Early this week, the European parliament confirmed the cancellation of the exhibition of Slovenian artists which was to be held in Brussels during Slovenia's EU presidency.

Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti said that the exhibition was cancelled because he had not been informed of the details in time. According to him, the decision to cancel it was solely his.

''There was talk of the European Parliament having its own collection of works which it wanted to include in the exhibition. I strongly opposed to this. I don't think this is necessary because Slovenia is an independent and sovereign country and can decide on the contents of its exhibition for itself.''

The Culture ministry has now engaged an expert on Slovenian fine arts for the purpose of the exhibition. This is Marko Košan, the curator of the Koroška Fine Arts Gallery, who had selected 13 artists for the exhibition in Brussels.