STA, 2 April 2019 - The coal-fired power plant in Šoštanj (TEŠ) has been given the green light to import coal, the public broadcaster TV Slovenija reported on Monday evening. The Environment Agency (ARSO) decided that TEŠ requires no new environmental permit for mixing the lignite from Velenje with imported coal.

According to the document obtained by TV Slovenija, TEŠ plans to have 1,200 tonnes of coal transported to Šoštanj by train every day.

The coal is to be mixed with the lignite from the near-by Velenje mine, so locals are concerned that the greenhouse gas emissions will increase as a result.

But ARSO says the change will have no impact on the health of the local population, which is why no new environmental permit is required, TV Slovenija reported.

According to Environment Minister Simon Zajc, the fact that the viable coal reserves at the Velenje mine are running out is an additional reason why TEŠ should be shut down before its lifespan expires.

Valter Kolar of the Šoštanj Civil Initiative said ARSO had not asked the local community for their opinion at all.

The power utility HSE, which owns TEŠ as well as the country's sole coal mine in Velenje, said that TEŠ would continue to be powered by lignite from Velenje while importing coal is only an alternative option for the time being.

TEŠ confirmed this for the STA today, saying it was not looking for a coal supplier and that importing coal was neither in its annual nor mid-term plans.

According to HSE, importing coal would be costlier than the lignite from Velenje and would raise TEŠ's annual costs by some EUR 20m a year.

TEŠ said it had only requested for a permit for importing coal at the end of last year to reduce the risks to the stable functioning of the power plant in the future.

In line with its valid environmental permit from 2010, the power plant is allowed to produce electricity by burning exclusively lignite from the Velenje mine.

Any plans for a change in operations must be reported to ARSO. If the change is minor, a new environmental permit is not necessary but if major changes are planned, a new permit is required.

The former environment minister, Jure Leben, said in early February that before issuing a permit for TEŠ to import coal, it should be determined whether those in charge of building the controversial unit six, TEŠ6, had misled the public about the quality and quantity of coal reserves at the Velenje mine.

The Velenje municipality said today that TEŠ should burn exclusively coal from the area, which was what had been asserted when TEŠ6 was being built.

The municipality is shocked by ARSO's decision allowing the imports of coal without any additional permits.

Units five and six were never not meant to be in operation at the same time, but now unit 5 is also running despite lower efficiency and bigger coal consumption, which has a negative impact on the environment, the municipality said.

If the coal from the Velenje mine was used more prudently, there would be no problems now, it added.

STA, 2 April 2019 - The Koper District Court sentenced on Tuesday former Istrabenz general manager Igor Bavčar to two years and six months in prison for abuse of office. Since he is already serving a five-year prison sentence for money laundering related to a deal involving Istrabenz shares, he was handed a uniform sentence of seven years and five months.

The other defendant, former Maksima Holding director general Miroslav Golubić, got a prison sentence of a year and eight months.

The prosecution demanded two years and a half for Bavčar and two years for Golubić.

The pair were on trial over a 2007 deal involving a purchase of Intereuropa shares.

The Istrabenz conglomerate entered a forward contract Maksima Holding had with the bank Banka Celje which set down a mandatory purchase of Intereuropa shares at a set price and in a specified period.

It bought almost 288,000 Intereuropa shares at 49 euro a piece from Banka Celje on 20 December 2007 at a price of EUIR 14.1m, and sold them back to the bank a day later at 36 euro a piece, or for around EUR 10.4m.

The prosecution has argued that by overpaying the shares by EUR 3.7m, Istrabenz incurred the damage that would have been otherwise incurred by Maksima Holding.

The court ordered today that all assets illegally gained by Maksima Holding be confiscated.

The ruling is not final yet.

The head of the judicial panel, Orjana Trunkl, said the deal was unnecessary, even harmful for Istrabenz. Bavčar clearly ventured into it to prevent damage to Maksima Holding, she said.

This was in his best interest as the absolute owner of the company FBI, which held a controlling stake in Maksima Holding, which was preparing the ground for the takeover of Istrabenz.

Golubić, whom the court found to be actively helping Bavčar, received a milder sentence because he was an accomplice and had no previous criminal record.

Neither of the defendants were in court today, but given their line of defence, they will probably lodge an appeal.

The prosecution in contrast, is happy with the ruling and will not appeal unless any procedural problems arise.

STA, 30 March 2019 - Insurer Zavarovalnica Sava posted a EUR 29.5m net profit last year or 18% more than in 2017, with gross insurance premiums increasing by 8% to EUR 395.1m, and payments of gross damages being up by 16.5% to EUR 275.7m, according to the company's annual report.

The property insurance segment contributed EUR 18.4m in net profit last year, while the life insurance segment contributed EUR 11.2m.

The Maribor-based insurer, a part of the Sava Re group, had a 16.6% market share in 2018 measured by gross premiums, to remain the second largest insurer on the Slovenian market.

The insurer, created through the merger of two Slovenian and two Croatian subsidiaries of reinsurer Sava Re in 2016, saw its market share in property insurance increase to 18.8%, while the market share in life insurance dropped to 11.6%.

At the end of last year, Zavarovalnica Sava employed 1,192 people, which is 41 fewer than at the end of 2017. The company said that the reduction in the workforce was a consequence of optimisation of processes and the synergy effects of the 2016 merger.

For this year, the company plans an additional increase in premiums from property insurance, while premiums from life insurance are expected to be lower than in 2018. The financial plan envisages a net profit of EUR 32.8m.

All our business news can be found here

This site’s Google Analytics show that marijuana and Slovenia are often searched for together, and while the country has a reputation as a place that grows good pot it remains illegal, with even the medicinal kind in limbo.

That’s for those varieties with high contents of THC, though, the most well-known cannabinoid and the one most responsible for the high that comes with smoking, vaping or ingesting the dried flowers of the plant. Those low in THC and high in CBD, the second most famous cannabinoid and the one most associated with the wellness industry, are legal to grow and sell, and many stores, including pharmacies and petrol stations, now offer products that claim to offer many of the benefits of marijuana without the *cough* “disorienting side effects”.

Earlier this year I wrote about Sena Flora, a retail store on Ljubljana’s Trubarjeva cesta that sells CBD buds, hash, crystals, chocolates and lotions, but today’s story moves a little further up the chain. It’s an interview with Oliver Muldoon, a British man who’s lived Slovenia for about 10 years, about his latest venture, Responsible Post, which sources and packages high CBD and low THC marijuana buds for further distribution and sale, albeit for use as “tea”.

I got in touch with Oliver and asked some questions about the business, and he was kind enough to both answer my questions and provide a few samples to help with the story, which did indeed have a pleasant, calming effect.

How long has Responsible Pot been running, and how did you get the idea?

The core mission of my company, Noodlum, which specialises in communications, is to help raise awareness of emerging industries and revolutionary technologies, and we are currently working on several projects in Slovenia, with this being the most recent.

My main work involves writing and editing, which is how I first came across this idea towards the middle of last year. Not long after helping professors at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Medicine get their articles published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, I was hired to edit a series of CBD research papers. When reading through the results I realised that the received wisdom about cannabis was completely out of step with the facts. The positives associated with the plant were evident, and empirically verifiable, but their dissemination was being restricted by taboo, misinformation and a lack of knowledge — even fear. I decided to do something about it and found reliable partners to move ahead with the project.

Observing the trend for cannabis with THC values below 0.2% to be marketed in Slovenia as a tea, as demonstrated by Vutra, BeHempy and others, we set up Responsible Pot to help support their awareness-raising efforts. As many will confirm, the aroma of cannabis has been drifting around Ljubljana’s bars, parks and coffee places for several years. Wanting to acknowledge the elephant in the room, we decided to try making the business case for a legal cannabis culture in Slovenia.

We started by approaching bars where cannabis was being used to ask the owners if they wanted to start providing a legal alternative – legally compliant cannabis buds. So far, we’ve had a great response. There are now 12 Responsible sPots throughout Slovenia, most of which are in Ljubljana, and this number is rising every week. It works for our vendors because they can keep their businesses running lawfully and they now have a completely new product range to offer when the tourists arrive this summer. Legal cannabis has been widely available in other EU countries, such as Austria and Italy, for years – visitors from those countries will be relieved to find a legal supply while on vacation.

For those who are too far away from a sPot, orders can be made online at www.responsible-pot.com. I should also mention that Vutra’s cannabis buds are available in Petrol gas stations throughout Slovenia, and Martin Fon’s Sena Flora is a great place to visit on Trubarjeva cesta. We are delighted to see awareness steadily rising.

Is marijuana legal in Slovenia? No, not quite...

Article 9 of the law on the production and traffic of opium poppies and cannabis in Slovenia (source)

Where do you source your cannabis products?

We have a strong scouting network throughout Italy, Austria and the rest of the EU, which have access to the best quality buds for our customers. Since the market is relatively young and still developing, options are constantly increasing and so we are always keeping a watchful eye on up-and-coming growers in the market. The Slovenian growing sector is still too small for a reliable high-quality supply at present, but we have heard that legislative changes could help Slovenia position itself at the forefront of the regulated growing scene in the years ahead.

Which of your products, if any, do you use?

We have just launched two new strains, Responsible Pot Lemon and Responsible Pot Amnesia. As you would expect, we all use our products.

What do you find are the effects of using these products?

Responsible Pot buds are cannabis buds with low levels of THC, which is the cannabinoid in the plant that gives that “stoned” feeling. With our buds, that sensation isn’t there because the level is below 0.2%. Although cannabis has been used by civilisations around the world for millennia, its general prohibition over the past century or so has not made it easy for the medical community to investigate the health benefits. Nevertheless, enough research has already been done for the World Health Organisation to recommend that CBD, one of the 113 known cannabinoids, be removed from the controlled substance list and that cannabis itself be rescheduled, in effect confirming that the plant does have some medical benefits after all.

As to what those benefits are, I would encourage anyone reading to do their own research, and to refer to their general practitioner. More information is coming out every week. Like Martin Fon, who is doing wonderful work in the centre of Ljubljana, I would recommend CBD – A Patient’s Guide to Medicinal Cannabis. Healing without the High by Leonard Leinow et al., but I would also suggest contacting the ICANNA International Institute for Cannabinoids, which is doing great work to raise awareness.

Do you see your business as being part of a broader push to legalize the sale of products with a higher THC content in Slovenia?

Yes, we see business as being the driver behind acceptance of the cannabis plant generally. Full legalisation, with a sensible measured approach, is the goal because of the many advantages it brings – safety, regulation, standards, taxation, jobs, economic growth and so on. Apart from that, as we are now starting to understand, it’s the ratio of THC to the other cannabinoids that seems to be pivotal, rather than its strength in isolation. And this ratio is becoming increasingly important to people as more details on the 113 known cannabinoids come to light.

Currently the THC limit in Slovenia is 0.2%, but in Austria that figure is 0.3%. In Italy, depending on how you interpret the legislation, this figure is 0.5% or 0.6%. In Switzerland, the maximum level of THC permitted is currently 1%.

To put these figures in perspective, the cannabis typically available on the black market has THC levels of between 15 and 25%, sometimes as high as 30%. Therefore, even this 1% figure is still extremely low and still will not cause any “high” effect. Raising this very low level, even marginally, would help Slovenia’s fledgling industry to flourish.

Opportunities in the Slovenian marijuana business

Where do you see the biggest potential in the cannabis market in Slovenia – in growing, packaging / distributing, or sales to consumers, and do sales seem to be more common online or in brick & mortar stores?

Hopefully one day in all those areas. We see an industry in the making for Slovenian workers, and the foundations are being laid now. Recent months have been spent establishing a network of Responsible sPots in Ljubljana, but we have now switched to promoting wholesale and online sales too.

First and foremost, Responsible Pot is a movement to get people to start using cannabis responsibly. We’re promoting a common-sense solution to cannabis use through business. But this is a quest to get cannabis understood and accepted by mainstream society rather than an attempt to gain market share or profits, which is why we have decided to sacrifice some of the latter for exposure and awareness. At under €9 per gram, our buds are among the most competitively priced on the market.

There are several other cannabis companies joining us in Slovenia, and we all have a common goal – to increase mainstream acceptance of this wonderful plant. Its use is widespread and everyone either uses cannabis or knows someone else who does. After seeing what’s happened with legalisation in Canada and some US states, who lead the way with global trends, we think it’s time to make stronger efforts to help the largely decent and law-abiding cannabis community feel more part of society – and to feel comfortable doing so. We want to remove this ridiculous sense of “shame” a huge chunk of our population wrongly feels, generate some extra taxes, and start to build a new industry so that Slovenia can get new jobs and more options for its young people.

CBD in Ljubljana and Bled

Where can people buy your products, and learn more about your business?

We have several partners in Ljubljana, which is where we’re based, and then in Bled and Slovenj Gradec. These venues are called Responsible sPots and lead the way with providing cannabis to their consumers in a law abiding and regulated environment.

Currently, Responsible Pot is available at Daktari, Icelend on Copova, Etna Picerija, the Craft Room, Kavarna Eipper, Kavarna Zofa, Sunrise Bar, Bar 200, Kafetarna in Trzin, Castle Hostel 1004 in Bled and the Tea Room in Slovenj Gradec. Customers can also now order online.

Anything else you want to add?

When researching the idea, and devising an implementation strategy, we looked at the Netherlands’ coffee shop culture and took some pointers. The quickly realized that friendly coexistence required tact and diplomacy, and so closed their doors during school lunchtimes. We decided to make a similar recommendation that some of our Responsible sPots sell our buds only after 8 pm, so that they can cater to families with young children during the day who might not want to be in an environment where cannabis is consumed. We think that’s important in helping more venues to come forward with a legal cannabis alternative, while still catering to their entire customer base. Long term, working together to find a way forward is the best option.

You can learn more about Responsible Pot at the website, and if you'd like to start selling their poducts in your cafe, bar, wellness centre or elsewhere then you can contact them here. All our stories about cannabis and Slovenia can be found here

STA, 28 March 2019 - Leading Slovenian media companies, except the public broadcaster and national press agency, are in the hands of many different owners, domestic and foreign. But their ownership is often blurred, which a media expert believes contributes to the crisis of legitimacy they are in.

The leading TV channels are TV Slovenija, POP TV, which is the most popular TV channel in the country, A Kanal and Planet TV.

The list of Slovenian quality newspapers includes Delo, Dnevnik and Večer, but the largest market share of 42% in 2017 has tabloid Slovenske Novice.

The sale of Pop TV and Kanal A has recently been aborted, while Dnevnik and Večer are about to merge, and national telco Telekom Slovenije is said to be planning to sell Planet TV and news portal Siol.

But Jernej Amon Prodnik, head of the journalism department at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences, says Slovenia urgently needs a strategic reflection on its media to provide for quality journalism.

Although formally the country has many media outlets, in reality the media market is controlled by a handful which shapes the media landscape and public opinion, he says.

While calling for state subsidies to boost media plurality, Amon Prodnik believes it is an illusion to think deregulation and media concentration would facilitate quality journalism and quality media.

This could only aggravate the situation in a country as small as Slovenia. "It could easily happen that a few people would literally control topical and political daily news."

Unlike the privately-owed media, the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and national press agency STA are not under so much market pressure, which Amon Prodnik deems good for journalists and editorial policy.

"Studies from abroad have shown that public media usually report about more different views, are more critical and their reporting is deeper," he has told the STA.

Amon Prodnik also opposes "a full merger of Dnevnik and Večer", which he says "could prove to be the final blow to both newspapers".

This would be a major problem in the long run because Slovenia has "relatively few general newspapers, which despite all the technological changes still largely dictate the daily media routine and represent quality journalism".

According to publisher Dnevnik's annual report for 2017, Dnevnik and Večer were the third and fourth newspapers in terms of market share, boasting 16.6% and 15.6%, respectively. Delo was in second place with a 21% share.

The merger of Dnevnik and Večer has already been approved by the Culture Ministry and is now awaiting clearance from the Competition Protection Agency.

The media company Dnevnik is owned by the publisher DZS (35.11%) and DZS Investicije (15.94%), with almost 26% owned by Austria's Styria Media International.

Večer is published by Slovenian media group Večer Skupina, which is owned by Uroš Hakl and Saša Todorović (each holding some 40% stakes).

The only newspaper in full foreign ownership is business daily Finance, which has been owned by Sweden's Bonnier Business Press since 2006 and had a 4.7% market share in 2017.

On the other hand, TV stations POP TV and Kanal A, that is their producer Pro Plus, have not been sold to United Group as planned.

The sale was estimated at EUR 230m and would be the biggest deal of its kind in Slovenia to date, with many fearing it for distorting competition.

It was in early 2019 that Pro Plus's owners - CME Media Enterprises, which is part of the Bermuda-based Central European Media Enterprises (CME) - changed its mind.

Amon Prodnik says this is good news for the Slovenian media environment. "Pro Plus has a relatively excessive influence, and in case of the takeover, it would further increase it and expand it to other communication levels."

Meanwhile, news portal Siol and TV station Planet TV, both indirectly owned by national telco Telekom Slovenije, are rumoured to get new owners.

Some information indicates that Telekom's supervisors could decide to sell TS Media, under whose wing is Siol.net, in the coming days.

Telekom also owns 66% of Antenna TV SL, which produces Planet TV, with the rest owned by Antenna Slovenia from the Greek group Antenna Group.

News portal Požareport has reported Planet TV could be bought by Serbian businessman Dragan Šolak, the founder of United Group, which also owns teleco company Telemach.

Foreign ownership is also expanding among news portals, with Styria Media International buying in February a 35% stake in Feniks Media, the company publishing news portal zurnal24.si.

Apart from partly owing newspaper Dnevnik, Styria is also the owner of second-hand goods portal bolha.com and job portal mojedelo.com.

Just recently, Novatv24.si, the company which is behind TV station Nova24TV - a TV broadcaster founded by senior opposition SDS members - saw a change in ownership.

Some 15% held by Hungary's Ripost Media was bought by Hungarian Agnes Adamik, with around 30% remaining split equally between another two Hungarian firms.

The media company Salomon, which is part of the company Media24 and indirectly in the hands of businessman Martin Odlazek, was recently reported to be buying a 19% in Infonet Media.

Infonet, owned by radio mogul Leo Oblak, operates a network of commercial radio stations around the country, including the most popular one, Radio 1.

Statistics Office data shows that at the end of 2018, there were over 2,320 journalists in Slovenia, 61% of whom were women. Over 75% have higher education.

STA, 28 March, 2019 - The government adopted on Thursday legislative changes raising the threshold for exemption of annual holiday allowance from income tax and social security contributions. The measure will be applied this year, but only for holiday allowance up to the average national monthly wage.

"We've kept the promise and adopted the changes to the laws on pension and disability insurance and on income tax to exempt the holiday allowance of taxes as early as in 2019," the government wrote on Twitter.

"Every euro that employers spend on holiday allowance will be transferred to the employees, the state has given up income tax and contributions," Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj said.

Income tax and social security contributions will still have to be paid on the amount of holiday allowance exceeding the average monthly wage. At the moment, holiday allowance in the amount of 70% of the average monthly wages is exempt.

Slovenian employers are required by law to pay holiday allowance, while taxation in practice puts a soft ceiling on the amounts since taxes eat away at a large share of any allowance beyond what is tax exempt.

The benchmark will be data by Slovenia's Statistics Office, which publishes wage statistics on a monthly basis.

The latest available data is for January, when the average monthly gross wage stood at 1,729 euro and the average net wage at 1,116 euro.

The measure is designed to cut labour taxes and raise the disposable income of the workers who receive higher annual holiday allowance than the minimum wage - which is the lowest amount of holiday allowance the employer can pay out.

The government says this should improve Slovenia's competitive advantage, stimulate consumption and encourage companies to pay out more generous holiday allowances.

This is the first in a series of tax measures the government announced recently.

Last week, the Economic and Social Council, the country's main social dialogue forum, agreed this measure should be implemented as soon as possible, whereas the other measures will be subject to negotiations.

Bertoncelj said the government had kept its promise to sort this out as soon as possible. He expects the National Assembly will rush the bill as well since the government has proposed it be fast-tracked.

The Finance Ministry expects that the bill will reduce tax revenue by roughly EUR 90m annually, while the contributions shortfall is expected to amount to no more than EUR 2.4m.

All our stories on taxes in Slovenia are here

STA, 28 March 219 - The retailer Spar Slovenija increased its sales revenue last year by 3.6% to a record EUR 804m, director general Igor Mervič announced to the press on Thursday.

Net profit was not disclosed, with Mervič only saying that due to extensive investments, it was lower than in 2017, when it stood at EUR 13.1m, according to the publicly available annual report.

Owned by the Salzburg-based SES Spar European Shopping Centers, Spar Slovenija managed to increase its market share in Slovenia last year despite opening only one new shop.

Mervič attributed the record sales to improvements in logistics and "great independence, which allows us to operate like a local company, so to say."

While he did not want to provide concrete numbers on the market share, the business newspaper Finance has reported that it was above 23%.

At the end of last year, Spar Slovenija had a total of 101 shops, 21 franchise shops and nine restaurants in the country.

The retailer plans to open six new shops this year and invest in refurbishing the existing shops. "I can say that we are launching a major investment cycle," Mervič said.

Spar Slovenija intends to extend its range, in particular in organic food, products of its own brand and products for persons on special diets.

The construction of a large shopping centre in the Ljubljana borough of Šiška by SES, where Spar Slovenija will be the anchor tenant, is on schedule, but the opening has been postponed from this autumn to the summer of 2020.

At the end of 2018, the company employed 4,696 workers, or 95 more than a year earlier. Mervič noted that the Slovenian subsidiary had one of the lowest churn rates among all Spar subsidiaries.

In January 2018, Spar Slovenija launched an online shop for the Ljubljana area, and the plan is to expand it to other regions in Slovenia.

Its logistics centre in Ljubljana's BTC shopping district, which was damaged in a massive fire last December, is still being repaired. Its capacity will be at 90% in a month and the work is expected to be concluded by mid-June.

STA, 28 March 2019 - Telekom Slovenije, the state-owned telecoms incumbent, posted a group net profit of EUR 33.3m for 2018, an increase of 269% over the year before, even as revenue stagnated to stand at EUR 715m, three percent below plans, show results released on Thursday.

Earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled 185.5m, up 10% over the year before, and pre-tax profit (EBIT) rose almost three-fold to EUR 18m.

Both EBITDA and net profit were affected by the settlement of a large claim by rival telecoms provider T-2.

The settlement amount has never been disclosed, but the business newspaper Finance says figures from the annual report suggest it amounted to roughly EUR 50m and in effect reduced profit by EUR 25m since the company did not have sufficient provisions to cover the entire amount.

The company said it had increased revenue from fixed-line and IT services by 8%, with revenue from the sale of energy and insurance services also rising.

These new revenue streams have helped offset declining revenue from mobile users and users of fixed-line telephony, the report shows.

The Slovenian parent company accounted for the bulk of the sales, which at EUR 637.7m, were down a percent over 2017. Net profit stood at EUR 34m compared to EUR 1.7m in the year before.

Chairman Rudolf Skobe said the company has entered the second phase of transformation in 2018 and, having previously focused on innovation in its core business, would now strive to create value with digitalisation.

Telekom earmarked EUR 134m for investments last year, the bulk of the money spent on expansion of the fibre optic and mobile networks.

For 2019 the company projects worse results, as operating revenue is slated to top out at EUR 712m and profit is projected to decline by a tenth to just over EUR 30m.

Investments, meanwhile, are planned at EUR 212m.

The management and supervisory boards have proposed that dividends for last year be set at EUR 4.5 gross per share, which would mean shareholders would get just shy of EUR 30m.

However, the final payout may be completely different: last year the management proposed dividends of EUR 6.30 per share, but shareholders ended up endorsing a proposal by Slovenian Sovereign Holding for a payout of EUR 14.3 gross per share.

The Telekom share lost 0.3% in early trading on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange today, to trade at roughly EUR 65.