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A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here
This summary is provided by the STA:
Pahor urges Croatia to accept arbitration to facilitate Schengen membership
ŠIBENIK, Croatia - President Borut Pahor has addressed a renewed appeal to Croatia to accept the final ruling of the arbitration tribunal on the Slovenian-Croatian border, indicating that this would affect the Slovenian government's decision on its membership of the Schengen zone. Croatia must foremost meet all technical criteria to join the Schengen zone, but the Slovenian government will "sooner or later have to accept a decision on that after the European Commission has assessed that Croatia is close to meeting all the conditions," he told the press after a meeting with the Croatian and Austrian presidents.
Draft energy and climate plan improved
LJUBLJANA - The Infrastructure Ministry released an improved draft of the National Energy and Climate Plan, a key document setting the course of action for ten years until 2030, which should be sent to Brussels by the end of the year. The new draft sets down various scenarios serving as a basis for an environment impact assessment to which it will be subjected before being sent into public consultation. What is new is the country's goal to increase the share of renewables to "at least" 27% by 2030, as opposed to "a 27% share" in the first draft.
Activists accuse Slovenia of violating asylum law
LJUBLJANA - A group of activists helping asylum seekers accused Slovenian police of systematic infringement of international conventions by pushing illegal migrants back to Croatia and preventing them from filing asylum applications. Asylum Taskforce claims that refugee camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina are full of people who had been pushed back across the border, often in very violent ways. It claims Slovenia and Croatia have established a peculiar system of refoulement circumventing EU law.
Iran official rules out negotiation with US until sanctions are lifted
BLED - Iran does not see a chance of negotiation with the US until the US returns to the Iran nuclear deal and until it lifts sanctions, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has told the STA. He believes it is still possible to save the historic 2015 deal, but it will not be easy. The Iranian diplomat, who talked to the STA on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum, said that saving the deal would require real determination on the part of the remaining signatories.
Coalition and Left closer on health insurance issue
LLJUBLJANA - The ruling coalition and the opposition Left, which has been threatening to withdraw support for the minority government, have brought closer together their views on the Left's proposal to abolish top-up health insurance by folding it into mandatory health insurance as of 2021. The opposition party wants to reform voluntary health insurance, which is paid as a flat-rate contribution of slightly EUR 30-plus a month regardless of one's income. Detailed calculations are yet to be made taking into account long-term macroeconomic and demographic projections, Health Minister Aleš Šabeder said after today's meeting. Talks will be resumed next week.
Abanka Group profit down 32% in first half of 2019
LJUBLJANA - Abanka generated EUR 26.3 million in group net profit in the first six months of the year, 32.3% less than in the same period last year. Net interest revenue was down by 0.5% and net non-interest income by 19.5%. Group total assets amounted to EUR 3.76 billion, after standing at EUR 3.73 billion at the end of December. The bank's supervisory board got acquainted with the results on Tuesday.
Slovenia's tourism up in global competitiveness ranking
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia is up five spots in the latest biannual global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, standing at 36th place among 140 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum (WEF). In the 2019 survey, Slovenia scored an average of 4.3 out of seven points based on assessments in 14 elements of competitiveness in four key categories. Slovenia fared the best in environmental sustainability, placing 8th. Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek commented by saying that Slovenia was on the right track in the field of tourism.
Two Slovenian researchers get prestigious ECR grants
LJUBLJANA - Two Slovenian researchers are among the 408 recipients of the latest round of starting grants awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) to early-stage researchers. Nejc Hodnik from the Chemistry Institute has received EUR 1.5 million for a five-year project called 123STABLE, which focuses on the development of very stable nanostructure electrocatalysts. Matjaž Human from the Jožef Stefan Institute will get EUR 1.5 million for a five-year project that will explore whether it is possible to successfully integrate lasers into living cells.
Show on govt art collection from 1930s to open in Ljubljana
LJUBLJANA - Works of art made in the 1930s in Dravska Banovina, a province covering some two-thirds of Slovenian lands in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, will open tonight at the National Gallery. Over 70 paintings, sculptures and drawings by Slovenian realists and impressionists from the decade preceding World Word II will be on show. Art for New Days. Dravska Banovina's Collection is the fourth in a series of exhibitions from the Government's Art Collection, which the gallery has kept since 1986.
Slovenia's jobless total down 5.8% at annual level in August
LJUBLJANA - After ticking up in July, Slovenia's jobless total declined to 71,544 in August, a drop of 0.4% over the month before. Year-on-year, the figure declined by 5.8%, show Employment Service figures. Almost 4,300 registered as newly unemployed in August, a significant drop from July and a tenth less than in August. While roughly 3,000 previously registered as unemployed got jobs, this is about a tenth less than in July or August 2018.
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