Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Tuesday, 16 April 2019

By , 16 Apr 2019, 02:29 AM News
Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Tuesday, 16 April 2019 Flickr - Sascha Kohlmann CC BY-SA 2.0

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A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here

Visiting Ljubljana? Check out what's on this week, while all our stories on Slovenia, from newest to oldest, are here

This summary is provided by the STA

Šarec wants more unity in Slovenian politics on Croatia

LJUBLJANA - PM Marjan Šarec said that despite the border arbitration wiretapping scandal, "there is no emergency" and Slovenia "is in no bigger dispute with Croatia than before". Speaking to the press on the margins of today's plenary, he accused part of the opposition of "using every opportunity to sling mud at domestic politics by praising others and criticising our reactions". He said Slovenia must promote its interests.

Polls project tight EU race

LJUBLJANA - The joint ticket of the opposition Democratic Party (SDS) and the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) is favoured to win the European parliamentary election in a poll commissioned by the newspaper Delo even though the party of PM Marjan Šarec is the preferred choice for general elections. The SDS+SLS is followed by the coalition Social Democrats (SD) and the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ). The Vox Populi poll, meanwhile, favours the SD and the LMŠ for EU election slightly ahead of the SDS+SLS. The three lists are projected to win two seats each.

Centre-right parties have dominated EU elections in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian voters have gone to the polls to elect MEPs three times so far - in 2004, 2009 and 2014, with most of the support in all three elections going to parties belonging to the European People's Party (EPP). The only Slovenian to win an MEP seat in all three elections is Lojze Peterle of New Slovenia (NSi/EPP). Slovenian members of the European Parliament tend to vote in accordance with their Eurogroup, and have high attendance in votes in plenary meetings of the European Parliament, data from VoteWatch show.

Šarec says too early to talk about EU presidency priorities

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said in parliament that it was too early to talk about Slovenia's priorities for its EU presidency in the second half of 2021, as he was challenged by an opposition MP to present his vision of the future of the EU. Šarec said that many things would happen until the second half of 2021, adding that much depended on the result of May's EU elections, and whether the "key positions in EU institutions will go to people who will respect the rule of law".

Govt to continue talks with doctors but will not give in to extortion, PM says

LJUBLJANA - The government will continue talks with doctors' trade unions to find solutions to pressing issues in healthcare, but it will not give in to extortion, PM Marjan Šarec told the National Assembly during Q&A after an email indicating GPs might be trying to provoke privatisation was published by a unionist on Friday.

British Prince Edward to pay a visit in mid-May

LJUBLJANA - Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, will pay a visit to Slovenia on 14 and 15 May, the British Embassy announced. He will be hosted by President Borut Pahor, who invited him to Slovenia during his last visit to London in February. Pahor and the British prince will launch together the first Slovenia-UK Friendship Day - to be marked this year on 14 May, the embassy said on Facebook. The day will be launched "in celebration of the history and future of the enduring friendship between the UK and Slovenia".

Cerar, Gosar focus on strengthening the US-Slovenia relations

LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar received US Republican Congressman Paul A. Gosar to discuss bilateral relations between the US and Slovenia. After the meeting they stressed the importance of strengthening the dialogue between the two countries. Cerar pointed out that quality political relations could contribute to better economic cooperation as well. He said that Slovenia had had good relations with the US, which he would endeavour to further improve in the future.

Slovenia abstains in vote on EU copyright directive

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - EU member states gave the final stamp of approval to the directive on copyright in the single digital market, with 19 countries voting yes, six no and three, including Slovenia, abstaining. EU members have two years to transpose the new rules, which were adopted despite the criticism of facilitating censorship on the internet, into national law, whereupon the directive will enter into force.

Luka Koper's damages claim against Xodo returned to first-instance court

KOPER - The newspaper Primorske Novice reported that the Koper Higher Court had annulled the district court's decision to reject a compensation claim by the operator of the Koper port against Costruzioni Generali Xodo, the Italian company it had hired to deepen a part of the port sea bed. Luka Koper had demanded EUR 1.1m, claiming the dredging company accumulated massive delays, forcing it to end the cooperation with Xodo in 2014, but the claim was rejected by the Koper District Court last December.

Japanese Terra Drone acquires stake in Slovenian C-Astral

AJDOVŠČINA - The world's leading drone manufacturer Terra Drone Corporation has acquired a stake in the Slovenian provider of aerospace solutions C-Astral. The latter specialises in the manufacturing and services of fixed-wing small unmanned aircraft systems and considers the partnership a strategic move. According to the news portal UAS Weekly, Terra Drone considered a number of potential partners across the world and was particularly impressed by the Slovenian drone developer due to its advanced technology, mission flexibility and the overall spectrum of solutions.

Average pay in February down over January but up Y/Y

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's average monthly gross pay in February amounted to EUR 1,714.49, a 0.8% decrease on January in nominal terms and a 1.6% decrease in real terms. Compared to February 2018, the gross pay was up by 4.7% in nominal and by 3.5% in real terms, the Statistics Office said. The average net pay stood at EUR 1,108.10, a 0.7% drop in nominal and 1.5% in real terms compared to January. In year-on-year comparison, it was up by 3.9% in nominal and 2.7% in real terms.

New family law comes fully into force

LJUBLJANA - The new family law, which was reformed and adopted two years ago, became fully applicable today. The law aims to regulate partnerships and family relations in a more comprehensive manner, with the main difference being that district courts are now in charge of protecting children's interests. Instead of social work centres, district courts have jurisdiction over deciding to take children away from their parents as well as over making provisions about parental and foster care.

STA round table offers solutions to youth housing issues

LJUBLJANA - The government plans to build additional non-profit housing to make it easier for the young to rent apartments, set up a public rental service and encourage housing cooperatives, heard a round table debate hosted by the STA. "This is a multifaceted problem... Fact is that these issues had not been addressed for years. We have the national housing programme but no law regulating the field," said Anja Fortuna, the president of the Youth Council.

Plečnik Prize goes to ELES's technological centre

LJUBLJANA - This year's Plečnik Prize, the highest accolade for architecture in Slovenia, went to Marko Studen, Boris Matić and Jernej Šipoš for their design of a new technological centre of the national grid operator ELES in Beričevo. The trio, who had won an international call for applications with the design, won the recognition for designing a systemically demanding building, which is also a major European strategic project, according to the jury.

Govt endorses country's bid to co-host EuroBasket 2021

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Basketball Association's (KZS) bid for Slovenia to host one of the preliminary groups of the EuroBasket 2021 was endorsed by the government. The green light means that 2.5 million euro the KZS would have to pay FIBA Europe in advance in fee and other fixed costs would come from the state. Apart from Slovenia, also vying for the tournament are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary and Italy. Only one bid is said to be for the final part of the tournament, which means Slovenia has a 50% chance to become the host of one of the preliminary groups.

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