Swoboda highlighted in particular the resolving of Slovenia's border dispute with Croatia.

The man who made such a courageous step to resolve such an issue and defended the interest of his country at the same time deserves to be its president, Swoboda said on the first day of his two-day visit to Slovenia.

Pahor, former president of opposition Social Democrats (SD) who is running for president in the autumn election, was happy to hear such praise from a man whose opinion on Slovenia's relations with Croatia was "often different from his own".

Swoboda underlined that a strong European action plan for growth and new jobs was needed. He said that people across Europe were investing efforts to make this happen but an economic impulse on the European level was needed.