last five centuries, has a rich history.

It is believed to have been one of the favorite residences of Serbian, and later Yugoslav, Prince Paul Karadjordjevic, who bought it in 1935, and his descendants still lay claim to it.

After World War II, the communist regime nationalized the castle, which became one of the preferred residences of Josip Broz “Tito,” who ruled Yugoslavia from 1944 to his death in 1980.

When Slovenia declared independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991, the authorities chose Brdo Castle as their main official residence and in June 2001, it staged the first official summit between US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Brdo estate is also part of a natural park, with a number of springs and streams, 11 ponds and a large variety of protected plant and animal life.

Slovenia, which has a population of only 2 million, plans to spend some 60 million euros (86 million dollars) on the EU presidency, including the cost of construction for the Brdo conference center, which was inaugurated in December.

Ljubljana has hired over 1,500 officials, a 10th of the country’s public servants, for the duration of the presidency, and they have been given language and negotiation courses.

Slovenia’s delegation in Brussels, which will handle all presidency-related tasks, has increased in size to some 170 officials, almost as many as Germany – a country over 17 times the size of Slovenia – had when it headed the EU in the first half of 2007.