Janša warns of school closures unless people get jab
MARIBOR - Prime Minister Janez Janša raised the prospect of schools having to be kept closed in the autumn unless everyone gets vaccinated against Covid-19, while he also discussed EU presidency and investment in the Podravje region in a radio interview during the government's visit to the north-eastern region. "If we get vaccinated, schools and kindergartens will be open in the autumn, if we don't, they won't be and we'll be paying the price again," he told an interview with Radio City.
Hojs talks security with mayors of external EU border area
PODLEHNIK - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs visited the Gruškovje border crossing to meet with mayors of municipalities located along the southern Schengen border as part of the government's visit to the Podravje region. He announced the deployment of reserve police officers to help guard the border. In the next six months, some 1,000 reserve police officers will be deployed to various locations around Slovenia, Hojs said, adding it was hard to say where the government would send most of them.
Speaker Zorčič takes over EU presidency parliamentary dimension
LJUBLJANA - National Assembly President Igor Zorčič symbolically took over from Portugal the parliamentary dimension of the presidency of the Council of the EU today alongside National Council President Alojz Kovšca. Slovenia's presidency will mainly focus on the EU's post-pandemic recovery and efforts to strengthen the bloc's resilience, Zorčič said.
PM talks EU presidency priorities with diplomatic corps
BRDO PRI KRANJU - PM Janez Janša met on Tuesday the ambassadors of the EU member states for a working lunch, to note that the key challenges of the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU are the Covid-19 situation, economic recovery, improving resilience, the Conference on the Future of Europe and EU enlargement, the government said on its website. At the event hosted by the Portuguese chargé d'affaires, Janša thanked Portugal for the "good and successful presidency".
UNHCR urges Slovenian EU presidency to provide better protection to refugees
BRUSSELS, Belgium - UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, urged the Slovenian EU presidency on Wednesday to provide better protection to refugees in Europe and around the world. It also called for an agreement on the EU pact on migrations and asylum. By assuming the presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July, Slovenia has an important opportunity to lead and use the momentum for improving the protection of refugees in Europe and the world, wrote Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR's Representative for EU affairs in Brussels.
MFRR report finds media in Slovenia systematically undermined by govt
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian government is overseeing an increasingly systematic effort to undermine critical media, a coalition of press freedom organisations and journalism groups warned in a report released after conducting a virtual fact-finding mission to Slovenia in late May and early June. The report, issued by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) a day before Slovenia assumes the presidency of the Council of the EU, finds that Slovenia has seen press freedom deteriorate ever since Prime Minister Janez Janša returned to power in March 2020.
Government orders special audit of STA operations
LJUBLJANA - The government decided that a special auditor be appointed to check whether the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) is implementing its legal and other obligations. The auditor will present a written report, the Government Communication Office (UKOM) said. According to UKOM, the process of selecting and appointing the auditor among authorised auditors will be carried out based on the government decree adopted today.
47 new coronavirus infections confirmed on Tuesday
LJUBLJANA - A total of 47 new coronavirus infections confirmed in Slovenia on Tuesday in 2,029 PCR tests, the National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ) announced, as the 7-day average of new cases is down slightly to stand at 27. The share of positive tests was 2.3% yesterday, which is 0.2 of a percentage point more than on the day before. There are currently 68 people in hospital for Covid-19, three fewer than on the day before, and 17 require intensive care, two fewer than yesterday, the government said. There were no Covid-19 deaths yesterday.
More restrictions on services to be lifted on Monday
LJUBLJANA - More restrictions on the services sector will be lifted on Monday, the government decided at a session held as part of its visit to the Podravje region. Casinos will fully reopen and there will be no more restrictions on the number of customers in shops. The rule of reconvalescence, testing or vaccination remains in place indoors.
Slovenia's annual inflation slows to 1.4% in June
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation rate ran at 1.4% in June, down from 2.1% the month before, sustained by higher prices of petroleum products, while being pushed down by cheaper package holidays, the Statistics Office said. On average, goods prices went up by 2.3% year-on-year, while prices of services dropped by 0.2%. Higher prices of petroleum products contributed one percentage point to the annual inflation rate as prices of liquid fuels soared by 31.1%, diesel prices rose by 24.8% and petrol prices went up by 19.3%.
Slovenia's general government deficit in Q1 at 8.3% of GDP
LJUBLJANA - Measures to mitigate the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic affected Slovenia's public finances also in the first quarter of the year, with the general government deficit amounting to EUR 969 million or 8.3% of the country's GDP, the Statistics Office said. This is somewhat less than in the last quarter of 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, the growth of total expenditure outpaced the growth of total revenue of the state by 2.5 percentage points. Total revenue in amounted to EUR 5.164 billion, up 8.6% year-on-year, while total expenditure was up by 11.1% to EUR 6.133 billion.
Foreign direct investment expanding in Slovenia
LJUBLJANA - Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Slovenia increased by 2.4% to EUR 16.6 billion last year despite there being no major takeovers like the year before, according to a fresh report from the central bank. Austria ranks as the biggest investor with a 25.6% share in the total value of incoming FDI. Austrians are mainly investors in manufacturing and retail industries, and in the sector of motor vehicles maintenance and repairs. Slovenia's outbound FDI last year meanwhile increased by 1.7% to EUR 7 billion. Businesses in full or part Slovenian ownership abroad posted EUR 100 million in profit.
Survey unemployment rate down to 5.1% in May
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's survey unemployment rate stood at 5.1% in May, or 0.1 of a percentage point less than in the month before and 0.3 of a percentage point less year-on-year, the Statistics Office said. The statisticians estimate that around 49,000 people aged 15-74 were unemployed in May. Of these, 42% were men and 58% were women.
Koritnik urges boosted cooperation between AI partnership task forces
LJUBLJANA - Public Administration Minister Boštjan Koritnik participated via videolink in a session of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, calling for closer cooperation between task forces that operate under the partnership to introduce artificial intelligence in work processes safely, both in the public and private sectors.
Pope Francis appoints Andrej Saje new bishop of Novo Mesto
LJUBLJANA - Pope Francis appointed Andrej Saje the new bishop of Novo Mesto, the Slovenian Bishop's Conference announced. So far, the priest of the Ljubljana Archdiocese and native of the town in south-eastern Slovenia has worked as a judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Court in Ljubljana and teacher at the Ljubljana Faculty of Theology. Saje, who will be ordained bishop on 26 September, thanked the pope for the honour, and also thanked the outgoing Novo Mesto Bishop Andrej Glavan, who is retiring as he had already reached the age of 75.
Kukovec convinced he is right candidate for EU General Court
Ljubljana, 30 June - Damjan Kukovec, the nominee for one of Slovenia's two judicial posts on the EU's General Court, said as he presented himself to the public he believed he possessed the required quality and experience for the post. He is also convinced of his success before the vetting committee if confirmed by the National Assembly. Among the challenges faced by the EU's General Court, he singled out access to the court, in particular in terms of procedural obstacles for individuals.
Leveraging savings for growth one of challenges seen by vice-governor nominee
LJUBLJANA - Irena Vodopivec Jean set out three main challenges for the central bank ahead as she presented her bid to be reappointed a vice-governor of Banka Slovenije in her presentation at the Presidential Palace, one of them being how to leverage a large amount of household savings deposits in support of economic growth. She noted the decisive role of the monetary policy in the euro area in support of economic recovery as well as banking oversight and the need to improve the efficiency of the business model of banks as two other main challenges ahead.
Equal opportunities ombudsman Lobnik seeks inclusive dialogue
LJUBLJANA - Advocate of the Principle of Equality Miha Lobnik, whom president Pahor recently proposed for a new mandate, wishes to continue his work and promote inclusive dialogue. He said he believed that all citizens should receive services of good quality to which they are entitled, as he held a public presentation. He believes that issues of discrimination could be addressed in society if everybody was involved in the debate.
Professional firefighters start two-day token strike
LJUBLJANA - Professional firefighters went on a token strike unhappy with collective bargaining with the government. The trade union of professional firefighters said the strike was not directed at the people and they would not feel it as firefighters would still protect lives and property. However, work is being organised like on Sundays. The strike was announced on 26 May, since when they had five rounds of talks with the government. The strike, which the government finds unjustified, will end on Friday morning.
Slovenian community in Austria marks 30 years of Slovenia's independence
KLAGENFURT, Austria - Several events were held in Klagenfurt, Austria, on Wednesday to mark Slovenia's 30th independence anniversary. Participants of a round table debate presented their recollection of events from 30 years ago, including on the Slovenian-Austrian border. The prime minister of Slovenia's first government, Lojze Peterle, stressed the importance of long-term good preparations for the independence, from the late 1860s to 1917, the war and post-war efforts, and the crucial moment in 1991, the Christian Cultural Association (KKZ) said in a press release.
New attempt being made to get opposition to form pre-election alliance
LJUBLJANA - A group of academics affiliated with the anti-government protest movement has mounted a new attempt to bring centre-left opposition parties together to form a pre-election coalition, drawing on the manifesto of the ill-fated Constitutional Arch Coalition (KUL). According the web portal N1, academics Rado Bohinc, Stane Pejovnik, Ivan Svetlik and Vito Turk of the Civil Society Alliance, a group formed in October last year as cycling protests were suspended, have compiled a draft agreement on cooperation of four centre-left opposition parties in a coalition for next-year's election.
Pogačar wins stage five of Tour de France
RENNES, France - Slovenian cycling star Tadej Pogačar won stage five of the Tour de France race today. Last year's winner of the Tour was 19 seconds faster than Stefan Küng from Switzerland in the 27.2-kilometre individual time trial between Changé and Laval Espace Mayenne. Slovenia's other star, Primož Roglič, was 44 seconds behind, finishing seventh.
Ana Desetnica theatre festival taking the streets of Ljubljana
LJUBLJANA - The Ana Desetnica street theatre festival, offering a plethora of performances by local and foreign artists, kicked off in the capital today, with this year's novelty being the P2P programme offering peer-to-peer learning. The festival events actually started in Maribor on 25 June and now the caravan has arrived in Ljubljana to stay there until 3 July. The question the organisers are trying to address this year is "if we still know how to be together".
