STA, 10 December 2021 - Slovenia could have left a better impression during its EU presidency - while work has been good at technical level, political divisions and the government's action about the European delegated prosecutors (EDP) and the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) has cast the country in a poor light, three of Slovenia's eight MEPs said on Friday.

Franc Bogovič (EPP), Tanja Fajon (S&D) and Ljudmila Novak (EPP) took part in the Coffee with MEPs talk in Brussels, which focused on Slovenia's EU presidency.

As most critical of the three, Fajon said the presidency has been largely a missed opportunity while admitting that work at technical level in Brussels has been good.

Fajon, a member of the opposition Social Democrats (SD), believes too much focus was on the rule of law in Slovenia, which has cast a shadow on the presidency.

Novak, a member of the coalition New Slovenia (NSi), regrets the image the government projected with its action regarding the EDP and STA has been more seen that the good and intensive work and the progress made.

She highlighted among the presidency's achievements the agreement reached on the minimum wage, saying it was a very tough issue and nobody had expected a breakthrough.

Bogovič stressed the excellent work of many Slovenian representatives while criticising Fajon and some other Slovenian MEPs, including Klemen Grošelj (Renew), for what he said was exporting internal political topics to the European Parliament.

"Our internal divisions will not be solved by European newspapers, but by us," said Bogovič, a member of the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS).

The MEPs also touched on some other topics, including the Western Balkans and EU enlargement, foremost North Macedonia and Albania.

Fajon regretted there has been no breakthrough for accession talks with the two countries to be launched, but admitted the Slovenian presidency could not be blamed for it.

All three MEPs also commented on a resolution on the rule of law in Slovenia that has been submitted to the European Parliament by the Social-Democrats, Liberals, Greens and the Left and on which the MEPs will vote in Thursday.

Fajon said the document is very critical, Novak said the EPP had tried very hard for it to be balanced, while Bogovič said it does not treat Slovenia negatively because it says that the fundamental mechanisms of the rule of law work and that there are no such flaws as there are in Poland and Hungary, or in Malta and Slovakia, where journalists are being killed.

STA, 10 December 2021 - Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) has received a complaint saying that the secretary general of the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC), now the Concretely party, Miha Rebolj, was pressurising a supervisor of postal operator Pošta Slovenije over the appointment of Pošta's new director general, newspaper Delo and web portal Necenzurirano reported.

According to Delo, politics has been trying to find a way to appoint Pošta's acting director Tomaž Kokot, entrepreneur and a local politician for the ruling Democrats (SDS) in Poljčane, for a full term although he does not have the required qualifications.

Reportedly, supervisor Matjaž Fortič, who was appointed from the SMC's quota, is obstructing these efforts. He was reportedly the one who reported the illegal political pressure to SSH, the custodian of state assets.

According to Necenzurirano, his resignation was allegedly demanded by the office of Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek.

Razkrivamo nov spopad za državno Pošto Slovenije. Kaj je svetovalka @PocivalsekZ zahtevala od nadzornika, ki ni želel kršiti pravil in imenovati izbranca @strankaSDS? in kaj ima pri tem Franci Matoz?https://t.co/RHTk0cCBmZ

— necenzurirano.si (@necenzurirano_) December 10, 2021

SSH confirmed for the STA today that it had received a complaint from a member of the supervisory board of a state-owned company alleging illegal pressure on them on 8 December.

"SSH finds any pressure on independent exercise of functions in the bodies of companies or any pressure with other unacceptable content that run contrary to the law and corporative management practices inadmissible. SSH is processing the report with due diligence and in accordance with its internal procedures," the holding said.

It also urged all members of supervisory boards to act in line with the law and report any pressure.

Rebolj has not responded to the reports yet, but Minister Počivalšek, the head of Concretely, told the press today that he had spoken with Rebolj and that he had told him that he and Fortič had had a talk.

They discussed party issues and Rebolj allegedly told him that he had lost trust in him because of some issues, Počivalšek said, refusing to elaborate.

"Since Fortič then left the party, he proposed him to quit all his posts. There were no threats or suggestions involved," the minister said during a government visit to the Gorenjska region.

The Commission for Corruption Prevention (KPK) told the STA its had not received any reports connected to Pošta's supervisory board and would not comment.

It did stress though that in cases of illegal pressure on officials all circumstances needed to be clarified and explanations of all those involved obtained before any comments could be made.

It noted the KPK could only investigate suspicions related to public office holders, which party secretaries general are not.

Irena Prijović, executive director of the Directors' Association, told the STA today that the association and the KPK had drafted a protocol for members of supervisory boards for reporting pressure and other unethical forms of influencing on their independent decisions.

She said she would like the KPK to receive more such reports, as this would significantly contribute to such political pressure becoming very risky behaviour. A problem is having supervisors who act as they are instructed by politics, she said.

Efforts to appoint Kokot for a full term have been under way for months. Both chief supervisor Franci Mihelič and supervisor Aleš Buležan, from the quotas of the coalition New Slovenia (NSi) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), stepped down in the meantime.

Although they cited personal reasons unofficial information suggest they did not want to take responsibility for the moves of the interim director.

A few weeks ago, management members Vinko Filipič and Andrej Rihter also left the state-owned company.

Current chief supervisor Ervin Renko would not comment on the procedure to appoint the new director as it is still ongoing.

STA, 10 December - Fifteen EU member states have pledged to provide for the resettlement and protection of nearly 40,000 Afghans, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson announced on Twitter. Slovenia is not among the countries included in this scheme, the Interior Ministry told the STA.

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of EU interior ministers on Thursday evening, Johansson said that it was a remarkable act of solidarity by EU member states to welcome 40,000 Afghans as part of a resettlement and evacuation scheme.

The Netherlands, Spain and France are mentioned among the participating countries, while Slovenia is not among them. According to the Interior Ministry, "Slovenia has not made a commitment in this scheme".

In October, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called on EU member states to take in half of the 85,000 Afghans, who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries, under a resettlement scheme over the next five years.

At the time, EU Commissioner Johansson considered the target feasible, but added that it was up to the member states to decide for themselves how many people they would take in under the resettlement scheme.

In Afghanistan, where the Taliban took over in the summer after the withdrawal of US and other foreign military forces, half of the population is in need of humanitarian aid.

The risk of famine and a complete collapse of the economy is high, there is no money, food prices are rising and the health system is weak, Johansson outlined the situation.

STA, 9 December 2021 - The National Assembly passed on Thursday the government-proposed amendment to the identity cards act under which new biometric ID cards will start to be issued on 28 March 2022, instead of 3 January 2022, as initially planned. In line with the change, it will be possible to use expired ID cards until the end of March.

Whoever needs a new ID card before that date will be able to get one, but it will not yet be biometric, the Interior Ministry has explained.

The ministry has selected Cetis to produce new biometric ID cards, although the company could not guarantee that it will start issuing biometric ID cards as early as 3 January due to world-wide delays in the production and delivery of microchips.

As the relevant parliamentary committee discussed the amendment last week, Robert Polnar from the Pensioners Party (DeSUS) and Dušan Verbič from the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) acknowledged the issue and viewed the delay as justifiable.

The government noted in mid-November that between March last year and end-October this year, 105,338 cards expired and have not yet been replaced by new ones. An additional 350,158 cards will have expired in 2022, including 37,051 in March.

Jani Möderndorfer of the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) said the ministry should admit its mistake, as "chip-related problems have been going on for over a year, with the car industry being at a standstill because of it for some time".

Branko Grims of the ruling Democrats (SDS) said that the chip problem was related to the Covid-19 pandemic and that it was not the government's fault. "It deserves praise as it has followed modern trends and proposed that new card be introduced."

Meanwhile, Nataša Sukič of the opposition Left called for caution when collecting biometric data. "Collecting all this data, along with fingerprints from 12-year-olds, is not something to be done lightly," she warned.

The new biometric ID cards will require fingerprinting of all persons above the age of 12, which will allow their holders to use online government services and store electronic signatures. They will also act as substitute for health insurance card.

STA, 9 December - Amid rising energy prices, the government and the centre-left opposition are working on separate proposals to help the most vulnerable households with energy vouchers. The Infrastructure Ministry has indicated those could be available in the first quarter of 2022.

Energy prices are soaring across the EU, affecting companies as well as households where the biggest concern currently is hikes in the cost of heating, in particularly distance heating powered by natural gas or coal.

The Infrastructure Ministry has told the STA a legal basis for energy vouchers is being drafted. "As we expect prices for final consumers to rise mainly in heating, in the first quarter of next year, it makes sense to introduce the measure then, when the end users will need it the most."

Unofficially, 66,000 poorest families are to be eligible for the vouchers.

Meanwhile, the opposition Social Democrats (SD), Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Left and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) are finalising their bill on energy vouchers, which they plan to table on Monday.

Under the current draft, one out of six citizens would be eligible for EUR 150 vouchers. The EUR 25 million required is to be secured from the Climate Fund.

Presenting the proposal to reporters on Thursday, SD MP Franc Trček said they had made several appeals to the government over the past two months to tackle the aggravating energy poverty.

LMŠ deputy Edvard Paulič criticised Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec for his assessment in October that the energy market situation was stable. Instead the MP cited official statistics showing heating oil went up by about 44% in a year, fuel by 40% and power by 15% in what he said was the biggest hike in the EU.

Nataša Sukič of the Left said roughly 240,000 people faced the threat of "their radiators and furnaces being turned off because they cannot buy heating oil".

Solutions are also being sought at the local level. The Maribor city council has approved a plan to subsidise the cost of distance heating for households after the local utility hiked up prices by 120% year-on-year.

A survey by the Energy Agency focusing on nine Slovenian municipalities where almost 70% of the population gets their heating from distance systems has shown the cost for typical retail consumer has gone up by about 40% in a year.

STA, 9 December 2021 - Prime Minister Janez Janša and Digital Transformation Minister Mark Boris Andrijanič will meet on Thursday representatives of the US internet giant Google to talk the achievements of the Slovenian EU presidency in digital transformation. A memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Google will also be signed.

The meeting will be attended by Annette Kroeber-Riel, Senior Director of Public Policy and Government Relations for Europe, Rowan Barnett, Head of Google.org for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Marta Poslad, Director of Public Policy for Central and Eastern Europe.

It will focus on the achievements of the Slovenian EU presidency in digital transformation and Slovenia's competitive advantages in investments in information technology and development of artificial intelligence, the prime minister's office has announced.

The meeting in the Presidential Palace will be followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the Government Office for Digital Transformation and Google.

The memorandum is expected to serve as the basic document for investments by Google in Slovenian know-how and solutions in digital transformation, social entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence.

"The agreement ... will strongly support digital transformation of the Slovenian economy and society, enabling projects through which young people, entrepreneurs, institutions and public institutions will access knowledge in digital skills, artificial intelligence and social entrepreneurship and funds to start projects," the office said.

Andrijanič, Kroeber-Riel and Barnett, as well as Slovenian Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Janez Cigler Kralj will speak to the press after the signing.

STA, 9 December 2021 - Slovenia logged 1,687 new coronavirus infections for Wednesday as a week-on-week drop in cases continued, show fresh data by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ). Nine Covid-related deaths were recorded, according to government data.

The rolling 7-day average dropped further to 1,566, down by 63 from the day before, and the cumulative 14-day incidence was also down by 46 to 1,185, according to the NIJZ.

The estimated number of active cases, 24,979, fell by nearly 1,000 compared to the day before.

Government data show that the number of persons hospitalised with Covid-19 stood at 948, down by 15 compared to the day before, of whom 248 were in intensive care, a daily drop of 10.

The youngest patient in hospital is 19 years old, while the youngest in intensive care is 28.

The test positivity rate stood at 28.4% yesterday.

All the latest data on COVID and Slovenia

STA, 7 December 2021 - Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković and six co-defendants pleaded not guilty in a case concerning alleged wrongdoing related to the air conditioning engine room of the Stožice Sports Park at Tuesday's pre-trial hearing. The defence was critical of the evidence presented by the prosecution and proposed certain pieces of evidence be excluded.

In addition to Mayor Janković, the co-defendants include his son and director of the company Electa Damijan Janković, former director of the power distributor Energetika Ljubljana Hrvoje Drašković and Zlatko Sraka, the retired former director of the construction company Energoplan.

Also being charged in the case are Uroš Ogrin, a former employee of the bankrupt construction company Gradis, Boštjan Stamejčič of the company Baza Dante and the company Electa Inženiring.

The indictment says that Energetika Ljubljana, following an intervention by Janković, purchased the premises for the air conditioning engine room at Stožice for EUR 3 million from Grep as the builder of the sports park, although the latter was not the owner, but only the holder of the right of superficies.

It adds that the contract signed prior to this arrangement stipulated that Energetika Ljubljana will get these premises free of charge.

The price for the premises had first been set at EUR 1.2 million, after which it was decided to additionally charge Energetika Ljubljana for the premises for the air conditioning engine room that had already been paid for.

An annex was added to the original purchase contract, with the cost ballooning to more than EUR 3 million, and the complicated circle of financial transactions that followed included companies connected with the Janković family.

According to the prosecution, some of the money has ended up directly on the mayor's account.

All six individuals and representative of the indicted company pleaded not guilty at the Ljubljana District Court, with Janković's lawyer Janez Koščak saying that the evidence was unclear.

He asked the court to order the prosecution to specifically elaborate what was being proven with each piece of evidence and, like the majority of representatives of the defendants, he submitted a request for exclusion of evidence.

"Of course the defence claims that everything is unlawful," prosecutor Blanka Žgajnar said after the pre-trial hearing, adding that the prosecution would reply to the proposal, "and then we will carry on with the proceedings.

All our stories on corruption and Slovenia

STA, 7 December 2021 - Slovenia's national medical ethics committee has no reservations towards Lagevrio, a medicine also known as molnupiravir. The committee maintains that the drug brings significant progress in fighting the coronavirus epidemic, as it prevents a severe course of Covid-19 or death.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended the drug for coronavirus treatment on 19 November even if it is not yet registered.

The oral anti-viral drug, being developed by Merck Sharp & Dohme in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is intended for the treatment of Covid-19 in adults.

The EMA recommends it to be prescribed to adults, except pregnant women, who do not need oxygen support yet but given their medical condition, they are likely to develop a severe form of Covid-19.

It should be taken five days after coronavirus symptoms appear or as early as possible after a positive test result, the committee summarised the agency's recommendation.

The committee recommends that doctors in Slovenia inform in detail patients eligible for the medicine about its properties and potential side effects.

The explanation can be written, but it should be written so as to be understood by anyone, the committee, which is part of the Health Ministry, said on Tuesday.

"Once a patient is informed about everything, they should decide on their own and without any pressure whether to take Lagevrio or not."

The patient consenting to treatment with the new drug should sign the consent and the doctor should initial it until the drug is registered, the recommendation reads.

Doctors are also advised to monitor effects of the new drug and potential side effects for each patient separately.

STA, 7 December - One should wait for a more detailed analysis of the situation in Slovenia regarding the prosecution of crimes against the EU's financial interests, the bloc's chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi has told the STA. However, given the statistics so far, she has zero doubts that the country's European delegated prosecutors (EDP) will be "very busy".

Slovenia's two delegated prosecutors Tanja Frank Eler and Matej Oštir assumed their offices on 1 December, hence the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) has been launched in the country after a months-long delay in the appointment procedure.

It is too early to give any assessment of the current situation, but the EU's chief prosecutor told the STA on Monday that she had no doubts the office will launch investigations in Slovenia.

As concrete investigations get under way, it will become clear how the police and other law enforcement authorities work and how ready they are to cooperate with the EPPO.

The EU's recovery fund will bring more money, "more flexibility, less rules", meaning higher risks to see more crimes against the EU's budget, she said, noting that the level of detection of such crimes should be stepped up. Slovenia is not alone when it comes to having a detection system that should be improved.

Slovenia's State Prosecutor General Drago Šketa told Monday's joint press conference with Kovesi that there are 20-30 investigations currently open in the country. The cases will now be transferred to the EPPO office in Ljubljana.

On top of these investigations, delegated prosecutors Frank Eler and Oštir will also help out their colleagues in other EPPO member states in cross-border investigations involving Slovenia. "They will be very busy," Kovesi said.

Commenting on the delay in appointing the Slovenian delegated prosecutors, the EPPO head said: "It was a huge problem because we couldn't investigate cases from Slovenia." This also affected the cross-border investigations, she added.

"This was a big problem in the entire architecture put in place by the EU to protect the European money because it was a gap in the EPPO zone."

Kovesi reiterated what she already said at the online press conference on the occasion of her visit to Slovenia - that the appointment of Frank Eler and Oštir is final.

"According to the EPPO regulation, no member state can dismiss European delegated prosecutors because they would like to appoint different ones. They are appointed for five years. This is the end of the story."

Commenting on the government-sponsored changes to the public prosecution legislation that would enable the government to recall delegated prosecutors and give it a greater say in their appointment procedure, Kovesi insisted that "no national legislation can contradict the EPPO regulation".

"The EPPO regulation and EU legislation have priority over any national law; this is the rule." If there is a provision that is in breach of the regulation, the EPPO informs the European Commission of this. They already did this in relation to some provisions in other member states, she said.

The terms of delegated prosecutors are renewable and the EPPO college can appoint them for another five years, she added.

The regulation does not set down how the EPPO members should nominate their EDP candidates, and the methods vary according to the participating countries, but all their justice ministers were urged to make sure the procedures are transparent and based on an open call, including Slovenia's former Justice Minister Lilijana Kozlovič.

So far, Kovesi has not had an official meeting with the country's current Justice Minister Marjan Dikaučič.

Asked about reasons for not meeting him today, she said: "I did not ask for a meeting, I came here to talk with the prosecutors about the problems we have in the EPPO and challenges. I don't have anything to discuss with the minister of justice at this moment. Maybe in the future we will have something to discuss."

She also highlighted the points made at the news conference about the importance of judicial independence, noting that any attempts against judiciary are an attempt against the rule of law.

If there are attempts to undermine the independence of prosecutors, they should stand up, she said, adding that "they are not alone" as the EPPO is also an independent body. "If you are not independent, you cannot be efficient," she said.