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This summary is provided by the STA:
New restrictions looming as infections keep rising
LJUBLJANA - The government spokesman Jelko Kacin announced that Slovenia would remove Croatia from the green list of Covid-19 safe countries if the daily count of new cases there exceeds 10 per 100,000 residents tomorrow, confirming a two-week trend. Later in the day the Slovenian government lowered the cap on gatherings from 500 to 50, except for events sanctioned by the National Institute of Public Health where sufficient distance between visitors can be assured. The move comes as Slovenia recorded four new cases on Sunday, one in Ljubljana and three in Ravne na Koroškem in the north, bringing the tally of active cases to 89, out of the total of 1,585 so far confirmed.
Govt packs latest Covid-19 measures into new legislative proposal
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted an emergency bill in preparations for a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic late on Sunday to adopt measures initially planned as amendments to the third stimulus package to avoid a procedural glitch. These include an extension to the furlough scheme until at least 31 July and a legal basis for a Covid-19 tracing app. The app could be made mandatory for infected persons and those placed under quarantine, while being voluntary for everyone else, although government officials argued today for the app, modelled on Italy's or Germany's to be fully voluntary.
Chief supervisor of 2TDK resigns
LJUBLJANA - Matej Pirc, the chief supervisor of 2TDK, the state-run company established to manage the project of a second rail link to the port of Koper, resigned. No reason was given for his decision, which comes amid speculation that the government was about to replace the entire supervisory board and subsequently the management. The EUR 1 billion-plus investment has been in the spotlight because the government would like for Chinese and Turkish bidders to be excluded from the bidding process based on EU guidelines aimed at preventing social dumping.
EU Commission approves Slovenia's state aid scheme for companies
LJUBLJANA - The European Commission has approved a EUR 600 million state aid scheme for Slovenian companies affected by the coronavirus crisis. Under the scheme, companies from various sectors will receive aid as grants, payment breaks and subsidies. The goal is to help companies stay operational and keep staff, and help them get through their liquidity problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The aid in grants or payment breaks for companies in agriculture is capped at EUR 100,000, for those in fishing and fish farming at EUR 120,000 and for those in other sectors at EUR 80,000.
IMAD says coronacrisis measures must address developmental challenges
LJUBLJANA - The Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD) recommends that measures to help relaunch the economy in the wake of the coronacrisis should also target the country's key developmental challenges. The crisis will also expose the fields in which the country failed to make progress, IMAD said in its 2020 development report. The government think tank highlighted as problematic a large share of people in precarious work, systemic shortcomings of long-term care, long waiting periods in health care, the lack of digital skills among the general population, red tape and long procedures.
EU committee warns Slovenia over pay discrimination
STRASBOURG, France - The European Committee of Social Rights warned Slovenia over failure to honour the right to equal pay and opportunities in the workplace regardless of gender. The gender pay gap substantially increased in Slovenia between 2010 and 2017. The committee warned 14 out of 15 member states that had endorsed the collective complaints procedure under the European Social Charter. Eurostat data show women in Slovenia faced a wage gap of 8% in 2017, which compares to EU average of 16%.
Jobless total on continued weekly decline throughout June
LJUBLJANA - Last week, the number of registered unemployed persons was down for the fourth week in a row, staying below 90,000, preliminary data from the Employment Service show. The figure is, however, still below that in March, when the coronavirus epidemic was declared and the government imposed lockdown measures. According to a posting on the service's website, the number of registered unemployed was down by 319 to 89,260 last week.
Worker protest announced against planned lay-offs at Ljubljana airport
BRNIK - The Ljubljana airport trade union is to stage a protest against planned redundancies at Ljubljana airport on Thursday. The in-house union has decided to protest over the decision of the management to launch lay-off proceedings for "a larger number of employees", reportedly around 120 or a quarter of the workforce. "A company that was generating millions in profit regularly in recent years (more than EUR 20 million only in the past couple of years) started to make redundancies almost straight away when faced with this year's epidemic ramifications," the union said about the German operator, which took over from the state in 2014.
Soldiers' union seeks charges over Statehood Day ceremony incident
LJUBLJANA - A soldiers' trade union filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of slander against the state after the Guard of Honour of the Slovenian Armed Forces was being called traitors ahead of Wednesday's Statehood Day state ceremony. Condemning the conduct, the Union of the Slovenian Soldiers welcomed Defence Minister Matej Tonin's condemnation of the incident, and urged President Borut Pahor as supreme commander to do the same.
SocDems and Left gain ground as LMŠ slips in POP TV poll
LJUBLJANA - The ruling Democratic Party (SDS) lost some ground in the latest monthly poll run by POP TV but continues to command a firm lead, while the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) appears to be losing support to the Left and the Social Democrats (SD). The SDS polled at 16.8%, down 1.7 percentage points, as its three junior coalition partners gained ground. The LMŠ in second slipped back by 3.7 percentage points to 10.3%, whereas the Left added 1.6 points to 8.9% and the SD clawed back 1.7 points to 8.3%.
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