Lifestyle

17 Jun 2020, 19:42 PM

The €200 tourist vouchers that every permanent adult resident in Slovenia is set to receive, along with €50 for every child, can be transferred to relatives if wanted. The law allows tourist vouchers to be transferred between the beneficiary's second degree relatives in a straight line. This includes transfers between parents and children, grandparents and children, between spouses or partners and between children and their legal guardians. Vouchers can’t be transmitted between brothers and sisters, cousins, friends etc.

The Financial Administration (FURS) has prepared instructions on how to use the transferred vouchers. In the process of transfer, the original holder of the voucher needs to fill out and sign a statement in which they give their voucher to their relative to use. The statement then needs to be presented to the hotel receptionist along with a valid ID of the guest, and not sent to FURS or any of its offices.

17 Jun 2020, 15:33 PM

The tourist vouchers every permanent resident of Slovenia will receive to be spent on accommodation (with our without breakfast) from June 19, 2020 on can also be used for accommodation in mountain huts.

"In the Alpine Association of Slovenia we are happy that parts of vouchers can be spent in mountain huts as well, and we therefore wish for as many Slovenians as possible to spend their holidays in the embrace of the mountains this year. We are pleased that the decision-makers recognized our arguments and found solutions for us in the preparation of the regulation. I would especially like to thank the Slovenian government, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, the Directorate for Tourism and MP Mateja Udovč," said Secretary General of the Alpine Association of Slovenia, Matej Planko.

A word of warning though, if you’d like to go to the mountains with your voucher. Although the internet connections in huts are mostly reliable, if there’s any lost connectivity with the FURS website, required for your voucher to be cashed in, then you’ll have to pay for the accommodation out of your own pocket, then the service provider will send a certificate to FURS who will then return the money paid and deduct it from your voucher.

16 Jun 2020, 20:19 PM

According to a report by the Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency, drunk drivers have caused 507 traffic accidents so far this year, which is 16% less than in the same period last year. However, it should be noted that in the period from 15 March to 15 May, when measures were in place to contain the coronavirus epidemic, there was significantly less traffic than usual. In this period 1,454 traffic accidents were recorded this year compared to 2,949 accidents in the same period last year.

During the epidemic containment period (from March 16 to May 31), however, the share of traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers rose to 14%, up from 9.5% in the same period last year.

Of all those who died in traffic accidents this year (32 people), 13 lost their lives due to a drunk driver. Nine of the drunk drivers died in the accident they caused.

In most cases, the cause of the drunk driving accidents was driving in the wrong direction or on the wrong side of the road (7 accidents with 7 fatalities) and at an inappropriate speed (3 accidents with 3 fatalities).

Among all drunk drivers who caused traffic accidents this year (26 people), whose blood alcohol content was measured above 2 promille (blood alcohol concentration per thousand, with 1 promille meaning 1 gram of alcohol per kilo of blood) , 18 of them went drunk driving during the epidemic lockdown, or almost 70%. The highest measured level of alcohol in blood of the perpetrator of the traffic accident was 3.13 promille, which also ended with loss of life. The average level of alcohol in the blood of the perpetrators of fatal traffic accidents was 1.21 promille (down from 1.58 promille in the same period last year).

As part of stricter controls the police will conduct monitoring of the psychophysical condition of drivers on June 20, 2020, from 6 pm that day until 6 am the next day. The purpose of tighter controls is in spreading awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Slovenia is one of the countries where alcohol consumption per capita is among the highest in Europe. According to the World Health Organization, this amounts to 12.6 liters of pure alcohol per capita in the population over the age of 15. The risks of driving under the influence of alcohol and other illicit substances are very high, as they reduce the psychophysical ability to participate safely in traffic.

16 Jun 2020, 16:33 PM

STA, 15 June 2020 - A Vox Populi poll commissioned by newspapers Dnevnik and Večer shows that as many as 87% respondents support a ban on Sunday shopping, including those who frequent shops at the end of the week. The main reason for their support is that they believe other days in the week provide enough opportunities for shopping.

Some 8% are not in favour of closure of stores on Sundays, whereas almost 5% did not weigh in on the issue. Almost 20% shop on Sundays.

Asked why they support the ban, the most common response was that there was enough opportunities for shopping on other days (nearly 38%).

The respondents also said that those working in stores would thus have more free time (some 35%), that the Sunday ban would have a positive impact on family life (23%) and that the closure would boost socialising outside shopping centres (4%).

On the other hand, those not in favour of the ban said that the Sunday closure would jeopardise people's social security (35%), highlighted the importance of being able to chose when to shop (21%), said that the ban would restrict the freedom of enterprise (18%) or that they did not have time for shopping during the rest of the week (18%).

The survey was conducted by pollster Ninamedia between 9 and 11 June among 700 respondents.

15 Jun 2020, 19:05 PM

The bathing season, which officially begun this week, will be somewhat different to what we’ve been used to. Last Tuesday the National Institute of Public Health finally announced the new preventive measures that managers of pools, beaches and seawater areas will have to implement. Concerns have been raised that the requirements for social distancing will be difficult to put into practice.

According to the new pandemic prevention regulations, 1.5m social distance should be kept among visitors on shore, and 2m in water. Only members of the same household can sunbathe or swim in groups.

Some of the measures taken to ensure social distancing on the central beach of Portorož are floor markings, warning signs and greater distance between umbrellas, explained Jana Pines from Piran Environment for RTV Slovenia.  Furthermore, she explained, contact surfaces such as toilets will be regularly disinfected, for which they will need more staff than they planned. Most difficulties, however, are expected with regard to keeping visitors at the requested social distance, especially in the sea, “where it is practically impossible to verify whether swimmers come from the same household or not”.

Duško Madžarović, the director of the Koper Public Sports Institute, which manages the swimming pool in Žusterna, also pointed to this problem. In a statement for RTV Slovenia he emphasized that staff do not have the authority to ask for the guests’ identity to find out whether they are from the same household or not.

14 Jun 2020, 19:10 PM

There were 6,672 marriages and 2,476 divorces registered in Slovenia in 2019 according to the newest report by the Statistics Office (SURS). The number of marriages fell 8% compared to 2018, while divorces rose 5.5%. There were also 54 same-sex marriages registered in 2019.

Grooms were on average 36.9 years old at the time of marriage and almost three years older than brides were, with the latter on average 34.0 years old in 2019.

Most marriages were made between citizens of the Republic of Slovenia (80.8%).  In 583 of the newly wed couples (8.7% of all marriages), the groom was a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia and the bride a citizen of another country, most often Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 514 marriages (or 7.7% of the total), the bride was a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia and the groom from another country, again most commonly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 185 marriages (2.8%), both the groom and the bride were foreign citizens.

In 2019, 2,476 couples divorced, or 129 (5.5%) more than in 2018. The average age of the newly divorced men was 46.8 years, and that of divorced women 43.9 years. The marriages of these couples lasted on average 14.3 years until the divorce, although 40 couples divorced in the first year of marriage.

In 1,261 divorces (50.9%) the couples had no dependent minor children, while in the remaining 1,215 (or 49.1%) divorces there were a total of 1,980 dependent minor children who were also part of the divorce procedures.  The majority of these children, 67.9%, were assigned to their mothers, 5.3% of children were assigned to their fathers and 24.3% to both parents.

People who divorced in 2019 were mostly citizens of the Republic of Slovenia (83.5%). In 162 divorces (or 6.5%), the husband was a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia and the wife a citizen of another country. In 211 divorces (or 8.5%), the wife was a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia and the divorced husband from another country. In 35 divorces (or 1.4%), both divorced spouses were foreign nationals.

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14 Jun 2020, 13:36 PM

STA, 12 June 2020 - The Agency for the Environment has issued a permit for the culling of 115 brown bears until September this year across multiple parts of Slovenia that are home to a large brown bear population.

Culling has long been the main way in which the Slovenian brown bear population has been kept in check and the Environment Agency said on Friday there was "no other satisfactory possibility" and that the cull "does not harm the preservation of the favourable state of the population".

The cull will be undertaken to mitigate human-bear conflicts in areas where the density of the bear population is high. According to the agency's data, in some parts of south Slovenia densities can be as high as one animal per two square kilometres, among the highest in the world.

Human-bear conflicts have been on the rise in recent years, in particular in areas with a high density of bears and in the vicinity of human settlements. Without intervention, conflicts would only increase.

The latest estimates, for 2020, put Slovenia's brown bear population, which is a part of a large Dinaric population that stretches across Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, at 860-1,120 animals, the agency said.

Brown bear culling has long been a controversial measure and environmentalists have been fighting it in court year after year.

But the scientific consensus is that the population is thriving and must be controlled so as to prevent conflicts from escalating, which may ultimately undermine public acceptance of the very existence of a population of large carnivores in the country.

11 Jun 2020, 13:00 PM

The 2019 Real Estate Market Report, published by the Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia, shows that property prices continued to grow last year.

In 2019 the prices of apartments across the country broke the previous record set in 2008. In Ljubljana, however, the record was already broken in 2018.

The national average for a square metre of an apartment was €1,850 in 2019, 2% higher than the national average in 2008.

Since 2015, housing prices have risen steadily. The highest price growth was recorded in 2018, when the prices of second-hand flats were, on average, 9% higher than in the previous year, despite the decrease in the number of sales. In 2019 housing price growth continued at a slightly lower rate.  

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Apartment price averages in euros per square meter:

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The average price of a residential house with land belonging to it in Slovenia was EUR 128,000 in 2019, 3% higher than in the previous year and 19% higher than in 2015. Since 2015 the average area of homes sold has increased significantly, while their average age and the area of land they come with have not changed significantly. Taking into account the characteristics of the houses sold, it has been estimated that house prices at the national level have grown by 15 to 20% in real terms since 2015, while compared to 2018 they have remained virtually unchanged.

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Average price for a house in EUR:

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10 Jun 2020, 12:09 PM

STA, 10 June 2020 - As many as 27% of Slovenians had four or more adverse childhood experiences. The majority, or 76%, experienced at least one such event, shows the first national survey which tried to pinpoint the extent of distressing experiences in childhood and their impact on health and quality living in adulthood.

The survey defined ten potentially traumatic events or experiences before the age of 18: emotional, physical and sexual violence (and sexual abuse), emotional or material neglect, violence among adults, addictions or mental disorders of a household member, a crime committed by a household member, divorce, abandonment by a parent, including because of death.

It was carried out online in 2019 by Ljubljana's Faculty of Social Science and the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), polling nearly 5,000 people. According to Metka Kuhar of the faculty, the figure is unprecedented for such surveys in Europe.

She explained the adverse experiences in childhood meant intensive stress over a longer period of time which affects one's emotions, health condition and relationships.

A person with such an experience develops fewer healthy strategies, has a poorer self-image, does worse at school, consequently finds a poor job and their life is consequently not of very high quality. "All this is adding up and even multiples," Kuhar pointed out.

The majority of those experiencing potentially traumatic events, or 56%, reported about emotional violence, followed by physical violence by an adult member of their household member (43%). Slightly fewer than a third experienced the death of a parent, their parents' divorce, or being abandoned by a parent.

Around a quarter said they had experienced emotional and material neglect, over a fifth had at least one addicted adult in their household, and over 12% experienced violence among adults.

Almost a fifth reported about a member of their households having a mental disorder, while the lowest shares of the respondents reported to have experienced sexual abuse and a crime committed by a member of the household.

Compared to those with no adverse experiences in childhood, the respondents who have experienced four or more such events are more likely to develop various diseases, including mental disorders, psychosomatic symptoms and a risk-prone behaviour.

Among the diseases they are more likely to develop, the NIJZ listed coronary and respiratory diseases, thyroid problems, migraine, depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

People with so many traumatic experiences are also more likely to engage in drinking, become addicted and develop psychosomatic problems, such as headache, stomachache, insomnia, etc.

The NIZJ said this poorly researched field in Slovenia should be given more attention in the future to improve the heath condition and well-being of individuals, families and the community.

"A step forward would be drafting a strategy to comprehensively address this issue, from prevention, early detection and monitoring to transforming certain organisations to base them on understanding trauma, as well as providing support to those with aggravating experiences in childhood and their families."

Participants of the online debate agreed protocols for early detection should be put in place and new programmes developed to strengthen traumatised people's emotional and social skills. A system of accessible and free-of-charge treatment and assistance should also be ensured.

The survey covered 4,939 adults whose average age was 47. Almost 44% of them had vocational education, 31% secondary school and 25% higher education completed. It was financed by the national Research Agency and the Ministry of Health.

09 Jun 2020, 14:24 PM

In 1945 Partisan units marched into the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. This was the end of several days of fierce fighting between the Nazi occupation forces and the 7th Corps and 29th Herzegovinian Strike Division of the Yugoslav Army.

The Province of Ljubljana was the central-southern area of Slovenia, created on May 3, 1941. In 1943 the province was occupied by Nazi Germany as part of the Operation Zone of the Adriatic Littoral, territories previously administered by Fascist Italy.

Under Italian control the Province of Ljubljana was subjected to brutal repression after the emergence of resistance and the occupying fascist forces erected a barbed wire fence around the city in order to prevent communication between the underground Liberation Front activists in Ljubljana and the Slovene Partisans in the surrounding countryside.

In memory of May 9, 1945 and the interwar wire ring around Ljubljana a sports and recreational event was proposed by the Ljubljana District Committee of the Association of National Liberation Army Combatants during the first Slovene Festival of Physical Culture in 1957. The event has since become traditional, and The Path of Remembrance and Comradeship (Pot spominov in tovarištva, also known as Path along the Wire Fence of Occupied Ljubljana) is now protected as a historical monument with a Town Act specifying that a memorial walk takes place along the wire fence of occupied Ljubljana each year on May 9th.

05 Jun 2020, 13:29 PM

STA, 5 June 2020 - The first comprehensive national analysis of the culture and creative sector was presented in Ljubljana on Thursday, showing the industry employs almost 52,000 workers or 7% of Slovenia's workforce, and generates almost 3% of GDP. The study is to help culture stakeholders to plan new policies.

The analysis had been commissioned by Centre for Creativity at the Museum of Architecture and Design from Ljubljana's Institute for Economic Research.

It shows that in 2017, the industry generated almost EUR 3 billion in sales revenue or 2.7% of Slovenia's GDP, more than for instance the chemical industry.

It also shows the sector is comparable to the EU's - it generates 3.5% of gross value added (3.9% in the EU) and 8.4% of all Slovenian companies come from it (8.3%).

The researchers agree that the analysis clearly shows the significance and development potential of the culture and creative sector.

But in order to boost it, understaffing, lack of skills and financial instability will have to be addressed and a support systems for internationalisation set up.

Although well developed, the sector faces similar problems like elsewhere in Europe: it is fragmented, lacks investment, and operates at the level of micro companies and the self-employed.

State Secretary at the Culture Ministry Ignacija Fridl Jarc said this was the first national study which showed the value of the sector and its significance.

It moreover helps reflect on its potential, thus putting its creators and companies on an equal footing with employees in other sectors, she noted.

Fridl Jarc is confident that the analysis will serve as a basis for further studies as well as for recommendations for policies in the field.

The analysis had studied over 35,200 individuals working in creative jobs and almost 24,100 registered organisational units in the sector.

Nika Murovec, one of its three authors, said the analysis was a great challenge because data that had to be collected and analysed is very heterogeneous.

The sector is very diversified, ranging from extremes such as art which is hard to survive on the market without support to software development and video games as a pure profit-making segment, she added.

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