27 Oct 2021, 17:31 PM

Statistics on Death in Slovenia, 2020

STA, 27 October 2021 - A total of 24,016 people died in Slovenia in 2020, which is 3,428 (16.7%) more than in 2019, with the average age of the deceased being up by one year. The high mortality rate, especially in November and December 2020, resulted in the highest negative natural increase since 1945, the Statistics Office said on Wednesday.

Among the total of 24,016 people that died in Slovenia last year, 11,733 were men and 12,283 women, while the natural population increase has remained in the negative since 2017, the statistical data show.

The Covid-19 epidemic in 2020 and the high mortality rates, especially in November and December, contributed to an even more substantial negative natural increase.

Last year, the population growth rate was -2.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, which is the lowest natural increase in Slovenia since 1945.

The average age of the deceased last year was 79.2 years, which is 1.1 years higher than the average age at the time of death in Slovenia in 2019.

On average, Slovenian men die younger than women. Last year, the average age at death for males was 75.3 years, while the average age at death for females was 82.9 years.

The pandemic that marked 2020 had a significant impact on mortality too. While it was not so pronounced during the first wave in the spring, it became more obvious in the second half of the year, especially in the last quarter.

The excess mortality rate in 2020 was 18.8%, which means that 3,795 (18.8%) more people died than on average in the period between 2015 and 2019, said the Statistics Office.

Last year, 66 people died on average every, 10 more than in 2015-2019. The excess deaths are also reflected in the fact that in all years between 2000 and 2019, there was only one day in which 100 or more people died, compared to 38 such days in 2020.

All of these days were in November or December - 6 December was the day with the highest number of deaths that year (130). The week between 30 November to 6 December 2020 was the week with the highest number of deaths that year (801).

More on this data

27 Oct 2021, 14:36 PM

First Retrospective of Slovenian Film Held in China (Trailers)

STA, 27 October 2021 - A retrospective of Slovenian films made between 1956 and 2020 will be screened in China for the first time between 28 October and 4 November. All six feature films will have Chinese and English subtitles. The retrospective will open at the China Film Archive in Beijing, and the films will be screened in major Chinese cities afterwards.

The retrospective will open on Thursday with the digitalised and restored version of the 1956 film Valley of Peace by France Štiglic, which was presented at the Cannes international film festival in 2016 and then screened at various festivals and cinematheques around the world.

According to the Slovenian Film Centre, the event will be addressed by the head of the China Film Archive, Sun Xianghui, Slovenian Ambassador Alenka Suhadolnik, Wang Yao, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy, and the head of the Slovenian Film Centre, Nataša Bučar via video link.

On Friday, visitors will be able to watch the digital and restored version of Matjaž Klopčič's 1969 film Funeral Feast, and on Saturday Urša Menart's first film My Last Year As a Loser from 2018 will be on. The film won the Vesna Awards for the best feature film, screenplay and supporting actress at the Festival of Slovenian Film in Portorož.

On Sunday a teen romantic comedy Gaja's World by Peter Bratuša from 2018 will be screened. The 2018 box-office hit won the main prize for international feature films for children and youth at the Buzz@teen in Motovun, and was declared the best film by a children's jury at the 24th film festival in Sarajevo. It has also received three Golden Rolls for 75,000 viewers.

The retrospective will continue on 3 November with the 2019 film by Martin Turk Don't Forget to Breathe, which also won the Vesna award for best feature film at the film festival in Portorož. The sixth film to be screened will be Sanremo by Miroslav Mandić. The 2020 film about old age and dementia is Slovenia's entry for a nomination for the best international feature film award at the Oscars 2022.

The retrospective has been organised by the Slovenian Film Centre in cooperation with the Slovenian Embassy in China and the China Film Archive.

27 Oct 2021, 09:16 AM

EKWB, Computer Cooling System Maker, Wins Golden Gazelle Award

STA, 26 October - EKWB, a Komenda-based company developing and producing components for water cooling systems for custom-made high-performance computers, is this year's winner of the Golden Gazelle Award for the best fast-growing company presented by the publisher Dnevnik.

The 2021 Golden Gazelle statue was handed to EKWB director Edvard König by President Borut Pahor at a ceremony in the National Gallery in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

The award jury said that the "development of EKWB from a hobby-driven start-up into a high-quality international company is from textbooks."

It has been launched into the orbit of the best by the mixture of knowledge entrepreneurship and shared values of two exceptional individuals, engineer Edvard König and economist Matjaž Krč," it added.

The fastest-growing company of the Central Slovenia region is a global leader in its segment, numbering more than 200 employees. It generates 99% of its revenue internationally, as it sells its products to a total of 139 countries.

Last year, EKWB generated EUR 38.5 million in revenue and EUR 82,364 in added value per employee, which is almost double the national average.

"I'm very proud that the award jury recognised us as one of the drivers of development of our country. What led us here? It was simply our passion to innovation, something better, to testing boundaries and, of course, hard work," König said.

President Pahor thanked Dnevnik for launching twenty years ago the project that was "entrepreneurial initiative from the aspect of Dnevnik and an incentive for further work for the award winners."

He added that the entire community also benefited from the awards, thanking the award winners "for making sure that we are able to establish on the 30th anniversary of our independence that we have a healthy economy."

Learn more about EKWB

27 Oct 2021, 08:44 AM

Record Savings at Slovenian Households in 2021

STA, 27 October 2021 - Slovenian households made record savings last year, but their debt has not changed significantly compared to 2019, the Statistics Office said ahead of World Savings Day on 31 October. Meanwhile, household savings have strengthened in all European countries.

The household savings rate in Slovenia - defined as the share of gross savings in gross disposable income - was at a record high of 22.6% last year. The long-term average from 2008 to 2020 stood at 13.4%.

According to the latest available Eurostat data, households in Slovenia thus ranked third among the EU member states observed in terms of their savings rate last year. The highest rate was recorded in the Netherlands (24%) and the lowest in Slovakia (10.9%).

Household consumption was down everywhere in the EU except Slovakia last year, and the most pronounced decline was recorded in Spain (-12%). Statisticians mainly attributed this to the difficulty of spending during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The stronger decline in consumption and the continued growth in gross disposable income were therefore reflected in increased household savings, which was increased in all European countries monitored in 2020.

Household savings increased most markedly in Luxembourg (+9.5 percentage points) and Slovenia (+8.9), and least markedly in Hungary (-0.3) and Slovakia (-0.8).

The value of household net financial assets in Slovenia - defined as the difference between assets and liabilities - was at an all-time high of EUR 48.2 billion (102.8% of GDP) at the end of 2020. Compared to 2019, it increased by EUR 5.2 billion (+12%).

Household financial assets (cash, deposits, shares and other) stood at EUR 63 billion (134.3% of GDP) at the end of last year, up EUR 5.2 billion (9%) on the previous year thanks to strong household savings.

The structure of Slovenian households' financial assets did not change significantly during the pandemic in comparison to previous years.

Deposits and cash continued to account for the largest share (49.3%), followed by shares and other equity (29.9%), insurance and pension schemes (13.1%), debt securities and other receivables (5.6%) and loans (2.2%).

This structure of financial assets reveals that households in Slovenia remain conservative and risk-averse in their choice of savings. The share of riskier investments remains relatively low, the Statistics Office explained.

Household financial liabilities, such as loans, amounted to EUR 14.8 billion (31.5% of GDP) at the end of last year. Their growth stagnated compared to the previous year, with long-term loans in particular increasing at a much lower rate than in the previous three years.

Household debt in Slovenia, measured as the ratio of financial liabilities from loans to disposable income, decreased by 1.4 percentage points to an average of 43%, the Statistics Office announced.

27 Oct 2021, 03:57 AM

Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Wednesday, 27 October 2021

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.

This summary is provided by the STA:

Vote on Constitutional Court judge nominee postponed

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly postponed a vote on the nominee for Constitutional Court judge, Rok Svetlič, to a future session on the proposal of the senior coalition Democrats (SDS). This was as two MPs from the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) were absent and the centre-left opposition boycotted voting today in a bid to show whether the government had a majority in parliament or not. Svetlič is President Borut Pahor's fourth candidate for the vacancy on the top court that has been available for over a year.

Special police task force investigating threats to officials

LJUBLJANA - Police Commissioner Anton Olaj ordered for the investigation of death threats to Slovenia's top officials and MPs to be taken over by a task force headed by the Criminal Police Directorate at the General Police Directorate. A press release from the police said the task force also included investigators from the Ljubljana Police Department and Criminal Police Directorate. A total of eight cases of death threats are being investigated, including against PM Janez Janša and Defence Minister Matej Tonin.

Monday brings near ten-month high in new Covid cases

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia logged 2,292 new coronavirus infections on Monday, the highest daily tally since early January, as 37.8% of the PCR tests came back positive. Covid-19 hospitalisations passed 500, at 510, including 131 in intensive care, which are the highest numbers since early May. Another ten people with Covid died. The National Institute of Public Health estimates there are now more than 20,000 actve cases in the country. The seven-day average of new cases rose by 88 to 1,810 and the 14-day incidence per 100,000 population was up by 61 to 959.

Commissioner Mariya Gabriel visits Slovenia

LJUBLJANA/BRDO PRI KRANJU - Mariya Gabriel, the European commissioner for innovation, called for supporting innovation in Europe to help bring about a transition to a digital, inclusive and green society as she addressed the opening of the EU Next Generation Innovators Summit & Investment Conference during a working visit to Slovenia. She said national recovery and resilience plans would lay the foundations for a pan-European innovation ecosystem, where the challenge was a lack of local links between innovation ecosystems within the EU and insufficient transfer of new technologies to the market. Gabriel also addressed a conference on the new European Research Area at Brdo along with Education Minister Simona Kustec.

Logar visits Rwanda, pledges EU support to African Union

KIGALI, Rwanda - Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended a EU-AU ministerial meeting in Kigali, pledging support by Slovenia and the EU in the efforts to forge a stronger partnership between both unions based on frequent cooperation and a long-term shared vision. Logar advocated an ambitious vision for the partnership between the EU and the African Union. He proposed establishing regular and structured dialogue on multilateral issues between the two unions.

EU ministers reach no consensus on joint energy market measures

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec chaired an emergency session on EU energy ministers to discuss response to rising energy prices, but he told reporters after there was no unity over whether it would be sensible to take specific intervention measures at the EU level. The meeting agreed that national measures are the most appropriate solution for immediate action and that short-term measures for fighting energy poverty are needed.

Hojs describes Europol as key partner in internal security

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs addressed a virtual session of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol, describing Europol as a key partner in providing internal security, while identifying a revision of its mandate as one of the key priorities of Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU. The two-day meeting organised in Brussels by the Slovenian National Assembly and the European Parliament, reviewed Europol's activities this year and heard a presentation of Europol Draft Multiannual Programming Document for 2022-2024.

Podgoršek attends meeting of agriculture ministers in Poland

WARSAW, Poland - Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek attended on Monday a meeting of agriculture ministers within the Three Seas Initiative at the invitation by his Polish counterpart Grzegorz Puda. The ministers discussed securing feed protein production in the EU and the transition to a green and digital agricultural economy. Poland organised the meeting with the aim of strengthening dialogue and cooperation among the 12 participating countries and establishing common positions on Common Agricultural Policy issues after 2023.

Poklukar calls for stronger role of EU in global health

BERLIN, Germany - Health Minister Janez Poklukar took part in the EU Health Summit in Berlin to note the importance of a stronger role of the EU in the field of global health. "This would bring geopolitical advantages, and would also be useful for member states and contributed to global health," he said. A virtual round table debate on the role of the EU in global health also featured European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans P. Kluge and ambassador for global health at the French Foreign Ministry Stephanie Seydoux.

Personal income tax changes continue passage through parliament

LJUBLJANA - MPs decided that the draft amendments to the income tax law, due to enter into force on 1 January 2022, were fit for further procedure. They will now first be discussed by the Finance Committee and then approved or rejected by the MPs in plenary. The changes include reducing tax on capital and increasing the general income tax allowance. The centre-left opposition parties boycotted the vote as 43 MPs voted in favour and three against.

MPs agree long-term care bill fit for further procedure

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly decided that the long-term care bill was fit for further procedure. The bill brings a number of measures for persons who are dependant on other people's assistance and need help with basic activities. The new legislation would allow them to choose which rights and services they want to use and in which environment. The alliance of Slovenian social institutions does not support the bill, saying it does not bring the much needed solutions that would address the needs of users and providers of long-term care services.

Changes to the gaming act pass first hurdle in parliament

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly gave the green light for changes to the gaming act to continue through the parliamentary process. The amendments would introduce partial liberalisation of the field and allow for multiple organisers of classic games of chance. The centre-left opposition boycotted the session. Employees from the gaming sector and charities strongly oppose the changes with the former saying that they put them in a very subordinated position and the latter warning that the enhanced marketing activities the changes entail would lead to more addictions.

MPs urge govt to take ombudsman's recommendations into account

LJUBLJANA - Parliament urged all government agencies and officials to take into account the recommendations for improvements in human rights after it discussed the Human Rights Ombudsman's 2020 report last week. The Ombudsman's Office received 6,852 initiatives to examine last year, up a third over 2019, with as many as 1,414 related to the coronavirus pandemic. The report identifies 473 violations of human rights and other irregularities, and puts forward 128 recommendations.

Peace Institute study shows discrimination rampant in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - The Peace Institute presented the results of a study which found extensive and active discrimination in Slovenia, mostly on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, nationality, skin colour and religion. Discrimination is most blatant at work, in access to housing, health and other services. The analysis showed that 84% of respondents have been discriminated against on the basis of at least one personal circumstance. Gender discrimination is the most common form.

Computer cooling system maker EKWB wins Golden Gazelle Award

LJUBLJANA - EKWB, a Komenda-based company developing and producing components for water cooling systems for custom-made high-performance computers, is this year's winner of the Golden Gazelle Award for the best fast-growing company presented by the publisher Dnevnik. The 2021 Golden Gazelle statue was handed to EKWB director Edvard König by President Borut Pahor at a ceremony in the National Gallery. Last year, EKWB generated EUR 38.5 million in revenue and EUR 82,364 in added value per employee, almost double the national average. Employing over 200 people, the company generates 99% of its revenue internationally.

Ljubljana's Union beer to be brewed in Laško

LJUBLJANA - The country's largest beer maker Pivovarna Laško Union announced it had decided to end beer production in Ljubljana and move it to its other location in Laško due to an outdated cooling system at the Ljubljana facility. It is not clear yet how this will affect staff. The packaging and logistics activities will continue at the Pivovarna Union facility in Ljubljana and the change will not affect the product portfolio or the Union trade mark. Production in Laško is to be launched by January 2022.

Proposal on cryptocurrency tax put forward

LJUBLJANA - The Finance Ministry submitted a draft law on cryptocurrency taxation to public consultation on Tuesday. It provides for a 10% tax on individuals exchanging cryptocurrency for fiat currency and on purchases made with cryptocurrencies. The threshold for tax liability would be EUR 15,000 in a calendar year. The law would apply only to individuals but not those who hold cryptocurrencies as an asset of the business they are carrying on. The ministry estimates the tax could net between EUR 100,000 and EUR 500,000 per year in the first few years.

Slovenia ranks 26th in global race for talent

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia ranks 26th among 134 countries in the latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index for 2021, after ranking 31st among 132 countries last year in this extensive annual report compiled by French business school INSEAD, Swiss staffing company Adecco and tech giant Google. Slovenia's best result was in the Vocational and Technical Skills pillar, where it climbed to 16th from 27th. It fared poorest in attracting talent, where it fell to 54th from 49th last year.

Worker dies in accident at second track construction site

KOZINA - A worker was killed in an accident at the construction site of the Koper-Divača rail track after falling from scaffolding, the Civil Protection and Disaster Relief Administration announced. On falling to the ground, the man was unresponsive. His colleagues and then first responders tried to resuscitate him, but to no avail.

26 Oct 2021, 16:14 PM

Study Indicates Discrimination Varied & Widespread in Slovenia

STA, 26 October 2021 - A study carried out by the Peace Institute has shown that Slovenia is facing extensive and active discrimination, mostly on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, nationality, skin colour and religion, while it is the most blatant at work, in access to housing, health and other services.

The analysis showed that a large proportion of the population in Slovenia experiences discrimination, as 84% of respondents have been discriminated against on the basis of at least one personal circumstance, said the Peace Institute.

Gender discrimination is the most common form, with women experiencing it significantly more than men, while virtually all non-binary persons and people of other genders have been discriminated against.

Discrimination is also very often experienced by people who are treated as foreigners under existing legislation and by the majority population. It is strongly present with applicants for international protection and refugees, who also report experiences of ethnic profiling by the police.

"People are stopped on the street while they are simply walking around, solely on the basis of their appearance, their skin colour and the status of a foreigner which they have been attributed as a result," the NGO explained.

Around three-quarters of those belonging to a national or ethnic minority in Slovenia have been discriminated against on the basis of their nationality or citizenship.

Persons of Orthodox or Islamic faith also reported experiencing discrimination on the basis of religion in more than 55% of cases.

Discrimination on grounds of skin colour, language and religion is often strongly linked to discrimination on grounds of nationality or citizenship, meaning that a person experiences at least two types of discrimination at the same time, the report adds.

The Peace Institute also drew attention to the persistent discrimination against the Roma population that is still very much present, especially in the fields of education and employment.

The situation has also worsened for Roma children during the closures of educational institutions, as their access to technology was hindered, and disparities deepened as a result.

This had a negative impact on their educational performance. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and children with special needs were also affected, said the NGO.

"A large proportion of people in the EU experience discrimination, inequality and social exclusion, which makes such data on equality an important tool for monitoring the implementation of legislation, policies to promote equality, and progress on the ground," it added.

The study was carried out between May and September 2021 and consisted of an online survey of 814 participants, 400 situational tests and 16 expert interviews.

26 Oct 2021, 12:53 PM

Slovenia 26th in Global Competitiveness Index, Ljubljana 61st

STA, 26 October 2021 - Slovenia ranks 26th among 134 countries in the latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) for 2021, after ranking 31st among 132 countries last year in this extensive annual report compiled by French business school INSEAD, Swiss staffing company Adecco and tech giant Google.

The GTCI ranks countries in an overall ranking and according to ratings in six "pillars": Enable, Attract, Grow, Retain, Vocational and Technical Skills, and Global Knowledge Skills, with each pillar containing multiple sub-categories.

Slovenia's best result was in the Vocational and Technical Skills pillar, ranking 16th and jumping up from last year's 27th place. Meanwhile, the poorest result was achieved in attracting talent, ranking 54th and falling down from 49th last year.

However, Slovenia was ranked among the top 30 countries in the world in all the other pillars.

The place at the very top was retained by Switzerland, ranked among the top five in all categories. Second place was taken by Singapore, followed by the United States, Denmark and Sweden.

The top 20 rankings are primarily dominated by EU member states and English-speaking countries like Australia (11), the UK (12) and Canada (13), rounded off by Japan in 20th place.

Slovenia ranked 26th overall, tucked in between the Czech Republic (24), the United Arab Emirates (25), South Korea (27) and Portugal (28).

screenshot from the report

The GTCI ranking also includes a list of the most attractive cities for talent. San Francisco, Geneva and Boston rounded out the top three, while Ljubljana was ranked 61st out of 155 cities this year, up from 79th last year.

You can see the full report here

26 Oct 2021, 11:57 AM

New Residential Estate Opens in SW Ljubljana

STA, 25 October 2021 - A new housing estate called Novo Brdo was inaugurated in Ljubljana on Monday. Located in the south-western part of the city, it is set to become one of Ljubljana's largest neighbourhoods, where 498 vulnerable families and individuals are to be housed.

Črtomir Remec, the director of Slovenia's Housing Fund, said that the Novo Brdo estate is "the second part of a trilogy of investments" made possible by a EUR 50 million loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank.

"The Novo Brdo neighbourhood project, which also marks the Housing Fund's 30th anniversary, was carried out in cooperation with the Ljubljana Municipality and is the largest among the projects that recently provided a total of 1,887 new housing units," he added.

In addition to the new housing units for young people already provided in Ljubljana this spring, Remec announced that another 212-apartment neighbourhood in Maribor is due to be completed next year.

Remec also announced a new cycle of 10 projects with 906 planned housing units that is being lined up, for which the Housing Fund will seek a new loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank.

"A home is a commodity whose value is certainly best understood by those who do not have it," Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Andrej Vizjak said at today's opening ceremony, adding that these are most often young families and individuals dealing with housing issues for the first time.

"It is the responsibility of every government to plan housing policies in such a way that every individual or family is provided with adequate housing within a reasonable time frame," added Vizjak.

He said that he would like to see more such inaugurations, and not only in Ljubljana, but especially in smaller Slovenian municipalities and regions that are experiencing population decline.

The main objective of the housing strategy is therefore to provide additional public rental housing. It is estimated that around 10,000 additional housing units are needed in Slovenia. "The government plans to be able to provide around 5,000 by 2026," added Vizjak.

Today's opening was also attended by Rolf Wenzel, the governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank, who highlighted the Novo Brdo project as a concrete example of one of the bank's main tasks - financing the construction of social or affordable housing.

In the Novo Brdo estate, the Housing Fund expects to provide for a higher living standard, as they want to accommodate several different generations. All the buildings are therefore designed to accommodate young people and families as well as the elderly, they said.

The estate will also host various public services, such as a library and shops, as well as an open outdoor space with plenty of green areas, children's playgrounds and a pond.

Learn more about the project on the official site (Slovene)

26 Oct 2021, 11:49 AM

Production of Union Beer Will Move to Laško

STA, 26 October 2021 - The country's largest beer maker Pivovarna Laško Union will no longer make beer in Ljubljana. It has decided to move the production to Laško due to an outdated cooling system at the Ljubljana facility. It is not clear yet how this will affect staff. The packaging and logistics activities will continue at the Pivovarna Union facility in the capital.

The decision on the move was based on a security assessment of the 35-year-old cooling system at Pivovarna Union, which showed that the system was no longer appropriate for use and could pose a significant security risk in the future, Pivovarna Laško Union says on its website.

Thus, the part of production linked to the cooling system needs to be suspended. "As a result, the brewing and fermentation of Union beer will be transferred to our brewery in Laško, where we expect production to start no later than January 2022," the company said.

The change will not affect the product portfolio or the Union trade mark.

Packaging and logistics will still be conducted at the Ljubljana facilities. There will also be no changes to the production of non-alcoholic beverages and water, or the management, the Pivnica Union bar or the Union Experience museum.

"The transfer of part of the brewery's production to Laško will enable our further growth and development, as the existing location in the city centre of Ljubljana currently limits this," the beer maker added.

While it is not clear how the move of the part of production will affect employees, Pivovarna Laško Union asserted that the affected staff "will be treated with due respect".

According to the company's head of communication, Alenka Rozman, 145 people are currently employed at the supply chain of the Ljubljana brewery, 18 of whom in brewing and fermentation, which is being moved to Laško.

But she said it was too early to say how many will be affected by the move. "We will look into all the possibilities to limit those effects - such as transfer to other units, possibly even to Laško, or potential early retirements."

The head of the in-house trade union, Andreja Sojer, said the employees were disappointed at the decision to move part of the production and expected layoffs, but could not say yet how many.

"As you will have heard it's due to a security risk, which would require an investment. It's up to the owner to opt for investment or not. In this case they did not opt for one. The employees are extremely disappointed," said Sojer.

The company said earlier it wanted to preserve as many members of the staff as possible to "make sure consumers still get the iconic Union beer made by the same recipe that they have been used to all these years".

In Ljubljana, a centre for innovation and a small city brewery will be set up to serve as a centre for development, testing and tasting of new Union beers and an upgrade of the Union Experience.

Pivovarna Laško Union is part of the Heineken group. The Dutch company acquired the Slovenian brewery in 2016.

26 Oct 2021, 04:44 AM

Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Tuesday, 26 October 2021

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.

This summary is provided by the STA:

PM Janša, Defence Minister Tonin among targets of death threats

LJUBLJANA - Police confirmed they were investigating death threats mailed to several top politicians, including PM Janez Janša and Defence Minister Matej Tonin on Friday. The mail contained live ammunition. Janša was sent photographs on which targets were drawn on his face and the faces of his family with the threat saying he would be the "first to go down", and the same fate awaited the government's supporters. Tonin was threatened he would not get to see the next general election. Similar threats were also sent to Interior Minister Aleš Hojs, and the deputy groups of the opposition National Party (SNS) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), and unofficially Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek. The threats drew condemnation from across the political isle amid calls for de-escalation of political rhetoric.

Slovenia marks Sovereignty Day

LJUBLJANA/KOPER - Slovenia marked Sovereignty Day in memory of the last Yugoslav army soldiers leaving Slovenian soil 30 years ago. Addressing the state ceremony in Koper, Defence Minister Matej Tonin said the decision for independence made 30 years ago had been the right one. But he warned of "toxic" political debate in the country and called for easing of tensions. "We can all start by thinking twice before publishing a post on social media. Fierce and unfortunately often insulting communication through social media obstructs our joint efforts in real life," he said. In other messages, Prime Minister Janez Janša called for efforts to boost Slovenia's security resilience, while Speaker Igor Zorčič called for responsible and efficient policies and President Borut Pahor emphasized dialogue and cooperation.

Positivity rate almost 34% on Sunday

LJUBLJANA - A total of 707 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Slovenia on Sunday, almost double the figure from a week ago, while the positivity rate hit almost 34%. Government also reported 11 Covid-19 fatalities, the highest daily death toll since the end of April. The seven-day average of new cases increased by 49 to 1,722 and the 14-day incidence per 100,000 residents climbed to 898, up by 25 compared to the day before. Hospitalisations rose to 493 and ICU cases to 127.

POP TV poll shows support for SDS rising, Pahor's ratings fall

LJUBLJANA - The ruling Democratic Party (SDS) saw its support rating rise by almost four percentage points compared to September to 18.6% in the latest poll commissioned by the commercial broadcaster POP TV. The opposition Social Democrats (SD) remain second at 11.5%, also rising by almost two percentage points. NSi MEP Ljudmila Novak returned to the top of the popularity ranking of politicians to unseat the long-standing public favourite, President Borut Pahor, who fall to fifth, which poorest showing yet.

New residential estate opens in Ljubljana

LJUBLJANA - A new housing estate called Novo Brdo was inaugurated in the south-western part of Ljubljana. It is set to become one of Ljubljana's largest neighbourhoods, where 498 vulnerable families and individuals are to be housed. Črtomir Remec, the director of Slovenia's Housing Fund, said that the Novo Brdo estate is "the second part of a trilogy of investments" made possible by a EUR 50 million loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). The ceremony was also addressed by CEB governor Rolf Wenzel.

American corporation ADM acquires share in Acies Bio

LJUBLJANA - The US multinational food processing corporation ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) has acquired a minority stake in Acies Bio, a Ljubljana-based biotech company whose main activity is biotechnology R&D and consulting. The agreement, whose value was not disclosed, was concluded last Friday. ADM acquired the stake in Acies Bio through its company ADM Ventures, which invests in technology start-ups. Acies Bio received a Gazelle Award for fast-growing company in 2018. It posted EUR 2.4 million in revenue in 2020.

Five Slovenian destinations make it to best of Europe list

LJUBLJANA - Destination expert Terry Stevens has ranked five Slovenian destinations on his list of the top 50 European destinations released in his book Wish You Were Here - Europe. The only other European country to boast such a high number of places to see is Spain. The destinations included are Bled and Bohinj lakes, the Soča valley, Ljubljana, the wine region of Goriška Brda and the spa towns of Podčetrtek and Rogaška Slatina. Stevens, the 2020 ambassador of Slovenia's tourism who has visited Slovenia nearly 50 times, noted the country's unique experiences and sustainable tourism at the launch.

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