STA, 27 January 2019 - Culture Minister Dejan Prešiček offered his resignation in a letter to Prime Minister Marjan Šarec on Sunday, the Culture Ministry said. Šarec is to announce his decision on the fate of the minister who has been accused of bullying and abuse of office on Monday.

"I would not wish to anyone what I have been through in the last week. The public lynch that happen did not hurt just me and my co-workers but also those in culture who - as Prešeren would say - 'are kind-hearted'. And that I cannot allow, because I am not an insensitive person as some (media) have tried to portray me," Prešiček wrote in the letter.

"Having said that, dear prime minister, I see only one possible solution, and that is to offer you my resignation as culture minister," he said, noting that a lot of work had been done during his term, some of which would only be noticed in the future.

Prešiček has recently been the target of accusations of bullying employees at the ministry and abusing his office.

He denied having bullied an official who recently committed suicide, while admitting to the accusations of misusing the ministry car.

Being a minister put forward by the coalition Social Democrats (SD), the party leadership discussed the situation on Saturday but would not reveal any conclusions of the debate.

The SD has shown support for Prešiček in the past week, but also said that the decision about his future as minister lies in the hands of the prime minister.

Šarec is expected to announce his decision at a press conference tomorrow morning. According to unofficial information obtained by the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, he will not accept Prešiček's resignation.

Prešiček said in the letter he had taken on the job in the government with the desire and responsibility to make positive change in the Slovenian culture.

"I believe I have done my job in line with the oath I took in front of the National Assembly."

Among his achievements he highlighted a further rise in culture spending, better drawing of EU funds and "steps to optimise public spending".

He also pointed to the problems he inherited, saying they "erupted in the recent days".

Regretting the "premature and unexplained death of a Culture Ministry employee", Prešiček said it was yet another reminder that ministers must devote more time to human relations on all levels.

He also thanked all those who expressed support to him publicly in the face of the scandal.

The Slovenian Writers' Association (DSP) responded to the situation earlier today by saying that the "chaos we are seeing with the current minister and other officials is a result of the political attitude to culture," a consequence of years of political underestimating and neglecting of culture, which had led to shortages of staff and funds.

"The conflict was inevitable and in a way expected, as the situation reached rock bottom in many areas." The association expects the government to tackle the situation as soon as possible with radical and efficient measures.

STA, 26 January 2019 - President Borut Pahor will pay an official visit to Serbia on Monday and Tuesday for talks with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić aimed at enhancing bilateral political relationship and diverse cooperation between the two nations. He will also speak in the Serbian National Assembly and attend a bilateral business forum.

Pahor will discuss topics like Serbia's progress in its efforts to join the EU, the situation in the region and other topical international issues related to migration, security and the future of the EU.

In addition to Vučić, the president will also meet National Assembly Speaker Maja Gojković, with the visit to parliament also including a meeting with representatives of all parliamentary parties and an address to the MPs.

Pahor will be accompanied by Foreign Ministry State Secretary Simona Leskovar and Economic Development and Technology Ministry State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogarm and a business delegation.

The president's office said that the visit was an opportunity for Pahor to get acquainted with the political situation in Serbia and with the expectations for the country's progress in the accession talks with the EU.

Attention will also be devoted to the summit of the Brdo-Brijuni Process in Albania in May.

Pahor irked Serbia last year by saying that Slovenia would try to get the EU countries which had not yet recognised Kosovo to do so. At the time he also said that the Kosovo issue was a major one that Serbia and Slovenia disagreed on.

Pahor had also said that Slovenia would support Kosovo provided it met the requirements such as complying with the agreement on the normalisation of relations with Serbia, forming an association of Serb municipalities in the north of Kosovo and ratifying the agreement on the border with Montenegro.

The president's office said that in addition to bilateral cooperation, the visit was also an opportunity to discuss the political situation in Serbia and the country's progress in its efforts to join the EU.

Serbia, which launched EU accession talks in January 2014, has opened 16 out of the 35 chapters. The main obstacle are the relations with Kosovo, as the country cannot conclude the negotiations without a comprehensive and binding agreement on the normalisation of the relations between Belgrade and Prishtina.

The relations between Serbia and Kosovo have been tense lately, as Kosovo introduced last November 100% excise duties on goods from Serbia and then established an official army. Kosovo is making abolition of the excise duties conditional on Serbia's recognition of Kosovo.

Serbia has also been facing mass anti-government protests, which are spreading across the country from Belgrade. The protesters demand Vučić step down, accusing him of autocratic rule. They also demand more media freedom.

The accompanying business delegation will feature around 100 representatives of companies interested in digitalisation of business and administration, the circular economy and tourism, according to the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce (GZS).

The Slovenian-Serbian business forum will be held on Tuesday, to be addressed both by Pahor and Vučić. It will feature a debate on digitalisation of business and administration and bilateral meetings featuring more than 400 participants.

Serbia is Slovenia's 10th most important trading partner. Merchandise trade has been exceeding EUR 1bn for a number of years with Slovenia posting a substantial surplus. In 2017 the volume of trade topped EUR 1.3bn and in the first three quarters of 2018 Slovenia's exports rose by another 9% and imports by 26%.

Slovenia's direct investment in Serbia exceeds EUR 1bn, while Serbia's investment in Slovenia has already topped EUR 200m. The biggest Serbian investments in Slovenia are IT company Comtrade, fruit juice producer Fructal, hotels Kempinski and Intercontinental, Portorož Airport and the bank Gorenjska Banka.

This will be the fist visit by Pahor in Serbia since he was re-elected last November, coming after he met Vučić in June 2017 for his inauguration in Belgrade. Pahor's last official visit to Serbia was in 2014, which was also the first official visit by a Slovenian president in the country.

Mladina: Šarec facing first test as Janša wakes up

STA, 25 January 2019 - The left-leaning weekly Mladina says in its latest commentary that the European Parliament election will be the first serious test for Prime Minister Marjan Šarec as the Democrat (SDS) leader Janez Janša has come out from his hiding and started throwing "bombs", which include his attempt to portray Šarec and his government as an elite.

But in the commentary That Crazy Dance, editor-in-chief Grega Repovž notes that contrary to popular belief, Janša is not a great tactician at all.

"No. Janez Janša has no clue about political tactics - otherwise he would not be the most alienated politician, with whom no-one wants to cooperate. Everybody avoids him."

A detailed look at Janša's latest post on Facebook reveals that he has launched a pre-election attack on his main political opponent Šarec, who is leading all popularity lists, the commentary says, noting that the election campaign has already started.

The strategy is to present Šarec and the government as an elite. "Janša knows that he does not need to go after Šarec individually, he only needs to present the entire government as an elite."

When it comes to the impeachment motion filed against Šarec over the failure to implement the Constitutional Court decision on financing of private primary schools, Mladina says that the matter should be given a closer look.

"What private education we are talking about? Church education. What is therefore Janša's goal? It is to take away from Šarec the aura of a man who can sing Partisan songs and read at a liturgy."

This is a great advantage for Šarec, as he is reconciliation personified, which people like. Janša, on the other hand, wants to show that Šarec is not that, that he is actually a member of the elite, a first-class new man of the old forces.

"This is stupid, of course, but it has never been about truth and facts when it comes to Janša."

Related: All our posts about Janez Janša are here, while those about Marjan Šarec are here

Demokracija: Šarec believes he has supernatural powers

STA, 24 January 2019 - The right-leaning weekly Demokracija says in its latest commentary that judging by his behaviour and statements, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec has started to believe that he is Janez Drnovšek reincarnated, but he is actually a socialist who is pretending to be a saviour with imagined supernatural powers.

Portraying him as a Janez Drnovšek or even more favourably are mostly the media inclined to the left, editor-in-chief Jože Biščak says under the headline Back to the Future.

"In a nutshell - Šarec is a superman, who will solve all problems of Slovenians with the help from the extremist Left. Just look what wonders the latest raise of the minimum wage does," he says in reference to the steep rise in Šarec's popularity.

"Because of the project which is being praised to the skies and which has raised the minimum wage by an unbelievable 29 euros, people to whom it is intended will pay a higher income tax and will get lower child benefits. You really have to have supernatural powers to achieve that."

But Biščak notes that when socialists wanted to determine prices and what people need and what not, shortages usually followed, which was "miraculously never felt by the elite of the saviours", but by common people.

"Every measure taken by any socialist government turned out to be detrimental. Socialism has never worked and has left only devastation and tens of millions of victims behind. You don't need supernatural powers for that, you need to be wicked and evil."

In socialism, the only way to convince people is to limit their freedom and make them poor, and this is what the Šarec government is doing. The socialist logic is that people always need socialist saviours with imagined supernatural powers, concludes the commentary.

All our posts in this series can be found here

https://www.total-slovenia-news.com/tag/mladina

STA, 24 January 2019 - Slovenia will have to defend itself in front of the EU Court over its "violation of the inviolability of the archives of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the duty of sincere cooperation in the context of the seizure of ECB documents," the EU Commission announced on Thursday.

The case refers to a July 2016 police raid of the offices of Slovenia's central bank, a part of an investigation into the causes of the late-2013 bailout of the Slovenian banking system.

Since the Slovenian central bank is a part of the ECB system, some of the files seized pertained to the ECB, which is shielded from domestic law enforcement in member states by a special protocol to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The Commission said today the Slovenian authorities had seized information that included ECB documents and hardware, whereby "the ECB had given no prior authorisation for the seizure of those items, and subsequent attempts by the ECB to resolve the matter amicably have been unsuccessful."

"The unilateral seizure by Slovenia of ECB documents in an investigation about matters under national law at the premises of the Bank of Slovenia constitutes a violation of the inviolability of the archives of the ECB," the Commission's press release reads.

Unofficial sources say that the case is being closely monitored in Brussels as it is an important precedent.

The European Commission is said to be wanting access to the seized documents and information about which documents have been seized, but the Slovenian authorities have failed to cooperate.

The Ministry of Justice said it would be able to respond to the Commission's decision once it received and examined the wording of the lawsuit, of which it had not been notified.

If the EU Court establishes that Slovenia has not fulfilled an obligation as stipulated by Article 260 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the government will take appropriate measures to implement the ruling, the ministry added.

The police raid in which the documents were seized targeted the management of the central bank and their role in the December 2013 bailout, which resulted among other things in the wiping out of holders of junior debt.

As a result of the investigation, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed at the end of December a criminal complaint on suspicion of abuse of office. Unofficially, it has been filed against all individuals who served as board members of the central bank at the time.

STA, 23 January 2019 - The public healthcare fund, the ZZZS (Zavod za zdravstveno zavarovanje Slovenije), ended 2018 above plans, generating a surplus of EUR 32m on EUR 2.89bn in revenue, which was EUR 207m higher than the year before, mostly on the back of favourable trends in mandatory healthcare insurance revenue, show the ZZZS's preliminary data.

Revenue from mandatory health insurance at EUR 2.76bn accounted for 95.5% of total revenue and was EUR 3.7m above plans.

Meanwhile, expenditure, which topped EUR 2.86bn, increased by EUR 176m or 6.6% over 2017, the fund's finance and accounting director Daniela Dimić told the press on Wednesday.

The revenue was EUR 8.5m above plans, whereas expenditure was EUR 23.5m below plans.

The highest increase in spending was recorded in expenditure for treatments abroad, which rose by 18.2% to EUR 56.4m and was 6.5% above plans.

The surplus will be used for financing the ZZZS, while the fund used the favourable trends to increase the prices of healthcare services, which means the fund paid more to public healthcare providers, by 5% last year.

Nevertheless, most of the extra money last year was spent on expanding services, especially on measures to deal with problems in areas such as primary healthcare, said Marjan Sušelj, the head of the healthcare purse manager.

"We earmarked funds for 54 new GPs and paediatricians, but sadly we failed to get enough. In December, we were 19 short," he said.

Overall, the situation with waiting times has started to improve after two years of efforts. "Compared to April, we have 11% fewer patients, 17,341, in queues. The most daunting, unacceptably long wait times have shortened by 5.6% in the same period," Sušelj added.

Figures indicate that money is no longer the main obstacle in shortening wait times, instead it is the lack of capacities, especially at the primary level, he said.

Sušelj called for legislative changes in healthcare insurance, preferably by the end of this year or in the first half of 2020 at the latest, as "the system of programme planning, approving and agreeing is long and arduous".

STA, 23 January 2019 - SocDem president Dejan Židan said on Wednesday that Culture Minister Dejan Prešiček's use of the ministry car for personal affairs had been a mistake that warranted a reprimand. Prešiček is also ready to resign should this be demanded by PM Marjan Šarec, added Židan, who meanwhile protested against "unverified" bullying claims against Prešiček.

Židan spoke to the press about the fate of the SD's minister after the surfacing of allegations that Prešiček had misused the ministry car and engaged in bullying at the Culture Ministry. Some reports even suggested the alleged behaviour had contributed to the recent suicide of a courier at the ministry.

Židan explained Prešiček had admitted that the ministry car had indeed been used on nine occasions to transport "the music instrument" to the Music and Ballet Conservatory, where served as director until his current job and continues to teach.

"The minister made a mistake and deserves a rap on the knuckles," Židan said, indicating that a reprimand would be sufficient.

Still, "should the prime minister assess that this mistake was of such gravity that Prešiček needs to leave, the minister will do accordingly, and the SocDems will respect the prime minister's decision".

Turning to the bullying accusations, Židan said that "the lies that appeared about the minister, about his work methods, the stories that constitute a direct attack on his integrity", should be examined, "their background revealed and appropriate action taken".

He said that the minister and the SocDems were the first who wanted to come to the bottom of this, since it is "unacceptable that a person - someone who is moving things forward in culture - is crucified on the basis of far-fetched claims".

Many previous complaints about bullying at the ministry, 74 in 2017 alone

While agreeing that the bullying accusations should also be explored, Židan argued that such complaints had already been rampant at the Culture Ministry in the past and that Prešiček had only taken over a few months ago.

He said he had heard Prešiček was known as a hard-working man, which is a commendable trait, and that he was subject to only one bullying complaint while the head of the Music and Ballet Conservatory, a complaint that was later dismissed.

Židan refused to comment on speculation that an orchestrated attack on Prešiček was under way at the ministry, only saying that those who have been working at the ministry for many years also deserved respect and dialogue should they be in distress.

Meanwhile, the Culture Ministry told the STA that no bullying complaints had been filed against Prešiček at the ministry. The data provided, showing that 74 such complaints were filed in 2017 alone, suggests that the ministry has been struggling when it comes to relations between the employees for years.

The accusations against Prešiček, which also prompted a call for explanations issued by Šarec, culminated on Tuesday, when the Ljubljana Police Administration confirmed it was examining potential reasons to suspect a criminal act.

Parliamentary parties had mixed reactions to the developments today, but most agreed Prešiček should go if the allegations proved true.

The allegations were reportedly voiced by a few Culture Ministry employees, with only one doing it openly, and pursued in a determined fashion above all by the Glosa trade union of culture.

STA, 22 January 2019 - Having pleaded not guilty in the Gratel case last November, Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovič presented his view of events as the trial opened at the Ljubljana District Court on Tuesday. He labelled the indictment, which accuses him of taking a bribe from the company Gratel to the benefit of the city, a plot against him.

The indictment says that soon after becoming mayor in late 2006, Jankovič demanded in early 2007 that construction company Gratel pay a donation of half a million euro to the municipality to be allowed to continue digging roads to install optic cables for telecommunications company T2.

Prosecutor Blanka Žgajnar told the court Jankovič had unjustifiably revoked the permit for temporary road closures Gratel had received from his predecessor just before the 2006 local elections.

He had then concluded a new contract with the company, but added a damages clause, thereby assuming powers of the city's traffic department, which is in charge of issuing permits for road closures.

Presenting his side of the story, Jankovič denied all charges as unfounded, saying Žgajnar was prosecuting him because she did not like him.

"The documents which the police obtained as part of the investigation don't substantiate the claims in the indictment. This was not a donation, it was an agreement on damages," he said.

He said he had annulled the permit signed by his predecessor Danica Simčič because it was illegal, as it should have been issued by the city's traffic department.

The mayor said the municipality had commissioned a legal opinion from legal expert Rajko Pirnat which confirmed the permit should not have been signed by Simčič.

He explained that soon after becoming mayor he had received many complaints from locals and public companies about how Gratel was installing optic cables in Šiška borough.

Janković said the damages Gratel had paid were lower than what it had for instance paid the Kranj municipality for the same job of installing optic cables.

He stressed the amount had been set in talks with Gratel, which was in no way the weaker party, having strong lobbyists on its side.

What is more, the company decided on its own to pay the damages to the company running Ljubljana Castle, he stressed and called on Žgajnar to withdraw the indictment.

The next hearing is scheduled for 31 January, when Gratel owner Jurij Krč and former T2 boss Miran Kramberger take the stand.

All our stories on Mayor Janković can be found here

STA, 22 January 2019 - Police have confirmed a probe into media-reported allegations of mobbing at the Culture Ministry which some reports connected to the suicide of an employee. Prime Minister Marjan Šarec has already asked the culture minister to take a stance on accusations made by unionists and the ministry's employees.

The Ljubljana Police Administration said on Tuesday that an investigation would be introduced and the state prosecution notified should reasons to suspect a criminal offence be confirmed.

Culture Minister Dejan Prešiček, who took over last September, has confirmed for TV Slovenija that he met with Šarec over the issue and announced a written statement.

Prešiček also met the Glosa trade union of culture, which wrote to Šarec to express their opposition "to any interventions in a safe, healthy, respectful working environment" and "utter contempt for torment/chicanery/mobbing".

The union added it was shaken by "the suicide at the ministry for (non)-culture", and called on Šarec to closely examine the case and "also react in the direction of dismissing Dejan Prešiček if inappropriate and despicable behaviour is involved".

Minister denies accusations, accuses staff of lying

While the statement by the minister requested by Šarec is still forthcoming, Prešiček said he had asked Glosa "sincerely what it was that I did wrong, why I could be to blame, feeling that this blame does not exist, that I did nothing of that sort".

He also announced a workers' assembly at the ministry to help build dialogue and establish "what was happening and why this tragic event occurred".

In his first response to the story, which was broken by the Požareport tabloid news portal, Prešiček wrote of manipulation and rejected any wrongdoing.

"Obviously some of the ministry's employees are abusing a family tragedy for base attacks against me personally and my co-workers at the ministry," Prešiček wrote.

A reminder that your best source of information on Brexit and what it means for you in Slovenia – in terms what’s happening right now and what you should be doing, if not what will happen next, in which case ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ – remains the UK Embassy in Ljubljana, with the latest update from the British Ambassador Sophie Honey below (as of Friday January 18).

So while we’ll make sure to post updates when we have them, if you want the latest official news be sure to follow the Embassy on Facebook, here. To keep things covered from more angles, the British Chamber of Commerce can be found here, and the Slovenian Embassy in London is here. Finally, the lobby / support group British in Europe, billed as “the coalition of UK citizens in Europe”, can be found here.

STA, 21 January 2019 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, whose cabinet has been assessed the most favourably in the past ten years in the latest Vox Populi poll, would not comment on the poll on Monday, saying that it was up to pundits to analyse the results. Analysts Antiša Korljan and Rok Čakš attribute the PM's success to his persona.

"Our goal is to achieve results and work," Šarec told reporters, adding that polls meant nothing without actual results. The PM, who has overtaken President Borut Pahor as the most popular politician, said there was hard work ahead and plenty of projects to be implemented.

Only time will tell if the government is successful, and "speaking about popularity and success after three or four months is much too early," added Šarec, whose government was sworn in in September.

Meanwhile, analyst Korljan, the editor-in-chief of the Primorske Novice newspaper, told the STA that the prime minister was gaining in popularity due to his persona and demystification of government work.

Korljan said the government, whose work was perceived as successful by 56% of the 700 respondents in the poll carried out by Ninamedia because Šarec speaks about leading the government like about any other business. "People apparently assess this positively and the prime minister is gaining in popularity based on what we call 'common sense'," he said.

Similarly, Čakš, the editor-in-chief of the conservative portal Domovina, said that Šarec succeeded with the help of media "to create an image of a decisive and capable leader, who's not landed in the office from some professorial or another intellectual position, instead, he appears as one of [the people]".

How Šarec is like Ronald Reagan

"This is why his seemingly simplified ... speech, which is frowned upon by intellectuals, is actually liked by people. In this sense, Šarec has a certain political talent, which undoubtedly stems from his vocation. He slightly resembles the popular former US President Ronald Reagan, who was also an actor and had a strong sense of how to gain popularity with people."

Nevertheless, the image of Šarec's capabilities and decisiveness was largely facilitated by the media or rather by "the absence of a deeper media critique in the first months of the government's work".

In part this is due to favourable global conditions, which also play a major part in people's perception of Šarec due to rising standards of living, and in part it is due to Šarec's likeable moves such as his clear position on fighting hate speech in media.

Korljan also believes the prime minister knows how to work with media: "He's working hard not to turn them against himself."

SDS in crisis with Janša stepping back

Like the prime minister, his party, the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) is also gaining in popularity, having overtaken the opposition Democrats (SDS) in the first spot in the Vox Populi poll.

Korljan believes that the SDS is in some sort of a leadership and identity crisis, with its leader Janez Janša taking a step back and Anže Logar coming to the forefront as his successor, "at least as far as public appearances are concerned".

On the other hand, Čakš believes that the LMŠ's rise is a delayed aftermath of Šarec's popularity. Nevertheless, more polls will have to be conducted to be able to say anything more definite about the change on the top of party rankings.

As regards Šarec's overtaking President Pahor in popularity rankings, Čakš said that they had a lot more in common than either would be willing to admit.