Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Saturday, 22 February 2020

By , 22 Feb 2020, 04:03 AM News
Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Saturday, 22 February 2020 JL Flanner

Share this:

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.

A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here

This summary is provided by the STA:

Police commissioner to lodge criminal complaint against MP Mahnič

LJUBLJANA - Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar is to file a defamation complaint against Democrats (SDS) MP Žan Mahnič, the vice-chair of the parliamentary Commission for the Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services (KNOVS) after he had accused her of lying about alleged spying on politicians by the police. The police said on Thursday that Bobnar would lodge a complaint against Mahnič over "misleading and malicious statements and an attack on her honour, good name and integrity". Mahnič said the fact that a preliminary investigation had been launched into the spying allegations - Bobnar spoke on Thursday of an investigation against possible spying by individuals outside the police force - was proof that she had been lying to KNOVS members as they had made an inquiry on Tuesday, and should thus resign.

Šarec says EU Commission's budget proposal is provocation

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Coming out of an EU summit dedicated to the bloc's next seven-year budget, which ended without an agreement, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec told reporters that the European Commission had presented a technical proposal for the 2021-2027 budget which the cohesion countries rejected. The plenary session, which was postponed several times during the day, was very short and the proposal was not even discussed, "because we saw it as a provocation after everything we have witnessed in the last 24 hours", Šarec said.

Cerar discusses W Balkans with Swedish counterpart

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar started a two-day visit to Sweden by meeting Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde and Speaker Andreas Norlen, with the officials stressing the importance of an EU future for Western Balkan countries, and discussed sustainable development as well as the EU's challenges. Cerar said that both countries advocate in their foreign policy respect for the rule of law, and promote human rights and multilateralism. He also presented to Linde Slovenia's preparations for the EU's presidency in the second half of 2021. "Slovenia will encourage sustainable development, the rule of law and strive to strengthen the EU's global role as well as its role in providing for the security and well-being of European citizens," he said.

Slovenian banks' 2019 earnings at all-time high

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian banks generated a combined pre-tax profit of EUR 597.4 million last year, which the central bank says is the highest pre-tax profit on record. The figure is up 12.5% from the year before. Profit after tax rose by 8% last year to EUR 534.9 million, while the banks increased their total assets by 6.3% to EUR 41.2 billion, the latest report by the central bank shows.

Cruise passengers due home on chartered flight tomorrow

LJUBLJANA - The government said that two Slovenian passengers from the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess will be flown home on a chartered flight tomorrow, along with a Croatian citizen, after being airlifted from Japan to Germany. A plane carrying Europeans from the cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama for a two-week quarantine is expected to touch down at Berlin Tegel. Of the total of six Slovenian passengers on the ship two have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and have been hospitalised in Japan. A further two have returned home and have been placed under a two-week quarantine after renewed tests for the virus turned out negative.

Candidates for EU court judges feel up to the task

LJUBLJANA - The three candidates for two Slovenian judges at the EU's General Court in Luxembourg who have been put forward by President Borut Pahor presented themselves at the Presidential Palace. Klemen Podobnik, Jure Vidmar and Nina Savin Bossière are confident they would pass the interview of the Brussels committee tasked with vetting candidates. While Podobnik is the candidate for one of the two seats reserved for Slovenia, Vidmar and Savin Bossière have been shortlisted for the second seat following a selection process that also involved the Judicial Council. To be appointed they need absolute majority in parliament, while they also have to make it past Committee 255, the vetting body in Brussels that rejected Slovenian candidate Marko Pavliha in September last year.

Bill to declare Slovenian Sports Day lodged in parliament

LJUBLJANA - A group of MPs headed by Gregor Židan of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) has filed in parliamentary procedure changes to the act on public holidays and work-off days so as to declare 1 October Slovenian Sports Day, the SMC announced. This comes at the initiative of the Slovenian Olympic Committee from last year, with the goal of raising awareness about the importance of physical activity. The holiday would mark the day in 1863 of the formation of the sports club Južni Sokol (Southern Falcon), which also fought against German assimilation at the time. The SMC also said that athletes and sports teams have a strong unifying effect on the nation.

Experts say Slovenian language alive and well

LJUBLJANA - Commenting on the state of Slovenian amid strong global currents that are headed by English, Nataša Gliha Komac of the Fran Ramovš Institute of Slovenian Language told the STA Slovenian remained an active and vibrant language. Still, many challenges remain, she added on the occasion of 21 February, International Mother Language Day. Meanwhile, the president of the Slovenian Writers' Association (DSP) Dušan Merc said that Slovenian has been developed in the last 100-plus years into a tool enabling Slovenia to operate as an independent nation state.

Ljubljana Festival to honour Beethoven this summer

LJUBLJANA - The 68th Ljubljana Festival will be dedicated to composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth, as a number of his works will be performed as the annual festival takes the streets this summer with open-air concerts. Performances of Beethoven's works will feature The Ninth Symphony performed by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Piano Concerto No. 3 with the legendary Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak accompanied by the Philharmonics. The Gstaad Festival Orchestra will perform Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, under the baton of Jaap van Zweden, featuring tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Anja Kampe, among other performances.

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

If you're learning Slovenian then you can find all our dual texts here

Photo galleries and videos

This websie uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.