What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.
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FRIDAY, 28 January
LJUBLJANA - FM Anže Logar said that Slovenia and Taipei intended to open mutual economic and cultural representative offices, noting Slovenia had not changed its position in relations with China. This came after PM Janez Janša's statements on Taiwan.
LJUBLJANA - N1 news portal obtained a draft document of Slovenia's report on rule of law that it says contains value judgements reflecting the views of the ruling SDS as it problematises some judges' appointments. The document is part of preparations for the next EU's Rule of Law Report.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Janez Lenarčič, Slovenia's European commissioner, expressed the hope that forces which are sincerely in favour of fundamental EU values such as the rule of law win the Slovenian general election in April, as he warned against a return to one-party rule of the kind Slovenia had experienced in the past.
LJUBLJANA - Trade unions representing staff in health and social care announced a strike starting on 16 February citing the government's failure to resume talks to resolve the remaining pay disparities as agreed.
MARIBOR/CELJE/LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian police and the Financial Administration announced they had dismantled in cooperation with French security authorities and Europol an international criminal ring that illegally manufactured tobacco products in Slovenia and smuggled them across the EU.
VELENJE - The Hisense Europe Group, which includes the Velenje-based maker of household appliances and TV sets Gorenje, said it was looking for new employees to respond to new orders. Hisense wants to hire between 250 and 400 new staff.
LJUBLJANA - A new supervisory board of RTV Slovenija held its maiden session, electing as chief supervisor Borut Rončević, a board member appointed by the government. The new team will supervise the broadcaster's business operations until 2026.
WILLINGEN, Germany - Slovenia won the mixed team event at the ski jumping World Cup in Willingen, Germany in what was the last try-out before the Olympic debut of this format. Two days later, Nika Križnar won the last women's event before the Beijing Olympics, setting a world record at 151 metres.
SATURDAY, 29 January
LJUBLJANA - The government confirmed a EUR 200 million package of aid for households and companies to mitigate energy price hikes - a 106 million energy voucher scheme for households, aid for companies and farmers worth EUR 70 million, lower network fees for electricity and lower excise duties on heating oil and petrol. The GZS chamber welcomed aid for energy-intensive businesses, although it suggested it should have come sooner, the OZS chamber said it should be extended to include small businesses as well. Meanwhile, environmental NGOs were critical of subsidies for some large industrial energy consumers.
LJUBLJANA - The government appointed Mitja Lainščak acting director of the Slovenian Research Agency, which is in charge of disbursing funding for science, after it replaced four members of the agency's board, a move criticised by universities. The previous board had twice proposed a candidate that the government rejected.
LJUBLJANA - A poll commissioned by Dnevnik and Večer showed the ruling Democrats (SDS) would win 18.5% of the vote in the April general election, ahead of Robert Golob's Freedom Movement, at 16.2%, and the opposition Social Democrats (SD), at 9.9%.
MARIBOR - Philosopher Lev Kreft's remark about people being the target of politicians rather than vice versa won the Spade of the Year title, given out by the newspaper Večer for the most apt statement capturing the spirit of 2021.
ŠKOFLJICA - A 53-year woman sustained light injures after being attacked by a brown bear in the woods in the Pijava Gorica area, south of Ljubljana, in what was the second such incident in a week after two such attacks in 2021.
SUNDAY, 30 January
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor congratulated his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella on being re-elected for another term in office, saying he was looking forward to their continued constructive cooperation for the benefit of the two countries. Mattarella's re-election was also hailed by Tatjana Rojc, the Italian senator who is a member of the Slovenian minority.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's consolidated general government deficit, including those of the state budget, the health and pension funds and local government budgets, amounted to EUR 2.92 billion or 5.8% of GDP last year, 1.8 percentage points less than a year before, according to the Finance Ministry.
MONDAY, 31 January
LJUBLJANA - The much criticised amendments to the penal code that could result in white-collar crimes becoming statute-barred relatively quickly were removed from the agenda of the January plenary session of the National Assembly at the request of the centre-left opposition.
LJUBLJANA - PM Janez Janša told the National Assembly that State Prosecutor General Drago Šketa had allegedly sent a letter to Brussels demanding that Slovenia should be asked to meet certain conditions in order to be paid out EU funds, which he labelled as bordering on a coup. Šketa denied the claim.
LJUBLJANA - Companies report that access to most sources of finance improved last year, showed the latest survey by Banka Slovenije, conducted among 1,182 companies. Around 45% of them cited limited access to qualified staff or experienced managers as the biggest constraint on business operations.
LJUBLJANA - The Blue Bird Prize for best novel for adults that has not yet been published went to Tina Vrščaj for Na Klancu, which will be published by Cankarjeva Založba this year. Vrščaj's novel, a story about family and love, was picked as the best among 60 texts. The award comes with EUR 10,000.
TUESDAY, 1 February
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia further restricted the use of PCR tests as a new testing protocol kicked in under which rapid antigen tests are already proof of infection. The certificate of recovery obtained in this way will only be valid in Slovenia for now. Over 23,400 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed, by far an all-time high, but this was to a large extent the result of the new testing protocol.
LJUBLJANA - Validity of Covid-19 vaccination certificates for adults was limited to 270 days since the last prescribed full vaccination, which in most cases means from the second shot, a move in line with EU recommendations. On getting an mRNA booster, the certificate's validity is unlimited.
LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court announced it had annulled rulings by two courts that rejected borrowers' request for annulment of contracts on loans in Swiss francs and for a refund of overpayments, in what is the first decision of Slovenia's top court related to issue of Swiss franc loans. The Bank Association said the decision was due to procedural reasons and thus refers to courts and not to banks.
LJUBLJANA - Prestige Tourism, a company backed by a Hungarian fund, confirmed buying a 43% stake in Slovenian tourism company Sava from the private equity fund York pending suspensive conditions. Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said he would strive for the state to exercise the pre-emptive right to the stake.
MARIBOR - The supervisory board of postal operator Pošta Slovenije appointed Tomaž Kokot the new director general of the state-owned company. Kokot, who stepped in as Pošta Slovenije's interim director in late March 2021, was given a full term of five years after months-long efforts to appoint him. Tomaž Kostanjevec, director of the SPIRIT agency, later stepped down as a supervisor, citing personal reasons.
LJUBLJANA - The leaders of the four centre-left opposition parties held their first formal meeting with Robert Golob, agreeing they were aspiring to the same goal, which is a change of government and the situation in the country.
LJUBLJANA - Igor Kadunc, the director of the Slovenian Press Agency, and Uroš Urbanija, the head of the Government Communication Office (UKOM), signed a contract on financing the STA's public service in 2022. UKOM said that the total annual amount planned remained the same as in the previous two years, in the region of EUR 2 million.
LJUBLJANA - E-vignettes were fully phased in, replacing toll stickers, which are thus no longer valid on Slovenian motorways. The former are linked to an individual vehicle's registration number and their validity is no longer tied to the duration of a calendar year.
WEDNESDAY, 2 February
LJUBLJANA - British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace met his Slovenian counterpart Matej Tonin. The pair discussed mainly the developments in Ukraine and the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "A bad peace is better than a good war," said Tonin, as Wallace again called on Russia to maintain dialogue and seek a way to de-escalate the situation.
LJUBLJANA - MPs passed an act that distributes the cost of the surge in the value of the Swiss franc in 2015 between banks and some 32,000 borrowers who saw the cost of their debt in euros increase as a result. The act had been opposed by the government and by banks, which announced a constitutional appeal.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly ratified an agreement with the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation enabling the purchase of 45 Boxer APCs for the Slovenian military. The opposition Left then started collecting signatures for a referendum on the act, but the government is planning to challenge the initiative at the Constitutional Court.
LJUBLJANA - Parliament passed the resolution on the general long-term programme for the development and equipping of the Slovenian Armed Forces until 2035. The procedure had been stalled due to a request from the Left for a consultative referendum, which was rejected.
LJUBLJANA - MPs approved at second reading the amendments to the gaming act, which aim to liberalise the gaming market in Slovenia by scrapping most curbs on casino ownership and employee licensing and allow five instead of just two lottery organisers. The final vote on the changes will be held in March.
LJUBLJANA - MPs rejected the bill on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing. The government argued the proposal was to improve the current system, while a major part of the opposition said it infringed the protection of personal data and included overly broad powers in relevant investigating.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly rejected a report compiled by a parliamentary inquiry into alleged abuse in the prosecution of former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler, who now serves as a state secretary at the Interior Ministry.
LJUBLJANA - Five parties signed an agreement to jointly contest the 24 April election on the Connecting Slovenia ticket. The alliance comprises Concretely, the party of Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek, and the non-parliamentary People's Party, Greens, New People's Party and New Social Democrats.
LJUBLJANA - Aleksander Zupančič, the chief-of-staff to Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak, was appointed chairman of power grid operator Elektro Ljubljana. Zupančič, who is already a supervisor at the partially state-owned energy group Petrol, will start his four-year term on 6 February.
KLAGENFURT, Austria - Education Minister Simona Kustec and Carinthia's Governor Peter Kaiser signed a letter of intent on cooperation between the Slovenian government and the regional government of Carinthia in higher education, science and research.
THURSDAY, 3 February
LJUBLJANA - FM Anže Logar and his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevičs called for diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis and for the EU's unity on the issue as they addressed reporters after talks.
LILLE, France - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs expressed opposition to France's proposal under which EU countries which do not wish to accept migrants would need to contribute financially but backed France's idea to create a Schengen Council to manage the passport-free zone as he attended a session of the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council.
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor and his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa issued a joint statement, noting the good bilateral relations, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and Portugal.
LJUBLJANA - Voters quarantining on election day will be able to vote during regular hours when polling stations are open, but the final decision on those in self-isolation will be made 25 days before polling day at the latest, said the National Electoral Commission after considering after-hours voting for the infected.
LJUBLJANA - Staff employed in critical infrastructure, police force and defence will not be required to quarantine after a high-risk contact with a person infected with coronavirus, but will have to test daily at work for seven days and wear a FFP2 face mask, under a decision taken by the government.
LJUBLJANA - The government issued a regulation to subsidise bilinguality and the exercise of constitutional rights of the Hungarian and Italian minorities in Slovenia in 2022, under which areas populated by the two communities will get almost EUR 2 million this year.
LJUBLJANA - Police appear to have identified the person believed to have sent death threats to several politicians in mid-January, as media reports say the suspect is a man from Celje who is a member of the National Party (SNS), whose president was among those who received the threats. The suspect's party membership was revoked.
LJUBLJANA - The government endorsed a EUR 6.6 million subsidy for the expansion of production that pharmaceutical company Lek is planning at its main site in Ljubljana. The entire project is valued at EUR 82.6 million. The facility is to manufacture liquid vials and pre-filled syringes.
LJUBLJANA - News broke that Telekom Slovenije, the state-owned telecoms operator, had filed a lawsuit against the country's largest commercial TV channels, POP TV and Kanal A, in a bid to nullify an agreement under which it pays the broadcasters to include the programmes in its TV package.
LJUBLJANA - A report by multiple European and Slovenian environmental organisations shows that Slovenia's recovery plan is among those marred by underinvestment in renewable energy and sustainable mobility, and by projects that could potentially damage the environment, the environmental NGOs Focus said.
