The STA released the following summary of news stories for Monday, January 8, 2018
Veteran MEP urges top EU officials to endorse arbitration
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's longest serving MEP, Lojze Peterle (NSi/EPP), appealed for the implementation of the border arbitration award in a letter addressed to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani. "Compliance with international law is better than a naval invasion against Slovenia," reads the appeal released by Peterle in Slovenian on his Facebook profile and distributed to Slovenian media. The reference is to Croatian war veteran Petar Janjić - Tromblon threatening to bring 100 vessels to the section of the sea awarded to Slovenia unless Croatian PM Andrej Plenković resolve the border dispute.
Govt joins administrative dispute against Italian gas pipeline
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian government has joined an administrative dispute at a Rome court against the Italian authorities over an environmental approval for the construction of a Trieste-Grado-Vilesse gas pipeline in NE Italy. The project is connected with the contentious liquefied gas terminal in Aquilinia near the border with Slovenia. The Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry said the gas pipeline project had originally been a part of the Aquilinia gas terminal project, which Slovenia has been against all along, only to be later separated in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure.
SDS replaces Šarec List to top Delo poll
LJUBLJANA - The opposition Democrats (SDS) topped the party ratings in the latest poll by Delo, followed by the party of presidential race runner-up Marjan Šarec, which headed the poll last month. The SDS gained as much as 3.6 percentage points compared with the month before to poll at 15.8%, nearly three points ahead of the Marjan Šarec List, which lost 2.8 points to 12.9%. The coalition Social Democrats (SD) in third lost half a point to 12.1%, whereas its senior coalition partner, Modern Centre Party (SMC), gained 2.5 points to 8% in fourth spot.
MP Veber also leaves SocDems
LJUBLJANA - MP Janko Veber left the coalition Social Democrats (SD) after he quit the SD deputy group on 19 December, acting as independent deputy since. He decided to resign because he could not find common ground with the SD's stances and decisions "which are directed at devaluing everything that generations of Slovenians have been building", pointing to the process of privatisation, which he had opposed all the way. When he left the deputy group last month, some have speculated that Veber, who heads the Sloga association, will form a new party. However, Sloga will sign tomorrow a cooperation agreement to stand in the election with the United Left - Democratic Party of Labour (ZL - DSD) and some other individuals and groups.
Firefighters call off strike, do not disband strike committee
LJUBLJANA - Following last week's signing of a pay rise deal with the government, the Firefighters' Trade Union officially called off the strike it had planned for 10 and 11 January. The firefighters will however not disband their strike committee before the agreement is executed. The agreement, signed after months of negotiations on pay disparities stemming from past changes to the public sector pay system and austerity measures, puts most firefighters two brackets higher in the system consisting of 65 public sector wage brackets.
Ex-justice minister cleared over 2012 appointment
LJUBLJANA - Aleš Zalar was acquitted by the Novo Mesto Local Court of abuse of office charges over the 2012 appointment of a senior state prosecution official, after the former state prosecutor general was cleared in the same case. The prosecution announced an appeal. It alleged that Zalar, in his last days as minister in 2012, abused his position in appointing Boštjan Škrlec, then a Justice Ministry official, secretary general at the state prosecution, despite knowing that the selection procedure had been conducted unlawfully.
