Slovenian veto strangely coincides with a recent major contract awarded to the Slovenian company Riko Group for the development of a luxury hotel in Minsk and energy facilities in Belarus.

Both contracts are worth some 150 million euros. On the Belarusian side, they have been signed by oligarch Yuri Chizh, considered President Alexander Lukashenko's "unofficial banker". He has long been expected to be put on the EU's black list of persona non grata, but each time the proposal was vetoed by one of the member states. Gazeta Wyborcza writes that -

Now Slovenia is prepared to ruin the EU's policy towards the Lukashenko regime for 150 million euros. The Minsk regime has to be delighted. And political prisoners have to understand that for the crisis-stricken Europe, business is more important than values and human rights.

In the Netherlands several MPs have already asked the finance minister to take action. De Volkskrant says it is unclear what Greece could offer as collateral to Finland. Probably not islands or railroads: more likely a cash payment of €0.5bn-1bn. Because Greece has no money of its own, the paper fears that the deposit will have to come from the European fund.

In 2007, Latvia was the only country in the EU 27 with a worse showing, while Romania and Bulgaria were on a par with Portugal. At the other extreme, the Nordic countries, Slovenia and Slovakia proved the most egalitarian.

“If the agreement is not ratified, that would mean Slovenia is slamming shut the door to the EU in Croatia’s face at the very moment that Croatia is wrapping up the negotiations,” observes Vecernji list. Such a rebuff, remarks another Croatian daily, Novi list, would isolate Slovenian PM Janez Jansa in Europe, unless it coincides with the interests of big countries like Germany, France and Great Britain, which are increasingly wary of further EU enlargement.