What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.

If you’d like to keep up on the daily headlines then follow those here, or get all our stories in your feed on Facebook.

FRIDAY, 31 January
        LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - The EU Court of Justice decided that the lawsuit Slovenia brought against Croatia over its refusal to implement the 2017 border arbitration award is inadmissible, but it said that both countries nevertheless had to endeavour to resolve this dispute in accordance with international law.
        LJUBLJANA - A group of 59 MPs - one short of the necessary majority - tabled amendments that would abolish electoral districts and introduce a relative preferential vote in general elections. The proposal comes after the Constitutional Court declared the size of electoral districts for general election unconstitutional at the end of 2018.
        BRDO PRI KRANJU - President Borut Pahor and outgoing Prime Minister Marjan Šarec stressed the importance of a strong and united EU in the face of Brexit at the annual reception for the diplomatic corps.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia posted a budget surplus of EUR 224.6 million, or 0.5% of GDP, in 2019 compared to a surplus of 1.1% in 2018, showed preliminary figures by the Finance Ministry. Budget revenue rose by 1.4% to EUR 10.14 billion and expenditure increased by 4.7% to EUR 9.91 billion. However, the ministry pointed out the 2018 surplus was a result of two major one-off events.
        LJUBLJANA - Janez Stanovnik, one of the most notable Slovenian politicians in the period leading up to independence and the face of the Slovenian WWII Veterans' Association after 2003, died aged 97. Stanovnik was the last president of the Slovenian presidency under the former Yugoslavia between 1988 and 1990.
        LJUBLJANA - Some 6.2 million tourists visited Slovenia last year, a 5% increase compared to 2018. The number of overnight stays grew 0.6% to roughly 15.8 million, Statistics Office data showed.

SATURDAY, 1 February
        BEJA, Portugal - Friends of Cohesion, an informal group of EU members of which Slovenia is a part, called for a fair EU budget in the next seven-year period in which funding for cohesion should not be cut. Igor Mally, state secretary at the prime minister's office, said "we should stick to the proposal presented in the spring of 2018 by the European Commission".

SUNDAY, 2 February
        ZAGREB, Croatia - Former Slovenian President Milan Kučan told the Croatian newspaper Večernji List that Slovenia and Croatia had many common interests but rather than cooperating they were flexing their muscles.
        KLAGENFURT, Austria - Jože Marketz, a member of the Slovenian minority in Austria, was installed as the new bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt.

MONDAY, 3 February
        LJUBLJANA - A week after PM Marjan Šarec resigned, the leader of the opposition Demorats (SDS) Janez Janša invited parliamentary parties to talks on a new centre-right coalition for 7 February. Already on 31 January Modern Centre Party (SMC) leader Zdravko Počivalšek expressed interest in a new coalition, which could give Janša a chance for the necessary majority should he also get either the National Party (SNS) or the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) on board along with New Slovenia (NSi). A parallel coalition initiative was launched by the small centre-left Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB).
        OBREŽJE - Members of the Trade Union of Police Officers (SPS) staged a four-hour token strike, with the union's head Kristjan Mlekuš saying the situation in the police force was critical. Describing the strike as a warning for Slovenia's next government, he argued the police force would collapse due to understaffing unless the situation was addressed.
        LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana mosque will be inaugurated in June after the end of Ramadan, while it will already start operating in about a week, Mufti Nedžad Grabus announced. Grabus pointed out the Muslim Cultural Centre Ljubljana means Muslims in Slovenia were finally getting their own space for prayer and activities. The project will end up costing slightly over EUR 34 million, the bulk of which came from donors from Qatar.
        LJUBLJANA - Car parts maker Hidria announced it had developed innovative aluminium steering wheel system casings for next generation hybrid and electric BMW cars, winning a EUR 30 million contract running until 2030.

TUESDAY, 4 February
        LJUBLJANA - Borut Pahor launched three days of consultations with deputy group heads on the way forward following the resignation of PM Marjan Šarec. The talks showed mid-sized parties are keeping their options open. The president said he might call another series of talks by the end of the month.
        BRNIK - The bankruptcy estate of air carrier Adria Airways was reported to be worth EUR 6.23 million, of which EUR 3.15 million is the title to its office building at Ljubljana airport. Official receiver Janez Pustatičnik believes that due to its complexity, the receivership is unlikely to be completed before the end of 2024.
        LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian national postal operator stopped accepting mail for China until further notice after its partner air carriers suspended flights to the country in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
        BRDO PRI KRANJU - Cyclist Primož Roglič, the winner of the Tour of Spain, and world champion kayaker Eva Terčelj were declared the winners of the Bloudek Prizes for sporting achievements, the highest national awards for current and lifetime success in sports.

WEDNESDAY, 5 February
        LJUBLJANA - The Foreign Ministry advised against any non-urgent travel to China. The ministry said that people should not travel to any areas that are under quarantine due to the novel 2019 coronavirus.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia welcomed a European Commission proposal for a reform of the EU membership process that provides stronger sanctioning of aspiring EU members if they backslide on their reform efforts.
        LJUBLJANA - NKBM, Slovenia's second largest bank, formally completed its takeover of Abanka by transferring the EUR 444 million purchase consideration to the state. The two banks will be merged into a single legal entity this year, creating a strong rival to market leader NLB.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's jobless total hit 79,841 at the end of January, an increase of 6% from December that is mainly due to the expiry of fixed-term job contracts. The figure is still 3.6% lower than in January 2019, data from the Employment Service showed.
        LJUBLJANA - NLB, Slovenia's largest bank, completed the issue of EUR 120 million worth of subordinate bonds in a second such issue since November last year.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian executives are quite pessimistic about the prospects for global economic growth this year with more than half of those surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) thinking that growth will slow down.
        LJUBLJANA - A survey conducted by the Slovenian central bank showed that Slovenian banks are unlikely to follow suit of some banks abroad that have started charging fees for household sight deposits to compensate for the loss of earnings due to negative interest rates.
        BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia saw the biggest slump in the volume of retail trade among EU members in December compared to the same month a year earlier, and one of the biggest month-on-month drops, showed data from Eurostat.

THURSDAY, 6 February
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor appointed Robert Šumi, a lecturer at the police academy, the next head of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption. Šumi is succeeding Boris Štefanec, who sought a second term but was snubbed, having faced years of heavy criticism about his performance.
        LJUBLJANA - The opposition Democrats (SDS) would win an election with 18.2% of the vote, followed by the LMŠ of outgoing PM Marjan Šarec with 16.3%, Delo's opinion poll suggested. 62.8% of respondents favour an early election, and over 26% would prefer a new government coalition to be formed with the existing parliamentary parties.
        LJUBLJANA - Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) leader Aleksandra Pivec received a death threat via a letter warning her against entering a coalition with the Democratic Party (SDS).
        LJUBLJANA - The government approved Slovenian Sovereign Holding's (SSH) asset management plan for 2020, which contains a long-awaited plan to consolidate, manage and restructure tourism companies. While the consolidation plan has been months in the making, the government did not provide any details about it after the session.
        LJUBLJANA - Backing the Justice Ministry and taking a step further than the government proposal that upgraded animals from things to living beings, the parliamentary Justice Committee voted in favour of an amendment to the property code law that defines animals as sentient beings.

All our posts in this series are here

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.

A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here

This summary is provided by the STA:

SDS to continue coalition talks next week

LJUBLJANA - Talks on a potential new coalition will continue next week, the opposition Democrats (SDS) said after meeting the leaders of two coalition parties and another opposition party in the wake of PM Marjan Šarec's resignation. The coalition SMC and DeSUS intend to continue the talks, whereas NSi did not give a statement after the talks. SMC leader Zdravko Počivalšek said the talks had been constructive and would probably continue. DeSUS leader Aleksandra Pivec said her party was willing to continue the talks if other bigger parties were also willing to do so. The other parliamentary parties had declined to take part in the SDS-led talks.

Slovenia posts trade gap for 2019

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia posted a trade gap of EUR 564 million in 2019 as growth in goods imports outpaced growth in exports. Exports rose by 8.5% to EUR 33.47 billion and imports increased by 10.9% to EUR 34.04 billion. Releasing the latest figures, the Statistics Office said that the annual values of goods exports and imports last year were the highest on record. Unlike in the past when Slovenia continuously posted a surplus in external trade, this time its exports represented 98.3% of its imports. A gap was recorded in trade with EU countries as well as the rest of the world.

PM: Slovenia not to soften its position on cohesion

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec was adamant that Slovenia would insist on its position that drastic cuts to cohesion funds planned under the Finnish proposal for the EU's next long-term budget were unacceptable for the country, as he discussed the issue with EU Council President Charles Michel. He was happy with the meeting and said Michel understood Slovenia's position. "We have set out our position that we disagree with the cut as proposed, that cohesion is of exceptional importance to us and that we will insist on the position in the negotiations on the European Council," he said.

Šarec says he is realistic about arbitration

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Outgoing PM Marjan Šarec expressed "moderate realism" about the arbitration implementation impasse with Croatia, saying that if both countries had elections the same year, there would more time after them to reflect on the issue in a more relaxed manner. "If both countries have elections in the same year, we'll have more time for sober reflection after them, because so far there's been this problem of Croatia having an election, and then Slovenia, so there was no solution," he said after meeting EU Council President Charles Michel.

Number of illegal crossings of border up 74% last year

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian police recorded a total of 16,099 illegal crossings of the border last year, almost 74% more than in 2018. Citizens of Pakistan were involved in a total of 4,101 illegal crossings, followed by citizens of Algeria (1,892) and Afghanistan (1,733), show data from the police, the Ministry of the Interior and the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants. The number of applications for international protection was also up last year to 3,821, which is 33% more than in 2018. The vast majority left the country before their applications could be processed.

Prešeren Prizes conferred at Culture Day ceremony

LJUBLJANA- The Prešeren Prizes, the top national accolades in arts and culture, were conferred on the eve of Culture Day, a bank holiday dedicated to artists and their work. The two lifetime achievement prizes went to photographer Stojan Kerbler and choreographer and dancer Milko Šparemblek. Six Prešeren Fund Prizes for accomplishments over the past three years were also handed out. The recipients are designer Nejc Prah, actress Nina Ivanišin, composer and accordionist Luka Juhart, film director Rok Biček, translator Suzana Koncut and costume designer Alan Hranitelj.

Mail threat sent to SAB

LJUBLJANA - A day after the head of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) Aleksandra Pivec received death threats warning her not to join an SDS-led coalition, the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) said a package containing an unknown powder had been sent to the SAB headquarters. The powder turned out to be harmless. SAB, a small centre-left party that was part of the recently disbanded coalition, has been trying to organise talks on a new coalition in what is a rival initiative to that of Janez Janša of the opposition Democrats (SDS).

Thousands attend first prayer at Ljubljana mosque

LJUBLJANA - The newly opened Ljubljana mosque hosted the first prayer and with 3,000-4,000 Muslim worshippers attending some had to be put up in a number of other venues apart from the prayer hall. The community posted on Facebook yesterday that due to the expected surge, it would be hard to make sure women would be able to attend the prayer as well, which garnered criticism due to alleged gender discrimination. The Islamic Community's secretary general Nevzet Porić dismissed any such claims, saying that the Friday Prayer was only obligatory for men.

Foreign Ministry State Secretary Božič pays working visit to US

WASHINGTON, US - Foreign Ministry State Secretary Dobran Božič concluded a working visit to Washington where he discussed political and economic cooperation with the US, cooperation in NATO, relations between the US and the EU as well the situation in the Western Balkans, the Foreign Ministry said. The list of Božič's interlocutors included Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach with whom they agreed to strengthen cooperation in digitalisation and new technologies, energy and infrastructure, including within regional initiatives such as the Three Seas initiative. Talks with Assistant Secretary of European Affairs Phil Reeker touched on bilateral cooperation and the Western Balkans.

Annual inflation rate at 2.1% in January due to costlier food

LJUBLJANA - Consumer prices in Slovenia increased at an annual rate of 2.1% in January, while 0.9% deflation was recorded on the monthly level. The annual inflation was fuelled the most by more expensive food, while winter discount sales of clothing and footwear contributed the most to the monthly deflation. The prices of serviced were up between January 2019 and January 2020 by 2.6% on average, while the prices of good increased by 1.8%, the Statistics Office said. The prices of non-durable and semi-durable goods increased by 3.1 and 0.6%, respectively, and the prices of durable goods were down by 1.7% on average year-on-year.

Flu season as never seen before in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia is experiencing one of the worst flu seasons on record. The majority of patients are children aged up to 14. Health officials have warned that the disease is in full swing and widespread, with some deeming the situation unprecedented and borderline extreme. "The flu incidence is extremely high, the flu season is approaching its peak and the disease is prevalent across the country," said the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ). Slovenia is among the four WHO Europe members which have reported high or extremely high flu incidence.

Three Slovenian couples on quarantined cruise ship

LJUBLJANA - The Foreign Ministry confirmed that there are six Slovenians aboard a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan because of the new coronavirus. They all feel well. Andrej Šter, the head of the Foreign Ministry's consular service, said the three couples aboard the Diamond Princess, which is quarantined in Yokohama for two weeks, had been in contact with the Slovenian Embassy in Tokyo since the day the quarantine was declared after a passenger who had been on the ship last month fell ill with the virus.

Golden Fox moved to Kranjska Gora due to warm weather again

MARIBOR - The 56th Golden Fox competition as part of the Alpine Ski World Cup, which was supposed to take place on 15-16 February in Maribor, has been moved to the Kranjska Gora resort due to the unfavourable weather forecast. The World Cup slalom and giant slalom events for women is moving to the north-western resort, which traditionally hosts World Cup technical events for men, nicknamed the Vitranc Cup. It will be held on the same dates.

Visiting Ljubljana? Check out what's on this week, while all our stories on Slovenia, from newest to oldest, are here

If you're learning Slovenian then you can find all our dual texts here

As reported by Ex-Yu Aviation, Qatar Airways is planning to hire cabin crew based in Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, with registration for Slovenia and Serbia required by February 15. You can apply online, and applicants who make it to the shortlist will then be invited to an open day in Ljubljana, the date of which remains to be announced.

While the news does suggest the airline could soon start flights between Ljubljana and Doha, something it’s been considering since 2017, as yet nothing is scheduled and no contracts signed.

Those interested in the positions, which despite the picture in the hiring ad, as shown at the top of this page, is open to both men and women, must meet the following requirements:

• Minimum of 21 years old
• Minimum arm reach of 212 cm
• High school diploma
• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Outgoing personality with excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work within a multinational team
• A love of travel
• Passionate about customer service
• Excellent health and fitness
• Willingness to relocate to Doha, Qatar

More details can be found here.

STA, 7 February - The Foreign Ministry has confirmed that there are six Slovenians aboard a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan because of the new coronavirus. They all feel well.

 Andrej Šter, the head of the Foreign Ministry's consular service, said the Slovenians aboard the Diamond Princess, which is quarantined in Yokohama for two weeks, were three couples.

They have been in contact with the Slovenian Embassy in Tokyo since the day the quarantine was declared after a passenger who had been on the ship last month fell ill with the virus.

"They are fine and are not among those who tested positive. They are being looked after by Japanese health authorities, while our ministry, in particular colleagues at the Tokyo embassy, are keeping in touch with them," Šter told reporters in Ljubljana on Friday.

At least 61 of some 3,700 people on board have tested positive for the new coronavirus, including citizens of Japan, US, Canada, Australia, Argentina and the UK. So far 273 of the people on board have been tested.

Šter said that having been on the ship where the virus was detected the Slovenian passengers would have been quarantined for two weeks in any case even on land.

He could not say whether they might be subject to further restrictive measures or difficulties heading home once the quarantine was over end.

However, he promised for the ministry to try to organise their return home in a way so as to not expose them to any further danger or threaten their health in any way.

Šter also called for responsible reporting on the spread of coronavirus, saying that any exaggeration, either "embellishing the situation and covering the facts" or "creating a problem where there is none", was causing further problems.

All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Luka Dončić has been chosen as James LeBron's third pick to play alongside his childhood idol in the 2020 All-Star game on Sunday, February 16 in Chicago.

The rosters of both teams as drafted by their captains, James LeBron and Giannis Antetokounmpo, are as follows:

Team LeBron

Starters: (in order drafted): Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Luka Dončić, James Harden

Reserves: Damian Lillard, Ben Simmons, Nikola Jokić, Jayson Tatum, Chris Paul, Russel Westbrookm, Domantas Sabonis

Team Giannis

Starters: Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam, Kemba Walker, Trae Young

Reserves:Khris Middleton, Bam Adebayo, Rudy Gobert, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Brandon Ingram, Donovan Mitchell

Before this draft Luka expressed a wish to play as a teammate of his childhood hero LeBron, and now that wish seems to be coming true. It is not yet entirely clear whether Dončić will also actually be able to play due to his injured ankle, which he sprained about a week ago.  According to some estimates, however, Dončić will be ready to play for the All-Star game a week from now and LeBron seems to be counting on Luka's recovery.

The game starts on Sunday, February 16, at 8:20 PM UTC+5. That is Monday morning at 2:20am in Slovenia.

STA, 6 February 2020 - Meeting EU Council President Charles Michel on Friday, outgoing Prime Minister Marjan Šarec will highlight Slovenia's key priorities regarding the EU 2021-2027 budget, including cohesion policy, the situation in the Western Slovenia cohesion region and funds for rural development.

As the EU leaders are in the process of hammering out the bloc's next long-term budget, the EU Council president is meeting as many as 16 of them this week.

After wrapping up all the bilateral meetings, Michel will draw up a new compromise proposal replacing the Finnish presidency's document, which failed to meet any expectations.

What will follow is an emergency meeting of ministers in charge of EU affairs on 17 February, with a special budget summit starting on 20 February.

The latter will mark the first actual time the EU leaders will discuss the next long-term budget even though the EU Commission presented its proposal as early as in May 2018.

Rumour has it that Michel plans to coop the leaders up until they reach an agreement even if that takes days. Other unofficial sources state that he will not keep at it if hours-long negotiations do not prove fruitful.

It will be easier though to predict possible outcomes after the compromise proposal is presented. However, currently it is believed that a final agreement will not be reached as early as in February.

Given how budget talks went in the past, at least a couple of summits are usually needed for the member states to agree on a next long-term budget.

Budget negotiations always serve as an opportunity for the largest EU net contributors, striving for the smallest possible budget, and net beneficiaries, opposing any cuts to cohesion funds, to fight it out.

This time around though, the differences are the most profound so far, with Brexit looming over the negotiations.

Interested in Slovenia's euro coins? Check out Slovenia in Your Pocket: Coins that Celebrate the Culture

Following the UK leaving the EU, the remaining major net contributors, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands, labelled the frugal five, are determined that the budget should equal 1% of EU 27 gross national income (GNI), which is the traditional budget volume.

Meanwhile, the so-called cohesion countries call for at least 1.11% of GNI, a solution proposed by the EU Commission in 2018. The EU Parliament proposes the figure to be even stronger - 1.3% of GNI.

At the end of last year, Finland's Presidency proposed the budget to amount to 1.07% of GNI or EUR 48 billion less than the EU Commission-proposed sum, envisaging cuts to cohesion and agriculture funds. The Finnish proposal has been deemed impossible to implement, but it will be used as one of the starting points for further negotiations.

Slovenia supports the EU Commission-proposed budget in theory, with the country's top priorities being cohesion funds, the smallest possible cuts to the funds for the more developed of Slovenia's two cohesion regions, Western Slovenia, and to the rural development funds.

Taking into account the EU Commission's proposal, Slovenia is set to get EUR 3.1 billion in cohesion funds.

In December, Šarec labelled the Finnish presidency's proposal extremely bad for Slovenia, saying that it would reduce cohesion funds by 28% compared to the current multi-annual EU budget. It would thus put Slovenia among those countries which would suffer the greatest loss.

Slovenia is also urging that no country would lose more than 40% of funds given the current financial framework, thus trying to maintain the status of the more developed Western Slovenia region.

The country welcomed the Finnish proposal's rural development policy though, since it envisages a significant increase in relevant funds - by EUR 10 billion.

Moreover, in December, Šarec pointed out in Brussels that pursuing the 2050 climate neutrality target should not be done at the expense of cohesion policy.

Following a recent ministerial meeting about the green deal, the Finance Ministry said that a number of countries were reluctant about moving funds from cohesion and agriculture programmes into green investments.

STA, 7 February 2020 - The 56th Golden Fox competition as part of the Alpine Ski World Cup, which was supposed to take place on 15-16 February in Maribor, has been moved to the Kranjska Gora resort due to the unfavourable weather forecast.

The World Cup slalom and giant slalom events for women is moving to the north-western resort, which traditionally hosts World Cup technical events for men, nicknamed the Vitranc Cup. It will be held on the same dates.

The decision was made on Friday as a delegation of the International Ski Federation (FIS) is visiting Slovenia's second largest city to check on the snow and weather conditions on the slopes of the Pohorje hills.

Markus Mayr, the race director for women technical World Cup events, who inspected the venue one more time today, said in a press statement that the conditions did not allow the event to be organised successfully in Maribor.

The decision, made together by the FIS and the organisers, was regretted by Srečko Vilar, the secretary general of the event. He said they would do everything in their power to organise a successful event at the alternative location.

"All persons responsible were united in the opinion that we should not take risks by organising the event in Maribor, because a competition weekend for the women's World Cup cold be lost," said Mayr.

He added that "thanks to such a decision, it will be possible to organise the competition in Slovenia."

Despite great efforts by the organisers, who have been struggling to keep the piste running, the unseasonably high temperatures and strong wind made this impossible. Not even cutting-edge snow cannons were up to the task.

Mayr also said in the press release that the FIS had full confidence in the organising committee and that the federation counted on Maribor to organise women World Cup events in the future.

This will be the eight time that the Golden Fox moves to Kranjska Gora in the 56 years of the competition. It was moved there for the first time in 1976, and before today, most recently two years ago.

STA, 6 February 2020 - The parliamentary Justice Committee voted on Thursday in favour of an amendment to the property code law that defines animals as sentient beings, taking a step further than the government proposal that upgraded animals from things to living beings.

The amendment, which is in line with the original proposal by the Justice Ministry that was rejected by the government, comes as the MPs of five left-leaning parties - the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the SocDems, the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and the Left - sided with Justice Minister Andreja Katič on the matter.

The amendment was confirmed on the committee in a 7:1 vote, with Dejan Kaloh of the Democrats (SDS) also saying the SDS would not oppose the amendment, since society had accepted in recent years that animals are sentient beings.

Still, Kaloh believes it would have been better to specify this in the animal protection law as opposed to the property code law.

Reservations due to potential risks were also expressed by Dušan Verbič of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), but Justice Ministry representative insisted the proposed solutions were to the benefit of the citizens and creditors.

One of the worries expressed by the SMC in the past is that this could also lead to demands that animals as sentient beings are no longer eaten.

Meanwhile, Minister Katič explained that certain other laws, for instance the claim enforcement and security act, and the inheritance act, would also be changed in case today's amendment is passed.

STA, 6 February 2020 – The Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) leader Aleksandra Pivec has received a death threat warning her against entering a coalition with the Democratic Party (SDS), the commercial broadcaster POP TV reported on Thursday.

Pivec, the minister in charge of agriculture, confirmed for POP TV that she received a letter with inappropriate contents on Wednesday.

The letter bore her name and was sent to Parliament House, said Pivec, adding that she handed it to the police immediately.

She did not want to elaborate on the contents of the letter due to safety measures being taken. The broadcaster however said that the letter was a very direct threat against her life if she took her party into a coalition with the SDS.

POP TV reported that Pivec had been placed under police protection. The police, however, has not confirmed this for the STA so as not to undermine the safety of protected persons.

The police indicated, indirectly, that an investigation had been launched.

On Friday, Pivec is planned to meet with SDS head Janez Janša, who is testing the waters to see whether parliamentary parties are willing to form a coalition with the SDS after Prime Minister Marjan Šarec resigned on 27 January.

STA, 6 February 2020 - The outgoing government on Thursday approved Slovenian Sovereign Holding's (SSH) asset management plan for 2020, which also contains a long-awaited plan to consolidate, manage and restructure state-owned tourism companies.

The tourism consolidation plan has been months in the making, but the government did not provide any details about it after today's session.

Similarly, Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek, the initiator of the changes, did not reveal any details when leaving the session, saying only that the plan had been discussed.

His ministry told the STA earlier this week that the tourism consolidation plan pursued goals from the 2017-2021 strategy on sustainable tourism growth.

The strategy governs the consolidation of state-owned tourism companies in terms of ownership and management under the roof of a special state holding.

The state's tourism assets would be consolidated within a holding which would stem from a special company the bad bank has set up after seizing Istrabenz Turizem shares.

Transfer of the shares of tourism companies Istrabenz Turizem and Thermana is pending, awaiting government approval of the tourism consolidation plan.

The new holding is also expected to feature the state's stakes in Sava Turizem (including Hoteli Bernardin), Hit Alpinea, Terme Olimia, Adria Ankaran and Unitur.

Počivalšek believes the consolidation should help the companies improve their performance and increase value, which would be a good basis for a "well thought-out" privatisation.

The newspaper Delo reported that the goal was to increase the value of the companies by EUR 400 million in eight years.

To buy the remaining stakes the state does not yet hold in these companies, for instance the York fund's over 40% stake in Sava or Unitur, the business daily Finance said EUR 40-60 million could be needed.

Delo said that investments of the tourism companies pooled by the new holding, some of which are still quite indebted, are planned to over EUR 200 million.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is reportedly interested in recapitalising the holding, which would give more leverage for investment.

In today's press release, SSH said the consolidation and restructuring of the state's tourism portfolio would be carried out in several stages.

The key goals will be increasing the portfolio's value and improving its profitability as well as further development of the tourist industry in line with the strategy.

It also said the state's tourism portfolio represented a significant part of the Slovenian industry, so its consolidation would have a positive impact on the entire industry.

Meanwhile, SSH's annual asset management plan, which specifies management of individual sectors and of specific investments, sets the target return on equity for 2020 at 5.9%.

This is 0.3 of a percentage point less than in 2019, but SSH boss Gabrijel Škof has recently said this is due to lower anticipated economic growth, one-off events in 2019 and regulatory requirements.

The custodian of state assets plans dividends at EUR 142.4 million, of which EUR 102.9 million would go directly to the state and EUR 39.5 million to SSH.

Last year's dividends amounted to EUR 250.4 million as a result of the sale of banks NLB and Abanka, while no major sales of state assets are planned for this year.

In the release SSH said that following the privatisation of the two banks, the share of financial companies in its portfolio had significantly dropped as had the share of important and portfolio investments, whereas the holding continues to manage many strategic investments, the return on equity of which is usually lower.

The annual asset management plan consists of a general public part and a special part which details each individual asset, SSH explained.

It said that the government had also adopted criteria to assess the performance of companies with a state stake.

Leaving the government session, Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek told the press her proposal to put quality services before profit in companies carrying out public service, such as the national railway and postal companies, had not been included in the SSH's annual plan.