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This summary is provided by the STA:
Slovenia's case vs Croatia over LB bank ruled inadmissible
STRASBOURG, France - The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it does not have jurisdiction to hear a case brought by Slovenia against Croatia over debt owed to Ljubljanska Banka (LB) by Croatian companies, because LB lacks non-governmental status. The court held that LB was not a non-governmental organisation and thus did not have standing to lodge an individual application, referring to its previous decision in a case brought individually by LB. Accordingly, the court cannot examine an inter-state application in respect of this legal entity.
Slovenia's coronavirus total case count passes 100,000
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia confirmed 2,107 coronavirus cases on Tuesday as 32% the tests came back positive, bringing the case count since the start of the pandemic to over 100,000. The death toll rose to 2,190 after another 39 patients with Covid-19 died. Hospitalisations dropped by 33 to 1,251 with ICU cases rising by seven to 211. The seven-day average of new cases as of Monday is 1,477, according to government data. The Covid-19 tracker site shows there are now 20,785 active cases.
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Logar meets Dutch counterpart
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Foreign Minister Anže Logar met his counterpart Stefan Blok as part of his working visit to the Netherlands on Tuesday to discuss cooperation, Slovenia's EU presidency, and topical issues. Logar expressed interest in strengthening economic cooperation between Slovenia and the Netherlands, especially in digitalisation and green technology. Logar also held talks at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Pandemic, W Balkans in focus of CEDC ministerial
POSTOJNA - The experiences of individual armies in helping to fight the Covid-19 epidemic and the strengthening of cooperation with Western Balkan countries were in the focus of a two-day meeting of the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC). Slovenian Defence Minister Matej Tonin and his Hungarian counterpart Tibor Benko expressed support for the long-term stability of the region as they addressed the press after the meeting. Tonin said this could be achieved with membership of these countries in the EU and NATO.
EU Commission inquiring more about Slovenia's views this year, says Stančič
LJUBLJANA - The European Commission follows the developments in Slovenia and it is no secret that in the past years Brussels has addressed more requests to the country asking it to explain its standpoints, Zoran Stančič, the head of the European Commission Representation in Slovenia, told the STA as the end of his term nears. After five years of heading the EU representation office, Stančič is to take over on 1 January 2021 a post of a special digital transformation advisor at the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology.
Janša says Počivalšek made "superhuman efforts" to save lives
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Janez Janša said Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek had made "superhuman efforts to save the health and lives of people" as he commented on news that the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption had launched an investigation into the purchases of personal protective equipment during the first wave of the epidemic. In a Twitter post yesterday he said the media campaign against him and colleagues "is utterly unjust from a human perspective".
Railways operator signs strategic partnership with Czech holding
LJUBLJANA - Railways operator Slovenske Železnice signed a strategic logistics and cargo partnership with EP Holding. The Czech holding will become the owner of a 49% stake of Slovenske Železnice's cargo division SŽ-Tovorni Promet. The partnership is pending regulatory approval, with all suspensive conditions expected to be met by June next year. The new company is to receive a capital increase, however no figures have been released. Unofficially, it is to stand at between EUR 60 million and EUR 100 million.
Telekom Slovenije planning EUR 30.8 million in profit in 2021
LJUBLJANA - The Telekom Slovenije group plans to generate EUR 653 million in operating income and EUR 30.8 million in net earnings, the company announced on the website of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. The telecoms incumbent would like to see EUR 210.6 million in EBITDA in 2021 and EUR 203.7 million in next year's investments. The group expects this year's results to be below expectations. In early November they estimated net sales income would be lower than projections by some 3% at EUR 609.3 million.
Four companies win FDI Awards as best foreign investors
LJUBLJANA - Atlantic Droga Kolinska, Belinka Perkemija, TKK and iSystem Labs were honoured as best foreign investors for their excellent business performance and contribution to the development of the Slovenian economy. The awards are given out annually by the SPIRIT investment promotion agency and the economy ministry. With its proactive and dynamic approach, Slovenia increased the inflow of FDI in 2019 to over EUR 16 billion, which currently represents 33% of its GDP and 65.5% of all foreign direct investments in the country, Economic Development and Technology Minister Zdravko Počivalšek stressed in his keynote during the online awards ceremony.
Chief Covid-19 adviser elected Medical Chamber head
LJUBLJANA - Bojana Beović, the infectious disease specialist who heads the group advising the government on Covid-19, was elected head of the Medical Chamber. Out of the 5,895 ballots cast by members in Tuesday's runoff, Beović won 3,154 and Tanja Petkovič, the head of the chamber's section of care home doctors, 2,706. 51% of the membership cast ballots. Beović expects that by the time she takes over from incumbent Zdenka Čebašek-Travnik her services as Covid-19 would no longer be needed.
Judge candidate Brkan confident she could win MPs, pass Committee 255 hearing
LJUBLJANA - EU law expert Maja Brkan showed confidence she can pass Committee 225's vetting to become a new Slovenian judge on the General Court of the European Union, if her candidacy is endorsed by Slovenian parliament. She believes, based on her expertise and experience, she could become one of Slovenia's two judges on this court.
Lampič, Roglič and handball team declared best in sports in 2020
LJUBLJANA - Cross-country skier Anamarija Lampič, cyclist Primož Roglič and the men's handball team are this year's crème de la crème of Slovenian sports as selected by the Association of Sports Journalists. Both the athletes and the team received the top sports awards at the 2020 Athlete of the Year ceremony.
