Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Saturday, 14 December 2019

By , 14 Dec 2019, 04:15 AM News
Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Saturday, 14 December 2019 piqsels CC-by-0

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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:

Šarec deems Brexit likely by the end of January

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Commenting on the Conservatives' landslide victory in the UK general election, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said that the outcome was "completely expected". PM Boris Johnson made the implementation of Brexit his mission and that was the message of his election campaign, so the UK is likely to leave the EU by the end of January after all, said Šarec on the sidelines of the EU summit. Šarec believes a trade agreement with the UK could be reached next year if talks were conducted quickly.

PM happy with carbon neutrality 2050 target for EU

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec expressed satisfaction that nearly all EU members had reached an agreement on carbon neutrality by 2050, saying Slovenia was happy that each member state determines its own energy mix in sustainable energy transition. He warned however that carbon neutrality should not come at the expense of cohesion funding. He indicated that Slovenia would seek to substitute thermal energy with nuclear in its energy mix.

Angelika Mlinar granted request for dual citizenship by Austria

LJUBLJANA - Angelika Mlinar, the former Austrian MEP who has been nominated for Slovenian cohesion minister, received approval from the Austrian government to become a dual Austrian-Slovenian citizen. Mlinar is expected to officially become a Slovenian citizen on Monday, after the government yesterday granted her citizenship request in a fast-track procedure permitted by Slovenian law. The Alenka Bratušek Party expects Mlinar to be appointed next week to succeed Iztok Purič, who stepped down.

Left urges Palestine recognition

LJUBLJANA - The opposition Left made a renewed appeal on the government to push for Palestine's recognition at EU level. If the EU fails to reach a consensus on the matter by the end of March 2020, the government should adopt a decision to recognise Palestine and submit it to parliament, the party said. The call came after the US changed its policy on Israeli settlements on the West Bank and after Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn urged the EU start debate Palestine's recognition.

Insurers rubbish plans to abolish top-up insurance

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Insurers' Association expressed grave concern over the proposed legislation that would effectively end the current system of compulsory and top-up health insurance as of 2021 in favour of a fully-fledged single-payer system. It believes this would have harmful long-term effects. The proposal, to be debated by parliament next week, also earned criticism from he public health fund manager ZZZS, which said the proposed lump sum contribution of 29 euro replacing the top-up insurance was too low to maintain stability of healthcare funding.

Nine vying to become next anti-graft boss

LJUBLJANA - Nine candidates have submitted applications to become the next president of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, including incumbent president Boris Štefanec and his deputy Uroš Novak. The other candidates are Supreme Court adviser Tina Brecelj, head of the Ribnica administrative unit Primož Bučan, Faculty of Security Studies professor Robert Šumi, TV journalist Rajko Gerič, senior official at the government's legal service Janez Pogorelec, driving school manager Rajko Marković and pensioner Jožef Majer.

Slovenia 13th in Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index

SEOUL, South Korea - Slovenia ranks 13th in the latest Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index compiled by Solability, a sustainability think tank based in Switzerland and South Korea, among a total of 180 countries. Scoring 53.8 points, Slovenia fared best in terms of governance efficiency, trailing only Ireland and the Czech Republic. Id did worst in natural capital and resource management. The index is topped by the Nordic countries with Sweden at the top (60.6 pts).

Šoštanj people want referendum on co-incineration

ŠOŠTANJ - A civil initiative from Šoštanj, home to the TEŠ coal-fired power station, turned to the municipality with a request for a referendum on TEŠ's plans to branch out into co-incineration of non-hazardous waste. The Šoštanj municipality is to response to the request for a local referendum, which had been filed on Thursday, in the coming days. The initiative wants the vote because no monitoring of waste co-incineration had been conducted in Slovenia yet and the locals refuse to be guinea pigs.

Slovenia below EU average in per capita GDP and consumption

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Slovenia ranked below the EU average in terms of actual individual consumption, as well as in terms of GDP per capita in 2018, according to fresh data from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. Actual individual consumption (AIC) is a measure of material welfare of households. Expressed in purchasing power standards, AIC per capita in Slovenia reached 87% of the EU average. Slovenia was also at 87% of the EU average by GDP per capita expressed in PPS.

Energy group Petrol has ambitious plans for 2020

LJUBLJANA - The energy group Petrol has ambitious plans for 2020, with net profit expected to reach EUR 110 million, gross profit EUR 510 million and sales revenue EUR 6.4 billion. For this year, Petrol projects EUR 5.6 billion in sales revenue and almost 97 million in net profit. It is on pace to reaching these targets, with sales revenue standing at EUR 4.19 billion and net profit at EUR 80 million in the first nine months. The 2020 business plan was endorsed by the supervisory board on Thursday.

Luka Koper plans higher revenue, lower profit for 2020

KOPER - Luka Koper, the operator of Slovenia's sole sea port Koper, plans to increase net sales revenue in 2020 by 4% against 2019, while net profit is planned 19% below this year's EUR 39 million. The cargo transshipped next year should rise by 3% from this year's estimated 23.4 million tonnes. Net sales revenue for 2019 is estimated at EUR 228.5 million and net profit at EUR 39.4 million The company's strategic plan, projects a 24% growth in sales revenue to EUR 279.4 million by 2025.

Iberia to fly to Ljubljana next summer

LJUBLJANA - Spanish airline Iberia will fly to Ljubljana next summer season, according to the EX-YU Aviation News portal. Iberia will start to fly from Madrid to Ljubljana's Jože Pučnik International Airport and back on 28 July, operating four flights a week for five weeks. Several other airlines will increase the number of their flights to the Slovenian capital after Adria Airways went bankrupt. The airport is expected to fully compensate for the loss of Adria's passengers in 2021.

Dončić most searched on Google in 2019

LJUBLJANA - Google published the most trending items in Slovenia's online searches in 2019. The name on every Slovenian's lips has been apparently NBA star Luka Dončić since he claimed the top spot, followed by information on the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Eurovision Song Contest. Dončić was most popular in January when the online 2019 NBA All-Star voting took place. After inding out that the 20-year-old had not made the cut despite massive support, Slovenian Google users' interest in the topic waned.

Forex fraudster jailed after a decade on the run

LJUBLJANA - A Slovenian man charged with defrauding dozens of investors of over a million euros in multiple foreign exchange transactions in the early 2000s was sentenced to three years in prison after spending a decade on the run from law enforcement. Miran Oblak received the sentence at the Kranj District Court after pleading guilty to seven counts of fraud, each in excess of EUR 50,000. Several other charges were dropped because they became statute-barred.

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

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