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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:
Slovenian troops flown home from Erbil
LJUBLJANA - The six Slovenian soldiers who have served in the international operation Inherent Resolve in Erbil in northern Iraq were flown home following a decision to relocate them in the wake of Iran's attacks on Iraqi bases in the night to Wednesday. However, the decision does not mean Slovenia is ending its presence in Iraq where a new Slovenian rotation will be deployed by 1 February at latest. Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, Foreign Minister Miro Cerar and Defence Minister Karl Erjavec pledged Slovenia's continued commitment to the global anti-Daesh coalition, a position also supported by the parliamentary committees on defence and foreign policy at a join session.
Four picked as anti-graft boss candidates, Štefanec snubbed
LJUBLJANA - The commission authorised to select appropriate candidates for the leadership of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption has proposed to President Borut Pahor four candidates for the body's president, with the list not including the incumbent president, Boris Štefanec. President Pahor now has 30 days to appoint the new president of the anti-graft commission, and may pick only among the candidates from the list. He may also decide not to appoint any and repeat the call for applications for the post.
Annulment of Rupnik's death sentence draws ire
LJUBLJANA - The Supreme Court's annulment of the 1946 death sentencing of general Leon Rupnik for collaboration with the Fascist Italian and Nazi German occupation drew protests from the Association of WWII Veterans, the Jewish Cultural Centre Ljubljana and the Social Democrats. The Jewish Cultural Centre labelled the decision the "first step in the politically-motivated aspiration to rehabilitate the criminal collaborationist regime during WWII". The centre plans to inform the world public of the decision and monitor and actively oppose further "denial of the Holocaust, revision and perversion of history and revival and justification of Fascist and Nazi atrocities".
Protest as debate held on 5G spectrum auctions
LJUBLJANA - Some 50 people staged a protest against plans to introduce 5G wireless technology in Slovenia as the Agency for Communication Networks and Services (AKOS) hosted a consultation on 5G spectrum auctions to bring operators up to date on its activities. In line with EU guidelines, the Slovenian government last year committed to award the frequencies by 30 June this year. "5G is coming, but the question is in what way and how fast," AKOS director Tanja Muha said.
More entities to be subject to Court of Audit
LJUBLJANA - The Court of Audit will have the power to audit subsidiaries of companies in state or municipal ownership under amendments to the act governing the court's operation that the government adopted today. Any company in which the state, municipalities or body governed by public law has a 40% direct or indirect stake, individually or combined, will be subject to periodic Court of Audit checks.
Slovenia's exports up 4% y/y in November, imports rise by 0.4%
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's exports and imports rose by 4% and 0.4% respectively in November 2019 compared to the year before, the Statistics Office said, attributing this to the increased value of trade with EU non-member countries. Exports amounted to EUR 2.94 billion, while imports reached EUR 2.85 billion in November.
SID Bank EU partner in CEF Transport Blending Facility
LJUBLJANA - SID Bank, the Slovenian state-run export and development bank, has singed an administrative agreement on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Transport Blending Facility with the EU. Announcing the signing, SID Bank called on potential partners in the field of mobility to check financing possibilities for their projects with it.
Luka Koper revenue grows despite economic slowdown
KOPER - Luka Koper, the operator of Slovenia's only sea port, generated EUR 224.5 million in net sales revenue last year, a 1% uptick compared to the previous year, preliminary data show. Meanwhile, ship to ship transshipment dropped by 5% over 2018 to 22.8 million tonnes. Container transshipment stayed level over 2018, while liquid cargo transshipment increased by 12%. On the other hand, bulk cargo transshipment decreased by 17%, vehicle transshipment by 4% and general cargo transshipment by 16%.
Slovenia's inflation in 2019 at 1.8%, not 1.9%
LJUBLJANA - Annual inflation in Slovenia in 2019 reached 1.8%, not 1.9% as reported by the Statistics Office (SURS) at the end of December. SURS corrected the figure after detecting an error in the statistical data. Prices of services increased by an average 2.9%, not by 2.6%, with prices of goods rising by 1.3% over 2018.
Jožef Stefan Institute boss declared Delo Person of the Year
LJUBLJANA - Jadran Lenarčič, director of the Jožef Stefan Institute, the country's top research institution, was declared the Person of 2019 by the newspaper publisher Delo. Lenarčič is the long-serving head of Slovenia's largest and most important scientific institution, successfully managing 500 doctors of science "who create the future of our country", the award jury said. In his acceptance speech Lenarčič called on the government to invest in science.
"Climate" declared Slovenian word of the year
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian word of the year 2019 is "podnebje" or climate, the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) announced. Second place went to "Šarecism", alluding to a discourse used by Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, followed by "carbon-neutral". Meanwhile, the sign language gesture of the year is "ustava" or constitution.
Trump effigy in Moravče torched
MORAVČE - A large-scale wooden effigy of US President Donald Trump, which had recently been relocated to Moravče, some 30 kilometres east of Ljubljana, has been torched, the Moravče municipality said. The statue, standing almost eight metres tall and mimicking the Statue of Liberty, had originally been erected in Selo, a small village some 20 kilometres north of Ljubljana, in August, but was relocated to Moravče in late December due to unease that it was causing among the Selo locals and the media interest that came with it.
Comedian gets 15 months suspended sentence for plagiarism
LJUBLJANA - Actor and comedian Boris Kobal has been given a 15-month suspended sentence with a probation period of three years after pleading guilty to plagiarising an Italian play in early 2019. Under the terms of the plea bargain, the prosecution proposed an eight-month suspended sentence for fraud and the same punishment for copyright violation. The Celje District court pronounced a combined 15-month sentence today.
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