What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.
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FRIDAY, 12 February
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Janez Janša nominated Janez Poklukar, the director of Slovenia's largest hospital UKC Ljubljana, for health minister. He described Poklukar as a good candidate with a "guaranteed comfortable majority to be elected." Poklukar received the go-ahead from the parliamentary Health Committee on 17 February.
LJUBLJANA - European Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič urged Slovenia to make the best use of the funds available as part of the EU mechanism for recovery and resilience. He said it should use the assistance of European Commission's experts services.
LJUBLJANA - The central bank extended until the end of September a requirement that banks may not pay out dividends. However, if a bank posts profit in the first quarter of 2021, it will be able to pay out up to 15% of profit generated in 2019 and 2020, or 0.2% of common equity tier 1 capital, whichever is lower.
LJUBLJANA - Two failed bidders challenges the selection of Slovakia's Skytoll for an e-tolling system for cars. The complaints were received by DARS. If they are rejected, the National Review Commission, where public tender disputes are ultimately resolved, will weigh in.
LJUBLJANA - Data for 2020 show a drop in revenue and expenditure for business entities in Slovenia, according to a report by the AJPES agency for legal records. For legal entities, revenue dropped by 10.6% over the year before to EUR 299.8 billion and data for sole proprietors show a drop of nearly 20% to EUR 8.3 billion.
LJUBLJANA - The STA staff made a public appeal to lawmakers and party leaders, expressing concern after an amendment was passed by a parliamentary committee under which the agency would be folded into the emerging National Demographic Fund.
LJUBLJANA - Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar and the team that won silver at the 2004 European Men's Handball Championships were honoured for their international achievements as the Bloudek Prizes, Slovenia's top sports awards, were handed out in a virtual ceremony.
SATURDAY, 13 February
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia scrapped checkpoints on its borders with Austria, Croatia and Hungary starting allowing those who have recovered from Covid-19 or have been vaccinated to enter the country without having to quarantine or provide a negative coronavirus test.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia started to re-test all positive rapid antigen tests with the more reliable PCR tests for coronavirus. The decision comes after clusters of positive rapid antigen test results emerged amid weekly swabbing of school and kindergarten staff at several locations across the country only to be later overturned by PCR tests.
PREDDVOR - Two avalanches were triggered in the area of Mt Storžič (2,132 metres) in the western part of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps mountain range on Saturday, burying four climbers. Three died at the scene and one sustained severe injuries, in the worst mountain accident in years.
SUNDAY, 14 February
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Janez Janša congratulated Mario Draghi on becoming the new prime minister of Italy. "I am looking forward to further strengthening our good neighbourly relations and cooperation in many areas, both regionally, in Europe and globally".
LJUBLJANA - Nevenka Koprivšek, a major player on the Slovenian scene of performing arts, died suddenly at the age of 61. In 1989 she became the first woman artistic director of Glej, an alternative Ljubljana theatre group, and she is credited with opening it up to international audiences. In 1997, she founded Bunker and she was also the director of the Young Lions festival.
MONDAY, 15 February
LJUBLJANA - The Janez Janša government survived a motion of no confidence as only 40 MP voted in favour in a secret ballot, six too few. The motion was filed by five centre-left opposition parties, which nominated Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) leader Karl Erjavec for prime minister.
LJUBLJANA - The government unveiled a preliminary proposal for the overhaul of the public sector pay system. The sector is to be split into two groups. The first would include departments and organisations solely dependent on the budget, which would be subjected to centrally-led system. The second group would include those also funded by other sources, which would get more leeway in setting pay.
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian army announced it would spend nearly EUR 8.5 million on new equipment, including underwear, boots, uniforms, backpacks and sleeping bags, in the next two years. The objective is to get new, more functional and lighter equipment.
TUESDAY, 16 February
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed legislation that redraws the boundaries of multiple electoral districts in compliance with a 2018 Constitutional Court decision. Another amendment simplifies the election of the MPs for the Hungarian and Italian minorities with the introduction of a first-past-the-post system.
BRUSSELS - Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj said Slovenia was in constant touch with the European Commission in drafting its recovery plan and would meet the deadline. He said he would like to see as little red tape as possible while declining to announce when the plan will be in Brussels, saying that "this is not a competition."
LJUBLJANA - Slovenian banks saw their cumulative after-tax profit decline by 15.1% to EUR 450.3 million in 2020. Pre-tax profit fell by a fifth to EUR 472 million, but would have more than halved were it not for the one-off impact of the merger of Abanka and NKBM, a report by the central bank showed.
LJUBLJANA - Urška Klakočar Zupančič, a Ljubljana Local Court judge who has lost her post after criticising Prime Minister Janez Janša in a closed Facebook group is suing Vinko Gorenak, the state secretary in the prime minister's office, who had found about the post and published it.
LJUBLJANA - The Administrative Court has thrown out a lawsuit by the State Attorney's Office against the state over a decision by the Interior Ministry to overrule the Maribor Administrative Unit and allow a concert by Marko Perković - Thompson, a Croatian singer accused of glorifying the fascist Ustasha movement.
LJUBLJANA - Actress Mia Skrbinac, who has publicly accused her drama teacher of sexually harassing her while she was a student, has officially filed a sexual harassment complaint to the University of Ljubljana. The alleged harasser is Matjaž Tribušon, a 58-year-old award-winning film and theatre actor.
LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court annulled provisions in decrees that allowed three municipalities to issue local newsletters in which political parties and lists represented on municipal councils were able to be advertised cost free. The motion for constitutional review was initiated by the Court of Audit.
WEDNESDAY, 17 February
BRUSSELS, Belgium- Dutch MEP Sophie in 't Veld (D66/Renew) said there was sufficient grounds for the European Parliament's Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, which she heads, to start monitoring the situation in Slovenia. The decision on such fact finding would have to be taken in the European Parliament.
LJUBLJANA - Four orthopaedic surgeons and a sales representative were sentenced to jail terms ranging from ten months to three years in what was the largest healthcare corruption trial in Slovenia. The Ljubljana District Court also imposed fines, while three of the doctors will also have their unlawfully gained assets seized.
BRDO PRI KRANJU - The government conducted its weekly review of coronavirus restrictions and except for some minor changes, the existing rules associated with the orange tier were extended at last until 26 February.
LJUBLJANA - Collection of 5,000 voter signatures in support of an only-yes-means-yes rape law got under way. The law to redefine rape and sexual violence to use affirmative consent standard is being proposed by the NGO Inštitut 8. Marec, which has 60 days to collect the needed signatures.
LJUBLJANA - DaiBau, which runs portals in multiple countries where investors can link up with building contractors, has received fresh funding from the German chemical company Henkel. Henkel made the seven-figure investment, whose exact value has not been disclosed, via its subsidiary Adhesive Technologies.
NEW YORK, US - Slovenian NBA player Luka Dončić and sport climber Janja Garnbret have made US magazine TIME's list of 100 rising stars for 2021, Time 100 Next. The 21-year-olds are featured in the Phenoms category of rising stars in sports.
THURSDAY, 18 February
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Defence Minister Matej Tonin endorsed the proposal for a reform of NATO presented by the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. It means member states have not only rights but also obligations, he said, adding that it was a new way of fair burden sharing and marked the beginning of the end of free riding.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Slovenian authorities have not withdrawn notification of state aid to the STA even though the European Commission has said its clearance is not necessary. If Slovenia insists it wants a decision, the case will be processed as a matter of priority, a Commission spokeswoman said.
LJUBLJANA - The latest sequencing of coronavirus samples conducted by the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology at the Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine suggests the highly virulent UK variant is slowly spreading in Slovenia. However, the mutations still appear in a small percentage of samples.
LJUBLJANA - The government dismissed Boris Novak as one of the four non-executive directors of the Bank Assets Management Company. Novak said the government had the right to appoint or dismiss directors and he respected its decision.
LJUBLJANA - House searches were conducted around Slovenia as part of an investigation of an EU-funded tourism project that was brought to the attention of police by the Economy Ministry after media reports that contributions by several authors may have been fraudulent. Fourteen persons and one legal entity are suspected of fraud involving EU funds and of abuse of office.
LJUBLJANA - NLB, Slovenia's largest bank, posted a group net profit of EUR 269 million for 2020, more than a third higher than the year before, largely due to the effects of the acquisition of Serbian bank Komercijalna Banka. Without the one-off effect, net profit would have stood at EUR 141.3 million, exceeding forecasts.
LJUBLJANA - Two business chambers called on the government to extent the scheme under which they may request a deferral of loan payments. The central bank said this measure had "served its purpose" and was not sustainable in the long term.
RASNOV, Romania - Nika Križnar, Slovenian's best female ski jumper this winter, won a World Cup event in Rasnov, Romania in what is the second World Cup victory in her career. She is now also in the lead in overall rankings.
