What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.
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FRIDAY, 29 October
LJUBLJANA - DuluxGroup, an Australian paints group, confirmed entering into a binding agreement to acquire Slovenian paints company Jub for EUR 194.5 million. It plans to turn Jub into a hub for Central and Eastern Europe, preserve its existing brands, and make it part of Nippon Paint's R&D community.
LJUBLJANA - Higher fuel prices pushed Slovenia's annual inflation to 3% in October from 2.4% in September, as the monthly rise in consumer prices hit 0.9%, the Statistics Office said.
LJUBLJANA - The national budget recorded EUR 7.97 billion in revenue in the first nine months, 19.6% more than in the same period last year, while expenditure increased by 15.3% to EUR 10.42 billion. The deficit amounted to EUR 2.45 billion and was slightly higher than at the same point last year.
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Health Committee continued its debate on the matter of doctors working in private clinics while being employed within the public health system. The opposition Left proposed several resolutions for limiting such practices, but the committee did not endorse them.
LJUBLJANA - Bicycle protesters, protesting against the government every Friday for 80 weeks, gathered for another rally, this time to address the issues of green infrastructure, green mobility, public transport and housing. The protest organisers announced a "mass, pan-Slovenian protest" for 12 November.
SATURDAY, 30 October
SEVNICA - Milan Kučan, Slovenia's former president, accused the Janez Janša government of being undemocratic as he told a ceremony the next election will "decide about the return of democracy". He said the government was undermining the constitution and the rule of law.
SUNDAY, 31 October
LJUBLJANA - Igor Kadunc, former director general of the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, took over as the acting STA director, stressing that ensuring financial stability of the STA would be his priority as a prerequisite for the normal functioning and existence of the agency.
MONDAY, 1 November
GLASGOW, UK - PM Janez Janša highlighted the need to create a realistic path to implement the goals from the Paris climate agreement as he addressed the World Leaders Summit, a high-level political event held in Glasgow as part of the ongoing COP26 climate conference. Moving away from coal and oil is a key element in reaching the set goals, and nuclear energy could replace fossil fuels as a transition source of energy, he said, urging world leaders to make the COP26 conference a success.
LJUBLJANA - Regular coronavirus testing was introduced in all hospitals and social care institutions while employees in all sectors who are not vaccinated or reconvalescent need to be tested more frequently, every 48 hours. Self-testing for primary and secondary school students and university students was intensified from once to twice a week. Self-testing remains voluntary for the former, but it is now also recommended for all school children, including those in the first six years.
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Journalist Association (DNS) relaunched a fundraising campaign to secure funds for the STA, which has not received any budget funding for its public service since the start of the year. The DNS first launched such a campaign on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, raising EUR 275,000 in a month.
LJUBLJANA - A ban was introduced preventing trucks heavier than 7.5 tonnes from overtaking on the Slovenian motorways after the ban kicked in on the A1 motorway, that is between Šentilj (NE) and Koper (SW), on 15 January. A violation carries a fine of 300 euro.
TUESDAY, 2 November
GLASGOW, UK - PM Janez Janša took part in the launch of an initiative to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030, proposed by the US and EU and supported by Slovenia. Janša said that a lot of coordination had taken place between the EU and global partners on the sidelines of the climate conference, and that various open issues had been discussed.
LJUBLJANA - A meeting featuring hospital directors and the Health Ministry agreed the majority of hospitals will suspend all elective procedures in a bid to increase the capacity of overflowing Covid-19 wards. The number of beds for Covid patients at intensive care units will rise to 182 and the number of non-ICU beds to 590. Robert Carotta, national coordinator for Covid hospital wards, said the number of patients had been growing at the fastest pace since the start of the pandemic.
LJUBLJANA - The national advisory committee on immunisation proposed that, given the current epidemiological situation, those who have been vaccinated with viral vector vaccines receive a booster shot after at least two months since being fully immunised. The list of other groups recommended to get a booster was expanded.
LJUBLJANA/NOVA GORICA - Defence Minister Matej Tonin and his Hungarian counterpart Tibor Benko exchanged views on topical security issues, defence reforms and other topics of common interest, including the Western Balkans as part of Benko's official visit. They also took part in a ceremony unveiling a monument to Hungarian soldiers killed in the Battles of the Isonzo in WWI at a site above Nova Gorica.
DUBAI, UAE - Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek met Saif Mohammed Rashid Saeed al Shara from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment of the UAE, to discuss cooperation in agricultural and food products and the transfer of knowledge, especially in terms of cooperation of expert institutions. A day earlier, Podgoršek took part in a debate discussing efforts to tackle global challenges related to smart villages at the Expo 2020.
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Justice Committee okayed a bill changing the penal code to introduce prosecution of suspects who have threatened the country's senior officials or their relatives ex officio, without the injured party initiating proceedings. If passed, it could be sent into constitutional review.
LJUBLJANA - Igor Kadunc, the new acting director of the STA, and Uroš Urbanija, the director of the Government Communication Office, held their first meeting, with the talks designed to discuss ways to resolve the stand-off regarding financing. They exchanged views on the key dilemmas regarding the public service agreement and steps needed for public financing to resume, the STA management said in a press release.
LJUBLJANA - The ruling Democratic Party (SDS) announced that its former MEP Patricija Šulin had died aged 55 after a severe illness. Šulin served as MEP (EPP) between 2014 and 2019 when she was a vice chair of the Committee on Budgets, and as a substitute MP in the Slovenian parliament in 2012-2013.
WEDNESDAY, 3 November
BRDO PRI KRANJU - Government ministers and energy sector representatives discussed key frameworks and guidelines on climate change, decarbonisation, and the importance of energy in different sectors at a working meeting convened by PM Janez Janša. "Slovenia's energy independence must be strengthened through renewable energy sources, including the second reactor of the Krško N-plant, and new technologies as well," Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec said after the closed-door talks.
ATHENS, Greece - Foreign Minister Anže Logar and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias exchanged views on bilateral, regional, European and other topical global issues, focusing on the achievements of the Slovenian EU presidency, as Logar visited Athens.
KRANJ - Gorenjska Banka, the Slovenian bank owned by the Serbian AIK Banka, signed a deal to acquire the Slovenian subsidiary of the Russian Sberbank. Pending approval by regulators, the merger will create the third largest banking group in the country.
LJUBLJANA - Several members of the Human Rights Commission of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) expressed concern in an open letter to MPs that Slovenia is moving towards a totalitarian form of government under the Janez Janša government, urging them to stand up against demolition of the constitutional order.
LJUBLJANA - The Administrative Court annulled a December 2020 government decision which says that the public interest of renewables prevails over the interest to protect nature as part of a procedure to obtain a building permit for the Mokrice power station on the river Sava. The court held the entire environmental impact assessment procedure must be carried out before starting the public-interest procedure.
CELJE - The upgrade of a 26-km railway section between Zidani Most and Celje in eastern Slovenia was declared completed at a ceremony which heard the project cost EUR 230 million, or about EUR 50 million less that initially estimated.
LJUBLJANA - Summit Leasing Slovenija, a leasing firm owned by NKBM bank, announced it would enter the Croatian market after signing an agreement to acquire Mercedes-Benz Leasing Hrvatska. The details of the deal have not been disclosed.
LJUBLJANA - The women's section of Slovenian PEN conferred this year's Mira Prize for outstanding women authors on younger-generation writer Luna Jurančič Šribar, whose work focuses on rebellious and strong heroines who have their destiny in their hands despite hardships and life on the margin of society.
VIŠNJA GORA - The House of the Carniolan Honey Bee was launched in a converted school to present the heritage of the Carniolan bee and innovative beekeeping solutions, the latter as part of the Apilab centre of innovative beekeeping technologies.
THURSDAY, 4 November
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's coronavirus case count hit a record 4,511 on Wednesday since the epidemic broke out in March 2020, up by more than 1,000 on the day before as the epidemic appears to be slipping out of control. The number of Covid patients rose to 735, with 169 of them were in intensive care, and nine patients died. The estimated number of active cases has passed 32,000.
LJUBLJANA - Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak stepped up his defence of a 2007 conversation with businessman Bojan Petan after new recordings were published by POP TV on Wednesday. He told the press his goal was to protect the interests of the state in a takeover of spa company Terme Čatež and he had a clear conscience. In the latest recording, which Vizjak acknowledged was authentic, the then economy minister is heard proposing to Petan a "gentleman's agreement" on how to move forward with the privatisation of Terme Čatež. The Directors' Association rejected Vizjak's claim that the deal making had been in line with the rules and the laws of the time. The prosecution and police are looking into the leaked tapes, while the centre-left opposition called on the government to resign.
LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar hosted his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on the latter's first official visit to Slovenia. The ministers expressed the desire to strengthen cooperation and increase trade between the countries, and discussed the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
LJUBLJANA - The newspaper Dnevnik reported Justice Minister Marjan Dikaučič had dismissed renewed applications by Tanja Frank Eler and Matej Oštir in a repeat call for Slovenia's two European delegated prosecutors after the first one in which they were picked was annulled by the government in May. The minister's argument now is that a new call cannot be carried out as the first appointment procedure is still open until the Administrative Court's ruling becomes final on Friday.
GLASGOW, UK - Slovenia joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance as part of the Energy Day at the COP26 climate conference. "Slovenia supports the strengthening of the global climate ambition as the only way to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, in accordance with the report of the IPCC on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius," the government said when endorsing a bid on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON, US - Jamie Linder Harpootlian, the candidate for US ambassador to Slovenia, pledged to strengthen bilateral ties and work to ensure Slovenia's commitment to stability and security remains steadfast, as she appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate in advance of a vote on her nomination.
LONDON, UK - The EBRD improved its outlook for the Slovenian economy, projecting it to grow by 6% this year, up a full point from its June forecast, while the forecast for 2022 was raised by half a point to 4.5%.
LJUBLJANA - PM Janez Janša met in Ljubljana the representatives of the European Muslim and Jewish Leadership Council. They discussed the key priorities of the Slovenian EU presidency, the rights of religious minorities and the dignity of people of all faiths in European society, Janša's office said.
LJUBLJANA - The government appointed Ivan Simič, the acting director of the Financial Administration (FURS), for a full term, effective on 18 November. His term will expire in November 2026 with the possibility of reappointment, the Government Communication Office (UKOM) said.
LJUBLJANA - Telecoms group Telekom Slovenije reported EUR 486.8 million in net sales revenue for the first three quarters of the year, up by 1% on the same period a year ago. Net profit was up by 31% to EUR 35.9 million.
LJUBLJANA - Half a year after a police sting that busted the Slovenian cell of the notorious Montenegrin crime syndicate known as the Kavač Clan, the prosecution has filed an indictment against 24 out of 64 suspects. Newspaper Večer reported the indictment, filed on 29 October, did not include two repentants, who have greatly contributed to the arrests of the suspects by providing useful information. One of them will appear as the crown witness.
KATHMANDU, Nepal - The Slovenian Mountaineering Association (PZS) reported that Slovenian mountaineers Luka Stražar and Nejc Marčič succeeded between 28 and 30 October in making the first ascent on a new 1,700m route on the north-west face of Mount Chobutse (6,680 m) in Nepal, which they named Slovenian Direct.
