STA, 16 November 2018 - A three-day regional meeting of the European group of the Trilateral Commission will start in the Slovenian capital on Friday. The main theme of the annual meeting will be the economic future of Europe in the light of the tenth anniversary of the outbreak of the last global economic crisis.

The meeting in Ljubljana is expected to be attended by more than 200 members of the non-governmental, non-partisan discussion group, which was founded by David Rockefeller in 1973 to foster closer cooperation among North America, Western Europe and Japan.

It has since adapted to global developments and now features the Asian Pacific, North American and European groups, whose representatives come from business, politics and academia.

The meeting will be chaired by Jean-Claude Trichet, the former chairman of the European Central Bank (ECB), who currently heads the European group. Slovenia has been represented since March by Franjo Bobinac, the chairman of household appliances maker Gorenje.

The event will open with Trichet's address, while the Trilateral Commission members and guests will also be welcomed by Prime Minister Šarec and President Borut Pahor, according to a press release from Gorenje.

Trichet expects a good and open discussion among the members, with the programme covering the key topics for the future of Europe, from the migration crisis to cross-border cooperation, which has stalled due to fear of global trade war.

Bobinac is happy that this year's meeting of the European group is hosted by Slovenia. "The meeting is an excellent opportunity for Slovenia to boost its role as a leading country in the region and an important player in the global economy."

The Trilateral Commission features or featured US cabinet members from the administrations of presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, billionaire George Soros, former Swedish PM Carl Bildt, former Italian PM Mario Monti and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

STA, 15 November 2018 - Samo and Iza Login, the founders of tech firm Outfit7, top the list of the 100 richest Slovenians, compiled by Manager magazine, for the fifth year in a row. Their assets are estimated at EUR 689m, while total assets of the top 100 have been estimate at EUR 5.7bn, a new record and 10% more than last year.

The Logins are the principal founders of the company best known for its globally successful app Talking Tom, which they sold to the Chinese United Luck Group for US$1bn in January 2016.

The couple has transferred the proceeds from the sale to a family non-profit charity organisation, which looks for solutions for global environmental problems, said the newspaper publisher Finance, which publishes Manager magazine.

Following the Logins is Sandi Češko, the owner of multichannel retailer Studio Moderna, with EUR 334m, and Marko Pistotnik, one of the former owners of Outfit7, with EUR 210m.

€24.2m gets you to the bottom of the Richest Slovenians list

Also in the top five are Joc Pečečnik, the owner of gaming products provider Interblock, with EUR 194m, and Tatjana and Albin Doberšek of the Germany-based Engineering Dobersek, with EUR 183m.

With total assets of the top 100 breaking a new record this year, the threshold for making it to the exclusive company was also up to EUR 24.2m from EUR 20.4m last year.

This year's list features five newcomers and five individuals or families who have returned to the top 100.

The highest-ranking newcomer is Izet Rastoder, the owner of the banana trading company, Rastoder, who ranks 40th with EUR 36.2m.

The property Manager takes into account in compiling the list is majority stakes in companies or co-ownership.

Since many Slovenian businessmen have sold their companies over the past few years, the share of the proceeds from the sales in the total property of 100 richest Slovenians has been increasing to reach around 25% this year, Finance explained.

STA, 15 November 2018 - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar said that it would take some time to analyse the Brexit agreement drawn up by British and EU negotiators, while stressing that it was of key importance that the interests and rights of people were taken care of and that the economic conditions for companies did not worsen.

Speaking to the press after a government session on Thursday, Cerar said that the agreement, confirmed by the British government yesterday, would be thoroughly analysed.

The 585-page agreement, accompanied by a draft political statement on the future relations between the UK and EU, while it also needs to be confirmed by the European Parliament and the European Council, is facing the biggest test in the British parliament.

Related: We met the British Ambassador and asked about Brexit…

Cerar said that the extensive document was being examined also in Slovenia as we speak, adding that all aspects of the document would be presented to the public once they were thoroughly examined.

The most important thing is that the ministries monitor what will happen in any situation "with our people and our companies present in the United Kingdom," he added.

Asked for comment on the deal, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) noted that the European Commission had formed guidelines for companies for the event of a no-deal Brexit which were publicly available in 22 languages.

Related: How to get dual citizenship in Slovenia

"However, this does not mean yet that we can be sure that in case of a no-deal Brexit deal there would be no problems for business," GZS Analytics' chief economist Bojan Ivanc said, adding that their assessment was that bigger companies were better prepared for an adverse scenario.

Ivanc said the key risk for Slovenia was an indirect one, if there was no deal and if trade or financial flows between the UK and key European countries were paralysed.

All out Brexit stories are here

Below is a review of today’s news in Slovenia, summarised by the headlines in the daily newspapers for Friday, 16 November 2018, as prepared by the STA:

DELO

Local elections
"Campaign market is shutting down, let's go vote": A poll commissioned by the newspaper suggests that there will only be one round of voting in the Ljubljana mayoral election. According to pollster Mediana, incumbent Zoran Janković will get 57.5% of the vote and his closest rival, Anže Logar of the Democrats (SDS) 21.4%. (front page, 2)

Brexit
"Theresa May facing mission impossible": The deal the European Commission and the British government struck on Brexit could go up in flames even before EU leaders meet for an emergency summit next week. The UK's Prime Minister Theresa May lost two key ministers and the support of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist over the deal. (front page, 7)

UN Global Compact for Migration
"Slovenia will back the declaration in Marrakesh": Slovenia will back the UN Global Compact for Migration in Marrakesh next month despite opposition from part of the opposition. (front page, 4)

Russia
"Alexei Navalny defeats Putin in ECHR": The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Russia will have to pay more than EUR 51,000 plus litigation costs to the leader of the opposition Alexei Navalny over multiple arrests, of which some were politically motivated. (front page)

DNEVNIK

Taxes for Church
"Additional taxes as infringement of religious freedom": The EU Court of Justice has recently overturned a decision of the EU Commission under which Italy did not have to enforce taxes from the Church in cases when revenue was generated from renting out real estate for education or tourism. (front page, 2)

Brexit
"Prime Minister May increasingly alone over offered Brexit deal": The Brexit deal has cost the British government seven members in one day, including Brexit minister Dominic Raab. (front page, 8)

Ljubljana Administrative Unit
"Strike frozen, head steps down": Employees of the Ljubljana Administrative Unit, who went on strike over excess workload, have suspended their activities until Tuesday, with new talks scheduled for Monday. The head of the unit, Lovro Lončar, stepped down on Wednesday to facilitate the talks. (front page, 11)

FINANCE

Portorož Business Conference
"Is economic cool-down new crisis or merely revitalisation?": The paper runs several articles about the Portorož Business Conference, which it hosts with the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics, including a feature about economist Veljko Bole's lecture about what awaits Slovenia and Europe next year. (front page, 2-5)

Local elections
"Where are most interesting candidates running for mayor?": The paper points out the municipalities with the most interesting election races. The list consists of Ljubljana, Maribor, Kranj, Koper and Slovenj Gradec.

Banks
"Bankers believe interest rates for loans will grow faster than rates for deposits": Bankers, who gathered for the annual conference yesterday, believe that banks in Slovenia will profit from rising interest rates, and they believe foreign ownership will improve corporate governance. (front page, 8)

VEČER

Interview with Supreme Court President
"Strasbourg has not made the cracks": The paper interviewed Supreme Court President Damijan Florjančič to discuss the 100th anniversary of the Supreme Court and the recent debacle with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. (front page, 4, 5)

Local elections
"When I'm mayor...": The paper runs a feature about the mayoral election in Maribor and the answers of the top four candidates to the city's most pressing issues, including unemployment and low wages. (front page, 8-11)

Healthcare
"Waiting for liver transplant and hoping for the best": The paper runs a story of a man from the Goričko region in the north-east who has a rare liver disease and is waiting for a transplant. (front page, 14)

STA, 15 November - Vehicles driving in Slovenia need to be equipped with winter gear from Thursday until 15 March under Slovenia's traffic safety law, a rule that kicks in just as the country prepares for the first shipment of snow.

The required gear consists primarily of winter tyres, in the absence of which drivers must carry snow chains in the vehicle.

Drivers who have neither winter tyres nor chains face a fine of EUR 40, which grows to EUR 500 plus penalty points if they cause delays for other drivers by getting stuck in snow.

Drivers must also ensure that they clear their vehicles of snow and ice before hitting the road.

Winter in Slovenia due to arrive next week

While the weather has been surprisingly balmy until early November, it has been getting colder in recent days and temperatures are expected to drop to just above freezing next week.

Meteorologists forecast that low-lying regions can expect first snow as early as Tuesday, though snow quantities will be moderate.

Slovenia's winter services said they were fully ready for the winter.

More than a thousand workers operating 427 snow ploughs, more than 200 gritters and hundreds of other winter service vehicles are ready for deployment on 6,000 kilometres of regional roads, the Roads Directorate has said.

DARS, the national motorway company, has around over 300 winter service vehicles and 500 workers ready to keep the motorways passable in the winter months.

STA, 14 November 2018 - Boris Popovič, the controversial mayor of Koper, appears to be the favourite to win his fifth term, and not even more than 40 court proceedings and costly "decorative lighting" set up just before the election seem to be eroding his voter base in the largest coastal municipality.

Popovič has for years been accused of arrogance and disregard for rules, but no challenger has so far succeed in dethroning the mayor who has been leading the fifth largest city in the country since 2002.

This year, he faces a dozen challengers who have mostly called for more democracy in Koper. The mayor appears unfazed, dismissing criticism and doling out campaign treats to his voters.

Christmas lights turned on November 9^th

In what his opponents decried as shameless self-promotion and abuse of public funds, Popovič decided to introduce a novel approach to Christmas lighting in the city this year.

Dubbing it decorative lighting to bypass rules that prevent cities from turning into winter fairy tales before 1 December, Popovič turned on the EUR 500,000 lighting, called Wonderland, on 9 November, less than two weeks before the election.

He argues that Wonderland, which has been described by many as a kitschy destruction of the historic character of the city, will attract people from all over Slovenia and from abroad and thus boost revenue from tourism.

The decision is not unusual given Popovič's 16-year record as mayor, which has been punctuated by disputes over aesthetics as much as by his run-ins with the law which landed him in court in dozens of cases.

Some cases are still pending, but most have turned out in his favour. He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2014 for abuse of office in the sale of municipal land, but a higher court annulled the ruling and ordered a retrial. The case has since become statute barred.

In 2009, Popovič got a three-month suspended sentence for defaming a reporter, in 2010 a suspended sentence of a year and ten months for abuse of office, tax evasion and doctoring business documents, and in 2012 a two-month suspended sentence for defamation.

But this has not shaken his foothold in Koper, nor has it provided his opposition with enough ammunition. This has also been reflected in the campaign, which has been fairly mellow, the glittery Wonderland excluded, before the final week of the campaign.

A number of suspicious incidents around the campaign

Only days before the election suspicions were raised that unauthorised people were able to access data about the support of voters to individual candidates.

Additionally, a man from Koper whose company does business with the municipality said he had received a call from the incumbent's campaign office quizzing him about his relative's candidacy on another candidate's list.

"I perceived this as a threat to my business, meaning that if I don't settle this, I'll lose the deal," the man, who said he had evidence of the phone call, told the public broadcaster TV Slovenija.

There was another minor incident, as posters of Popovič's former ally and advisor Gašpar Gašpar Mišič were removed from several bus stops by the city's utility Marjetica.

Officially, the posters were taken down because of the damage caused to the stands by the recent storm, but Mišič pointed his finger at the mayor, labelling the move campaign mischief.

Overall, Radio Koper editor-in-chief Andrej Šavko believes that the campaign has been quiet because "candidates, their campaigns and their supporters are engaged in the field instead of in the media", which is customary for local elections.

All 13 hopefuls faced off in a single debate at which "none of the candidates stood out in a positive or negative way", he told the STA.

While Popovič faces a dozen opponents, Aleš Bržan, an independent who ran for mayor on the slate of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) in 2014, is considered his most serious rival, though he is still a long shot for the mayorship.

You can find all our stories on the local elections here

STA, 14 November 2018 - Slovenian researchers have made a tandem solar cell which transforms solar energy into electricity in the most efficient manner so far, which they see as an important step towards photovoltaics becoming more competitive in power production.

The new solar cell was developed by Marko Jošt from the Ljubljana Faculty of Electrical Engineering while on post-doctoral studies in Germany as part of a Slovenian-German project.

Jošt and several other researchers, among them fellow researchers from Ljubljana, published their findings in the prestigious journal Energy and Environmental Science.

Researchers from top-tier institutions around the globe have been competing since 2015 to develop the most efficient monolithic tandem solar cell.

Last month, Jošt, together with researchers from Germany's Helmholtz Centre and Slovenia's Ljubljana University, managed to set a new record by achieving 25.5% conversion efficiency.

The solar cell was improved with the use of a textured foil, which was produced in the lab for photovoltaics at the Slovenian faculty.

Although tandem cells are still in the R&D stage and there is a long way to go before their industrial use, lab boss Marko Topič says "such achievements prove that our goals are realistic".

The new tandem cell is according to the faculty a stone in the mosaic of knowledge and achievements which pave the way to photovoltaics being increasingly used for energy production.

Obstacles to a more wide use of solar energy are relatively low conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells, which are currently the standard in photovoltaics, and their relatively high price.

Jošt explained that silicon cells had reached their limit in conversion efficiency and low price, while the perskovite tandem cells have the potential for better conversion efficiency while increasing the price of a photovoltaic module just a bit.

Topič meanwhile believes that photovoltaics has already proved it could become "the key technology in the transformation of the energy system" and "as a low-carbon technology, the first solution to fight climate change".

STA, 14 November 2018 - A majority of voters in Ljubljana may dislike the incumbent mayor or his uncompromising and often dodgy leadership style, yet Zoran Janković is likely to win his fourth term in office by a landslide on Sunday, even though his closest challenger is a rising star of the party that won this year's general election.

The latest poll commissioned by Dnevnik, the newspaper focused on Ljubljana, gives Janković a 56% to 18% edge ahead of Anže Logar, the candidate of the Democratic Party (SDS) who enjoys unanimous endorsement from all right-wing parties.

With almost 20% respondents still undecided, the other eight contenders are far behind. While turnout projections are not available, the trends suggest it will likely fall further below the 36% recorded in the 2014 mayoral election in Ljubljana.

Like the last time around, it appears that many of Janković's opponents will vote with their feet, in particular left-wing voters who would not want to benefit the opposing bloc's candidate by supporting one of the contenders from the left.

Former head of Mercator who revitalised the city, while accused of corruption

Janković, a 65-year-old Serbian-born economist who first made a name for himself as chief executive of Slovenia's largest retailer Mercator, has been campaigning on what he says is a proven track-record, a series of projects that his team implemented over the past 12 years.

Even his opponents will give him the credit for the makeover given to the centre of the capital city, large sections of which have been taken over by pedestrians and cyclists. The greening of public spaces and steps taken in green mobility earned Ljubljana the title of the European Green Capital in 2016.

By tapping into EU funds, the city has renovated and expanded its public infrastructure, schools and kindergartens, and acquired new sports and cultural infrastructure, modernised the country's biggest waste management facility, and committed to a zero-waste and zero road traffic fatality goals.

However, Janković has been facing recurring allegations of corruption, cronyism and shady ways in which the city has been awarding contracts to private partners. He has also been reproached for his autocratic, know-it-all style of leadership and unwillingness to give an ear to those who object to his plans.

With a series of criminal cases open against him, Janković is about to be put on trial over alleged EU funds abuse in the flagship project of his first term, the construction of the Stožice sports complex. The half-built mall attached to it has been falling into ruin.

While the Ljubljana centre is sparkling bright after the facelift, its central coach and train station are hardly fit for a capital city. The public transportation system is not efficient enough and too many people still resort to cars for their commute with up to 100,000 cars driving into Ljubljana daily.

Ljubljana's tourism has been booming, but skyrocketing property prices and rents are making the city increasingly unaffordable for residents, not least because new construction is targeting high-end buyers.

A recent study by the Institute of Spatial and Housing Policies showed that residential construction in Ljubljana had been seriously outpaced by population growth, and pointed to an acute shortage of social housing.

A recurrent piece of criticism is that Janković has been neglecting the city beyond the centre, although he says that of the 2,000 projects implemented, 1,700 have been in the outer boroughs.

Opponent focuses on healthcare, traffic and corruption

Anže Logar, for eight years the mayor's major antagonist in the city council, has placed reduction of waiting times in primary healthcare in the centre of his platform. Campaigning under the motto Cure Ljubljana, he is also promising to rid the city of corruption and traffic bottlenecks.

While the city does not have the power to expand the network of health service providers, Logar proposes it should buy health services on the market for the benefit of residents. He is also promising a modernisation of the public transport system, smart traffic lights and free bus rides for pensioners.

"If until now we have been hearing about the supposedly the most beautiful city - the centre is pretty indeed - we'll be hearing more about the best city from now on," Logar said, promising to make Ljubljana exceptional not only for tourists but also for those who live in it.

Logar, who has been backed by a series of civil initiatives that have been fighting against Janković's grand development plans, is also promising a participatory budget and more say to the city's boroughs. Participatory budget is also being advocated by Dragan Matić, who runs for the Modern centre Party (SMC).

Janković says that if the city followed people's sentiment it would have never closed the city centre to traffic and that no one would agree to have a waste management facility or a park-and-ride facility in their backyard.

After hosting a campaign debate between Logar and Janković, Dnevnik noted that even though many of Logar's ideas may appeal to the centre-left electorate, few will trust him that he would in fact deliver better than the current mayor, who knows the city inside out.

Janković never neglects to remind the people of Ljubljana that Logar's party took away millions from the city during its two stints in the government and that as SDS MP Logar voted against a bill that would secure more funds for the capital.

Logar, a 42-year-old who rose to prominence as the spokesman for the Slovenian presidency of the EU in 2008 and who grilled Janković as the head of a parliamentary inquiry into the 2013 bank bailout, says he had decided to run five years ago.

Even if defeated, the right-leaning Reporter magazine says that Logar has nothing to lose, because the party may reward him with a chance to get elected into European Parliament next year, a job that the weekly says Logar always wanted.

While Janković is looking at a fresh victory, his power in the city council may be further depleted after his list lost an absolute majority by a whisker in 2014. Even if it is not, new councillors from the ranks of left-leaning parties may be less accommodating than his old allies.

All our stories about the local elections can be found here

STA, 13 November 2018 - The increase in migrations has not led to higher crime rates in the border areas, but in the capital Ljubljana crime involving asylum seekers has increased, according to police figures presented at a session of the parliamentary Commission for the Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services on Tuesday.

The commission examined rumours of a spike in crime, but statistics for the police districts Novo Mesto and Koper, where the bulk of migrants are caught, do not bear that out, according to commission chair Matej Tonin.

But a spike in criminal acts, in particular theft and drug offences, perpetrated by asylum seekers has been recorded in Ljubljana and police said they would increase presence of officers in hot spots in the capital

But beyond petty crime, Tonin stressed that police have arrested 169 human traffickers so far this year, of which 29 Slovenian citizens and 140 foreigner nationals.

Slovenian police have registered almost 8,000 illegal border crossings so far this year, with the biggest groups coming from Pakistan, Algeria and Morocco.

Roughly half of them were returned to Croatia, while the majority of the others "evaporated in the course of the asylum procedure," according to Tonin.

STA, 13 November 2018 - Marko Bandelli has resigned as development and EU cohesion funds minister after being told to do so or face dismissal by Prime Minister Marjan Šarec. The decision was announced after a session of the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), whose head accused Šarec of using double standards, while she also announced a stepped-up push for higher pensions.

Bratušek, who called today's session of SAB's executive council after Šarec told Bandelli to resign over efforts to use his government clout to impact a local election, praised Bandelli's work, while adding he was also capable of accepting responsibility and was thus resigning.

While Šarec was also critical of Bandelli's performance as minister, the main issue seems to have been his communication style, in particular when getting involved in the election race in the municipality of Komen (SW), where he was mayor until recently.

Bratušek suggested that Šarec was using double standards in this respect and should apply the same criteria to all government officials, meaning "those he has defended and those he plans to defend in the future".

Speaking about the party's situation, she said SAB did not enter the government to have three ministers but to work for the benefit of the people, of the young and of pensioners.

While giving up Bandelli, Bratušek took the opportunity to stress the party would insist in what have been SAB's demands for significantly higher pensions - these come as government faces demands from public sector and after a raising of the welfare allowance.

Also mentioning demands related to the healthcare system and the young as non-negotiable for the party, Bratušek said the party would demand explanations at the next coalition meeting on how the commitments from the coalition agreement will be honoured.

"The deadline for the bills to be adopted is 1 January 2019, which means we're actually a little short on time," she said, accusing Šarec of violating the coalition's agreement.

This also applies for the procedure for dismissing and replacing a cabinet minister. Šarec was supposed to have first discussed the situation with Bratušek, she however found out about it from the media and through Facebook.

"If these are the communication channels that the coalition will be using then our time here will be preciously short," Bratušek said.

Meanwhile, Bandelli, who threatened one of the mayoral candidates in Komen with leaving the municipality without the support of his department and of the Infrastructure Ministry, rejected Šarec's accusations regarding the delayed action plan for the drawing of EU funds. He argued he had gotten a lot of work done in the past two months.

"I replaced the main director of the body that carries the main responsibility for EU funds phasing, we changed the operative model and started fixing the problems with the IT system that had dragged on for five years," Bandelli told the press.

He also took a jab at "people currently employed around Šarec", saying some of them were in fact to blame for the mistakes that were made in the past in the phasing of EU funds.

The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) had welcomed Šarec's call for Bandelli to resign, labelling the minister's acts and threats as unacceptable.

The anti-graft watchdog said that Bandelli had violated the code of ethics for government and ministry officials, stressing that "it was not a single act".

The KPK noted that Bandelli had also promised to help Komen residents address heavy traffic on a local road in return for forming a list of candidates for the local election and backing the party where he is vice-president.

It said that the minister's integrity had been undermined in this case too, adding that such "disputable practices should not take place in the Slovenian political space."

The watchdog thus welcomes the prime minister's decision and understands it as a sign of support for the idea of integrity of officials at the most senior posts in the country.

Bandelli, who is expected to return to parliament, announced he would continue to work for SAB, the party he helped establish.

Previously: Local Elections - Šarec Orders Bandelli to Resign After Threatening Candidate in Komen