(BRDO PRI KRANJU) - Slovenia's assumption of the EU's rotating presidency effectively puts an end to the division between "old" and "new" Europe, European Commission Vice President Margot Wallstroem said on Tuesday.

"This is a historical moment because, I think, this will put an effective end to the division" between new and old member states, Wallstroem said on arriving at a first meeting between the EU Commission and the Slovenian government.

Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic which joined the EU in 2004, is the first new member to hold the bloc's six-month rotating presidency.

Wallstroem was heading the meeting at Brdo pri Kranju castle in place of EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso who is ill.

Slovenia has made Kosovo one of the priorities for its presidency and Wallstroem said the Commission would benefit from Slovenia's "deep knowledge" of the Balkan region in handling the delicate issue of the Serbian region's independence.

Until 1991, Slovenia was part of the former Yugoslavia, alongside Serbia and Kosovo, as well as Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro.

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