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

FRIDAY, 13 September
        LJUBLJANA - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar proposed that Slovenia and Austria form joint police patrols to police the Slovenian-Austrian border, as he hosted his Austrian counterpart Wolfgang Peschorn. Saying it was a good proposal, Peschorn said the Austrian government would examine it to see if it could fully contain the migration pressure.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian central bank governor Boštjan Vasle urged authorities to employ a diverse set of measures since monetary policy is not enough in the current complex situation. Risks to the global economy are growing, threatening to further curb growth and further reduce inflation, he said, pointing to trade wars, China's cooling and Brexit.
        LJUBLJANA - The Civil Aviation Agency received the annual report for 2018 from Adria Airways, which the struggling German-owned airline had to submit as a condition to keep its operating licence. Civil Aviation Agency director Rok Marolt told the STA that the decision on whether the carrier would keep the licence would probably be taken by the end of October.
        CELJE - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar announced an expansion of the commercial diplomacy service and Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek measures to help reduce businesses' dependence on EU markets, as they addressed Day of Slovenian Diplomacy at the International Trade Fair in Celje.
        SEŽANA - Ivan Šopov of North Macedonia received the Central European Initiative prize as part of the Vilenica International Literary Festival. He impressed the jury with the draft for his debut novel, in which he intends to explore the topics of individual responsibility and collective madness.

SATURDAY, 14 September
        LJUBLJANA - The two-day meeting of the NATO Military Committee concluded with a commitment that the alliance will continue to carry out the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan in its present form, as confirmed by the Chairman of the Military Committee, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach. He said that NATO remained committed to Afghanistan and that it would continue to carry out the mission, as part of which NATO member states are training soldiers of the Afghan army.
        AJDOVŠČINA - More than 4,000 people gathered to celebrate the day 72 years ago when the Primorska region became part of Slovenia. The ceremony, held on the eve of Primorska Reunification Day, was addressed by PM Marjan Šarec, who said that the people of Primorska were the greatest example of how a "glorious victory, a victory of good over evil eventually gets born out of the biggest sorrow and suffering."
        LJUBLJANA - The opposition New Slovenia (NSi) called for a new national consensus in a bid to digitalise Slovenia. NSi leader Matej Tonin called on President Borut Pahor to assume the role of a coordinator on the path to the consensus, which Pahor later said he was willing to do.

SUNDAY, 15 September
        MADRID, Spain - Cycling sensation Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma) became the first Slovenian to win a Grand Tour race, as he climbed the podium of the Vuelta. His 20-year-old compatriot, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), completed the three-week race in third place to claim the white jersey of the best young rider.

MONDAY, 16 September
        LJUBLJANA - Damir Črnčec, a senior aide to PM Marjan Šarec, became the target of scrutiny after the news portal Požareport revealed he employed the head of Slovenia's Westinghouse office as head of his private institute, raising concern about possible influence in fledging plans to construct a second reactor at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor and his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind reaffirmed their commitment to boost cooperation and friendship between the countries during the first visit by an Indian president to Slovenia. They stressed the importance of global partnership and multilateralism.
        LJUBLJANA - After several failed attempts to implement the late-2014 Constitutional Court ruling mandating full financing of private primary schools, the Education Ministry said it would try to break the impasse by inviting various stakeholders, including all parliamentary parties, to form a task force to build a broad consensus on the issue. Parties were reserved about the plan.
        ZGORNJE JEZERSKO - Mountaineer and extreme skier Davo Karničar, 56, died in a logging accident in his native Jezersko area. Karničar made history on several occasions while skiing down the world's highest peaks; in 2000, he skied non-stop down Mount Everest as the first person ever.

TUESDAY, 17 September
        LJUBLJANA - A report by the Court of Audit found that the government had been unsuccessful in providing access to long-term care services to all those who need them. Only 9% of the 395,127 eligible received care in 2016 and the state had no data on nearly 90% of potential claimants. The government said it was working on long-term care legislation to address these issues.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan hosted his Cypriot counterpart Demetris Syllouris, with the pair announcing a bilateral initiative for cooperation of small countries. The initiative would aim to support the rule of law in the EU and "the end of double morals" in Europe, according to Syllouris.
        BELGRADE, Serbia - The Serbian newspaper Danas reported that NLB, Slovenia's leading bank, submitted a non-binding bid for a 83.2% stake in Komercijalna Banka, the second largest bank in Serbia, offering EUR 450 million, the highest of three bids.
        LJUBLJANA - The government and municipalities failed to agree on the amount of local government funding for the coming two years, so Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj set the initially proposed amount of EUR 589.11 per capita in 2020 and EUR 588.30 in 2021, an average of local government expenses over the past four years. The municipalities had wanted a higher amount.
        LJUBLJANA - Adria Airways signed a new collective bargaining agreement with pilots, a move the airline says that "calms down the labour situation at the company" and "allows management to remain focused on stability of operations and provision of services". The Trade Union of Commercial Pilots said they were happy with the terms of the deal.
        LENDAVA/MURSKA SOBOTA - Lendava and Murska Sobota remembered local Jewish families that perished in the Holocaust, as Stolpersteine, granite cubes bearing the names of the victims, were installed in various locations around the two north-eastern cities in high-profile commemorations.

WEDNESDAY, 18 September
        LJUBLJANA - Almost 200 organisations and more than 8,000 individuals, including environmental NGOs, trade unions, associations representing pensioners, youth and municipalities, made an urgent appeal to the government to recognise climate change as a national crisis and start dealing with it in a comprehensive fashion now. Trade unions called for a new economic model focusing on green jobs.
        LJUBLJANA - Jorge Domecq, chief executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA), paid a visit for talks with foreign and defence ministry officials. He praised Slovenia's cooperation with the EDA but called for increased participation of Slovenian industry in EDA programmes.
        LJUBLJANA - In a bid to end a conundrum about the financing of private primary schools, the coalition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) announced it would start collecting signatures to call a referendum as the issue remains unresolved almost five years after the top court decided the state must fund them 100%, not just 85% as is the case now.
        BERLIN, Germany - Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek met his German and Portuguese counterparts to discuss preparations for the EU presidency that the three countries will consecutively hold starting in the second half of 2020. Among the possible priorities, Počivalšek, Portugal's Pedro Siza Vieira and Germany's Peter Altmaier highlighted strengthening the EU's internal market.
        KOPER - The Amber Rail Freight Corridor, which connects industrial centres and inter-modal terminals in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, was formally launched. It connects the Adriatic Sea with the Poland-Belarus border, and represents an alternative to the transport routes between the north and south of Europe.
        LJUBLJANA - Police confirmed they were 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 Notary Chamber is checking the work of notary Miro Košak in the cases of debt restructuring of Electa Inženiring, Electa Naložbe and Electa Holding.

THURSDAY, 19 September
        LJUBLJANA - The government adopted the draft budgets for 2020 and 2021 after ministries reduced the planned expenditure for next year by a combined EUR 100 million following a downgrade of Slovenia's GDP growth forecast to 2.8% for 2019 and 3% for 2020. Budget users will still have a record EUR 10.35 billion at their disposal in 2020, and almost all of them will get more money than this year.
        BERN, Switzerland - President Borut Pahor met his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer on second day of his official visit to Switzerland with the pair calling for deepening what they said to be already good cooperation between the two countries. Maurer offered digitalisation and new technologies as two areas where cooperation could be enhanced. They also discussed topical EU matters.
        LJUBLJANA - The Court of Audit 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 whether a new reactor at NEK would be built or not. Despite the shortcomings, the court only issued a set of recommendations to several stakeholders.
        LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Privileges and Credentials Commission decided that a parliamentary inquiry into prosecutions of former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler would not be initiated until after the Constitutional Court weighed in on the matter at the behest of the prosecution and judiciary.
        LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana mosque got an operating permit. It is expected to open for prayers after the New Year; however, the official inauguration ceremony is planned for the end of May 2020.
        MUNICH, Germany - The Slovenian men's national basketball team received a special invitation to play in one of the four qualifying tournaments for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, to be played next June.

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STA, 31 July 2019 - Slovenia's government budget posted a surplus of EUR 208.2 million for the first half of the year, which compares to a surplus of EUR 184.2 million in the same period a year ago, data from the Finance Ministry show.

The revised budget for 2019, passed in March, projects a revenue of EUR 10.35 billion and EUR 10.16 billion in expenditure with a surplus of EUR 193.6 million.

Compared to the first half of 2018, budget revenue this year increased by 6.8% to EUR 5.08 billion and expenditure was boosted by 6.5% to EUR 4.87 billion.

Tax revenue in the first half of 2019 stood at EUR 4.33 billion, up 4.6% year-on-year.

Receipts from personal income tax decreased by 1.3% to EUR 728.8 million due to a cut on tax on holiday allowance.

Meanwhile, corporate income tax revenue rose by 22.6% to EUR 555.6 million, and income from VAT rose by 4.2% to EUR 1.83 billion. But receipts from excise duties decreased by 3.5% to EUR 729 million.

On the expenditure side, the cost of debt servicing was reduced by EUR 81 million to EUR 523.4 million due to active management of government debt.

The outlays for public sector pay rose by 9% to EUR 677 million as a result of the agreed pay rises and promotions.

Expenditure on goods and services increased by EUR 30.5 million or 9.6%, mainly due to the cost of modernisation of the Slovenian Armed Forces and maintenance of road and rail infrastructure.

Social transfers were up by 12.6% to EUR 742.1 million.

Consolidated general government balance of payments, comprising the government budget, pension and health insurance funds and local government budgets, posted EUR 9.45 billion in revenue and EUR 9.19 billion in expenditure in the first half of 2019.

STA, 30 July 2019 - Commenting on reports about Croatia being ready to enter the Schengen area in the autumn, the newspaper Delo says in Tuesday's front-page commentary that the government will thus be faced with a challenge of whether to support Croatia or use this step as leverage to ensure the implementation of the arbitration ruling.

"Prime Minister [Marjan] Šarec faces the first serious foreign affairs dilemma, which is strongly linked to interior policy, in particular to the opposition Democrats' criticism that this government is not able to protect the border properly.

"He will also face the public opinion, which will probably not welcome any yielding to Croatia."

The paper says that in terms of security and border control Slovenia would benefit from Croatia becoming a Schengen country; however, it would also lose its advantage in the two countries' border arbitration dispute.

Given Slovenia's status in Brussels, it is not likely that the country's efforts to let the new EU Commission decide on the issue would be successful, concludes the commentary headlined Šarec's Dilemma of Security and Politics.

STA, 28 July 2019 - Smiljana Knez, Slovenia's outgoing ambassador to Croatia, has told the STA in a valedictory interview that a lack of trust is the biggest obstacle preventing relations between Slovenia and Croatia to thrive.

Knez is happy with her record in office to an extent, because the embassy "has in fact done a lot" considering the state of the political relationship between the countries, which is at a lowest point since the signing of the arbitration agreement in 2009.

"The relationship is not such as I'd like it to be, it could be much better. There's always room for improvement, but the precondition is the political will to solve issues and the willingness to respect the rule of law," Knez said.

She believes that it is time the countries fully resolved one of the big issues that have been troubling their relations for 28 years such as the border and or the matter of the Yugoslav-era savings deposits with the Zagreb branch of the defunct Slovenian bank Ljubljanska Banka.

She sees mutual trust between all players as the first condition to tackle all open issues between the two countries. Meanwhile, efforts have been made to deepen the links between the two nations through various presentations of Slovenian business and culture throughout Croatia.

"Regretfully, there's not much trust in a whole range of issues that would require more dynamic approach to get resolved. A low level of trust makes it harder to talk, negotiate and seek solutions to unresolved issues."

Turning to the issue of border arbitration, she says that even many politicians in Croatia are of the opinion that the arbitration award is in fact good for their country.

"It's a compromise solution and I regret that Croatia has failed to respond to Slovenia's proposal to agree a demarcation of the land border because that would make people's life easier and bring the sea border, which was set for the first time, into life."

In its first reaction after the border arbitration tribunal declared the award on 29 June 2017, the European Commission stated clearly that the award has to be implemented. However, talks between Ljubljana and Zagreb on how to implement the award went on only for half a year after its declaration.

"I don't know of any indications of any discussion about any serious Croatian proposal to package the arbitration award in a way that would make it more acceptable for Zagreb," Knez says about the legal framework that the Croatian government allegedly presented to Slovenia in a bid to find a mutually acceptable solution.

Slovenia has taken Croatia to he European Court of Justice over its refusal to implement the border arbitration award. Knez says that the award will remain valid even if the court declared the suit admissible but then failed to uphold Slovenia's view that through non-implementation Croatia violates EU law in terms of Schengen and fisheries.

"I've noticed a belief in Croatia that the two countries can live with open issues because we have good relations in other fields. I don't believe in that because unresolved issues burden relations and clog cooperation in some areas. There's for instance no real cooperation within the EU even though the two countries may have shared interests."

During her three and a half years in office, the embassy has been trying hard to prevent the cold political relationship affecting the boosting of business links.

Bilateral merchandise trade amounted to EUR 4.2 billion last year, a third more than at the start of Knez's term in 2016. In the first quarter of this year trade was up by 14% compared to the same period a year ago.

The two countries have been maintaining regular contacts at the level of ministries, in particular those linked to economy, transport and infrastructure.

Knez has devoted a lot of her attention to the Slovenian minority in Croatia, which is trying for ethnic Slovenians in Croatia to become more politically engaged, not only in the Croatian parliament, but also at the local level where decisions are taken on everyday life and on preserving the minority's identity.

Knez is leaving her post in Zagreb to become an international relations advisor to President Borut Pahor. Until the arrival of a new ambassador, her duties in Zagreb will be assumed by charge d'affaires Nataša Šebenik.

In April, the newspaper Dnevnik reported that career diplomat Vojislav Šuc was appointed as Slovenia's new ambassador to Croatia. Most recently, Šuc has served as the head of Slovenia's permanent mission to the UN and other Geneva-based organisations. He has also served as ambassador to Sweden.

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 26 July 2019

Mladina:  Croatia's reported tourism decline should worry Slovenia

STA, 26 July 2019 - The left-wing weekly Mladina says in its latest commentary that the reports on an alleged decline in the number of tourists in Croatia is not something Slovenia should be happy about, not least for the sake of decency. If this is true, this is actually a reason for concern, as Slovenian tourism is closely connected to tourism in Croatia.

Slovenia bets on tourism and a possible decline in tourist visits in Croatia could reflect on Slovenia, because it generates a lot of its tourism-related revenue with people who only make a stop in Slovenia while on their way to Croatia.

Even those who are in Slovenia for a couple of hours at least buy a motorway toll sticker, editor-in-chief Grega Repovž says in the commentary Damn Croatians.

"In other words: we are at least partly tied to Croatia's success in tourism economy-wise. This is why we actually should wish that Croatian tourism is as successful as possible, because this will make us more successful too."

When Germany announces a decline in economic growth, everybody in Slovenia (justifiably) speak about and analyse the possible consequences on the Slovenian economy. The same response should be expected to the reports from Croatia, as Slovenia is much more connected with the success of its tourism than Slovenians are willing to admit.

Mladina thus notes that it is detrimental for both countries that they have not been able to make alliances after gaining independence. It would be easier for Slovenia and Croatia to better control and direct migration, and to act as allies within the EU.

In the fields of science, art and tourism development, Croatia is a country Slovenia should connect with. For example, the university medical centres in Zagreb and Ljubljana could cooperate fruitfully because both countries are too small to develop many fields of medicine alone.

"Of course, the most tempting thing at this point is to debate what share of the blame individual countries and politics bear for this situation. But this debate, running almost thirty years since the two countries gained independence, has led us nowhere."

Repovž notes that in Europe, both Slovenians and Croatians are perceived as immature, quarrelsome and nitpicky, which is why normalising the relations with Croatia should be a serious objective for Slovenian politics.

Demokracija: Right under siege by a Left bent on destruction

STA, 25 July 2019 - The right-wing magazine Demokracija claims in Thursday's commentary that the right in Slovenia is under siege, as evidenced from a series of charges the magazine and its editor face due to incitement of hatred.

"They are cultural and just, we on the right are the source of all evil. This is evidence of a cult of hatred. The characters and acts that they are fabricating and projecting onto us are created in their heads, not ours. We are rotten persons for them, instigators of hatred and xenophobes because we love our country."

"Of course we're not any of what they make us out to be. All these horrible shows and horrible things planted on us take shape in them, in the twisted psyches of progressive evildoers," the commentator says in Us and Them.

It argues that this hatred is very palpable and felt at every step. "First they brand us with words, then comes violence, which is then leveraged by politicians, their officials and bureaucrats, their hereditary allies, the travelling mafia in the form of Antifa."

"In fact, they are the most intolerant group of people ... they have sent a tsunami of evil upon us and taken the right to be the sole arbiters not just of their thoughts and actions but also our thoughts and conduct. The result is always the same, regardless of circumstance: we are evil, they are not."

The commentator concludes that the right has been tolerant for too long which is why violence against is has become commonplace. "For us violence is a horrible thing, the idea about armed coup against the government unimaginable, but they have revolution and violent coups in their blood. There is us. And there is them."

All our posts in this series can be found here, while you can keep up-to-date on Slovenia politics here, and find the daily headlines here

STA, 20 July 2019 - Democrats (SDS) head Janez Janša hailed the opposition party's election results in the past year and criticised the current government as he addressed the starting gathering of the SDS's traditional two-week summer camp near Bovec.

The largest get-together for the party's rank-and-file, held at Bovec airport, heard Janša celebrate the SDS's results in the last general, local and European elections.

"It is hard to be unhappy if you post three victories in three elections," he said, while acknowledging that only the local elections truly resulted in the party participating in decision making.

Začel se je tradicionalni že 24. poletni tabor SDS in Gorniškega kluba dr. Henrika Tume. Vabljeni, da v okviru tabora z nami osvojite ponos slovenske države Triglav in kraljico slovenskih gora Škrlatico. #SDSzate Več o programu na: https://t.co/zmnHMkO1vv pic.twitter.com/bw7wXRsXVo

— SDS (@strankaSDS) July 20, 2019

The government was formed after the general election by the losers of the election, he argued, suggesting that this was not usual "in normal democracies".

"Slovenia is not at that stage yet," he said, saying the government should be in the hands of the one who earned the most trust in the election.

Janša nonetheless believes that the party has emerged out of these developments stronger, saying it got 2000 new members, including many young people.

Meanwhile, he also touched on the situation in the European political arena. He said that while the cards are being mixed anew there, Slovenia is again showing too little ambition and is not being considered a serious player on the European map.

"This also has negative consequences when it comes to securing projects, seats in European institutions, for the country's reputation and for foreign investment," Janša said.

Moreover, he was critical of the choice of Slovenian's Ambassador to the EU Janez Lenarčič as the Slovenian candidate for EU commissioner.

He said the choice was mostly guided by the wish to put forward somebody who would not endanger anyone at home, irrespective of their prospect for benefiting Slovenia in any way in the EU.

The SDS's camp involves various activities, including several hikes, among them to Mt. Triglav on 27 July.

All our stories on the SDS are here

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 19 July 2019

Mladina: New social order key to tackling climate change

STA, 19 July 2019 - Reflecting on efforts against climate change, the left-wing weekly Mladina says the current piecemeal measures - raising awareness about plastic, car and air transport, meat etc.- are welcome. However, to truly tackle the situation, it will be necessary to change the social order and dethrone work as the concept central to everybody's identity and survival.

The weekly paper's editor in chief Grega Repovž points to preliminary findings that many forms of work, consisting of the workers driving to work, executing their tasks and returning home, entail higher costs - environmental expressed in material costs - than the workers' wages.

As long as work continues to have its current social status, as long as it is a source of survival, a measure of an individual's success in life, their social status, as long as it stays on the pedestal where it was put by both capitalism and socialism, truly meaningful change that would reduce the burdens placed on the environment is not possible.

While deciding to reduce the temperature in one's flat in the winter by one degree, to adopt a zero waste approach when buying fruits and vegetables, to only use air transport twice a year etc. are all very positive steps, they are not truly radical in the sense needed to really tackle climate change.

"It is necessary to become more radical, to demand a new social order ... One thing is clear: redefining the position of work means a redefinition of society. As soon as an individual's life fulfilment will no longer be tied to work, everything will change.

"The worst thing here is that work mostly does not deliver this much expected fulfilment to the everyday individual, it only offers a future promise (it is in fact all a kind of faith in work), only to lead at one point in life to the resigned acceptance of things as they are: working in exchange for pay ... in a way that determines the rhythm and manner of the life of individuals, of families, of society."

Demokracija: Labelling Identitarians Extremists a Horrific Attack on Freedom

STA, 18 July 2019 – The right-wing weekly Demokracija takes issue in its latest editorial with Slovenian mainstream media reporting widely on the Identitarian movement being classified as right-wing extremist in Germany. It expresses shock at why people problematise charity being made conditional on ethnicity, and issues what amounts to a call to arms against the left.

While ignoring Europol reports on terrorism showing that "(far)leftists are a bigger threat to Europe than (far)rightists", the "mainstream media (MSM)" pushed the news from Germany and served a whole load of nonsense in the process, says Jože Biščak, the editor of the right-wing magazine co-owned by the opposition Democrats (SDS).

He highlights a report by the website of RTV Slovenija that "sees a security threat in the Identitarian movement 'offering food to the homeless that contains pork, whereby it excludes Muslims'".

"Večer meanwhile says the Slovenian Identitarians have been showing increasing support for the National Bloc group, 'which is following the model from abroad to highlight its support to the vulnerable and poor - but only if they have the right national, religious and ethnic background.'"

"Anyone who loves freedom at least a little, was horrified. Attention! The Identitarians use their own money to buy food and help, they do this at their own expense and in their own free time, but because the leftists have no influence over whom the former help and what kind of food they distribute, they designate this group as far-right."

Biščak says the leftists are unable to comprehend that they cannot interfere with the right of "individuals...to help whom they wish" and are thus "sending the state after the Identitarians", "having it in their DNA to want to control other people's property, which is unconstitutional".

While arguing that unconstitutional actions have also become an everyday affair under the Marjan Šarec government, Biščak says the right had been passive for too long, allowing the left to do as it pleased.

He points to those killed in summary executions after WWII and the silencing of their families, to people who remain judges despite having violated human rights in the past, while he also speaks of "the importing of new voters from the Balkans" and of "opening the door widely to illegal migrants as if our fate as a nation is sealed, a collapse inevitable, and a victory of the primitive hordes at our door unavoidable".

"We were as if under a spell and seemed mad, but let us not forget that, once we count the number of people among our ranks, there are still more of us, the good, than them, the bad, in this beautiful part of the old continent.

"We only need to wake up and push back the left, which is destroying all that we found sacred and allowed us to survive as a nation. Let us for once show, for god's sake, that we can do more than just pull in our horns and squeal, that we can also bark loudly and what is more, bite strongly," Biščak says in the commentary entitled A Dog that Barks Also Needs to Bite.

All our posts in this series can be found here, while you can keep up-to-date on Slovenia politics here, and find the daily headlines here