STA, 19 September 2019 - Slovenian right-wing parties and a number of civil initiatives will stage a protest in Ljubljana on 10 October under the slogan Let's Save Slovenia. The demonstration will be held at the initiative of former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler in cooperation with the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS).

According to social media comments and media reports, the protest will be joined by the opposition Democrats (SDS) and the non-parliamentary party Greens of Slovenia as well.

The SLS has registered the protest which will address environmental, social, judicial and security issues as well as include music performances.

According to the party, a number of civil initiatives and movements, including 16 organisations in total so far, have decided to join the protest.

Kangler has told the national broadcaster that the protesters wanted to highlight inequality before the law, lowering climate standards to benefit rich companies and escalating poverty despite better economic indicators.

According to him, the protest will be a peaceful one, with protesters wearing yellow vests to honour the populist yellow vest movement that started in France last year.

The SLS leader Marjan Podobnik has told the STA that the protest brought together numerous initiatives which had emerged in the past few months including those tackling illegal migration and environmental issues.

"This is a protest against abnormalities, wrongdoings and greed," said Podobnik, adding that the demonstration was a way to criticise the government since it was its task to tackle those issues and corruption.

He hopes the protest will serve as a wake-up call for the government.

The prime minister's office has responded by saying that everybody has the right to stage a protest, pointing out that it should be held in line with regulations though.

STA, 19 September 2019 - The Court of Audit has issued a rebuke of consecutive Slovenian governments after determining that strategic planning regarding the exploitation of nuclear energy at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) had left the NEK owner in limbo about the future of nuclear energy in the country.

The auditors examined government strategic planning between 2006 and 2016 and determined that strategic documents had been ignored on several occasions and new ones drawn up in disregard of previous commitments or deadlines.

For example, the decision to build a second unit at NEK was made by the government in 2006, but it took years before it ever made it into downstream strategic and operational programmes.

And in 2014 the government started drafting a new national energy programme, but it was not adopted in 2014 or until the extended deadline of 30 June 2016. In fact, it has not been adopted yet, the deadline having been pushed forward several times.

As a result, Gen Energija, the state-owned company which manages the Krško power station, was "left in uncertainty as to whether construction of the second unit at NEK will be possible", the court said in a decision released on Thursday.

The court also criticises Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) for not alerting the government to the potential hazards of not giving Gen Energija clearer guidance.

Gen Energija, meanwhile, has been criticised for commissioning, between 2007 and 2016, as many as 122 studies concerning the second unit, half of which were not subject to public calls for bids.

This constitutes violation of public procurement rules and risks curtailing competition between bidders, the auditors said.

Despite the shortcomings, the Court of Audit stopped short of issuing an adverse opinion.

Instead, it issued a set of recommendations on how Gen Energija should improve its operations while requesting corrective measures from the government, Infrastructure Ministry, SSH and Gen Energija.

The Infrastructure Ministry sees the report as a call to all parties to act in a coordinated and prudent manner in planning the long-term use of nuclear energy.

It stressed that the country's energy concept was already in the making and should be debated by the government in the second half of 2020.

But the ministry also noted the report covered 2006-2016, whereas the new infrastructure minister had to first deal with delays in drafting several strategic documents, including the energy concept but also the National Energy and Climate Plan, when taking the office over a year ago.

Gen Energija interpreted the report as a call for a comprehensive and long-term planning of energy production. Changes are already under way, it added.

"Gen Energija has started introducing changes in the areas where the need arose for systematic improvements already during the audit, and we will report to the Court of Audit on the implementation of the remedy measures," the company said on its web site.

STA, 19 September 2019 - President Borut Pahor met his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer in Bern on Thursday with the pair calling for a deepening of what was said to be already good cooperation between the two countries. "The Swiss and Slovenians are similar and we want to cooperate," Pahor said as he and Maurer addressed the press.

Maurer, who serves as the president of the Swiss confederation and head of the Federal Department of Finance, hailed good bilateral cooperation, offering digitalisation and new technologies as two areas where they would like to enhance it.

"The two countries share ideas and views. This is a good basis to build our cooperation on," the Swiss president said, describing Slovenia as a reliable and important partner.

"Switzerland has always been an inspiration to Slovenians, and it still is in a sense," Pahor said, in a reference to a popular aspiration during independence efforts that Slovenia would be a second Switzerland.

"Tradition, identity, pride, a small country, that's what we share and I believe we've taken a big step toward further development of the relationship, which is strong economically even now," said Pahor.

Predsednik Republike Slovenije Borut Pahor se je ob robu uradnega obiska danes popoldne v Zürichu udeležil otvoritve slovensko-švicarske poslovne konference z naslovom "Slovenija - dežela nišnih poslovnih prvakov". pic.twitter.com/BnrnsnTud3

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 19, 2019

According to a press release from Pahor's office, the presidents noted the excellent and problem-free political relationship between their countries and Pahor hailed regular bilateral political dialogue.

Economic cooperation ranked prominently and Pahor was happy to note that bilateral trade in goods increased by almost 50% to EUR 1.49 billion in 2018. He also noted scientific cooperation.

Pahor also hailed Slovenia's good experience with Swiss investors. Maurer agreed on the importance of people-to-people relations for business, saying akin views was what made the cooperation between two business communities even better.

The two presidents agreed that Switzerland was a close and important partner for the EU, and noted the significance of the institutional framework agreement.

They agreed that the EU should be made stronger to be able to provide external, internal, economic and social security. They found that a no-deal Brexit would be the worst-case scenario for everyone.

At the outset of his official two-day visit on Wednesday, Pahor met Marina Carobbio Guscetti, president of the Swiss National Council, and took part in the council's session.

They talked about Brexit, the EU's enlargement to the Western Balkans, and illegal migration.

Švicarski predsednik Maurer: Slovenija je za Švico zanesljiva in pomembna partnerica. https://t.co/m9P64W1t2v pic.twitter.com/sQOHErx5oY

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 19, 2019

Guscetti agreed with Pahor that the two countries maintained good cooperation, including at the parliamentary level.

Pahor also addressed a Slovenian-Swiss business conference in Zurich entitled Slovenia, the Country of Niche Business Champions.

In his address Pahor spoke about the opportunities afforded by Slovenia to foreign investors, noting that it has been one of the fastest growing economies in recent years.

Despite signs of a slowdown in the EU, Slovenia is well prepared for a potential recession, much better than it had been before the last economic and financial turmoil, he said.

"We are aspiring to sustainable development and I believe we are similar to each other there," the president was quoted as saying by his office.

The conference was attended by more than 30 representatives of 19 Slovenian companies and representatives of the Switzerland Global Enterprise, an investment promotion organisation.

There is still a lot of potential for growth because Slovenia and Switzerland are not as linked as they could be, said Goran Novković, executive director of the Slovenian Business Club (SBC).

"Almost 40 out of the 202 SBC members already do business or have capital links with Swiss partners," said Novković in his address to the conference.

Pahor is being accompanied by Education Minister Jernej Pikalo, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Dobran Božič and Economy Ministry State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogar.

STA, 19 September 2019 - President Borut Pahor met his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer in Bern on Thursday with the pair calling for a deepening of what was said to be already good cooperation between the two countries. "The Swiss and Slovenians are similar and we want to cooperate," Pahor said as he and Maurer addressed the press.

Maurer, who serves as the president of the Swiss confederation and head of the Federal Department of Finance, hailed good bilateral cooperation, offering digitalisation and new technologies as two areas where they would like to enhance it.

????Today, #Swisspresident #BRUeliMaurer receives @BorutPahor, the Head of State of the Republic of Slovenia, for an official visit in Bern. #Slovenia and #Switzerland enjoy excellent relations.#SwissEUrelations pic.twitter.com/wU2f1EmUii

— Swiss Mission to EU (@SwissmissionEU) September 19, 2019

"The two countries share ideas and views. This is a good basis to build our cooperation on," the Swiss president said, describing Slovenia as a reliable and important partner.

"Switzerland has always been an inspiration to Slovenians, and it still is in a sense," Pahor said, in a reference to a popular aspiration during independence efforts that Slovenia would be a second Switzerland.

"Tradition, identity, pride, a small country, that's what we share and I believe we've taken a big step toward further development of the relationship, which is strong economically even now," said Pahor.

According to a press release from Pahor's office, the presidents noted the excellent and problem-free political relationship between their countries and Pahor hailed regular bilateral political dialogue.

Economic cooperation ranked prominently and Pahor was happy to note that bilateral trade in goods increased by almost 50% to EUR 1.49 billion in 2018. He also noted scientific cooperation.

PRS Pahor se na povabilo Uelija Maurerja, predsednika in fin. ministra Švicarske konfederacije mudi na uradnem obisku v Švici. Obisk pomeni nadaljevanje pol. dialoga na najvišji ravni in potrjuje obojestranski interes za poglobitev sodelovanja in zelo dobrih odnosov med državama. pic.twitter.com/YQnNsQ5Oeh

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 19, 2019

Pahor also hailed Slovenia's good experience with Swiss investors. Maurer agreed on the importance of people-to-people relations for business, saying akin views was what made the cooperation between two business communities even better.

The two presidents agreed that Switzerland was a close and important partner for the EU, and noted the significance of the institutional framework agreement.

They agreed that the EU should be made stronger to be able to provide external, internal, economic and social security. They found that a no-deal Brexit would be the worst-case scenario for everyone.

At the outset of his official two-day visit on Wednesday, Pahor met Marina Carobbio Guscetti, president of the Swiss National Council, and took part in the council's session.

They talked about Brexit, the EU's enlargement to the Western Balkans, and illegal migration.

Predsednik Republike Slovenije Borut Pahor je danes pozno popoldan začel dvodnevni uradni obisk v Švici in se v Bernu sestal s predsednico Nacionalnega sveta Švicarske konfederacije Marino Carobbio Guscetti. pic.twitter.com/hFb3UHOI1X

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 18, 2019

Guscetti agreed with Pahor that the two countries maintained good cooperation, including at the parliamentary level.

Today Pahor was also due to address a Slovenian-Swiss business conference in Zurich entitled Slovenia, the Country of Niche Business Champions.

Pahor is being accompanied by Education Minister Jernej Pikalo, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Dobran Božič and Economy Ministry State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogar.

STA, 18 September 2019 - Police are looking into three cases of simplified debt restructuring that would allow companies owned by Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković's sons to write off about EUR 29 million in debt. The General Police Administration confirmed the news for the STA on Wednesday.

"Police are checking certain circumstances in these cases and if we find grounds to suspect that a criminal act was committed ... we will act accordingly," the Police Administration said after the newspaper Finance reported on the matter.

The news of the write-off of the debt by the companies Electa Inženiring, Electa Naložbe and Electa Holding, owned by the mayor's sons Damijan and Jure Janković, has provoked public outcry and led to calls to change bankruptcy law.

Simplified debt restructuring was originally designed to speed up bankruptcy procedures for small firms and sole proprietors, but the rules are so lax that even companies with millions in assets, including financial holdings such as Electa Holding, can take advantage of the procedure.

The decisions on simplified debt restructuring for Electa Inženiring and Electa Naložbe have become final, while in the case of Electa Holding, the Ljubljana District Court is challenging the decision in its capacity as a claimant over unpaid court tax. The appeal will now be deliberated on by the Ljubljana Higher Court.

According to Finance, in all three cases, the decisions on simplified debt restructuring had been made thanks to debtor-friendly companies owned by Jan Bec, who has purchased the claims that one of the creditors, Heta Asset Resolution, had to the three companies. Thus he had the main say on the future procedures.

Web portal Siol.net also reported today that the Notary Chamber is checking the work of notary Miro Košak in the three cases. Košak made all the notary work related to the debt restructuring procedures.

The question is whether Košak acted with due care and made sufficient effort to stop the manoeuvres with which Damijan Janković planned to achieve the debt write-offs, Siol says.

Notaries are also obligated to report any suspicion of a crime.

The portal also suggests that Košak must have known that some of the biggest creditors of Electa Inženiring, Electa Naložbe and Electa Holding were in fact controlled by Damijan Janković, which means that the simplified debt restructuring should not be valid.

STA, 18 September 2019 - UKC Ljubljana, the country's leading hospital, incurs an annual loss of seven to eight million euro because their services and programmes are underrated, consequently receiving less funds then necessary, its director general Janez Poklukar told the press on Wednesday.

To improve the situation, UKC Ljubljana has asked the ZZZS public health fund to expand some of its programmes and raise prices, but is still waiting for reply.

The hospital makes a loss of up to EUR 5,000 per procedure for which it has no adequate funding, or even up to EUR 50,000 per patient for external mechanical circulatory assistance and mechanical ventilation assistance, the director explained.

One of such treatments is a newer procedure to replace the aortal valve without incision in the chest.

Another is the DaTscan brain imaging test to help diagnose Parkinson's disease or radiofrequency ablation in patients with arrhythmia, to name but a few.

Having enough staff and equipment, UKC Ljubljana could perform more aortic valve procedures than approved by the ZZZS, said Poklukar.

However, it met the approved quota for this year before August, so any new procedure the hospital would perform without ZZZS funding approved generates loss.

Poklukar would also expect more understanding from the state in radiofrequency ablation, a procedure performed largely on active population, which in the long run reduces healthcare costs.

The waiting time for this procedure at UKC Ljubljana, one of only three Slovenian hospitals performing it, is the longest in Slovenia, up to three years, he said.

"Regardless of all organisational measures and streamlining, it's impossible to break even with the treatment of patients with severest conditions, so we make a EUR 5,000 loss per procedure on average," he said.

Poklukar explained that the majority of underrated services are carried out only by both university clinics - UKC Ljubljana and UKC Maribor and by one other hospital.

"And this is why they are underfunded. The services are often hidden in a package of payments of tertiary services so that nobody at the ZZZS actually deals with them, which consequently makes us inefficient," he complained.

He said UKC tried to change the situation as part of talks on changes to the healthcare system over the past year, but had not been successful.

STA, 17 September 2019 - President Borut Pahor will pay an official visit to Switzerland on Wednesday and Thursday. Talks with his counterpart Ueli Maurer are expected to focus on political and economic cooperation between Slovenia and Switzerland, and the country's relations with the EU. A business conference will also be held.

 Pahor will start the visit in Bern by meeting parliamentary Speaker Marina Corabbio Gusceti, who paid an official visit to Slovenia this May.

On Thursday, the president will be received by his host, Swiss President and Finance Minister Maurer, according to Pahor's office.

The topics to be discussed include regional issues, climate change, environment, and science and research.

The presidents will exchange views on topical international political issues, including the situation in the Western Balkans, as Slovenia and Switzerland both advocate for stability in this region.

EU topics will also be discussed. Switzerland is an EU partner country, and has signed more than 20 important agreements with the bloc, and more than a hundred other technical agreements allowing it to cooperate in the EU's internal market.

This will be Pahor's first visit to Switzerland, and the continuation of political dialogue with top-level Swiss politicians. Pahor hosted former Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga in Ljubljana in September 2015.

According to Pahor's office, the two-day visit confirms the interest of both countries to enhance cooperation and friendly relations. It will also be an opportunity to further strengthen political and economic cooperation.

Trade in goods between Slovenia and Switzerland has been on the rise since 2013. Last year, it reached EUR 1.48 billion, which is almost 50% more than the year before.

In the first half of this year, bilateral trade in goods topped EUR 2 billion.

In 2018, pharmaceuticals represented the bulk of both exports and imports.

On Thursday, Pahor is scheduled to address the participants of a Slovenian-Swiss business conference in Zürich entitled Slovenia, the Country of Niche Business Champions.

Heinz Karrer, executive director of the Switzerland's biggest economic organisation Economiesuisse, executive director of the Slovenian Business Club Goran Novkovič and Economy Ministry State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogar will also take the stage.

STA, 17 September 2019 - Slovenia keeps seeing a surge in illegal migration with the latest police data showing that the number of illegal crossings peaked at 2,352 in August, the highest monthly figure since the 2015-16 refugee crisis.

In the first eight months of the year, police registered 9,801 instances of people trying to cross illegally into the country, which compares to 5,899 in the whole last year.

In most of the cases the migrants were citizens of Pakistan (2,344), followed by Algerians (1,427) and Afghanis (1,064).

The largest number of cases was handled by the Koper, Novo Mesto and Ljubljana police departments (3,310, 2,672 and 1,975, respectively.

The migrants filed 2,577 petitions for asylum between January and the end of August this year, almost 500 more than in the whole of 2018.

Of the 2,475 petitions whose processing has been completed, asylum status was granted to 49 migrants.

Slovenian police returned 6,533 migrants to foreign law enforcement authorities (2,411 in the whole of 2018), while foreign police forces returned 461 migrants to Slovenia (372 in the 12 months of 2018).

Numerous outlets are carrying a report from the Associated Press about armed individuals – carrying knives – now patrolling Slovenia’s border with Croatia. These are part of Andrej Šiško’s Štajerska varda (“Home Guard”), the anti-migrant movement led by the former football hooligan, presidential candidate and recent prison inmate. Šiško is quoted as saying his goal is “to train people to defend their country and help the military and police at a time of massive migrations from the African and Asian states, mostly Muslims.”

One member of the group is Blaž Židar, a “47-year-old former Slovenian army soldier, dressed in camouflage trousers with a long knife hanging from his belt” who  goes on daily patrols near his village of Radovica. The story quotes him as saying “I would prefer to enjoy my retirement peacefully, but security reasons are preventing this.” He goes on to say that his six children often join him on patrol, along with his wife, “because they have to learn how to protect their nation from intruders.”

Related: 1 in 8 Slovenians is an immigrant

The reporter, Dušan Stojanović, goes on to interview Miha Kovač, a Slovenian political analyst and professor at the University of Ljubljana, who describes such anti-migrant groups as made up of “guys with big beer bellies who don’t have much of an education, who didn’t have much of a career, who don’t know what to do with themselves in the contemporary world. They find their meaning in this kind of movement and this kind of hatred toward migrants.”

While Kovač doesn’t see the movement as an immediate danger, he says the problem would get worse if Slovenia had significant numbers of immigrants, from 20-50,000.

Meanwhile, the story claims the authorities are happy to turn a blind eye to the patrols, as long as they stay within the law. As France Bozicnik, the head of criminal police at a police station near the border, states: “People call us on the phone every day and give us information about suspicious vehicles and suspicious persons, and we sincerely thank them for this information.”

You can see the full story here, while all our stories on Andrej Šiško are here

STA, 16 September 2019 - President Borut Pahor and Indian President Ram Nath Kovind reaffirmed their commitment to boost cooperation and friendship between their countries, as they met in Ljubljana on Monday. They also stressed the importance of global partnership and multilateralism. Pahor accepted an invitation to India.

Pahor said during the talks with Kovind, the first Indian president to visit the country, that India is the largest country in the world and one of the biggest democracies, where the implementation of the rule of law and human rights could be an example to other countries.

To je prvi obisk predsednika Republike Indije v Republiki Sloveniji in kot takšen pomeni odlično priložnost za dodaten zagon že tako dobrih odnosov med državama in za poglobitev političnega dialoga ter gospodarskega sodelovanja. V okviru obiska bo potekal poslovni forum. pic.twitter.com/Q8OJXlbWjk

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 16, 2019

The pair reviewed bilateral and multilateral cooperation, reaffirming their commitment to multilateralism. While agreeing that it needed some changes, they stressed that it represented a safe environment for humanity to tackle the most sensitive and important challenges, from climate change to terrorism.

Discussing terrorism, the presidents exchanged views on the situation in Kashmir. Kovinda said terrorism was one of the biggest challenges of humanity and the presidents agreed that the whole world would have to join forces to defeat it.

Kovinda stressed that the fight against cross-border terrorism was very important for India.

The Indian president also pointed to the historical ties between Slovenia and India, saying they were based on shared cultural and democratic values.

He added that he and Pahor had agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and global partnership.

The presidents signed a statement after the meeting, calling for the strengthening of economic ties. Pahor noted that the two countries posted half a billion euro in goods trade a year and that trade was rising at a 30% rate.

Kovind is accompanied by a business delegation, featuring representatives of 20 Indian companies who will attend a Slovenian-Indian business forum in the afternoon. The two presidents will address the forum.

Kovind said he was pleasantly surprised by Slovenia's technological progress and its achievements in the international arena. It has become a pioneer in environment and forests conservation, he said.

According to the president, India will have more than five billion inhabitants by 2025. The country would like to cooperate with Slovenia in science, know-how and innovation to support this growth.

Predsednik Republike Slovenije Borut Pahor in gospa Tanja Pečar danes in jutri na prvem uradnem obisku v Sloveniji gostita predsednika Republike Indije Rama Natha Kovinda s soprogo. pic.twitter.com/jZCbNCiKuo

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 16, 2019

On the sidelines of the presidential visit, several agreements were signed between the two countries' governments and companies.

Government representatives signed a programme of cooperation in culture, arts, education, sports and media for the 2019-2014 period, and a programme of cooperation in science and technology in 2020-2022.

The Slovenian Institute for Standardization and the Bureau of Indian Standards signed an agreement on technical cooperation in standardisation.

The Indian president believes the agreements signed today will enhance the cultural and economic ties between the two countries.

Kovind will conclude the two-day official visit on Tuesday, when he and his spouse visit the lakeside resort of Bled.

Pahor noted that he had hosted two Indian prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, and that the ties between India and Slovenia go back to the period before Slovenia's independence.

President Kovind led delegation-level talks with President @BorutPahor of Slovenia. Both leaders discussed cooperation in high-tech, clean technology, robotics and Artificial Intelligence. pic.twitter.com/srRszXRsgp

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) September 16, 2019

He also stressed the importance of Mahatma Gandhi for humanity, as India celebrates the 150th anniversary of his birth this year.

Kovinda expressed gratitude that Slovenia was nurturing this heritage, including by issuing a special stamp next month.

He also congratulated Slovenia on initiating World Bee Day, which New Delhi has also backed.

Kovinda met Prime Minister Marjan Šarec at Ljubljana Caste this afternoon and is also scheduled to meet parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan.

All out stories about India are here