STA, 25 August 2022 - The government decided on Thursday to reach an agreement on solidarity measures to ensure security of gas supply with Croatia. The agreement would allow Slovenia to ask Croatia to provide gas to Slovenia's protected customers if gas supply was disrupted, and vice versa. A similar agreement with Italy has already been ratified.

The draft agreement sets down the technical, legal and financial elements for such a solidarity mechanism between EU member states.

It is based on the EU regulation concerning measures to safeguard security of gas supply, the Government Communication Office (UKOM) said after the government session.

Slovenia would activate the solidarity support mechanism as a last resort, after having taken all possible measures to ensure gas supply to its protected customers, including cutting off the gas supply to unprotected customers.

Under the Slovenian law, protected customers are households but also basic social services connected to the distribution or transmission system, such as healthcare, education and care services.

The agreement obligates the country providing solidarity assistance to do its utmost to be able to offer the necessary amount of gas to the recipient country.

The recipient country may decide to accept a particular offer or not. If it accepts it, it also assumes the obligation to pay for the gas received, UKOM said.

If the agreement is signed, either party, Slovenia or Croatia, could ask for a solidarity gas supply.

In mid-June, the National Assembly unanimously ratified a similar agreement with Italy, and activities to sign one with Austria are also under way.

STA, 15 July 2022 - Slovenia will start removing the fence from its border with Croatia on Friday. The fence was erected in 2015 in response to the refugee crisis that saw thousands of immigrants cross Slovenia from the south.

The news portal N1 reported that troops will start removing the 51 kilometres of barbed wire, after which the remaining 143 kilometres of wire fence will be removed by a contractor that is yet to be selected.

The launch of the removal will be attended by Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar and acting Police Commissioner Boštjan Lindav.

The minister recently announced that Slovenia would change its migration policy, focusing on human rights and solidarity.

Countries must adapt their policies and measures to the situation in local and global environment and measures must be in proportion to the security situation, the ministry has said in a press release.

The fence was erected as a temporary measure. "It is inadmissible for it to become a permanent element of Slovenia's border policy."

However, the opposition believes that the government's decision to remove the fence had not been preceded with a security assessment and was made without expert reasoning.

New Slovenia (NSi) believes the security situation will deteriorate and recommends that government be selective in deciding which parts of the fence should be removed.

STA, 8 July 2022 - A 53-year old Croatian citizen crossed the border drunk without slowing down with two children in the car. The police stopped him to find that he had a BAC of 0.30. He was arrested and the children were picked up by family members, reports the Novo Mesto Police Department.

The Croatian man reached the border crossing Obrežje around 8pm and drove through the crossing not intended for personal vehicles. He did not have a valid driver's licence or the kids' IDs.

He told the police that he was heading from Zagreb to Rijeka and he thought that he drove through a toll station and not a border crossing since he did not intend to travel through Slovenia.

The man was visibly drunk and the breathalyser test showed he had 1.46 mg of alcohol in a litre of air, amounting to 3.06 g of alcohol in a litre of blood.

He was arrested, the court fined him EUR 1200 and banned him from driving in Slovenia for a year, while the police fined him an additional EUR 400 for avoiding border control.

The Novo Mesto Police Department noted that last year drunk drivers caused 155 accidents in the area under their jurisdiction, two of them fatal.

STA, 6 July 2022 - Slovenian FM Tanja Fajon and her Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlić Radman confirmed their countries' readiness to address open issues through mutual dialogue as they met in Zagreb on Wednesday. Fajon said that in this spirit, the border issue will also be addressed, starting at an informal level and with easier matters. 

Fajon reiterated Slovenia's position that the government will respect the 2017 decision of the Hague-based border arbitration tribunal and insist on its implementation.

However, in the spirit of good cooperation, the government will try to resolve some issues as quickly as possible at informal level to tackle larger issues later on.

Fajon said that she had a sincere and open discussion on the open issues with Grlić Radman. "We agreed to continue the dialogue at an informal, working level and to start working on some concrete, lighter solutions, such as rebuilding bridges that have been neglected for a long time and finding solutions to ease fishing."

Ministrica @tfajon je po pogovoru s hrvaškim ministrom @grlicradman poudarila podporo Slovenije ?? polni integraciji ?? v #EU - vstop v Schengen & evroobmočje. Dogovorila sta se, da se vprašanja, kot je ribolov, rešujejo na delovni ravni. Želimo olajšati življenje ljudi ob meji. pic.twitter.com/oNJ5ZuqsFP

— MFA Slovenia (@MZZRS) July 6, 2022

Grlić Radman said that Croatia had decided to address all of its open issues in bilateral dialogue.

"This is in a way also a challenge for Croatia and Slovenia to show to the world that they are mature countries able to find solutions to a relatively minor issue that has remained from the time of the breakup of former Yugoslavia," he said.

Grlić Radman thanked for Slovenia's support for Croatia's membership of the Schengen and euro areas, as well as of the OECD, saying this will benefit both Croatia and Slovenia.

Fajon added that all the contacts between Slovenia and Croatia and the excellent economic cooperation call for close and good neighbourly cooperation, not only during the tourist season.

"I sincerely wish that Croatia joins the euro zone next year, as this will make life easier for people. I want to help Croatia join the Schengen Area as soon as possible and that we lift internal controls at our borders."

The two ministers agreed that there is a lot of room to further strengthen cooperation, as well as for new initiatives and proposals.

"I'm confident we'll successfully cooperate and take advantage of the opportunities we have as good neighbours and partners within the EU and NATO," said Grlić Radman.

Fajon also informed her counterpart that the government planned to remove the fence along the border with Croatia, which was set up after the 2015/2016 migration crisis, which she believes will increase trust between the two countries.

However, she also said that as Croatia joins the Schengen Area, she would like the southern Schengen border to be as secured as possible.

The ministers also exchanged views on EU topics and security challenges, and looked for opportunities for cooperation in energy.

Fajon reiterated Slovenia's interest in receiving liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the terminal on Croatia's Krk island and in building gas pipelines between the two countries.

Grlić Radman said that due to the war in Ukraine, Croatia decided to expand the Krk LNG terminal's capacity, which would also enable it to supply gas to its neighbours.

The ministers agreed that the two countries' positions on the most important foreign policy issues are very similar, including their interest to encourage the Western Balkans' integration into the EU, their stability and economic development.

The pair also discussed trilateral cooperation with Italy in the northern Adriatic Sea, which will be expanded to internal affairs from the current focus on connectivity, blue economy and environmental protection.

Fajon also met today Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Zoran Milanović. In addition to bilateral relations, the talks with Milanović touched on the situation in South-east Europe, in particular Bosnia-Herzegovina.

As the Croatian president's office said, Milanović reiterated his position on the upcoming elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina to Fajon, noting that it was necessary to ensure legitimate representation of all three constitutive nations in the country.

Milanović expressed his satisfaction with Slovenia's support for Bosnia-Herzegovina to receive the status of an EU candidate country, which the Croatian president also advocates himself.

Fajon and Milanović also talked about the security crisis caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine and discussed Croatia's accession to the eurozone and the Schengen Area, where the Croatian president expects Slovenia's support.

STA, 2 July 2022 - Congestion is reported at some Slovenia-Croatia border crossings. The longest waiting times, more than two hours, are at the Dragonja and Sečovlje border crossings, both for those entering or exiting Slovenia.

Those heading for Croatia at the Gruškovje crossing are looking at two-hour delays as well, whereas the waiting times at Dobovec and Starod are an hour and a half and roughly an hour, respectively.

It takes as long as an hour or two to enter Slovenia from Croatia at Jelšane and Starod, and about an hour at Gruškovje and Sočerga.

Traffic jams are also reported on the Primorska motorway at the Kozarje junction towards Brezovica and on the Šmarje-Dragonja road on the coast and the Lesce-Bled road in the northern region Gorenjska.

STA, 30 May 2022 - A 45-year-old Koper man wanted in Slovenia since 2015 for swindling the NLB bank out of more than half a million euro has been arrested in Rijeka, Croatia, and is now awaiting extradition to Slovenia, a Croatian news portal has reported.

The Croatian police confirmed the man's arrest last week, explaining the person had been wanted on an international arrest warrant since 2015 on suspicion of committing corporate crime.

The news portal telegram.hr, which first reported about the arrest, identified the man as Aleš Semolič of Koper.

Semolič is suspected of fraud whereby he cheated NLB bank out of EUR 569,741 in collusion with four other suspects.

One of the most wanted Slovenians on the run, he was reportedly last spotted in the areas of Ljubljana and Croatia's Rovinj in 2015.

STA, 9 May 2022 - Slovenian Michelin starred chef Ana Roš will open a restaurant in a luxury coastal resort in Croatia's Savudrija next year, the Croatian newspaper Glas Istre reports. The Petram Resort & Residences, a project by Serbian businessman Miodrag Kostić, is one of the largest investments in the Croatian hospitality sector so far.

"If we sign the agreement, which is 95% certain, we will open the restaurant by June 2023," Roš, whose Hiša Franko in Kobarid boasts two Michelin stars, told the paper.

The Savudrija restaurant will offer a relaxed atmosphere with food based on Istrian ingredients. "It will be a different story, a different approach to gastronomy, a relaxed restaurant for holidaymakers. There will be no 23-course menus but two- or three-course meals. It will still be top-quality, serious food, but in a more relaxed version," she said.

The restaurant will be located by the 105-metre infinity pool of the resort, the second longest infinity pool in the world, offering views of Piran, Trieste and the Dolomites.

The resort will boast 55 luxury villas, 179 suites and 18 apartments.

Roš has been celebrated for years, having been named the World's Best Female Chef by the World's 50 Best Restaurants culinary portal in 2017 and a year later made the Best Chef Awards list of 300 top chefs in the world.

Her Hiša Franko was awarded two Michelin stars in 2020 and has kept them both in the new edition of the Michelin Guide Slovenia.

STA, 4 April 2022 - Croatian group Fortenova has become the sole shareholder of Slovenia's largest retailer Mercator after squeezing out all remaining small shareholders, leading to a suspension of trading on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange pending a decision on delisting.

The company, which owned roughly 90% of Mercator prior to the squeeze-out, said that it had paid EUR 22.4 million for the outstanding shares.

The transaction completes a process that began in 2014 with the purchase of Mercator by Croatian retailer Agrokor, said Fabris Peruško, the chief executive of Fortenova, a company that took over Agrokor's healthy assets when it went bankrupt.

"This was a long and demanding process with many legal and financial steps, all of which led to the final goal - the creation of a leading regional grocery retail chain," he was quoted as saying.

STA, 31 March 2022 - Prime Minister Janez Janša and his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenković talked about cooperation in gas supply and the Krško nuclear power plant as they met in Zagreb on Monday. Talks will be resumed by the ministers in charge next week.

Potential for concrete cooperation will be discussed by Slovenian Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec and Croatian Economy Minister Tomislav Čorić as they meet in Zagreb next Monday.

The ministers will talk about expanding the pipeline from Lučko, a Zagreb suburb, through Zabok, north of Zagreb, to Rogatec in Slovenia. They will also discuss further cooperation on the Krško N-plant, which is owned jointly by the two countries.

"We're trying to find a common approach to supply, transport routes and the other necessary logistic. Gas, of course, is a small part of the energy we need for a normal life in Europe. Nuclear energy is also very important," said Janša.

The two countries see plenty of potential to cooperate in both energy areas when it comes to satisfying the needs of Slovenia as well as Croatia, he added.

"A large part of Europe is fully or partly dependent on energy imports from Russia, and anything that represents an alternative to these imports and dependency is a European priority at the moment," said Janša.

Slovenia would like to have enough capacities to be energy self-sufficient even in case of difficulties on the energy market. "As for our interest to lease capacities, the capacities that have been leased are leased, we're interested in additional capacities," said Janša when asked about lease of Croatian capacities.

Slovenia needs about a billion cubic metres of gas a year. The capacity of the gas pipeline from Lučko to Rogatec would be 270 million m3, which Janša said represented an important share of Slovenian gas supply.

While Slovenia is short of gas, Croatia is short of electricity. The Croatian government expressed readiness to take part in the construction of a second reactor in Krško following the model of cooperation so far.

Janša said the relevant government departments would look into potential for cooperation to jointly invest in the second reactor.

The prime ministers also talked about other bilateral issues, including the fishing regime in the Bay of Piran. Plenković said the two countries deepened their relationship in recent years and would also ease them on that point so that fishers would not be fined by Croatian or Slovenian police.

Since Slovenia started implementing the border arbitration award declared by the arbitration tribunal in June 2017 the following year Slovenian police have fined vessels entering waters awarded to Slovenia illegally, while Croatia has been fining Slovenian vessels fishing in the part of the bay it continues to claim as its own because it does not recognise the border award.

The two prime ministers also touched on the refugee crisis with Janša expressing Slovenia's readiness to accept the number of Ukrainian refugees in proportion to its size and the size of its population.

"There're no tensions, all the problems that exist, even if they have for several years, we're solving quietly and to the satisfaction of both governments and nations," said Plenković.

He thanked Slovenia for supporting Croatia in joining the EU, Schengen zone and the efforts to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"You have all the support for membership in the integrations that Slovenia is already a member of and Croatia is still a candidate country for," said Janša.

The prime ministers also talked about cooperation in trade and tourism. The volume of bilateral trade has reached EUR 5.6 billion. Plenković noted that that 1,166,000 Slovenian tourists holidayed in Croatia last year.

This was the eighth time that Janša and Plenković have met in the past two years.

STA, 28 March 2022 - Prime Minister Janez Janša and his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenković talked about cooperation in gas supply and the Krško nuclear power plant as they met in Zagreb on Monday. Talks will be resumed by the ministers in charge next week.

Potential for concrete cooperation will be discussed by Slovenian Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec and Croatian Economy Minister Tomislav Čorić as they meet in Zagreb next Monday.

The ministers will talk about expanding the pipeline from Lučko, a Zagreb suburb, to Zalog, on the eastern outskirts of Ljubljana, and to Logatec, south-west of the Slovenian capital. They will also discuss further cooperation on the Krško N-plant, which is owned jointly by the two countries.

"We're trying to find a common approach to supply, transport routes and the other necessary logistic. Gas, of course, is a small part of the energy we need for a normal life in Europe. Nuclear energy is also very important," said Janša.

The two countries see plenty of potential to cooperate in both energy areas when it comes to satisfying the needs of Slovenia as well as Croatia, he added.

Predsednik vlade ?? @JJansaSDS je prispel v Zagreb, kjer bo opravil delovno srečanje s predsednikom hrvaške vlade ?? @AndrejPlenkovic. pic.twitter.com/7CeUySOd6t

— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) March 28, 2022

"A large part of Europe is fully or partly dependent on energy imports from Russia, and anything that represents an alternative to these imports and dependency is a European priority at the moment," said Janša.

Slovenia would like to have enough capacities to be energy self-sufficient even in case of difficulties on the energy market. "As for our interest to lease capacities, the capacities that have been leased are leased, we're interested in additional capacities," said Janša when asked about lease of Croatian capacities.

Slovenia needs about a billion cubic metres of gas a year. The capacity of the gas pipeline from Lučko to Logatec would be 270 million m3, which Janša said represented an important share of Slovenian gas supply.

While Slovenia is short of gas, Croatia is short of electricity. The Croatian government expressed readiness to take part in the construction of a second reactor in Krško following the model of cooperation so far.

Janša said the relevant government departments would look into potential for cooperation to jointly invest in the second reactor.

The prime ministers also talked about other bilateral issues, including the fishing regime in the Bay of Piran. Plenković said the two countries deepened their relationship in recent years and would also ease them on that point so that fishers would not be fined by Croatian or Slovenian police.

Since Slovenia started implementing the border arbitration award declared by the arbitration tribunal in June 2017 the following year Slovenian police have fined vessels entering waters awarded to Slovenia illegally, while Croatia has been fining Slovenian vessels fishing in the part of the bay it continues to claim as its own because it does not recognise the border award.

The two prime ministers also touched on the refugee crisis with Janša expressing Slovenia's readiness to accept the number of Ukrainian refugees in proportion to its size and the size of its population.

"There're no tensions, all the problems that exist, even if they have for several years, we're solving quietly and to the satisfaction of both governments and nations," said Plenković.

He thanked Slovenia for supporting Croatia in joining the EU, Schengen zone and the efforts to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"You have all the support for membership in the integrations that Slovenia is already a member of and Croatia is still a candidate country for," said Janša.

The prime ministers also talked about cooperation in trade and tourism. The volume of bilateral trade has reached EUR 5.6 billion. Plenković noted that some 1,166,000 Slovenian tourists holidayed in Croatia last year.

This was the eighth time that Janša and Plenković have met in the past two years.