Politics
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This summary is provided by the STA:
Slovenian and Croatian FMs see no need for stricter border measures
LJUBLJANA - Foreign minister Anže Logar received his Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlić Radman in Ljubljana during what was the Croatian minister's first visit abroad since he resumed office. The pair discussed measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and the EU Council presidency, agreeing that there was no need for stepping up border restrictions. Logar said though that a stop should be put to the practice of people attempting to avoid mandatory self-isolation by making a stop in Croatia on their way from Bosnia and claiming they were coming from Croatia.
14 new coronavirus infections, one fatality for Monday
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia recorded 14 new coronavirus cases from 874 tests on Monday and one more Covid-19 fatality, which takes the official national case count to 2,101 and the death toll to 117. There are now 242 active cases. Government data show the number of Covid-19 hospitalisations has fallen to 17, including three intensive care cases. The latest infections were confirmed in ten municipalities across the country, including one at the Hrastnik care home, where 42 of the 125 residents are now infected. Another resident has died, which means Covid-19 has claimed three lives in the outbreak there. Bojana Beović, the government's chief Covid-19 advisor, said the effective reproductive number by which the virus was spreading was now at around 2 at care homes, while it had fallen below 1 elsewhere.
Social institutions threaten to leave Covid-19 task force
LJUBLJANA - The Association of Social Institutions decided to leave the government task force for Covid-19 over what it perceives as a lack of strategy for care homes when it comes to coronavirus infections. The head of the task force has called for dialogue and the relevant ministry still hopes that the association will be cooperative. The association insists that the elderly who get infected need to be isolated from the care home immediately, as this is the only way to effectively prevent infections from spreading further.
Majority of infections in care homes, schools and shops
LJUBLJANA - In the past two months, the majority of coronavirus cases were detected in care homes (80 infections), followed by schools (54), shops (37), health institutions (32) and restaurants, pubs and cafes (13), show the National Public Health Institute (NIJZ) data. A total of 30 infections were confirmed among manufacturing workers, same as among administration workers. Warehouses saw 16 cases, kindergartens 14, universities 13 and the public administration 12. Moreover, ten lorry drivers got infected with the coronavirus as well as eight construction and engineering workers, four people working in banks and three police officers.
Two dozen villages in Austria to get bilingual signposts
KLAGENFURT, Austria - 23 villages in Austria near the border with Slovenia will get bilingual signposts, according to decisions of the town councils of Sankt Jakob im Rosental and Sittersdorf in the province of Carinthia. The Slovenia minority welcomed the move and expressed hope that other municipalities would follow suit. At least signpost will expectedly be erected on 10 October, when the Slovenian and Austrian presidents Borut Pahor and Alexander Van der Bellen will visit Carinthia for the 100th anniversary of a plebiscite following the disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy that saw the people of Carinthia choose between Austria and Yugoslavia.
Slovenian army member involved in fatal car accident in Naples
LJUBLJANA - The Defence Ministry announced last night that a member of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) serving at the Allied Joint Force Command Naples had been involved in a car accident in which one person died. It said the accident happened in his free time and involved a private car. As the investigation is ongoing, the ministry would not comment on Italian media reports suggesting that the SAF member had caused the accident under the influence of alcohol and even attempted to flee the scene but was prevented by members of the public. He allegedly hit a motorbike driven by a carabiniere that also carried his wife, who later died of her injuries in hospital.
Spurned constitutional judge nominee seeks vote annulment
LJUBLJANA - The newspaper Dnevnik reported that jurist Andraž Teršek, who failed to get elected a Constitutional Court judge by parliament June, had turned to the Constitutional Court asking it to annul the vote and order a new vote on his bid. Teršek won 42 votes in the secret ballot at the National Assembly on 16 June, four votes short of an outright majority, despite more than 50 members of the 90-strong legislature having pledged their support for him. Considering that eight ballots were invalid, Teršek is challenging the MPs' right to cast such ballot and the parliamentary rules of procedure on secret ballot, which he believes are unconstitutional.
PM's office warns against online scam featuring Janša's photos
LJUBLJANA - The prime minister's office issued a warning against internet fraud after a website featuring Prime Minister Janez Janša started making rounds on social media. The website redirects the users onto a site featuring a number of criptocurrency trade websites. The website appeared under the headline Special report: Latest investment by Janez Janša scares govt and big banks and features statements never uttered or written by Janša, the PM's office said in a press release. The office said it had already lodged a demand for withdrawal of the website but the final decision about this lies in the hands of the services provider.
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STA, 27 July 2020 - Agriculture Minister Aleksandra Pivec has defended her conduct after questions were raised about potential ethics breach over her appearance in a wine maker's promotional video and uncertainty over who paid for her family's trip to western Slovenia at the end of June.
Pivec said in a Facebook post on Sunday she had paid for the accommodation for herself and her sons during the 25-26 June visit to Kras region. If necessary, she will show the receipts to the competent institutions.
As for her starring in a promotional video for Vinakras, she said that as minister she had committed to visiting people and companies working in the agri-food chain since she became minister.
"I'll always be proud to wear T-shirts, badges, aprons ... of farms, associations, organisations and companies in my sector," she said, adding that all Slovenians should be proud of domestic food producers.
She said she would continue to "proudly represent our farmers, farms, associations and companies".
The statement comes after Dnevnik reported last week that she had visited Vinakras and starred along with her family in the company's promotional video, wearing a T-shirt with the company's logo.
The minister later explained the first day of the visit had been private and on the second day she was a guest at Vinakras, where she attended several meetings and launched a renovated courtyard in the evening.
POP TV later presented leaked emails showing a vice-president of Pivec's party had arranged the details of both the official and private parts of the visit.
Prime Minister Janez Janša yesterday defended Pivec, saying on Twitter that "It is expected of members of the government of the Republic Slovenia like everywhere else in the normal world that they will promote domestic companies, entrepreneurs and farmers, their products and destinations. The more the better."
The cooperative Vinakras today issued a press statement in which it rejected in the strongest terms the allegations of corruption as unacceptable and ill-willing.
It said the minister's visit had never been planned as the cooperative's promotion but rather for her to inaugurate a refurbished traditional farmyard, and to present the state of agriculture in Kras and the need to link agriculture and tourism.
Vinakras noted that the minister had also met the local mayors and farmers, viewed the farmyards and visited several other spots.
The release said that the video shot during the minister's visit featured several companies, young farmers and sights in the Kras area. "Our desire was in good faith to combine the recordings into a video presentation for remembrance and to present the actual state of agriculture and tourism in Kras."
STA, 27 July - The Human Rights Ombudsman has assessed that the failure to comply with the government decree on the mandatory use of face masks in enclosed public spaces cannot be penalised.
The ombudsman's opinion, issued on Monday, is based on an appeal by a citizen who does not agree with the mandatory use of face masks in closed public spaces being reintroduced on 25 June.
The citizen claims that there is no basis for the measure, because the state of emergency or epidemic has not been declared (again). She assesses the measure as a disproportionate encroachment upon the constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms.
The ombudsman's office said that while individuals had the right to have doubts about the effectiveness of face masks, these evaluations were in the domain of the epidemiologic profession.
This is why the decree also says that the government re-assesses every two weeks whether a specific anti-epidemic measure is still justified.
But the office noted that the decree on the mandatory use of face masks in enclosed public spaces had been adopted based on an article of the infectious diseases act which is only a general provision.
Fines for violations are meanwhile envisaged only for the failure to respect the measures adopted on the basis of a separate chapter of the infectious diseases act, it added.
It is because of this that, in the ombudsman's opinion, an individual who does not wear a face mask in an enclosed public space cannot be fined for committing an offence.
"Although the measure is worded as an obligation, it is an example of the so-called incomplete legal norm, for violations of which no penalties are envisaged," it said, noting that this was supported by a relevant decision of the Constitutional Court.
The office assessed that the government had opted to introduce mandatory wearing of masks without the possibility of penalty because it wanted to point to the duty of individuals to protect their own health and the health of others.
Considering this, the government is apparently aware that forced implementation of such an order would be ineffective or impossible, as the measure relates to all citizens and all enclosed public spaces.
"Possible sporadic penalising of only some of the violators would project an image of arbitrariness," the office concluded.
STA, 26 July 2020 - Slovenian authorities issued nearly 14,000 quarantine orders during the first wave of coronavirus infections from 12 March to 31 May. The government helped repatriate some 2,300 citizens, while fines imposed for beach of lockdown and quarantine rules exceeded EUR 100,000, a government report shows.
The report, adopted by the government on Thursday for the period of the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic, which formally ended on 31 May, shows that health inspectors processed more than 1,500 reported cases of suspected breach of the government-imposed lockdown rules and the health minister-issued orders.
Inspectors conducted more than 4,800 on-site inspections, issuing more than a hundred orders prohibiting the sale of goods and services. They imposed more than 850 fines totalling over EUR 100,000.
Get the latest covid statistics for Slovenia here
The police referred a total of 13,992 quarantine order motions to the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), most of them for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (6,439) and Slovenia (4,731). Under the NIJZ's guidance, the civil protection accommodated 50 persons in hotel quarantines.
The police conducted 189,475 checks under the ban on gatherings and movement, acting on 2,534 reported cases and establishing violations in 8,458 cases. They referred 6,957 cases to health inspectors, issued 5,500 warnings and orders, while finding 88 cases of breach of public order and peace law.
However, the police did not ascertain a single instance of criminal offence of transmission of an infectious disease.
During the epidemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs helped 800 Slovenian citizens stranded abroad to return home in organised groups, assisting an additional 1,500 to return on their own. The government organised 24 repatriation transports by air and bus.
Between 14 March and 25 May, the police supervised the transport of 66,729 lorries across Slovenia's territory, 24,567 of them headed for Croatia and on to other countries, and a further 42,162 en route toward Hungary and further on.
These were conducted in 35 convoys of 1,428 lorries crossing Slovenia from the border with Italy to the border with Hungary, and 115 convoys numbering a total of 4,891 trucks that crossed Slovenia from Italy to the Croatian border.
According to the national Covid-19 tracking site, Slovenia had recorded 1,473 coronavirus cases by the formal end of the epidemic on 31 May, along with 108 fatalities, with two more deaths added for April later on. By midnight on 25 July, the case count had risen to 2,082, including 116 fatalities.
One of the challenges in the epidemic was securing sufficient number of hospital beds. A field hospital and a mobile medical unit were set up at the Edvard Peperko army barracks on the outskirts of Ljubljana providing a total of 120 beds, including 40 beds for gravelly ill.
From the end of February to the end of May, more than 35 million items of various equipment were dispatched from the national logistics centre in Roje on Ljubljana's outskirts.
The relief effort between 13 march and 30 May involved 205,092 disaster protection, rescue and aid staff or an average of 2,596 a day.
Slovenia also helped other countries, providing an estimated EUR 110,000 worth of personal protective equipment to North Macedonia, EUR 133,000 in material aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina via the EU's civil protection mechanism, and helping Italy's Friuli Venezia Giulia region with 500 protective garments.
As education moved into the virtual realm, schools provided more than 4,000 computers to disadvantaged kids and the Ministry of Education in addition collected more than 1,300 computers and 950 modems with the help of donors.
The Slovenian Red Cross distributed more than 300 tonnes of food products from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived, as well as aid it had raised itself and with the help of donors. A further 62,421 people benefited from material and psychological and social aid provided by Slovenian Caritas.
STA, 25 July 2020 - The traditional Russian Chapel commemoration below the Vršič Pass was held on Saturday, with the keynote speaker, National Council president Alojz Kovšca calling for solidarity among nations. He said that a new opportunity was arising for nations to get connected in the efforts to preserve peace and coexistence.
"Let us persist in determination that we have learned a lot of good lessons from history so that we do not repeat past mistakes. Let us join our powers, knowledge and influence so that peace stays and that friendship gets strengthened and upgraded," Kovšca said.
"If not for those who sacrificed their lives, let us have in mind those who come after us. Let these be happy generations who have the privilege to live in reconciliation and friendship and for whom cosmopolitanism is that original drive for preserving peace at any cost."
The small chapel on the mountain road above Kranjska Gora (NW) pays tribute to Slovenian-Russian friendship and this year the idea of the ceremony was to point to solidarity and connectedness between nations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"If solidarity failed in the last few months where it had been most expected, this time all of us have been given the opportunity to call it back", Kovšca said, labelling the Slovenian-Russian relations as friendly and going beyond a mere political inclination.
"The Russian Federation is an important economic and strategic partner for Slovenia, and we also must not overlook the cultural and artistic connections. We together can be proud of that," he added.
The Russian Chapel was constructed 104 years ago to honour Russian POWs in the First World War who were killed by an avalanche while being forced to build the mountain road above Kranjska Gora in north-western Slovenia.
On the Slovenian side, the main guests of the ceremony which was scaled back due to anti-epidemic measures, were President Borut Pahor, parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič and several government ministers.
Pahor said the friendship and cooperation between Slovenia and Russia remained solid and sincere and that Slovenia would always strive for good relations with Russia, "although we have some differing views and we are not allies in the military sense."
"But it seems right to me that we try to cherish traditionally good ties with all nations, including Russians, because there is never enough friendship in the world," the president was quoted by the public Radio Slovenija.
Unlike the previous years, the ceremony organised by the Russian Embassy, the municipality of Kranjska Gora, the Russkiy Mir foundation and the Slovenia-Russia Association did not feature high-profile representatives from Russia.
At the ceremony, the Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Tikhon Zaytsev, the Major Archbishop of the Diocese of Berlin and Germany.
The event, which used to be attended by thousands of people in past years, was preceded by a church mass in Kranjska Gora on Friday, and is followed by a meeting of members of the Slovenia-Russia Association.
STA, 25 July 2020 - Russian Ambassador to Slovenia Timur Eyvazov has discussed the Slovenian-Russian relations in an interview for Večer. Asked about the reproaches during the term of the previous government about Slovenian foreign policy being pro-Russian oriented, he said he would not agree with such assessments.
"Slovenia is a member of the EU and NATO and, as far as I know, implements its commitments as part of these organisations one hundred percent," Eyvazov said in the interview the Maribor-based paper published on Saturday.
"At the same time, the Slovenian leadership has always understood, in our opinion, that good relations with Russia suit the interests of both the European Union and Slovenia," he added.
The ambassador believes that this is a framework within which it is possible to develop constructive relations with Russia. "We absolutely support such ambition by Slovenia, because it is also good for Russia to have good relationship with the EU and Slovenia."
Eyvazov is convinced that Slovenia and Russia could boost bilateral trade, which could, in his opinion, go up to two billion euros or more.
He sees many areas in which Russian and Slovenian technologies and capacities could work in synergy in order to produce very competitive products, which could be sold in third markets.
Eyvazov noted that the Russian market provided the opportunity for Slovenian entrepreneurs to enter the market of the Eurasian Economic Community. "This is a market of more than 200 million people and total GDP exceeding two trillion US dollars."
In the interview published on the occasion of the Russian Chapel ceremony below the Vršič Pass, the ambassador also talked about the Slovenian retailer, a part of the failed Croatian conglomerate Agrokor, which has ended up in a majority Russian ownership.
Eyvazov said that Russia was closely monitoring the situation in Mercator and Agrokor, which is owned by the bank Sberbank.
According to him, Russia understands the great importance of Mercator for the Slovenian economy. "We understand that there are a lot of Slovenian suppliers who, of course, must preserve the opportunity to get to the end buyer through Mercator."
But the ambassador noted that the Russian side did not really understand some of the actions by Slovenian institutions, in what is a reference to the competition watchdog's decision to temporarily seize Mercator shares.
"We have shown a lot of patience," he said, adding that "on the other hand, Sberbank is a state-owned bank which keeps the money of the Russian state, which is why we need to invest all effort to protect our own interests."
The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 24 July 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Fajon should move SD to left
STA, 24 July 2020 - Mladina takes a look at the left-aisle political parties in Friday's editorial, in particular Social Democrats (SD) interim leader Tanja Fajon, who, the left-wing weekly says, has the potential to consolidate the party, but also faces numerous challenges.
The SD is taking the lead on the left, as shown by opinion polls two months in a row, but the question remains whether the party truly belongs to the left-wing, says Mladina, noting that historically speaking, the SD is a leftist party, but neoliberal views and alleged involvement in controversial deals have cast a shadow on its policies and integrity.
Selecting Fajon as the new SD leader has been a good choice and not too risky since she is "a full-blooded politician", ambitious and popular, with MEP experience that have given her a wider perspective.
The paper also points out that Fajon is the only Slovenian MEP so far to have climbed quite high in the political hierarchy of the European Parliament.
Nevertheless, she is faced with various challenges. "Both other leading left parties are much stronger in terms of their programmes and ideologies even though they are weaker regarding staff".
Fajon is unlikely to tackle the party's unresolved issues or to reform it right away, but she still needs to move it to the left.
"That will not be easy since the moment she does that, the party's sinecure interests, which are aplenty, would be threatened. But if she fails to do that, voters' support would be quick to vanish."
Her potential downfall could also be instigated by hubris or having a thin skin as a politician, typical traits in Slovenian politics, says the editorial, headlined An Opportunity for Tanja Fajon.
"Gradually it will become clear who will be Fajon's right-hand persons inside and outside the party," argues editor-in-chief Grega Repovž, adding that such choices always indicate the future of a politician.
Reporter: Why Janša wants to subjugate RTV Slovenija
STA, 20 July 2020 - The right-leaning magazine Reporter finds in the latest editorial that PM Janez Janša wants to subjugate the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, just like leftist governments before him have.
Editor-in-chief Silvester Šurla opens his piece headlined Golobič Looking for a New Drnovšek by saying that Gregor Golobič, an influential secretary general during the decade-long rule of the Liberal Democrats (LDS), "is said to be feverishly looking for a new Janez Drnovšek. Yet another 'new face' with realistic chances of defeating Janša's SDS in the election."
The reference is to Slovenia's late leader who as LDS chairman served as prime minister for a decade before going on to become Slovenia's president.
Šurla says the "deep state's scenario" is to call a vote of no confidence in the Janša government by putting forward a new PM-designate this autumn, followed by an early election next spring.
This is why he believes that if the third Janša government does not fall by the end of the year, it will stay on until the regular election in the first half of 2022.
Šurla notes the growing discontent among the membership of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) as well as the "slippery slope" Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek stands on, not only because of the controversy surrounding the procurement of medical supplies, but also because the Administrative Court has upheld the anti-graft watchdog's findings that his meetings with Janez Zemljarič, the boss of the Communist-era secret police turned lobbyist, had been unlawful.
Šurla writes that Janša appears to be aware of how critical the situation is, which is why he is trying to turn all the attacks on his government and his person to his own advantage, portraying himself in public as a victim of the deep state.
A bigger threat to him than the weak opposition is the law enforcement authorities and the media, hence the replacements and legislative changes.
"The clash for the media is a clash for power. Any pretence is superfluous," writes Šurla, adding that unlike in Hungary or Serbia, the ruling regime no longer controls key media in Slovenia, like Milan Kučan or Janez Drnovšek or 'new faces' coming after them used to do.
Noting that Janša has been taking control of the media when in power, and that he has also been founding his own, he says the "biggest subject of political desire is now (again) RTV Slovenija. The large outsized media mammoth, which even after the change of regime has mostly served the political interests of the left (...).
"No matter what he says, Janša does not really want to depoliticise RTV, but rather subjugate it as much as possible, similarly as leftist governments were subjugating it more or less successfully during the transition.
"The incumbent prime minister is one of the many Slovenian politicians who have a perverted attitude to the media. Those are considered independent and objective only when they report in his favour or to the detriment of his political rivals."
All our posts in this series are here
What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.
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FRIDAY, 17 July
FRANKFURT, Germany - Fitch affirmed Slovenia's credit rating of A with a stable outlook. The rating agency forecast that the country's GDP would shrink by 7.1% this year, growing by 4.9% next year and another 3.3% in 2022.
LJUBLJANA - Montenegro and Luxembourg were placed on Slovenia's red list of Covid-19 highly risky countries given their epidemiologic status. Croatia remained on the yellow list, which indicates a higher level of caution is advised.
LJUBLJANA - Early findings of the Information Commissioner inquiry into potentially problematic access to 45 politicians' personal data have not revealed systemic abuse. Only one police officer has so far been identified as having accessed such data without authorisation, the office said.
LJUBLJANA - Anti-government protests were held in several Slovenian cities for the 13th week running. In the capital some 3,000 protesters packed Prešeren Square and later stopped at RTV Slovenija to express their support for the public broadcaster in the light of the planned media reform. The protest culminated in a "people's assembly" in a bid to formulate clear demands.
LJUBLJANA - A group of human rights NGOs urged the government to treat Eritrean asylum seekers more fairly, pointing out that only three of 15 applications lodged by Eritreans who recently arrived in Slovenia had been granted. The Interior Ministry rejected the notion that its policy is unprofessional or politically motivated in any way.
SATURDAY, 18 July
LJUBLJANA - Health Minister Tomaž Gantar signed a two-year cooperation agreement with the regional office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for Europe. Cooperation is to focus on control of communicable and non-communicable disease and the strengthening of healthcare.
MONDAY, 20 July
BRDO PRI KRANJU - An event marked the 10th anniversary of Slovenia's membership of the OECD with Foreign Minister Anže Logar saying that joining the organisation offered the country an opportunity for new development achievements. OECD Secretary-General Jose Angel Gurria, addressing the event by video call, said he was confident Slovenia would exit the current crisis stronger.
PARIS, France - The OECD's latest economic survey praised Slovenia's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and urged the state to continue providing support measures for the economy until growth is fully restored. But as stimulus measures are gradually being wound down, the economy may need a fiscal stimulus to prevent a possible spike in bankruptcies and unemployment, it said.
LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar discussed the rule of law and the EU's new rule of law mechanism with European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders in a videoconference, focussing on the anticipated first rule of law report by the EU Commission. The pair talked about approaching Slovenia's EU Council presidency as well.
LJUBLJANA - RTV Slovenija's programming council did not back the public broadcaster's changed financial and production plans for 2020, which the leadership had prepared in response to the coronavirus. The no-vote could put RTV Slovenija in a dire financial situation amid concerns that the government is trying to undermine it with a controversial media reform.
LJUBLJANA - The latest Vox Populi public opinion poll, carried by Večer and Dnevnik, showed little change at the top of the party rankings. The ruling SDS polled at 22.7%, the same as the month before, with the opposition SocDems down half a point to 14.7%, having jumped by seven points in the previous month. The government's approval rating was at 48.5%, up slightly from June.
TUESDAY, 21 July
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Prime Minister Janez Janša said Slovenia was pleased with the outcome of the EU budget talks since Slovenia is eligible for EUR 10.5 billion over the next seven years, of which EUR 6.6 billion in grants. He also rejected the perception that the rule of law discussion at the EU summit was about Slovenia siding with Hungary and Poland. Instead, he said, it was about clarifying the concept.
LJUBLJANA - The registered unemployment rate in Slovenia in May, when some of the lockdown measures related to the coronavirus epidemic were relaxed, stood at 9.3%, which is 0.2 of a percentage point more than in April, the Employment Service said. The registered unemployment rate in May was up by 1.4 percentage points compared to February, the last full month before the restrictive anti-epidemic measures were introduced.
KOPER - Austria launched an honorary consulate in the city of Koper, its second after Maribor. It will be headed by Honorary Consul Urška Svetlik, a business executive. The opening of the consulate illustrates the importance Austria attributes to Koper and the entire western region of Primorska, Austrian Ambassador to Slovenia Sigrid Berka said on the occasion.
WEDNESDAY, 22 July
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - The presidents of Slovenia and Slovakia, Borut Pahor and Zuzana Čaputova, welcomed the EU budget deal as they held talks in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The presidents discussed bilateral cooperation and later opened a business forum focusing on green technologies that featured 34 companies and institutions from both countries.
BUDAPEST, Hungary - Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec visited Budapest for talks with Hungarian ministers of foreign affairs and innovation and technology, Peter Szijjarto and Laszlo Palkovics. Vrtovec said economic cooperation could be further upgraded with energy and road infrastructure projects, such as the Cirkovce-Pince electric power line.
BRDO PRI KRANJU - Following the EU summit deal, the government set up two task forces to make sure the country phases all the funds available to it. It was announced that mayors and regional development agencies would be involved in the drafting of the national recovery plan, which the government intends to adopt by the end of August.
LJUBLJANA - After a year and a half of calls for redefining rape in the penal code, the Justice Ministry said that legislative changes had been drafted. Their aim is to embed the consent standard in criminal law, making every non-consensual sexual act a punishable offence.
THURSDAY, 23 July
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission expressed concerned about the media legislation planned by the Slovenian government. Presenting the most recent Media Pluralism Monitor report, Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova said Slovenia should not follow in Hungary's footsteps when it came to media ownership.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia announced it planned to sign a Joint Declaration on 5G Security with the United States, which could curb the involvement of China's Huawei in the deployment of the fifth generation wireless communication networks in the country. The government submitted the declaration to the National Assembly.
LJUBLJANA - A total of 935 tests for Covid-19 were performed in Slovenia on Wednesday, which confirmed 27 new infections, making for a total of 136 cases in the past seven days. There were 24 patients hospitalised with Covid-19, including two in intensive care. The death increased by four in a week to 115.
LJUBLJANA/VIENNA, Austria - Slovenia and Austria agreed to try out joint surveillance of the shared border using technology such as cameras and drones, as Interior Minister Aleš Hojs held talks with his Austrian counterpart Karl Nehammer at a conference on migrations along the Balkan route.
LJUBLJANA - The government extended the subsidised furlough scheme by another month until the end of August with Labour Minister Janez Cigler Kralj saying the measure was still deemed needed despite an improvement in the labour market.
WARSAW, Poland - Visiting Poland, Foreign Minister Anže Logar met his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz and EU Affairs Minister Konrad Szymanski. The officials reaffirmed good relations between Poland and Slovenia, with Logar expressing interest in continuing and strengthening cooperation between the Visegrad Four and Slovenia. Czaputowicz said that Slovenia and the Visegrad countries achieved success together at the recent EU summit.
LJUBLJANA - Telekom Slovenije said it had started setting up the country's first commercial 5G networks using its existing base stations and within the existing 2600MHz frequency spectrum used in 4G. Coverage will initially be provided in about 25% of the country but is expected to exceed to 33% by the end of the year.
All our posts in this series are here
STA, 24 July 2020 - The Slovenian capital witnessed anti-government protests for the 14th consecutive Friday, with a new focus this time on women's rights.
The protesters, many of them on bicycles, gathered in Prešeren Square before doing a round of Ljubljana's centre, calling at government departments and other spots on the way.
As in the weeks before, participants carried banners expressing discontent with the government. Some were shouting slogans such as "Down with capital" "We won't give in" and calling for a world in which everyone will be able to live a decent life.
The demonstrators did a round of the ministries of health and interior affairs, as well as RTV Slovenija where they expressed their support for the public broadcaster service.
Like the week before, the protest was to wrap up with a "popular assembly" in Prekmurski Trg square, as the participants decided to form their demands and expectations for Slovenia's future.
Protestniki so oboroženi s številnimi transparenti, ki izražajo nezadovoljstvo s trenutno vlado. #protest pic.twitter.com/yut8YpffCv
— Gorazd Kosmač (@kosmacg) July 24, 2020
"Za ribe, za ptice, za delavske pravice", vzklika del protestnikov z okoljevarstveno noto. #protest pic.twitter.com/JfU98cRChu
— Gorazd Kosmač (@kosmacg) July 24, 2020
Mimo Gimnazije Ledina. #protest pic.twitter.com/PGioO1NU9e
— Gorazd Kosmač (@kosmacg) July 24, 2020
Part of the protesters gathered already in the afternoon to call for zero tolerance of sexual harassment and violence against women and expressing support for the MeToo movement.
Those protesters, mostly women, carried slogans saying "yes means yes" to call for a redefinition of rape and crimes against sexual inviolability based on the consent standard.
Trade unionist Tea Jarc made a speech in favour of a ban on Sunday shopping after the government lifted the ban imposed at the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
The pro-government counter-protesters that have become a new feature in recent weeks announced on Twitter today that they would mix amongst the anti-government protesters to conduct a "monitoring" to "identify left extremists".
Protest campaigns were also held in some other Slovenian towns, including Maribor, Piran and Velenje.
STA, 23 July 2020 - Slovenia and Austria have agreed to try out joint surveillance of the shared border using technology such as cameras and drones, as Interior Minister Aleš Hojs held talks with his Austrian counterpart Karl Nehammer at a conference on migrations along the Balkan route.
The trial will "examine the possibility of effective cooperation in joint border surveillance and the transfer of these practices to the Slovenian-Croatian border, which is more prone to migration pressure," reads a press release from the Interior Ministry.
The meeting came at a conference on migrations featuring the home ministers of 18 countries at which it was decided to set up a platform to fight illegal migration on the Balkan route.
The platform, headquartered in Vienna, will facilitate coordination in four segments: border surveillance, return of migrants who are not eligible for asylum, the fight against smugglers of migrants, and the creation of faster and more efficient asylum procedures.
Hojs was quoted as having expressed concern about the situation regarding migrations, which he said was similar than in 2015. In view of abuses of asylum procedure, he urged the ministers to "examine their asylum systems and take advantage of methods to prevent abuse".
"In the past Slovenia adopted several measures that we are now stepping up. Changes to penal law are ready, and we are changing the foreigners act and the international protection act to make procedures more efficient," he said.
Hojs also stressed that protection of external borders was crucial in managing migrations through Western Balkans.
"The commitment that we are going to make in the joint statement - that countries will to a greater extent support the member states on the EU's external border - is therefore all the more important. Slovenia is definitely willing to do this to an even greater extent than so far," the minister was quoted as saying.
Hojs held several bilateral meetings on the margins of the conference, including with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and the head of the European Asylum Support Office, Nina Gregori.
STA, 23 July 2020 - Visiting Poland, Foreign Minister Anže Logar met his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz and EU Affairs Minister Konrad Szymanski on Thursday. The officials reaffirmed good relations between Poland and Slovenia, with Logar expressing satisfaction about Slovenia's successful cooperation with the Visegrad Group.
Logar thanked Czaputowicz for Poland's assistance in repatriating Slovenians stranded abroad in the midst of air travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The gesture, attesting to solidarity and friendship between the two countries, will always be remembered with gratitude in Slovenia," said Logar.
The pair highlighted successful economic cooperation between Poland and Slovenia. Trade amounts to almost EUR 2 billion. Logar and Czaputowicz pointed to the untapped potential of collaboration in terms transport infrastructure in central Europe, said the Foreign Ministry.
Minister @AnzeLog in minister #Czaputowicz sta v Varšavi potrdila odlične odnose med ?? in ?? ter se strinjala, da je regionalno sodelovanje v srednji Evropi pomemben vzvod v #EU, ki lahko prispeva k različnim evropskim politikam. #StrongerTogether2020 #ThreeSeasInitiative #V4+ pic.twitter.com/IsMqQiliaq
— SLOVENIAN MFA (@MZZRS) July 23, 2020
Logar also highlighted the importance of integrating the Port of Koper in the future Baltic-Adriatic railway corridor, a part of the planned Pan-European transport network which will represent a state-of-the-art railway axis between the two countries.
The Slovenian foreign minister expressed interest in continuing and strengthening cooperation between the Visegrad Four and Slovenia in the future.
During a meeting with Szymanski, Logar presented the priorities of Slovenia's approaching EU Council presidency, including EU enlargement to the Western Balkans.
Both ministers expressed support for the process, agreeing that stimulating circumstances had to be fostered to promote the development of the region.
The pair also discussed migration strategies in Europe. They were of the same opinion that ways of expressing solidarity could be various and that the issue should be tackled in cooperation with source countries.
The Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported today that Czaputowicz noted Polish and Slovenian prime ministers, Mateusz Morawiecki and Janez Janša, "collaborated effectively" during the recent EU summit.
"We achieved success together. Slovenia joined the group of Visegrad countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia), and the result of this summit is our common achievement," Czaputowicz said according to PAP.
Czaputowicz said that Slovenia was becoming an important partner of Poland as a result of "certain political processes" taking place in Slovenia.
