The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 17 March 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: How the SDS is like the Communist Party

STA, 17 April 2020 – The left-wing weekly Mladina takes a look at what it sees as Janez Janša's Democrats' (SDS) obsession with Communism, pinpointing several SDS features which in fact make it resemble a true Communist Party.

It is really oppressive and depressing to listen to the lies about Communism which the SDS is constantly serving to the public.

It's 2020 and they are still going on about Communist media and Communist leaders, the weekly magazine says on Friday.

This could partly be understood if almost all former Slovenian Communist Party officials who are still active in politics were not in the SDS.

Editor-in-chief Grega Repovž says there are currently three former Communist Party officials in the upper echelons of Slovenian politics.

They are Modern Centre Party (SMC) leader Zdravko Počivalšek, who was not a very ambitious Party member, President Borut Pahor, who was ambitious, and Janša, an ambitious and inquisitive young Communist whose character was not entirely to the Party's liking so it expelled him.

The SDS obviously believes that obsessing with Communism will make it win some legitimacy abroad, whereas it only disgraces itself.

All serious people know that only populists, converts and those having a hard time reconciling with reality are promoting "this East European litany".

"Nevertheless, we are grateful to PM Janša, postmen Uroš Urbanija [acting Government Communication Office boss], and FM Anže Logar for the cable sent to the Council of Europe [about Slovenian media with a Communist bias], because we do not have to explain abroad any more what kind of government is in power in Slovenia."

Mladina says the SDS has several features in common with the Party, listing among other things the hounding of those who disagree with it and the personality cult.

It argues the SDS is a movie-like version of the Communist Party the SDS portrays in its cables and descriptions of the situation in Slovenia.

Whenever the SDS has come to power it seems that when Slovenia left Communism behind to embrace democracy, the SDS did not actually want democracy but merely to take power away from the Communist Party.

The SDS is right in that whenever it comes to power, Slovenia returns 30 years back, Mladina concludes the editorial And When Will We Have "Youth Day"?

Demokracija: The pitfalls of green policies exposed by Covid-19

STA, 16 April 2020 – The right-wing Demokracija magazine makes a case against green policies promoting renewables, saying on Thursday the coronavirus crisis has shown how attempts to make urban areas green, including by promoting public transport as opposed to cars, are misguided.

Wanting to turn urban centres into countryside-like places is a time bomb in that bringing wildlife to cities increases the chances of viruses being transmitted to humans.

Although the novel coronavirus is not necessarily such a case, such behaviour represents a highly risky interaction between nature and urban areas, to which the majority of national and global officials who want to build a green agenda with billions in taxpayer money turn a blind eye.

"The zeal to make urban areas green has reached psychopathic proportions in the fight against global warming," says editor-in-chief Jože Biščak.

He says that the expulsion of personal vehicles from city centres forced many people to use public transport amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths recorded in Madrid, Milan, Paris or New York, yet media agitators and progressive politicians continue to wave the green flag.

"Those who use public transportation know the effect of being packed like sardines; immense crowds using public transport services have proved to be a deadly variant of exaggerated green thinking," the weekly says under the headline The Effect of Packed Sardines.

Nevertheless, the European Commission launched a public debate on the strategy of sustainable finance as part of its multi-billion euro Green Deal.

But Biščak says the smart EU countries have not responded to it, because they know the recession to stem from the pandemic is a much bigger threat to people's prosperity.

Demokracija says the EU's energy policy based on renewables will have to change because no EU country will probably be able to afford the green luxury after the economy contracts, especially because the western civilisation's prosperity is built on cheap fossil fuel, which is right now emerging as a straw that could help restart the economy and save jobs.

All our posts in this series are here

All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian and Slovenia-based artists. Today it’s |Andy Green. You can see more of his work here.

Contents

Confirmed infections up by 36 to 1,304, death toll by 5 to 66

Coronavirus situation in Šmarje pri Jelšah stabilising

Govt ordered to check justification of restrictions on movement every week

After lockdown, Slovenians to visit relatives, get their hair done

Confirmed infections up by 36 to 1,304, death toll by 5 to 66

STA, 17 April 2020 - Slovenia recorded five new Covid-19 deaths on Thursday for a total death toll of 66, while the number of confirmed infections after 1,193 more people were tested was up by 36 to 1,304. The number of new cases is in line with the trend of a flat curve with occasional dips.

The number of hospitalised patients was down by four to 95 on Thursday, while the number of intensive care cases decreased by three to 28. Nine Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital.

"The data on the epidemic in Slovenia are encouraging. We'll be able to preserve the positive trend if we continue observing the measures and keep the focus that we've all demonstrated in the past weeks," the government's coronavirus spokesperson Jelko Kacin told the press on Friday.

A total of 39,330 people have been tested in Slovenia so far. 182 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from hospital.

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Coronavirus situation in Šmarje pri Jelšah stabilising

STA, 17 April 2020 - Good news is coming from one of the coronavirus hotspots in the country, Šmarje pri Jelšah in the north-east, where the local care home saw the biggest outbreak of Covid-19. Just over a month since the first infection was recorded in the municipality, the situation seems to be finally stabilising, according to Mayor Matija Čakš.

Šmarje pri Jelšah was the first town in Slovenia to close its primary school on 12 March after two employees tested positive for coronavirus. After that, the number of infections in the municipality rose quickly, and the virus spread the most in the town's care home, which reported of the first infection on 18 March.

Until this Wednesday, 155 people from the municipality got infected, data from the National Institute for Public Health show. Most of them are residents of the care home, but the exact figure is not known.

The number of infections rose by six in a week, having stood at 149 on 8 April.

According to the mayor, all of those who died from Covid-19 in the municipality - their number stood at 25 on Wednesday - were residents of the care home.

Outside the home, the number of infections does not particularly stand out, Čakš said. The number of coronavirus cases is slightly higher in Šmarje compared to other municipalities because of the number of cases tested, he added.

He said there had been no major problems because of Covid-19 outside the care home, as citizens accepted restrictions, and now the situation seems to be stabilising. "The situation is also stabilising at the care home," he asserted.

The mayor said there were many theories about the outbreak of coronavirus in the municipality but the fact was that the Šmarje primary school is the fourth largest in the country, and that many families had been holidaying abroad.

The employees of the care home who first tested positive for the virus are not local residents, so the infection has come from elsewhere, the mayor added, noting that there was no sense in investigating this now.

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Govt ordered to check justification of restrictions on movement every week

STA, 17 April 2020 - The Constitutional Court has ordered the government to immediately verify the justification for restrictions on the movement of persons put in place to contain the spread of coronavirus, whereupon it must examine every week whether the government decree imposing these restrictions is still justifiable.

The decision, released on Friday, refers to the most far-reaching government decree to combat the crisis, which was adopted on 29 March and amended on 14 April and effectively put the entire country into lockdown, allowing only limited exemptions to the prohibition of movement, including going to work, the grocery store or the nearest park.

The court has now suspended Article 7 of the decree, which determines that the measures will be in place "until the cessation of the reasons", a provision which gives the government the discretion to decide when to end the measures. The suspension will remain in place until the judges reach a substantive decision.

In the meantime, the government must verify the justification for the extension of the measures every week based on expert opinion to verify "whether the measures are necessary for the achievement of the objectives". The first such assessment must be made as soon as the decision is formally served to the government.

The court says it realises that the decree will cease to apply at some point anyway, but it says that it admitted the application nevertheless since it raises "important issues concerning constitutional law".

Interestingly, it has not been revealed who petitioned the court, as the petitioner requested the Constitutional Court that the petition be anonymised. The court said that conditions for this had been met and the petition was thus anonymised.

The government previously said that the petition had no grounds and asked the court to reject it to avoid irreparable consequences for public health. Interior Ministry said in a statement today that it supported the court's decision, adding that this is already being done daily.

"We did the right thing! The suspended segment is not problematic," tweeted Interior Minister Aleš Hojs. "The government will simply have to determine regularly whether the decree is still needed, extending or abolishing it, as dictated by the Constitution."

The opposition welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court, with the Social Democrats (SD) saying that Hojs's statement was misleading, as it was clear that the Constitutional Court had not yet discussed the contents of the decree.

The Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) questioned the sensibility of the movement restrictions, saying that the "lively Saturday", when people allegedly flocked from the cities to tourist destinations and was the reason for the restriction, had not been so lively after all, judging by the number of new infections.

The party was also critical of President Borut Pahor and interior and defence ministers Hojs and Matej Tonin, for ignoring social distancing rules while visiting the southern border earlier this week.

"Their excuse is that it was a slip. But when ordinary people slipped this way... they did not get a chance to apologise and do better next time. They were punished immediately: with the movement restriction, some also with fines," LMŠ said.

The Left also welcomed the Constitutional Court's decision, adding that it will petition the court on Monday to examine coronavirus stimulus package provisions giving more powers to the police.

The Left also intends to ask the court to review the government decree adopted in Wednesday, which the Left says restricts movement between municipalities on the basis of the mentioned act.

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After lockdown, Slovenians to visit relatives, get their hair done

STA, 17 April 2020 - One out of three Slovenians believes life will get back to normal after 1 June, a poll conducted by Aragon suggests, with most respondents planning to visit their close relatives and friends.

The latest of Aragon's weekly polls, conducted between 9 and 13 April among 1,027 respondents, shows a third of those questioned expecting life after the lockdown to get back to normal after 1 June.

Meanwhile, 16% believe life will return to normal after 1 July, whereas 12% do not expect the situation to return to the way it had been before the epidemic until 2021 or even later.

Asked about their short-term plans once stay-at-home measures are lifted, half of respondents plan to visit their close relatives first, and one out of three will visit their close friends.

One out of four will call on their hairdresser as soon as the quarantine is over, or take a day trip and socialise at picnics or parties.

There is more gloom when it comes to the prospect of holidays with 60% saying they did not think they would be able to take their summer holidays as they used to.

The poll also ascertained a decline in public apprehension about coronavirus with those concerned about Covid-19 falling to 37% from 51% in the last week of March.

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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, 10 April
        LJUBLJANA - Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj hailed the agreement reached by EU finance ministers on a fiscal package to combat the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic as a step in the right direction. Šircelj said member states had different views but managed to close ranks and forge a compromise.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor commented on a cable sent by Slovenia to the Council of Europe (CoE) in response to a warning about pressure on the media by saying it made sense to wait for an official explanation by the prime minister and foreign minister to see if the letter's content was in fact Slovenia's official position.
        LJUBLJANA - Reviewing cooperation between Slovenia and the Holy See, Foreign Minister Anže Logar and Apostolic Nuncio Jean-Marie Speich agreed that bilateral relations should be deepened. Logar pointed to the importance of spiritual care in the time of the coronavirus pandemic.
        LJUBLJANA - The public health insurer ZZZS said it expects the coronavirus crisis to slash its revenue by around EUR 215 million this year, while higher expenditure is expected on top of that, to the tune of EUR 30 million due to higher sick leave costs alone.
        BRNIK - More than twenty tonnes of protective equipment, including face masks for medical staff, was delivered from China to the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, one of the largest such shipments since the start of the coronavirus crisis.
        LJUBLJANA - A new regulation entered into force requiring consumers above the age of 65 to prove their age with an identity card to enter grocery shops during dedicated opening hours.

SATURDAY, 11 April
        LJUBLJANA - Alojz Uran, who served as the Archbishop of Ljubljana in 2004-2009, a time of significant financial turmoil for the Church, died at the age of 75. Uran was named the Archbishop of Ljubljana in October 2004, succeeding Archbishop Franc Rode, and resigned in November 2009, officially due to health problems.
        BRDO PRI KRANJU/LJUBLJANA - The government met to discuss guidelines for additional measures to mitigate the effect of the coronavirus epidemic on the economy, with PM Janez Janša announcing that put all measures for securing liquidity of companies would be combined into a single package.
        LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a decree which shortens the quarantine period for persons entering Slovenia to one week from two weeks. They can spend the time at home or at a location agreed with the civil defence. The decree entered into force on 12 April.
        LJUBLJANA - About a month after the government of Janez Janša was sworn in, a poll commissioned by the newspaper Delo showed that more than 43% of the respondents assessed the government's work as positive. But the high support did not reflect in support for the coalition parties.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor told Dnevnik in an interview that he intended to end his political career after his term ends in 2022.

SUNDAY, 12 April
        LJUBLJANA - The Trade Union of Police Officers appealed to Interior Minister Aleš Hojs and acting Police Commissioner Anton Travner to immediately recall face masks that had been supplied to the police due to their questionable efficiency in protecting against COVID-19 infection after police has concluded the supplies are not certified protective shields but hygienic masks meant for non-medical purposes.

MONDAY, 13 April
        BRNIK - A new shipment of protective equipment from China was delivered to the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, including 20 tonnes of protective masks, goggles and suits for medical staff, and protective gloves. The delivery was made by Public Digital Infrastructure, a company owned by gaming millionaire Joc Pečečnik, under a EUR 30 million-plus contract with the state.
        
TUESDAY, 14 April
        WASHINGTON, US - The IMF forecast Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink by 8% this year compared to 2019 as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic in what is a drastic downgrade compared to the projection from last autumn, when Slovenia was forecast to record 2.9% GDP growth.
        LJUBLJANA - The government appointed lawyer and security expert Janez Stušek the new director of the SOVA intelligence and security agency, effective on 15 April. The five-year term comes with the option of re-appointment.
        LJUBLJANA - The government's chief medical advisor for the coronavirus epidemic, Bojana Beović, said Slovenia would not be able to start relaxing lockdown measures this week as yet, stressing the easing would depend on when the health authorities determined the epidemic was tailing off.
        LJUBLJANA - Figures released by the National Institute of Public Health showed that more than 80% of people who died of coronavirus in Slovenia were older than 75 years and almost 60% were older than 85. All the deceased were older than 45, but the number of deaths rose with age.
        LJUBLJANA - A contentious letter sent by the government to the Council of Europe (CoE) to claim the majority of the main media in Slovenia stem from the Communist regime was defended by Foreign Minister Anže Logar in parliament as it was discussed by the foreign policy and culture committees. The letter was a response to an alert issued by the CoE Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists after PM Janez Janša tweeted that the public broadcaster was misleading the public and indicated that some of its staff should lose their jobs.
        LJUBLJANA - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs indicated the coalition could tighten asylum legislation, including by using some of the proposals of the Miro Cerar government and mindful of a European Court of Human Rights's ruling that migrants who do not enter the country lawfully could be turned back.
        LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Tourist Board (STO) said it expected the tourism sector to see a 60-70% contraction this year if the relaxation of lockdown measures starts in June. If the restrictions last longer, the contraction is expected to be even sharper, STO director Maja Pak said.
        LJUBLJANA - Several companies, including household appliances maker Gorenje and sports goods maker Elan, which had suspended their production due to the coronavirus epidemic started gradually restarting operations and joining those that have only partly shut down or have not closed shop at all.

WEDNESDAY, 15 April
        ČRNOMELJ - President Borut Pahor and the defence and interior ministers, Matej Tonin and Aleš Hojs, visited the southern border area along the Kolpa river to call for the military to be given limited police powers, arguing that stronger joint border patrols were supported by the army and police, and the locals in the area.
        LJUBLJANA - Miroslav Petrovec, the head of the Institute for Microbiology and Immunology, announced a random population testing for coronavirus on a sample of 1,000-1,500 residents to get a reliable estimate of the scope of the coronavirus epidemic in the country. The nation-wide testing is expected to begin next week.
        BRUSSELS, Belgium - The coronavirus crisis has shown Slovenia urgently needs a transport plane, Defence Minister Matej Tonin said after a videoconference of NATO defence ministers. The ministry has already initiated procedures, requested input from the military and formed a working group that will examine all acquisition options.
        LJUBLJANA - Interior Ministry State Secretary Franc Breznik offered his resignation after he was caught speeding and drunk driving on 2 April. Interior Minister Aleš Hojs accepted the resignation the following day.
        LJUBLJANA - The Interior Ministry proposed that the National Public Health Institute share citizens' personal data with the police to help contain the coronavirus epidemic. If the motion is endorsed, the police will be privy to the information about the quarantine duration and other anti-COVID-19 restrictions imposed on the individual.
        LJUBLJANA - A majority of the eight-member contingent of the Slovenian Armed Forces serving in the European Union Training Mission in Mali returned home after training tasks there were suspended and focus put on containing the spread of coronavirus. Five soldiers returned home three days after one infected Slovenian soldier had been airlifted home.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia sent a package of aid to Bosnia-Herzegovina via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to help the country fight the coronavirus pandemic. The package included ten tents, 60 field beds, 50 sleeping bags, ten heaters, 1,500 blankets, 100 pieces of cutlery and 20 waste bag stands.
        
THURSDAY, 16 April
        LJUBLJANA - The government appointed Brigadier Robert Glavaš the new chief of the general staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF).
        LJUBLJANA - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs told the press that the government plans to deploy soldiers if needed despite the fact that it was unable to muster the two-thirds majority in parliament to grant soldiers limited police powers to patrol the border. It plans to use a different legislative provision that allows a more limited form of deployment.
        LJUBLJANA - The government decided that hardware shops, car repair shops and showrooms will reopen on 20 April and hair and beauty salons on 4 May.
        LJUBLJANA - Police recorded 1,835 illegal crossings of the border in the first three months of the year, which is 6.5% more than in the same period last year. Most migrants came from Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan.
        MARIBOR - NKBM, Slovenia's second largest bank, reported a EUR 62.5 million net profit at group level and EUR 67.4 million at the level of the core bank for 2019, down EUR 10 million and EUR 8 million respectively on 2018.
        LJUBLJANA - The state-owned power group HSE reported EUR 29.7 million in net profit for last year, bouncing back from a EUR 11.8 million loss the year before after its subsidiary, the Šoštanj coal-fired power plant (TEŠ), posted its lowest loss since the contentious unit 6 became operational in 2015.
        LJUBLJANA - Economist and cultural studies expert Andrej Srakar said he was not thrilled with the government's measures taken so far to help the culture sector recover from the Covid-19 crisis but was nevertheless optimistic that the sector could recover within a year.
        MURSKA SOBOTA/LJUBLJANA - Hungary has donated seven pallets of protective equipment to the Murska Sobota hospital, including surgical masks, hazmat suits and disinfectants. Huawei Technologies provided 30,000 protective face masks and 100 tablet computers for disadvantaged children.
        LJUBLJANA - Amnesty International said in its latest report on human rights that Slovenia has failed to respect and protect the rights of migrants, while also pointing to what it believes is an inappropriate definition of rape, inadequate elderly care and treatment of the Roma.

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 16 April 2020 - The government on Thursday made early replacements of three members of the supervisory board of RTV Slovenija, the country's public broadcaster.

Matjaž Medved, Irena Ostrouška and Petra Majer were dismissed and are being replaced by Borut Rončević, Anton Tomažič and Drago Zadergal, the Government Communication Office announced.

Rončević is a professor at the Nova Gorica School of Advanced Social Studies and Anton Tomažič is a jurist who served as MP for the DEMOS coalition in the early 1990s

The government appoints four out of eleven members of the RTV Slovenija supervisory board.

One of the first tasks of the revamped board will be to vote on endorsement of the broadcaster's financial plan for the year.

Since the supervisors rejected the plan in December, the broadcaster's operations are being financed by means of provisional monthly budgets.

The broadcaster generated a loss of EUR 3.2 million last year, to be offset by surpluses from the past years.

STA, 16 April 2020 - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs has accepted the resignation of Franc Breznik, a state secretary at the ministry who was caught drink driving and speeding. "People have to be held to account for such mistakes," Hojs told the press on Thursday.

Breznik, an MP for the ruling Democrats (SDS) before he was named state secretary, was driving a ministry car when he was pulled over by a patrol on the Ljubljana ring road on 2 April.

The breathalyser test showed 0.44 milligrams of alcohol per litre of exhaled air, 0.20 mg above the acceptable limit. He was also driving 20 km/h above the speed limit.

Hojs, who found out about the incident from the media, said he had been assured by acting Police Commissioner Anton Travner that the police had not intentionally targeted Breznik in what would have been a repeat of a 2015 incident involving the then public administration minister.

The minister, who had announced on Wednesday he would check the conduct of the officers, said that the police had behaved professionally.

While adding there were cases of mayors in Slovenia who continued to serve despite being caught drink driving, Hojs said Breznik probably did not inform him earlier because "everybody has been working 16 or 18 hours a day". Breznik told him he had planned to tell him at a meeting this Friday.

Hojs is meanwhile puzzled by the police preferring to first share the story with the media. "Obviously certain police officers are fonder of journalists than their leadership," he said.

Breznik told commercial broadcaster POP TV yesterday that he had met with the representatives of Derby, a major importer of exotic fruits, to arrange a donation for humanitarian organisations in his hometown of Lenart. He said he had had two shots of liquor at the meeting.

The circumstances have raised some eyebrows, as Derby, owned by Izet Rastoder, was reportedly involved in January in criminal investigation into trafficking in illegal drugs.

Cocaine Found in Slovenian Banana Shipment, Company Denies Involvement

While the media reported cocaine had been found among bananas shipped by Derby, Rastoder said he was the victim of a criminal cartel. The company issued a statement saying the suspects apprehended were not linked to Derby and that accessible data showed Rastoder was not the subject of investigation.

Breznik's is far from being the first drink driving incident featuring a senior official.

The list includes former Local Government Minister Henrik Gjerkeš who resigned in 2010 after being caught with 0.64 mg/L, ex National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) head Bruno Blažina who stepped down in 2013 after crashing into a road maintenance vehicle while driving drunk, and former Ambassador to Bosnia Nataša Vodušek who served nine months in prison after seriously injuring a man while drink driving in 2008.

Defence Minister Says Slovenia Needs Transport Plane, Denies Wrongdoing in PPE Purchase

STA, 15 April 2020 - The coronavirus crisis has shown Slovenia urgently needs a transport plane, Defence Minister Matej Tonin pointed out after Wednesday's videoconference of NATO defence ministers. "It has turned out that we can only rely on ourselves in these difficult times," he said.

The multi-purpose 1988 Turbolet L-410, which can transport both passengers and cargo, has done an excellent job in this crisis but a new solution must be found, Tonin pointed out.

The ministry has already initiated procedures, requested input from the military and formed a working group that will examine which option would be best: the purchase of a new transport plane, a donation agreement or a third option.

Tonin said he did not have a specific type of aircraft in mind yet, as he first wants to look at all the options.

He stressed that such an aircraft could not be purchased overnight. The government must first make a decision and then it may take up to three years for delivery.

NATO defence ministers today debated how to accelerate and strengthen coronavirus aid to member states. Several hundred tonnes of medical equipment has already been delivered in the framework of NATO.

Slovenia had requested aid in securing transport for protective gear and other supplies needed during the coronavirus epidemic via NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC).

Tonin said today the aid involved transporting protective equipment from China to Slovenia and assistance in evacuating infected troops from international missions.

The Agency for Commodities Reserves has signed a special agreement with Hisense, the Chinese owner of home appliances maker Gorenje, which will host a logistics centre for Slovenia at one of its locations in China.

Once enough equipment comes together, it will make sense to dispatch a place to transport it, according to Tonin.

But the minister said access to NATO's mechanisms was difficult and expensive. The bill for a return flight for a large transport aircraft that can carry 100 tonnes is EUR 1.2 million.

Tonin also said Slovenia had offered Italy assistance in the form of a medical team. Ten to fifteen Slovenian doctors have responded and the details are now being coordinated by civil protection services.

Tonin denies wrongdoing in protective gear purchases

STA, 15 April 2020 - Protective gear purchases have raised quite a lot of dust and could even become subject of a parliamentary inquiry. Defence Minister Matej Tonin told the press on Wednesday how he approached the matter amid a severe shortage of such equipment at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Once it was clear that all established suppliers have failed to deliver, Tonin had intervened in three cases, contacting businessmen Joc Pečečnik and Janez Škrabec as well as UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin.

"In those most critical moments when medical staff was literally crying due to the shortage of protective gear, I called the three people whom I believe have enough contacts abroad to be able to help Slovenia get the equipment.

"All of them responded and helped Slovenia," Tonin said as he visited the 72nd Brigade of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) in Črnomelj today.

As to allegations that Pečečnik has overcharged the costs of transport, Tonin said it had been agreed that once all transport is completed, Pečečnik would draw the line to see if the transport was really overpaid and return the money, the defence minister explained.

Tonin has recently also come under fire after it became clear his mother works for a company which struck three deals with the state worth EUR 30 million for the procurement of protective gear.

Tonin at the time denied he or his mother having had anything to do with the deal and himself asked the anti-graft commission to investigate the matter to dispel any doubts.

Tonin was also asked today about a new SAF chief of the general staff after Alenka Ermenc was dismissed as of 17 March and her deputy took temporarily over. He said the candidate had already been chosen and would be announced in due time.

All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian artists. Today it’s Polona Kačič with an image from a series organised by Tam Tam, with the rest of them here.

Contents

Ministry proposes data exchange between health institute and police

Food deliveries surge due to coronavirus lockdown

Left wants MPs to debate situation at retirement homes

President expresses solidarity with Italy, UK in face of pandemic

Ministry proposes data exchange between health institute and police

STA, 15 April 2020 - The Interior Ministry proposed on Wednesday that the National Public Health Institute (NIJZ) shares citizens' personal data with the police to help contain the coronavirus epidemic. If the motion is endorsed, the police will be privy to the information about the quarantine duration and other anti-COVID-19 restrictions imposed on the individual.

The data exchange is key for enabling police work in line with Article 103 of the anti-corona bill, said the ministry, referring to police powers to search for persons and temporarily restrict their movement.

According to today's proposal, the police would acquire information, including the given name, national identity number or, in case of foreign citizens, the identification number, type of the ID document and the country that has issued it, as well as permanent or temporary residence, data about the individual's GP and a decree ordering isolation or quarantine, the duration and type of such and other restrictions.

Personal data that is designated special would be labelled as such and unauthorised persons would be prevented from accessing the dataset. The exchange would be conducted in line with the regulations concerning personal data protection, added the ministry.

Under those regulations, the NIJZ would also keep track of all the exchanged data, the content, timelines and purposes, so as to ensure a sufficient audit trail.

Moreover, the institute would be in charge of recording activities involving the processing of such data, with the police keeping relevant access records.

The proposal lays down that the police would be able to request consulting the data 24/7, while the institute would be bound to send the requested data immediately or two hours after receiving the request at the latest.

The issue of accessing citizens' personal data as a potential strategy to fight the epidemic has been making headlines in the past days after a senior health official presented a nation-wide mobile tracking application to notify individuals whether they were in contact with those infected with Covid-19.

The Institute of Criminology at the Ljubljana Faculty of Law raised concerns over this potential measure on Tuesday, saying that the use of such apps was problematic in terms of privacy. It may indirectly affect a number of other rights and have a substantial effect on societies in the future, it said.

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Food deliveries surge due to coronavirus lockdown

STA, 15 April 2020 - Lockdown restrictions imposed to contain the novel coronavirus epidemic have led to an increase in food deliveries. With people staying home and restaurants suspending dine-in options, food delivery apps have been recording a spike in demand, including outside the lunch hour.

Lunchtime used to be peak time for delivery services, however lately, they have been detecting an increase in the number of orders in the evenings and over weekends.

Following the tightening of lockdown measures, online food delivery provider Ehrana have seen a staggering surge in the number of food orders in the Ljubljana area by as much as 310%.

It has also detected an increase in the number of orders submitted in the evenings, between 6pm and 8pm. The figure has doubled over the weekends and remains high during lunchtime.

Since 20 March, the number of restaurants providing delivery options have increased as well - by 26%. There are currently more than 160 Ljubljana restaurants and pubs available on the Ehrana platform.

"Those are the restaurants that did not deal with or consider deliveries before because they were busy as it was," said Ehrana director and co-founder Borut Markelj, referring to a new influx of restaurants using one of Slovenia's leading delivery service providers.

The epidemic has taken a toll on restaurant business as well and delivery options have become the only source of income for the majority, added Markelj.

One of those is Indian restaurant Maharaja, which is staying afloat due to deliveries in the time when its revenue has plunged by 50-70%.

During the crisis, Ljubljana citizens have been mostly craving fast food though, such as burgers, pizzas and salads. "Apparently, there are a lot of fast food lovers in the capital," quipped Markelj.

He highlighted that the health of delivery drivers, consumers and other staff comes first. Employees are wearing masks, using hand sanitisers regularly and heeding physical distancing rules.

Moreover, cash payments are not possible during the epidemic. Consumers have been adapting to the new reality really well, added Markelj.

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Left wants MPs to debate situation at retirement homes

STA, 15 April 2020 - The opposition Left would like the parliamentary Health Committee to debate problems at nursing facilities around the country. Since the elderly are the most vulnerable group as the coronavirus spreads, the party intends to put forward several resolutions for the government to act upon.

MP Primož Siter said on Wednesday the Left had been bringing the situation at retirement homes to the government's attention for the past two years.

The situation is difficult even in normal circumstances because it has been neglected by consecutive governments, Siter told the press.

"Instead of tackling it and strengthening the network of public retirement homes, they have left it to the market, which turned it into a business."

The MP said that the data released by Radio Slovenia on Tuesday showed three-quarters of all Covid-19 deaths in Slovenia took place at nursing homes.

He also criticised the government for not providing the media and public with trustworthy information about the situation.

The party thus asked for a Health Committee session to shed light on these issues and put forward proposals to improve the protection of the elderly.

Among the proposals, the Left will propose to the government to provide hospital treatment for all infected residents of nursing homes.

"Homes for the elderly are not medical organisations. That's what we have hospitals for."

The government should also make an arrangement with private medical organisations to use their facilities and staff and to arrange for transport.

What is more, it should provide detailed statistics about the number of infected people and about the deaths.

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Sporočilo predsednika republike britanski kraljici in britanskemu ljudstvu v skupnem boju proti koronavirusu. @RoyalFamily #everythingwillbeOk #Covid19UK #StayHomeSaveLifes #CoronaCrisisuk pic.twitter.com/3gvpGqopuk

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) April 15, 2020

President expresses solidarity with Italy, UK in face of pandemic

STA, 15 April 2020 - President Borut Pahor posted two separate video messages on Twitter on Wednesday expressing solidarity with the Italian and British people as they face the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking in Italian and English, Pahor expressed solidarity in the "joint fight against the coronavirus." He expressed, on behalf of Slovenians, admiration for the British and the Italian people, saying they had shown determination, courage and hope during the coronavirus pandemic.

"In Slovenia, we deeply feel your sadness and look forward to you successful overcoming of this crisis. United with other nations and countries, we will win this fight together. Everything will be just OK," said the president.

Both Italy and the UK are among the countries hardest hit by the global coronavirus pandemic. By Tuesday afternoon more than 21,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Italy and 13,000 have died in the UK, according to the most recent data.

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All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian artists. Today it’s Gordana Grlič of Trubarjeva cesta's Photo Pauli.

Contents

Five new Covid-19 deaths yesterday, cases up by 28 to 1,248

Gloves no longer mandatory in closed public places

Slovenia to conduct random testing to determine scope of coronavirus infections

Five new Covid-19 deaths yesterday, cases up by 28 to 1,248

STA, 15 April 2020 - The government reported on Wednesday that five more persons had died of Covid-19 yesterday to bring the overall death toll to 61. The number of persons infected with the new coronavirus is meanwhile up by 28 to 1,248.

The number of new cases is up compared to Monday as the number of tests more than doubled to 1,168, bringing the total number of tests to 37,114.

While the daily numbers of fatalities and infected persons were up, the number of hospitalised patients dropped by seven to 96, and the number of intensive care cases was down by one to 34.

A total of 13 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital yesterday, the figures released by the government on Twitter also show.

The National Public Health Institute (NIJZ) meanwhile reported that the share of confirmed cases was, expectedly, the highest among persons older than 85, as testing mostly included persons with the most serious symptoms.

The NIJZ noted that another important reason for the high incidence rate in the oldest population group were outbreaks in nursing homes.

On Monday, the rate for this age group was 250.6 per 100,000 population, which is significantly higher than in the lower age group (75-84 years), where it stood at 87.9.

As for the younger generations, the rate ranges from 41.6 per 100,000 population in the 15-24 age group to 70.1 in the 45-54 age group. In the youngest age group (0-4 years), the rate was 5.9 and in the 5-14 age group it was 9.9.

The latest NIJZ statistical data on deaths, which refers to a total of 53 cases, show that more than 80% of persons in Slovenia who died of Covid-19 were older than 75, and almost 60% were over 85.

The gender structure is balanced, with 27 of the victims being women and 26 men. The number of women older than 85 who died of Covid-19 is much higher than that of men (22 to 9), but this is very likely due to higher life expectancy.

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Gloves no longer mandatory in closed public places

STA, 15 April 2020 - Protective gloves are no longer mandatory in closed public places such as shops, pharmacies and post offices as of Wednesday. Hand sanitizer must be used instead and it has to be provided by the business owners. Face masks are still mandatory.

The government had made it mandatory to wear face masks or an equivalent face and nose covering and gloves in closed public places on 30 March.

The decree was amended on Tuesday night mandating that instead of gloves, hand sanitizer must be used upon entering and exiting a closed public space.

The decision comes after the Ministry of Health said last week that many people were not using gloves correctly. Since the decree was originally adopted, hand sanitizer has been more widely available after initial severe shortages.

Slovenia reported 56 coronavirus deaths and 1,200 infections as of Monday. The curve of infections has been flattened but the government has decided to wait a few more days before starting to ease lockdown restrictions.

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Slovenia to conduct random testing to determine scope of coronavirus infections

STA, 15 April 2020 - Slovenia will conduct random population testing to get a reliable estimate of the scope of the coronavirus epidemic. The trial will include antibody tests, Miroslav Petrovec, the head of the Institute for Microbiology and Immunology at the Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine, told the press on Wednesday.

A representative random sample of the population numbering between 1,000 and 1,500 people will be tested pending approval by the national commission for medical ethics. The test will presumably start next week, according to Petrovec.

The test, conducted nation-wide, will involve technicians visiting people agreeing to the test at home and taking both nasal swabs to determine the presence of the virus SARS-COV-2 as well as conducting a serological test for antibodies. The tested persons will also fill out a questionnaire.

That way, the health authorities will get a clearer picture of how many people have been infected and how many have antibodies, whose presence indicates that they had been in contact with the virus.

The results will give researchers an estimate of the actual number of the people who may have been infected but were asymptomatic, according to Petrovec.

While random tests have been conducted in Austria and Iceland and are planned in Germany, Petrovec said Slovenia's would be the first such comprehensive test in Europe.

Petrovec expects the Slovenian study will provide better results than the Austrian test as it will provide data not just on the number of infected persons but also the number of those who had been sick but have recovered.

The preliminary results are expected before the May Day holidays and would inform government decisions on the easing of lockdown restrictions.

"This will help decision-makers to adopt measures based on realistic figures," Petrovec said.

Slovenia already has a limited number of antibody tests and they will be used as a matter of priority for this study.

The trial will be managed by the Institute for Microbiology and Immunology in cooperation with the faculties of computer science, mathematics and social sciences in Ljubljana and UKC Ljubljana, Slovenia's largest hospital.

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STA, 14 April 2020 - The government has appointed lawyer and security expert Janez Stušek the new director of the SOVA (Slovenska obveščevalno-varnostna agencija) intelligence and security agency. He will take over on Wednesday for a period of five years with the option of re-appointment.

At the same Tuesday correspondence session, Rajko Kozmelj, who was appointed SOVA director by the previous, Marjan Šarec government, in September 2018, was relieved of his duties.

While it has become customary that each new government appoints a new SOVA boss, Kozmelj in fact stepped down in mid-March, just days after the Janez Janša government took office.

He said on 17 March that he had received no instructions or guidelines from the new government, which he saw as a sign of personal distrust.

Janez Stušek, a graduate of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security and of the Maribor Faculty of Law, is a lawyer, director of and partner in the Stušek Law Firm, the Government Communication Office said in a release after the government session.

He is working on his PhD and has written about criminal law, police powers, anti-corruption legislation and IT law. He started his career at the Slovenian Armed Forces, but was also a lecturer at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security.

STA, 14 April 2020 - A contentious letter sent by the government to the Council of Europe (CoE) to claim that the majority of the main media in Slovenia stem from the Communist regime was defended by Foreign Minister Anže Logar in parliament on Tuesday, as the opposition described it as a piece of one-sided political propaganda.

The letter, debated today in a joint session by the parliamentary committees on foreign policy and culture, was a response to an alert issued by the CoE Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists after Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted in late March that the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija was misleading the public, adding "apparently there are too many of you and you are paid too well".

Addressing the session, Foreign Policy Committee chair Matjaž Nemec said the letter, drawn up by the Government Communication Office (UKOM) and sent to the CoE by the Foreign Ministry, served as a settling of scores in domestic politics, and represented yet another attack on journalists.

Nemec, an MP for the opposition Social Democrats (SD), said the letter was a manipulating description of the Slovenian media landscape that failed to mention information that linked Janša's Democrats (SDS) with media under police investigation over suspicious financial flows from Hungary or fake news.

Nemec accused the government of sullying Slovenian media in the document, and Janša of exploiting the coronavirus epidemic for denigration and misinforming European institutions about the state of Slovenian media.

"The letter addressed to the Council of Europe represents a unilateral, politically-motivated and irresponsible conduct on the part of the government against the good name of the Republic of Slovenia, and instead of steps to protect the standards, freedom and independence of journalist work, it resumes the war against the media, and deepens tensions in society," said Nemec.

Logar denied that the letter was a dispatch in response to a statement by CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović as claimed by the MPs requesting today's session. He said the government had not yet responded to that statement, and if it did, the response would be drawn by the UKOM.

The minister said that he was not involved in the compilation of the government's response, but had been acquainted with the wording before the letter was sent to Slovenia's standing mission to the CoE, which then referred it to the CoE Platform.

"Do I support the text? Do I agree with the content? What is it that doesn't hold true in what's written?" Logar challenged MPs. He also read the accompanying dispatch prepared and sent by the Foreign Ministry along with the government's response to the CoE.

The letter, accessible on the website of the CoE Platform, argues that "the majority of the main media in Slovenia have their origins in the former Communist regime, and even in the late 1990s the positions of editors-in-chief were held by the former members of the infamous security service UDBA".

Logar left the session after making his point due to other obligations, which upset the Culture Committee chair Violeta Tomić of the Left: "The minister spat on us, poured mud over us and then left."

In place of Logar, the Foreign Ministry was represented by State Secretary Tone Kajzer, but since the latter would not answer MP questions and would have nothing to add, the session was broken up to be resumed when Logar is available to attend.

The opposition demanded the government retract the contentious letter and replace it with a content that would not harm Slovenia's reputation. They moreover called on junior coalition partners to take responsibility and honour their promise the government would not be a one-man and one-party government.

The junior partners, the Modern Centre Party (SMC), Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and New Slovenia (NSi), distanced themselves from the letter last week.

Opposition MPs today denounced the letter as abuse of power for party interests, an attack on democracy, independent journalism and freedom of expression. They also accused Logar of lying after he said last week he knew nothing about the letter.

Speaking on behalf of the SDS, MP Eva Irgl denied the opposition's accusations, arguing today's session was meant as an attack against the foreign minister and to settle scores with the SDS, government and prime minister.

While the Journalists' Association (DNS) denounced the letter last week, its smaller counterpart, the Association of Journalists and Commentators (ZNP), which brings together mostly journalists and commentators from right-leaning media, upheld the letter as accurate and pinpointing key problems of the Slovenian media space.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the ZNP argues that the main problem of Slovenian media is a lack of pluralism as most media more or less openly favour the political left.

"Fact is that even after the fall of the dictatorship, the political forces stemming from the previous Communist regime, along with their ideological supporters continue to control almost uninterruptedly the economic, judicial and media fields in the country, including public RTV Slovenija," reads the ZNP's response.

The ZNP says that the majority media under the control of the left have often been abused for the settling of scores with the centre-right political opponents. They see media bias coming to the fore again as the third Janez Janša government took over, asserting that the most radical of journalists from the dominant media controlled by the left openly agitate against the new government.