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This summary is provided by the STA:
Koper rail track could reopen by midnight, kerosene removal continues
LJUBLJANA - The Koper-Divača rail track, a crucial transport link for the Koper port, is expected to be reopened at midnight and not at noon as initially planned, railway operator Slovenske železnice announced. The reason is the decision to remove more of the material potentially affected by Tuesday's massive kerosene spill. Slovenske železnice director general Dušan Mes said that "it would have made no sense to expose everybody to risk to save 12 hours." To address the backlog and also direct the rail cargo to roads, heavy goods vehicles will be allowed to use roads from and to the Koper port during the upcoming weekend.
Annual inflation rate at 1.8% in June
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation rate in June stood at 1.8%, with the prices of services going up on average by 2.9% on the yearly basis, and the prices of goods by 1.2%, the Statistics Office reported. Contributing the most to the annual inflation in June were higher prices of goods and services in the fields of housing, water supply, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.7 percentage points). Monthly inflation in June stood at 0.3%. The annual the rate went up by 0.4 percentage points compared to the annual rate in May. Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, the annual inflation in Slovenia was at 1.9% in June, down 0.4 percentage points year-on-year.
Government budget surplus minimal in Q1, public debt down
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's general government budget generated a minimal surplus of EUR 4 million or 0.03% of GDP in the first quarter of 2019, down 0.3 of a percentage point compared to the same period last year. General government debt amounted to EUR 31.58 billion or 67.9% of GDP, said the Statistics Office. General government debt was down by 2.2 percentage points compared to the last quarter of 2018, when it stood at 70.1% of GDP. Similarly to the past seven quarters, general government generated a surplus also in the first quarter of 2019, but this time it was minimal.
Slovenia joins call for preservation of Iran nuclear deal
LJUBLJANA/VIENNA, Austria - Seven European countries, including Slovenia, issued a statement to stress the importance of preserving the Iran nuclear deal as representatives of Iran are meeting in Vienna with five signatories of the deal who are trying to convince the country not to exit the deal over the US sanctions. In the statement, Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Slovenia say that in cooperation with France, Germany, the UK and the EU's foreign service and the European Commission, they were looking for ways for legal trade and financial transactions with Iran. One of the key initiatives is establishing the ISTEX instrument.
Ministry says border barriers Italy's internal decision
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Interior Ministry responded to the announcement by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the possibility of setting up barriers on the Slovenian-Italian border by saying that such a step would be part of Italy's internal political decision-making. Salvini plans to put up barriers in case the countries' joint border patrols, which are expected to start on 1 July, will not turn out to be effective at reducing illegal migration.
Govt ready to contribute to bail-in repayment, stakeholders remain unhappy
LJUBLJANA - Featuring almost 80 amendments, the second reading of a bill designed to provide legal recourse for holders of subordinated bank liabilities who were wiped out in the 2013 bank bailout proved too much for a single session of the parliamentary Finance Committee. Several open issues are to be addressed at a forthcoming session. A key novelty among the new amendments, mostly filed by the coalition with a view to the reservations expressed by parliament's legal service and some of the stakeholders, is that Banka Slovenije would no longer be made to shoulder the entire burden of what could be over EUR 963 million in damage payments.
President Pahor honoured by Crans Montana Forum
GENEVA, Switzerland - President Borut Pahor was honoured with the Prix de la Fondation given out by the Crans Montana Forum for efforts for peace, freedom and democracy. Addressing the award ceremony, Pahor talked about EU enlargement to the Western Balkans and the need to "consider the region more as an entity" in bilateral talks. He said it was clear that enlargement onto the Western Balkans would not be a priority of the next European Commission, underlining that it should become just that.
Parliamentary arbitration wire tapping inquiry to end soon
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Commission for the Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services is to conclude its investigation of the 2015 arbitration wire tapping scandal on 8 July, when it will conduct the final interviews. A report, marked confidential, will be ready by September, commission chair Matej Tonin said. The report will "state very clearly who was in the know about who was being briefed by Simona Drenik," said Tonin, referring to Slovenian agent, who was recorded in 2015 speaking over the phone with Slovenian-appointed tribunal member Jernej Sekolec. It is unclear who recorded the communication, prohibited under the rules of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Trend of increasing number of foreign tourists turned in May
LJUBLJANA - May was an unusual month in terms of foreign tourist arrivals in Slovenia as their number was down by 2% and the number of overnight stays then generated dropped by 6% year-on-year, contrary to the steady trend of an increasing number of tourists recorded in the recent years. May was unseasonably wet and cold, which is probably the main reason for the number of foreign tourists dropping to 383,000 and the number of overnight stays to 841,000. According to the Statistics Office, the overall number of tourists in May stood at 500,000, almost flat compared to the same month in 2018. The number of overnight stays meanwhile dropped by almost 4% to around 1.1 million.
Slovenian veterans condemn war crime complaint against Kučan
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Independence War Veteran Association (ZVVS) and the Sever association of veteran police officers voiced a strong condemnation and opposition to a criminal complaint against former Slovenian President Milan Kučan, which accuses him of alleged war crimes. They described the complaint as a way to besmirch Slovenia. The statement refers to the complaint against Kučan and five more individuals with Serbia's War Crimes Prosecutor's Office. According to the Serbian newspaper Politika, it has been filed by Serbian lawyer Dušan Bratić, who is studying alleged crimes against members of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
Izola hospital gets new helipad
IZOLA - The Izola general hospital opened a new helipad in what is a significant achievement for the main coastal hospital. The state-of-the-art landing platform will be used for some 80 patients in a critical condition every year, according to the hospital's estimates. The project is valued at EUR 500,000, with the hospital earmarking EUR 350,000, and the remaining amount coming from the cross-border Emergency EuroRegion project, co-run by the hospital and aiming to improve emergency services in the Slovenian-Croatian region.
Higher Court orders retrial in Janša defamation case
CELJE - The Celje Higher Court has quashed the ruling of the Celje District Court that sentenced politician Janez Janša to a three-month suspended prison sentence over an offensive tweet in which he called two female journalists prostitutes and likened public broadcaster TV Slovenia to a whorehouse. A retrial has been ordered. The court found that an unauthorised person had appointed a substitute lay magistrate following a recusal request.
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