06 Oct 2021, 08:04 AM

Hojs Calls for Tighter Controls Over Who Enters EU

STA, 5 October 2021 - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs called for better control over who enters the EU as he took part in a meeting of the home affairs ministers of the Visegrad Group plus Austria and Slovenia in Budapest on Tuesday. He said securing EU borders should remain top priority.

The meeting, featuring officials from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, as well as Austria and Slovenia, focused on current challenges in migration and management of EU borders.

"Protecting the EU's external borders must remain our absolute priority, to tackle security risks and prevent potential migration pressures. We must not allow a repeat of the 2015 scenario so we must refrain from statements that could represent a pull factor," Hojs said as quoted in a press release from his ministry.

He urged a united approach to external dimensions of migration. "The European Commission must, in cooperation with us, the member states, establish close cooperation with third countries. This cooperation should be based on the principle of mutual benefit."

As a representative of the EU presiding country, Hojs presented the contents of the next session of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, in particular further debate on the new pact on migration and asylum.

He argued that the EURODAC regulation, which deals with the EU's asylum and migrant fingerprint database, should be debated as a matter of priority in order to implement interoperability as soon as possible and to improve migration and asylum management, in particular in the field of returning of migrants.

The Hungarian MTI agency reported Hungarian Foreign Minister Sandor Pinter said the ministers were in complete agreement that the EU's external borders needed to be protected. He added that the challenge of migration as a result of the situation in Afghanistan would apply to all European countries in the future.

According to the Interior Ministry, Hojs thanked his counterparts for a constructive approach in adopting in a joint statement on the situation Afghanistan at the August meeting of home affairs ministers in Brussels, adding that it should be followed up by implementation.

The statement said the EU was determined to prevent uncontrolled influx of migrants from Afghanistan and that any encouragement to illegal migration should be avoided. The ministers also supported enhancing support to third countries hosting large numbers of migrants and refugees. They committed for the EU and member states to do everything to prevent the situation in Afghanistan to lead to new security threats to EU citizens.

06 Oct 2021, 07:59 AM

Meeting in Slovenia, EU Agrees to Seek Greater Autonomy

STA, 6 October 2021 - The EU must strengthen its capacity to act autonomously in order to become more effective and assertive on the international stage, EU leaders agreed at last nights’ informal dinner according to a statement by Council President Charles Michel.

"Our unity is our core asset. By acting together, we will leverage our strengths," Michel said was one of the main messages of the debate.

In this sense, the EU is "committed to consolidating our strengths and strengthening our resilience by reducing our critical dependencies."

The first meeting since June, the gathering saw the leaders address the fallout from the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and the formation of the AUKUS alliance between the US, UK and Australia.

Happy to attend the @EU2021SI Presidency informal dinner of EU 27 leaders this evening.

The EU faces a challenging global environment.

I look forward to discussing how we can maintain strong partnerships and strengthen our position on the international stage. pic.twitter.com/xwRpMRdzzv
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) October 5, 2021

Michel said the bloc remained "committed to working with our allies and like-minded partners, in particular the US and within NATO which is the cornerstone of our security."

As for ties with China, he said the EU would "pursue our own interests" and considered China "a competitor, a partner and a systemic rival".

The office of the Slovenian prime minister said the leaders conducted a "strategic debate" on the EU's role in the international arena against the backdrop of recent events in Afghanistan, a debate on the AUKUS security partnership, and relations with China.

It said relations with strategic partners needed to become "a key component of a strong foreign policy".

"The EU's goals in this field have not changed, but due to the recent events it is necessary to think about the best way to achieve them."

05 Oct 2021, 21:34 PM

Large Protest in Ljubljana, Tear Gas & Water Canon Used (Video)

STA, 5 October 2021 - Opponents of the government anti-coronavirus measures gathered on Tuesday in Republic Square in front of the parliament building, which the police protected and cordoned off after a similar protest turned violent last week. The police used a water cannon and tear gas and the crowd dispersed around the centre of Ljubljana, continuing to protest.

Police officers IDed the protesters at the start of the rally around 3pm, with some saying the police had kept 30 buses full of protesters away from the scene of the rally, which the police denied for the STA.

A protester said in her address she disagreed with the restriction of movement in the area of Republic Square arguing there was no legal basis for it or the IDing.

At the protest, Zoran Stevanović, head of the non-parliamentary Resni.ca party and the organiser of this and last week's rallies, repeated his demand for the government to do away with anti-coronavirus measures and call an early election.

Following the introductory speeches, the protesters proceeded around the streets in the city centre, first towards Congress Square.

There they ran into one of the delegations attending the EU summit held at Brdo pri Kranju, according to the 24ur.com news portal, which said that once surrounded, the delegation started backing up towards Slovenska Cesta.

According to the same source, rapper Zlatko was arrested in the city centre and removed from the protest in a police car as protesters were throwing items at the vehicle.

Around 5pm, the police used a water cannon and tear gas, while a police helicopter was circling the centre of the city.

The crowd then headed towards Slovenska Cesta again, but the police stopped them, so they turned towards the Tržaška Cesta thoroughfare, and then towards Tivoli Park, where the police used the water cannon and tear gas again.

The protesters answered by throwing pyrotechnics, rocks, bottles and other items at police officers.

Vnovič vodni top. pic.twitter.com/dwKj3vaO4O
— Neža Pušnik (@NezaPusnik) October 5, 2021

They then tried to come close to Intercontinental Hotel, where a part of delegations of the EU-Western Balkans summit is accommodated, only to be again detoured towards other parts of the city by the police.

The protest was violent at times, with the protesters breaking glass at the entrance to the headquarters of the N1 news portal, and also trying to prevent work by journalists on the streets by insulting, threatening or pushing them.

Stevanović said a few days ago this week's rally would he held on Tuesday to coincide with EU leaders gathering at Brdo pri Kranju, some 20 km north of Ljubljana, for an informal dinner.

It was thus speculated on social media the rally could take place at Brdo pri Kranju, but Stevanović said last evening the location remained the same, Republic Square.

In order to protect public order, the government decided yesterday to task the police with restricting movement on Tuesday and Wednesday in Ljubljana, Bled and Brdo.

Based on the government's decision, the police issued a notice saying that people would be warned if they are in a restricted area and that coercive measures would be used should they not heed the warning.

05 Oct 2021, 15:41 PM

Slovenia Fails to Implement Any of EU Anti-Corruption Body’s 15 Recommendations

STA, 5 October 2021 - Slovenia has failed to satisfactorily implement or address any of the 15 recommendations the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) made in its 2018 evaluation report. The country has partly implemented only one recommendation, the Council of Europe's (CoE) anti-corruption body says in its latest compliance report on Slovenia.

The recommendations from the fifth-round evaluation report, released 8 March 2018, concerned the prevention of corruption and encouragement of integrity in top government officials and law enforcement agencies.

GRECO now says that Slovenia has made very limited progress concerning top government officials as it has only made some efforts to raise awareness about integrity, while not introducing any internal mechanism to encourage awareness-raising.

The country has meanwhile failed to address a number of other issues - increasing staff and funds, improving a procedure of the national Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK), tightening lobbying and employment rules for when an official's employment terminates, expanding the need to declare assets to include family members, adopting an umbrella integrity plan for the public administration or organisational strategies to address the conflict of interests.

It has neither made any progress in the timely publication of declared assets of ministers and state secretaries, substantive checking of these assets, or violations regarding assets declaration.

The country's efforts in the field of the police have also been rather limited, says the report Greco adopted at the end of October 2020 but only released on Tuesday.

Despite introducing some legal changes to police organisation and work to better manage corruption risks, no tangible results have been achieved.

There has also been no progress in ensuring that promotion and dismissal procedures in the police are fair, merit-based and transparent.

GRECO, however, noticed some positive steps towards encouraging women to join the police force and employing them in it.

The evaluation report thus concludes that progress is needed for Slovenia to show an acceptable level of compliance with the recommendations in the coming 18 months, and urges Slovenia to draft a second report on the situation to include the potential progress by 30 April 2022.

Transparency International (TI) Slovenia is not surprised by the findings, arguing that fighting corruption is not a priority of decision-makers, which the report only corroborates.

"Although these findings are almost a year old, and there has been some progress later on, which the report does not cover, the general impression from the past few years is that the fight against corruption is at the bottom of the list of priorities of decision-makers," the NGO wrote in a response for the STA.

TI would like to see not only a more comprehensive reform of legislation but also more preventive activities to strengthen oversight institutions and the civil society, where the trend is negative, "since the society's ability to fight against corruption is decreasing with the attacks on journalists, NGOs and media".

The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption said it expected that the authorities would take a more active approach in implementing the recommendations.

Despite the numerous examples of best practice in this field implemented by individuals bodies and organisations within the public sector, there has been (almost) no progress in implementing these recommendations, it added.

"This progress is even more important in the current circumstances, when new corruption risks related to the anti-epidemic measures taken by the government are being detected, and when the trust of public in the most senior public office holders attaining ethical standards is low."

A PDF of the full report, in English

05 Oct 2021, 08:58 AM

MPs Calls for More Action Against Organisers of Unregistered Rallies, Violent Protesters

STA, 4 October 2021 - The parliamentary interior affairs and justice committees urged on Monday the police and prosecution to immediately act against the organisers of unregistered rallies and against violent protesters. The Ljubljana Administrative Unit was meanwhile urged to ban rallies which could turn violent.

The session was requested by the ruling Democrats (SDS), after an unregistered mass rally against the Covid pass mandate in Ljubljana last Wednesday turned violent.

The SDS MPs believe the police and prosecution do not act effectively enough against the organisers of unregistered protests and individuals who threaten politicians.

Presenting the case on behalf of the SDS, MP Branko Grims criticised the prosecution and judiciary for not doing their job. He wondered how it was possible that they did not take action against the publicly known organisers of protests.

"In a normal state, someone who organises illegal, violent protests, who threatens with a coup and a blockade of the country, is not received by the president, but is paid a visit by criminal police," Grims said in reference to today's meeting between President Borut Pahor and Zoran Stevanović, head of the non-parliamentary Resni.ca party.

Supreme State Prosecutor Aleš Butala rejected the allegations about passivity and double standards, saying that in order to prosecute, the prosecutors need to receive data and evidence from the police.

Police Commissioner Anton Olaj disagreed, saying the prosecutors gave guidance to police. He said "the police get blamed for everything, even if you prevent them with your guidance from doing what they should".

The SDS's criticism was also directed against the State Attorney's Office.

State Attorney General Jurij Groznik however said the office had not received any proposal for filing a damages claim or a request to issue a legal opinion in connection with the latest violent protest. This means it does not have a basis to act within its jurisdiction.

Interior Minister Aleš Hojs meanwhile accused Groznik of pretending ignorance, saying it was clear who the organiser of the 29 September rally was "as he was today received by Pahor".

Hojs assured the MPs that the police will do everything in its power in the coming days to properly protect public law and order.

The coalition MPs largely expressed support for the proposed resolutions, with SDS MP Anja Bah Žibert saying they were urgent to prevent riots, while the centre-left opposition highlighted the reasons for dissatisfaction among the people.

Predrag Bakovič (SD) said the coalition MPs were talking about the protection of legal order while the government was violating it, including by not appointing European delegated prosecutors, not financing the STA or governing with decrees.

Željko Cigler of the Left said people had been "literally pushed on the streets", with the introduction of the Covid pass mandate, especially the convalescent-vaccinated (PC) rule, being the last straw.

Rudi Medved (LMŠ) believes today's debate is continuation of political pressure on the police, prosecution and judiciary. He said it was obvious that the government and coalition wished to activate Article 9 of the police tasks and powers act to ban movement of people in certain areas.

The government activated this article later in the day, as Slovenia hosts an EU-Balkans summit in the coming two days and as a protest has been announced for tomorrow.

Andrej Rajh (SAB) said that the law enforcement should first establish who finances and supports the violent protesters and provokers.

All our stories on protests in Slovenia

05 Oct 2021, 08:52 AM

Pahor Meets Protest Leader Stevanović about Call for Resignation of Govt

STA, 4 October 2021 - President Borut Pahor held talks on Monday with Zoran Stevanović, the initiator of recent protests against the Covid pass mandate who demands that the government step down. Stevanović wanted Pahor to endorse the calls but Pahor turned down the request.

"The president explained that he is working with all governments elected by the National Assembly and so he does not accept Mr Stevanović's initiative to urge the government to step down," Pahor's office said.

He told Stevanović vaccination was the only way to end the health crisis, with the currently low vaccination rate warranting government action.

Pahor also called on Stevanović to urge protesters to refrain from violent action, noting that those who invite people to protests were responsible for that.

Stevanović is a local politician and former police officer with a large Facebook following who has spearheaded several protests, and recently urged the government to step down.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Stevanović said the outcome of the talks was expected and announced that protests will continue.

There have been indications that protesters might try to target tomorrow's dinner by EU leaders, but Stevanović was coy today, saying only that the exact location of tomorrow's rally would be announced in the evening.

Stevanović also made a point of stating that the meeting was maskless, which was also confirmed by a photo circulated by Pahor's office. "I would never wear a mask," he said.

Facing criticism on social media that he is giving Stevanović legitimacy by receiving him, Pahor meanwhile stressed that he has previously received anti-government protesters and members of several civil initiatives that oppose Covid restrictions.

The president is "convinced that there is insufficient dialogue and cooperation regarding the resolution of the health crisis and that we would tackle it more successfully if there is more dialogue and cooperation at all levels," his office said.

04 Oct 2021, 20:18 PM

Govt Limits Movement in Ljubljana, Bled, Brdo on Tuesday, Wednesday, Citing Public Order Fears

STA, 4 October 2021 - The government decided to restrict or prohibit movement in Ljubljana, the lakeside resort of Bled and around the Brdo pri Kranju conference centre on Tuesday and Wednesday, citing a high probability of severe violations of public order and peace. This comes as new mass protests have been announced and ahead of the EU-Western Balkans summit.

The decision taken at a correspondence session on Monday also allows the police to prohibit accommodation in certain areas or order people to leave certain areas.

This measure is permitted by Article 9 of the police tasks and powers act and may be taken by the government on proposal of the interior minister if there is high probability of severe violations of public order and peace, the government said.

It may be in force for seven days at the most and is suspended immediately when the reasons why it has been introduced no longer exist, the press release adds.

The decision comes after a new mass protest of people opposed to the Covid pass mandate has been announced and ahead of the two-day EU-Western Balkans summit in Brdo pri Kranju, which starts with an informal dinner on Tuesday evening.

Zoran Stevanović, the leader of the non-parliamentary Resni.ca party and the informal face of the protests, has announced protests that could include blockage of roads, as this already happened last Wednesday in Ljubljana.

According to the MMC web portal of the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, this is the first time in Slovenia's history that the article will be activated.

Article 9 of the police tasks and powers act envisages various restrictions, in particular of movement and assembly when there is high probability of severe violations of public order and peace.

Limitations may be similar to those introduced by the government during the Covid-19 epidemic, when it prohibited movement among municipalities or statistical regions. Curfew was in force for more than half a year.

Calls for ban on organised rallies in Ljubljana have been coming from the MPs of the ruling Democrats (SDS), and Interior Minister Aleš Hojs mentioned the possibility of activating Article 9 on Saturday.

That day, a march by opponents of abortion called Walk for Life was held in Ljubljana, with a counter-rally being held at the same time. The participants of the two rallies were separated by a police cordon.

Hojs said on Twitter that the "peaceful and registered Walk for Life ... could not be held as planned because of anarchists and possible violence coming from the unregistered rally that had been called by the Left. It's time for Article 9".

Miroslav Žaberl of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security told MMC that "the reason cited by the minister in his tweet certainly cannot be the reason for activating the mentioned institute".

He added that the government had to prove high probability of severe violations of public order and peace, which means proving that the situation is so serious that the police cannot establish order without this measure.

04 Oct 2021, 15:28 PM

Court of Audit Finds Plenty of Blame for Slovenia’s Lack of Doctors

STA, 4 October 2021 - While Slovenia is grappling with a shortage of doctors and long wait times for medical procedures, the Court of Audit has found the Health Ministry and the Medical Chamber of Slovenia do not know how many additional specialist doctors are needed, which ones, and how to provide them, describing the system as ineffective.

In a report released on Monday, the Court of Audit found that between the beginning of 2008 and the end of September 2019, the Health Ministry and the Medical Chamber had failed to identify the actual need for additional doctors and the reasons for shortages by specialty.

Despite public warnings about alarming work overloads, especially among general practitioners, the Health Ministry has failed to plan and implement any much-needed activities in this regard over the past 12 years, the Court of Audit said.

"It is therefore not known why doctors are overworked, given the almost 32% increase in the total number of doctors in the public health service and the increase in the annual numbers of specialists over that period, with the population numbers virtually unchanged," they added.

According to the Court of Audit, the main reason for the inefficiencies when doctors enter into the labour market is that it is not possible to identify existing medical capacities, nor to correctly assess the need for additional doctors.

Nobody knows how many effective hours of medical work per month are carried out by each doctor within different forms of medical service with different healthcare providers.

In addition, there is no proper system in place to assess the need for specific doctors, the Court of Audit said, listing the absence of a comprehensive public health service network, a lack of a precise methodology for identifying the need for doctors and the insufficient analyses of doctors' workloads.

Due to the lack of a system, the Health Ministry and the Medical Chamber have been assessing the need for doctors on an annual basis within calls for applications.

The Court of Audit noted that the two organisations had drawn up their own methodologies for each call for applications, which caused them to be largely non-transparent and arbitrary.

Thus, the Health Ministry has failed to develop realistic medical standards over the 12-year period. Instead, it left this task to the Medical Chamber and the health sector trade unions.

The current standards were drawn up in 2011 and approved by the ministry in the face of doctors' strikes, even though they were poorly drafted, the Court of Audit said.

Moreover, the court gave no confirmation that these work standards provide an adequate basis for identifying the need for additional doctors and for addressing the alleged work overload of some doctors.

The Health Ministry did implement several activities and measures, but it did so without first analysing their expected impact.

None of these measures was effective in terms of providing additional medical capacities and relieving the burden on doctors, the Court of Audit concluded.

Health Minister Janez Poklukar commented on the findings by saying that he had not read the report yet, but learned about it through the media. He stressed that the media reports on the content of the report did not constitute new findings.

Prime Minister Janez Janša also responded on Twitter, writing that this was sad, if true. He also took a swipe at the President of the Court of Audit, Tomaž Vesel.

According to Poklukar, the topic of how to meet future staffing needs in healthcare was also discussed during Monday's visit to the general hospital in Murska Sobota.

02 Oct 2021, 13:22 PM

Employers Highlight Structural Imbalances of Slovenia’s Labour Market (Feature)

STA, 2 October 2021 - Amid a prospering situation in the labour market and favourable unemployment trends, employers have been recording the largest structural imbalances between the registered jobless and companies' needs since the 2008 financial crisis. Businesses highlight that the paperwork to hire foreign workers takes too long.

There have been fewer than 70,000 registered as jobless in August, according to data by the Employment Service. However, the latest survey among employers found that some 37% were faced with a shortage of appropriate candidates to fill their job vacancies.

Such issues were most often encountered in healthcare and social care (53%), construction (48%) and manufacturing (45%). Most sought-after candidates include, among others, heavy lorry drivers, simple task workers in manufacturing, construction workers, retail staff, cleaners and servants.

Commenting on the peak structural imbalances in the labour market, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) told the STA that an increase in economic activity had led to fewer new registered unemployed persons and more people being hired. This situation results in an increase in the share of the hard-to-employ.

Structural unemployment and labour shortages are getting worse, the Labour Ministry told the STA, adding that the current structure of the registered jobless called for a thorough breakdown of the statistics and efforts to tackle the issues that prevent people from getting a job.

One of the key reasons for labour shortages is demographic changes, the ministry said, noting that there would have to be more focus on the elderly in the future as they will represent a much more important segment in the labour market.

Responding to labour shortage challenges, companies are investing more in production automation and business process optimisation, said the GZS. However, in labour-intensive industries, such as the hospitality sector, these problems are much harder to solve.

Foreign workers are another solution for some companies, most of them coming from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, according to GZS data.

But procedures regarding foreign labour paperwork take too long due to lengthy waiting times, especially in Ljubljana and Maribor administrative units, the chamber said, noting that other countries had already been taking action to allow companies to hire foreign workers in a matter of few days.

Slovenia has signed bilateral employment agreements with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia to facilitate hiring workers from these countries, but since workers from former Yugoslav countries are harder and harder to find, companies urge the authorities to sign such agreements with Thailand, Ukraine and Russia as well.

"These potential workers come from similar environments culture-wise and have an instilled work ethic," the GZS said.

However, Slovenia has no such bilateral agreements with third countries in place or planned at the moment, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Employment Service said employers had at their disposal comprehensive support in finding trained staff and other services.

The ministry has also announced additional measures to tackle imbalances in the labour market, such as promoting life-long learning, stepping up training programmes, tweaking employment policy and providing career specific or in-demand career scholarships.

02 Oct 2021, 12:00 PM

Last Week in Slovenia: 24 - 30 September 2021

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

If you’d like to keep up on the daily headlines then follow those here, or get all our stories in your feed on Facebook.

FRIDAY, 24 September
        NEW YORK, US - President Borut Pahor addressed the general debate at the 76th UN General Assembly session, saying that "all challenges we face, are global" and that solutions to them could be found only in working together. He welcomed the intention of the UN Secretary General to hold a wide debate about common future, saying people needed to "engage in meaningful discussion and dialogue".
        NEW YORK, US - President Borut Pahor met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Pahor and Guterres discussed climate change and security challenges, while the meeting with Lavrov discussed Afghanistan, and EU-Russia relations, with Pahor saying there was a lack of trust on both sides.
        BRDO PRI KRANJU - EU ministers in charge of consumer protection agreed at an informal session that the EU legislation on package holidays needs to be reviewed, as Covid-19 has shown that it is not suitable for extreme situations such as the pandemic, said the host, Slovenia's Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek.
        BRDO PRI KRANJU - European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said that before taking action regarding Slovenia's non-appointment of its two EU delegated prosecutors, the European Commission was awaiting a decision of a Slovenian administrative court on the suit filed by the two rejected prosecutors.
        LJUBLJANA - PM Janez Janša appeared before the parliamentary inquiry commission dealing with the government's response to the Covid-19 epidemic. He was critical in his testimony of the preparedness of the public health authorities and noted the systemic problems in elderly care inherited by his government.
        LJUBLJANA - The migration situation topped the agenda as Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamaček visited Slovenia, as part of which he and Slovenian counterpart Aleš Hojs toured the Slovenian Schengen border and met with Slovenian and Czech police officers who conduct joint patrols.
        LJUBLJANA - The Defence Ministry said it had signed a EUR 33 million deal with the US government on the purchase of another 37 Oshkosh four-wheeled vehicles to be delivered in 2023-2024. The deal also envisages the purchase of 36 weapon stations M153, special tools, maintenance devices and spare parts, technical support and other equipment.
        LJUBLJANA - The Covid pass mandate was relaxed with the requirement waived for those working from home and those filling up their cars as long as they do not enter the interior of petrol stations. The mandate remains in place for the vast majority of services and all other workplace settings.
        LJUBLJANA - Health Minister Janez Poklular said the recovered-vaccinated rule would be expanded to all citizens if the epidemiological situation continued to deteriorate. In line with the proposal, the recovered-vaccinated (PC) rule, meaning omission of testing, would be introduced when two-thirds of ICU beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.
        BRNIK - Budget carrier FlyDubai launched scheduled flights between Ljubljana and Dubai in what is a culmination of ten-year efforts by the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport to get a direct link with Dubai. FlyDubai will operate three flights a week to offer the first direct flight connection between Slovenia and the UAE.
        LJUBLJANA - The Statistics Office corrected the assessment of Slovenia's general government deficit for last year, downgrading it by EUR 250 million compared to the previous assessment to EUR 3.618 billion or 7.7% of GDP.

SATURDAY, 25 September
        LJUBLJANA - Police Commissioner Anton Olaj rejected allegations that the police is politicised. The situation is considerably better than one can gather from media reports, he said in an interview with the the newspaper Večer. He got the impression that police commissioners used to be led by the police.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian Book Agency (JAK) acting director Dimitrij Rupel told the newspaper Delo that the JAK had signed a EUR 4.5 million contract in August to finance Slovenia's participation in the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair from cohesion funds. JAK is currently working on a selection of books and writers that will be put forward to German publishers.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia announced it would become the world's first country to issue its own non-fungible tokens to promote the achievements of its businesses and its tourism destinations. The tokens will be gifted to visitors to Slovenia's pavilion at the Expo show in Dubai, which opens on 1 October.
        LJUBLJANA - Environmental taxes paid into the national budget amounted to EUR 1.309 billion in 2020, 18.4% less than in the year before. Energy taxes represented more than four-fifths of the overall tax take, the Statistics Office said.
        BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - Slovenian kayaker Nejc Žnidaršič won the sprint event at the ICF's whitewater canoeing world championships to make history as the first whitewater competitor to win five world champion titles.

SUNDAY, 26 September
        LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a decree raising the lump sum which municipalities receive per resident from the state and which represents one of the main sources of local government funding. In 2022 the sum will rise from EUR 628 to EUR 645 and to EUR 647 in 2023.
        MIRNA PEČ - The new bishop of Novo Mesto, Andrej Saje was ordained at a ceremony at the parish church of Mirna Peč before he formally took over from Andrej Glavan three days later. After the consecration ceremony, Saje addressed the congregation with an appal for fruitful cooperation and dialogue with everyone to create a society of peace and justice.
        BUDAPEST, Hungary - Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek discussed the need to preserve and increase biodiversity as a task of present and future generations as he addressed an international hunting and nature fair. He also held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event.
        LJUBLJANA - The total debt of Slovenia's 212 municipalities and their utilities increased by a further EUR 47.5 million last year to EUR 971.2 million, or 2.1% of GDP. Average total debt per capita thus increased to EUR 473 in 2020 from EUR 449 in 2019, a report from the Finance Ministry showed.

MONDAY, 27 September
        BRDO PRI KRANJU - Speaker Igor Zorčič hosted a meeting of parliamentary speakers from the Western Balkans, saying that the EU must give the region a clear signal on when it could expect EU accession." The speakers of the Serbian and Montenegrin parliaments also called for more clarity regarding the EU enlargement.
        LJUBLJANA - The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption said it had established a breach of integrity by former Economy Ministry State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti as part of an investigation into the procurement of personal protective equipment.
        LJUBLJANA - The Health Ministry said the government had so far earmarked EUR 56.97 million for vaccination against Covid-19, of which EUR 39.79 million for the purchase of vaccines and EUR 17.17 million to organise and carry out the vaccination.
        TRIESTE, Italy - Primorski Dnevnik reported that Senator Tatjana Rojc, a member of the Slovenian ethnic community in Italy, had proposed an amendment to the Italian Constitution as a way of guaranteeing that the Slovenian minority is represented in the Italian parliament.
        MARIBOR - Some 200 representatives of young policy-makers and youth experts from all EU countries gathered for a four-day virtual EU Youth Conference to discuss the post-Covid future of Europe. It was the largest youth event of Slovenia's EU presidency.
        LJUBLJANA - The OECD said it its latest digital government review for Slovenia that the country should reinforce leadership and coordination of digital governance in the public sector and enhance cooperation of various stakeholders. The report adds that "more is needed to govern the digital transformation across the public sector".
        LJUBLJANA - The council of UKC Ljubljana, Slovenia's largest hospital, endorsed acting director Jože Golobič, who took over in February after Janez Poklukar left to become health minister, for a full term. Government approval is required before he can formally start his four-year term.
        LEMONT, US - Minister for Slovenians Abroad Helena Jaklitsch wrapped up her 11-day tour of the US as part of which she visited Slovenian communities in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, Bethlehem, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Joliet and Lemont.

TUESDAY, 28 September
        LJUBLJANA - The heads of the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Social Democrats (SD), Left and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) signed an agreement on post-election cooperation in which they commit to forming a government together after the election. Each party will run individually in the election with its own candidates and platforms.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor received his Latvian counterpart Egils Levits, with the pair highlighting the similarity of their views, excellent bilateral relations, and the importance of Europe. They both believe that the situation in the Western Balkans calls for accelerating EU enlargement to the region.
        BRUSSELS, Belgium - The EU ministers responsible for research adopted resolutions on a global approach to research and innovation. Their aim is greater resilience and competitiveness of the EU, said Minister of Education Simona Kustec.
        ZAGORJE OB SAVI/HRASTNIK/TRBOVLJE - Government officials were briefed on challenges that Zasavje faces as a region that used to be a mining and energy heavyweight but which is now lagging behind despite a strong high-tech cluster, as they visited the region. In Trbovlje, government officials were picketed by several hundred protesters.
        LJUBLJANA - The government decided to purchase an additional 100,000 doses of the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine from Hungary, whose stock of the Janssen vaccine currently exceeds the actual demand.
        BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia will get EUR 4.8 million under an EUR 5 billion adjustment instrument for member states hit by Brexit approved by the Council. Slovenia's allocation is the lowest among all member states.
        LJUBLJANA - The prosecution confirmed having pressed charges against two individuals at the Ljubljana Local Court for publicly inciting hatred, violence or intolerance in an article published in the weekly Demokracija in December 2020 that was widely condemned as racist.

WEDNESDAY, 29 September
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia suspended the use of the single-shot coronavirus vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson after a twenty-year-old woman died within a fortnight after receiving the shot. Bojana Beović, the head of the vaccination advisory group, said it would take at least a week to investigate the death.
        LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly endorsed a government-sponsored bill that will secure about EUR 2 billion in investment in Slovenia's health system over the next ten years. Investment is planned at all three levels of healthcare; a total of EUR 763 million is earmarked for the country's two medical centres.
        LJUBLJANA - Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj highlighted a substantial increase in investments, in particular in healthcare, as he presented the budget documents for the coming two years after the government session. The government proposes the general government spending ceiling increases to EUR 26.1 billion in 2022 and to EUR 25.98 billion in 2023.
        LJUBLJANA - A group of several thousand protesters again gathered in Ljubljana to protest against the Covid pass mandate in what was the third such protest. Starting in Republic Square, the rally moved to the ring road, which was closed for a while, as the police tried to break up the crowd, including by using a water canon.
        LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed changes to pension legislation to remedy injustices done to persons who voluntarily continued to pay mandatory pension and disability insurance contributions despite being for instance unemployed after 1 January 2013, not being aware that this would not count towards their pensionable years.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's ILO-compatible survey unemployment rate fell further in August, to 3.9%, down 0.1 percentage points from July and 1.4 points down from August a year ago, the Statistics Office said.
        LJUBLJANA - The government somewhat relaxed the mask wearing rule. The masks will thus no longer be needed in indoor public places where food and drinks are being served under adherence to the recovered-vaccinated-tested rule.
        BRUSSELS, Belgium - Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said after a session of EU ministers in charge of competitiveness that decarbonisation of the economy must be evenly spread across sectors and EU countries.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia hosted an informal meeting of EU non-proliferation and disarmament directors as part of its EU presidency, the Foreign Ministry said. It focussed on strategic issues and the challenges of the global regime of oversight over weapons of mass destruction.
        KLAGENFURT, Austria - FM Anže Logar and Carinthia Governor Peter Kaiser chaired a session of the Slovenia-Carinthia Committee, which set out the course for future cooperation between Slovenia and the Austrian state of Carinthia in several areas of joint interest.
        LJUBLJANA - The government decided to donate 40 km of border fence to Lithuania, which started erecting a 508-kilometre fence on its border with Belarus as it has faced illegal migration from there since the beginning of the year.
        LJUBLJANA - The government appointed acting head of the Environment Agency, Joško Knez, for a full term, with his five-year term starting on 1 October. Knez was already at the helm of the agency between March 2013 and November 2018.
        LJUBLJANA - Record rains that pummelled Ljubljana caused extensive flooding, with basements flooded in hundreds of residential, industrial and educational buildings. In just one hour one weather station in Ljubljana recorded 94 mm of rain, the highest ever recorded in the capital, overwhelming the sewage systems.

THURSDAY, 30 September
        LJUBLJANA - STA director Bojan Veselinovič resigned after turning down a draft public service agreement proposed by the Government Communication Office that he described as damaging for the agency. The bodies representing staff at the STA urged those responsible to reinstate public funding in full compliance with law while preserving the agency's autonomy. The Trade Union of Journalists said it will start preparing for a strike should funding not be restored.
        LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court stayed the government's regulation under which state administration employees would have to be either Covid-19 reconvalescent or vaccinated to come to work starting from Friday. PM Janez Janša and Interior Minister Aleš Hojs said the decision meant the majority on the court assumed responsibility for the spread of Covid-19 and deaths.
        LONDON, UK - PM Janez Janša paid a working visit to the UK for talks his British counterpart Boris Johnson. Bilateral political ties, fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and the EU-UK relations topped the agenda.
        LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Health Committee confirmed changes to the pharmacy practice act, albeit in a significantly changed format than originally envisaged. Many of the articles were deleted from the wording, while the proposal to lift the ban on vertical integration of pharmacies and drug wholesalers was retained.
        KLAGENFURT, Austria - Speaker Igor Zorčič attended a conference on development of ethnic minority rights to stress that Slovenia supported efforts by the Slovenian minority to have its minority rights regulated systemically.
        THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs noted good cooperation between Slovenia and Europol as he addressed a convention of European police commissioners. He said the Slovenian EU presidency was seeking to reach an agreement with the European Parliament on a regulation that would give Europol additional powers.
        PORTOROŽ - The Managers' Association presented the Manager of the Year award to Adrian Ježina, the president of the management board of Telemach, the fastest-growing mobile operator in Slovenia. The association credits him with an "exceptional transformation" of the company that improved its business results and increased market share.
        LJUBLJANA - The Statistics Office said that Slovenia's public finances improved significantly in the second quarter of 2021 due to faster economic growth and higher revenue. The general government deficit narrowed to 5.8% of GDP from 8.3% in the first quarter, whereas consolidated debt was down by six percentage points to 80% of GDP.
        LJUBLJANA - The Statistics Office reported that annual inflation rate in Slovenia in September reached 2.4% as the prices of petroleum products continued to rise. On the monthly level a deflation of 0.1% was recorded, largely due to lower prices of package holidays.
        MARIBOR - A renovated 1941 railway wagon was inaugurated to mark 80 years since first prisoners from Nazi camps were brought to Slovenia aboard such trains. The Train of Memory opened in front of the WWII International Research Centre, located at a former Nazi camp for prisoners of war.
        BREŽICE - Brežice became the first Slovenian municipality to win the title of European City of Sport in the category of communities with fewer than 25,000 residents, awarded by the European Capitals and Cities of Sport Federation.

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