Slovenia has received a positive assessment of its preparedness to join the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) as a full member from the CERN Council. The country is expected to join the organisation in early 2025.

The council tasked CERN director general Fabiola Gianotti to negotiate further steps with the country, having issued a positive opinion based on a report by a group of experts who visited Slovenia earlier this year, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation announced on 27 September.

The experts had talked with the ministry's representatives, scientists and researchers, as well as with higher education and business representatives.

"In the report, the expert group highlighted ... the outstanding support provided by higher education and research institutions to researchers and research teams in strengthening their cooperation with CERN," the ministry said.

The report points to cooperation between Slovenia and CERN in scientific computing. The Slovenian Vega supercomputer contributes to data collection for the Atlas experiment, one of the largest at CERN to study the basic building blocks of the Universe.

Minister Igor Papič hailed the council's decision as "an outstanding recognition for Slovenia and its research community".

With the country's full membership in CERN, Slovenian researchers and businesses will get more opportunities to work with CERN, he said.

Currently around 20 Slovenian companies work with CERN, while many more could join in the future.

Slovenia signed an association agreement with CERN in 2016, initially planning to join as a full member in July 2024, but this was pushed back to 2025, also due to CERN's internal procedures.

To become a full member, a country needs to meet a number of criteria.