Ljubljana related

22 Aug 2020, 18:10 PM

STA, 22 August 2020 - Contrary to expectations, Slovenians holidaying in neighbouring Croatia are not yet returning home in great numbers after the country was put on Slovenia's red list in terms of Covid-19. Waiting times on the border to enter Slovenia are thus comparable to previous years.

More massive returns are expected on Sunday and Monday, as Slovenians can return from Croatia without having to go into a 14-day quarantine until Monday midnight.

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Police data from border crossings with Croatia shows that it is mainly Germans and Czechs crossing into Slovenia, including at two of the main border crossings - Dragonja in the south-west and Gruškovje in the east.

Data from the Traffic Information Centre meanwhile shows that the longest waiting time to enter Slovenia is an hour and a half at Gruškovje.

Many are still also heading for Croatia, and have to wait around an hour at Dragonja, the longest waiting time.

Mirko Skuhala of border police at Gruškovje told the press today that 11,000 vehicles entered Slovenia last night, which is on a par with the same period last year.

21 Aug 2020, 10:00 AM

STA, 20 August 2020 - In a landmark ruling for the rights of migrants entering Slovenia, the Supreme Court has reportedly overturned an Administrative Court ruling that allowed for no return of migrants to Croatia without a formal decision. The Supreme Court argues this is allowed under an agreement on fast-track returns signed by Slovenia and Croatia in 2006.

Deciding in a case of a Moroccan migrant, the Administrative Court had ruled fast-track returns based on an inter-state agreement but without an issued decision and thus a chance for appeal violated European and Slovenian legislation and constitutionally secured rights, Dnevnik reported on Thursday.

The Supreme Court, ruling in favour of an appeal filed by the Interior Ministry, disagreed, the paper said, adding that what is the first ruling pertaining to the 2006 Slovenia-Croatia agreement has been welcomed by the ministry and police.

They told Dnevnik the Supreme Court had ruled the agreement did not breach EU law, nor had it established human rights violations.

The paper adds that legal rules envisage that such a decision be issued by Croatia, but Croatia fails to do so, instead pushing back the migrants to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Taskforce for Asylum, an activist group, responded by saying that Slovenian police obviously did not need to check how Croatian police acted once the migrants were returned and by announcing a challenge at the Constitutional Court

The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman told Dnevnik that the Supreme Court ruling did not yet establish a "case law", pointing out that the Administrative Court has also ruled that a migrant from Cameroon - who had been subjected to a similar expulsion and ended up in Bosnia - be returned to Slovenia, be allowed to seek asylum and receive damages.

Blaž Kovač of Amnesty International Slovenije meanwhile expressed his conviction that Slovenia's involvement in chain refoulement made it co-responsible for the Croatian police's treatment of refugees and for the inhumane accommodation conditions they are subjected to in Bosnia.

20 Aug 2020, 21:11 PM

STA, 20 August 2020 - Slovenia has put Croatia on the red list of countries from which travellers must undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine effective on Friday, but the government has also put in place a number of exemptions to make sure trade, commerce and cross-border ties with Croatia as well as other neighbouring countries run smoothly.

There will be a special exemption for owners and lessees of boats and real estate. They will be allowed to leave the country for 48 hours to sort out any errands concerning their property without having to quarantine on return. Interior Minister Aleš Hojs said this was not a blank check for such persons to travel back and forth all the time.

This exemption will apply to all neighbouring countries in the event they are placed on the red list; Croatia is currently the only red-listed neighbouring country.

There is also a new exemption for those who have a medical exam in a neighbouring country: they are allowed to return without quarantining if they get back immediately after the completed exam and present evidence thereof.

Additional exemptions have been added for all red-listed countries. Professional athletes and their staff, and members of foreign official delegations will be allowed to enter without quarantining but must present a negative Covid-19 test.

Students, those travelling for family matters and those attending funeral will be allowed to travel outside Slovenia without quarantining as well, provided they are back within 24 hours.

The government had debated red-listing only the most heavily affected regions in Croatia, which is exactly what Germany has done, but Hojs said the average across the entire country was already "deep in the red zone" so it was decided to put the entire country on the red list.

There were also ideas that people could avoid quarantine by taking a coronavirus test, but according to Hojs, epidemiologists said a 14-day quarantine was the best precautionary measure.

Since there are well over 100,000 Slovenians currently on holiday in Croatia, the government has given them until the end of Monday to return without having to quarantine. This should prevent heavy traffic on the border.

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Hojs said the government would monitor the situation in Croatia on a weekly basis and change the relevant decree if the epidemiological situation there improves.

In a related development, the government removed Greece from the green list, placing it on the interim, yellow list, from which most arrivals except Slovenian nationals and residents must undergo quarantine.

At the same time, conditions have been tightened for some persons who must present a negative Covid-19 test to avoid quarantine.

Only tests from certified third-country laboratories will be accepted and their suitability will be checked by the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, and the National Health Laboratory. The list of recognised third-country laboratories will be published on the website of the National Health Laboratory.

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19 Aug 2020, 14:38 PM

STA, 19 August 2020 - Slovenia plans to put Croatia on the red list of countries from which travellers must undergo a 14-day quarantine. Those already in Croatia have until the end of the week to avoid quarantine, those travelling there as of Friday will have to quarantine, government spokesman Jelko Kacin said on Wednesday.

The decision to red-list Croatia will formally be made at Thursday's cabinet session and published in the Official Gazette the same day.

It will also be clear tomorrow how long exactly those who are currently in Croatia will have to return without quarantining, with Kacin saying the deadline may be extended to Monday if necessary.

"Fact is that the situation in Croatia is deteriorating dramatically. Data on infections show that the situation is really bad," Kacin said after the government meet epidemiologists to discuss the way forward.

He said Croatia was likely to today exceed 40 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in over a 14-day period, the threshold in Slovenia for putting countries on the red list.

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"We don't have any other choice but to urge our citizens to return from the dangerous country as soon as possible, regardless of what kind of arrangements they have. The situation is deteriorating rapidly and will get much worse," he said.

The decision comes after the government started issuing increasingly stern warnings to Slovenian holidaymakers in Croatia that the situation was getting out of hand, in particular due to beach parties at several popular tourist resorts in Dalmatia.

Almost half the new cases Slovenia registered on Monday were imported from Croatia, and most of the infected persons are young, under 35, raising fears that a surge in infections could derail the start of the school year.

Unofficial information indicates several options were under discussion in recent days, including mandatory quarantine just for those under 35 or a waiver of quarantine for those who own boats and property in Croatia.

These considerations appear to have been shelved now, although Kacin said boat and property owners would get a chance before winter to sort things out.

"This will be a one-off opportunity, strictly limited and expressed in hours, in order to prevent people heading to Croatia this weekend and making traffic even worse," he said.

Several exemptions will be available in order to facilitate cross-border commerce and transport, but Kacin did not elaborate what they would be.

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18 Aug 2020, 20:52 PM

STA, 18 August 2020 - The government's Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin said on Tuesday that a decision on imposing quarantine on persons returning from Croatia would be made at Thursday's government session. The measure is expected to kick in by the start of the next week, with enough time given to people to return home before its implementation, said Kacin.

Given the rising numbers of imported coronavirus cases from Croatia in the past week, restrictions have to be implemented to curb that, said Kacin, adding that it was yet to be seen whether there would be any potential exemptions from the measure based on age, region or a negative coronavirus test.

On Wednesday, the government is to meet experts at Brdo pri Kranju to discuss the details of mandatory quarantine for travellers from Croatia and come up with a final strategy. Kacin called for a targeted measure.

On Thursday evening, the government will then endorse the measure, giving people a couple or a few days to return to Slovenia from Croatia in time to avoid the mandatory quarantine.

Kacin expects the measure to enter into force during the weekend. Police officers will be required to issue a quarantine order for everyone returning from Croatia, he added.

Until Monday, the Health Ministry issued 50,500 such orders. The average time of issuing the order at a border crossing is about 14 minutes, the ministry told the STA on Tuesday.

The bulk of quarantine orders is issued to persons coming from countries deemed highly Covid-19 risky. Contacts with those infected with the virus may also prompt such a measure.

There is no detailed data on the number of Slovenians currently holidaying in Croatia though. According to the country's figures, there are some 160,000 Slovenian citizens in Croatia at the moment, said Kacin.

Croatia has recorded 914,000 arrivals of Slovenian tourists since the beginning of 2020. Slovenians have been topped only by German tourists in terms of generating overnight stays in Croatia's tourism this year, creating 7 million overnight stays, said the Croatian Ministry of Tourism and Sport.

Kacin said that the government was daily monitoring the coronavirus situation in Croatia and other hotspots in the Western Balkans. The new cases imported from Croatia mainly stem from the country's southern regions and mostly involve persons aged between 15 and 35. On Monday, 12 infections were confirmed in persons who had returned from Croatia.

Kacin pointed out that the young were attending parties on Croatia's coast. They get infected and do not disclose who else was with them, adding that it was likely many were not detected and kept on spreading the virus.

Asked whether Slovenia would later upgrade Croatia from the red list of countries, which signals high risk in terms of coronavirus contagion, to the yellow list, which does not require mandatory self-isolation for Slovenian travellers, if Croatia closed nightclubs, Kacin said that Slovenia would welcome any measures stemming the spread of the virus.

He pointed out that the number of imported cases had a great impact on Slovenia's epidemiologic status. The effective reproduction number, showing to how many people the infected person transmits the virus, would stand at 0.68 if there would be no imported cases. As it is, the number is 1.24.

17 Aug 2020, 14:51 PM

STA, 17 August 2020 - Thirteen new cases of SARS-Cov-2 were confirmed in 393 tests in Slovenia on Sunday, show data released by the government. No deaths were reported. The total number of cases in Slovenia reached 2,429 with 248 of them active infections, according to national tracker covid-19.sledilnik. State and health care reps are scheduled to meet this afternoon.

Nineteen people were in hospital on Sunday with three requiring intensive care. The biggest increase in infections, 4, was detected in Ljubljana, and there were two new cases in Novo Mesto, where the virus was confirmed last week in a local nursing home.

Covid-19.sledilnik data also show that four of the newly confirmed cases were among the age group of 35-44, three in the 15-24 age group, and two each in the age groups 25-34 and 55-64. One case was an infant younger than four.

After a large number of cases confirmed last week was in people who returned from Croatia, a popular summer destination for Slovenians, Health Minister Tomaž Gantar said on Monday that he was scheduled to meet representatives of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) in the afternoon, and Prime Minister Janez Janša after that.

No changes yet for Croatia

Talking to the press on a different occasion, Gantar would not discuss any detail, but said he personally would like for Slovenia to introduce mandatory quarantine for those returning from Croatia, but only in a few days, so as to give people an opportunity to return.

Imposing quarantine any sooner would mean tens of thousands of people in quarantine, which, Gantar says, is infeasible.

"We have to weigh our options and make a decision fast, considering that the situation is getting worse and that there is a threat of imported cases, mostly from Croatia," said Gantar. "A decision must be made before school starts."

The minister called on those returning from Croatia to self-isolate if at all possible, appealing especially to health care and retirement home staff.

He also advised anybody still planning a vacation to avoid Croatia. "In this case, exposure is literally irresponsible, you'd be putting at risk not only yourself and your closest family members but also your colleagues and relatives."

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13 Aug 2020, 15:18 PM

STA, 13 August 2020 - A total of 29 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in 856 tests on Wednesday in Slovenia, according to the most recent data released by the government on Thursday. No new deaths were reported.

New cases were reported in 14 municipalities, including in Ljubljana (5), Celje (3), Vipava (2) and Starše (2). The majority of the new cases were in the 15-34 age group, according to the national tracker covid-19.sledilnik.

Ljubljana now has 41 active cases after recording nine of the 31 cases confirmed on Tuesday. Most of the latest cases have been imported from Croatia.

The latest statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia, and the latest police news on red, green and yellow list countries

Marta Grgič Vitek of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) said imported cases have outnumbered local transmissions in the last week, with 27 of the 33 most recent imported cases coming from Croatia.

"It is a problem if so many cases are imported from Croatia on a daily basis," she said, adding that many of the infected persons have told epidemiologists they had been to beach parties in Croatia.

If this trend continues, the government task force for coronavirus will propose that Slovenia introduce stricter measures on the border, perhaps even a mandatory quarantine for travellers from Croatia, said Bojana Beović, the head of the task force.

"In the event that this continues, we may enter the autumn season with problems associated with socialising in schools and workplaces. There could be outbreaks of infections," according to Beović.

The total number of infections reached 2,332 yesterday. There were 193 active cases and 19 patients were in hospital, with two requiring intensive care.

The Covid-19 death toll remains at 129.

Beović and epidemiologist Marta Grgič Vitek also told the press that epidemiologists in Slovenia were overworked as they were constantly looking for contacts of the infected persons in order to stem the spreading of the virus.

"Abroad, one epidemiologist comes at every 10,000 residents, and in Slovenia there is only one epidemiologist per 50,000 residents or even more," Beović said.

Grgič Vitek of the contagious diseases centre of the National Public Health Institute meanwhile noted that 30 new infections a day was a "critical number" for the epidemiological service.

In a response to an MP question, the government said today that it would try to encourage medical students to specialise in public health, with six specialisations open this year and at least in the next five years.

"At this pace, it will be possible to get at least ten additional doctors specialised in epidemiology in the next ten years," the government added.

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24 Jul 2020, 12:46 PM

STA, 23 July 2020 - Slovenia and Austria have agreed to try out joint surveillance of the shared border using technology such as cameras and drones, as Interior Minister Aleš Hojs held talks with his Austrian counterpart Karl Nehammer at a conference on migrations along the Balkan route.

The trial will "examine the possibility of effective cooperation in joint border surveillance and the transfer of these practices to the Slovenian-Croatian border, which is more prone to migration pressure," reads a press release from the Interior Ministry.

The meeting came at a conference on migrations featuring the home ministers of 18 countries at which it was decided to set up a platform to fight illegal migration on the Balkan route.

The platform, headquartered in Vienna, will facilitate coordination in four segments: border surveillance, return of migrants who are not eligible for asylum, the fight against smugglers of migrants, and the creation of faster and more efficient asylum procedures.

Hojs was quoted as having expressed concern about the situation regarding migrations, which he said was similar than in 2015. In view of abuses of asylum procedure, he urged the ministers to "examine their asylum systems and take advantage of methods to prevent abuse".

"In the past Slovenia adopted several measures that we are now stepping up. Changes to penal law are ready, and we are changing the foreigners act and the international protection act to make procedures more efficient," he said.

Hojs also stressed that protection of external borders was crucial in managing migrations through Western Balkans.

"The commitment that we are going to make in the joint statement - that countries will to a greater extent support the member states on the EU's external border - is therefore all the more important. Slovenia is definitely willing to do this to an even greater extent than so far," the minister was quoted as saying.

Hojs held several bilateral meetings on the margins of the conference, including with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and the head of the European Asylum Support Office, Nina Gregori.

24 Jul 2020, 09:56 AM

STA, 23 July 2020 - Slovenia will not put Croatia on the red list of countries from which travellers must quarantine, Health Minister Tomaž Gantar said on Thursday. While he acknowledged the number of infections there has been rising, he said it was "encouraging they adopted quite a few measures after the election".

Gantar said that the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) had not yet proposed that Croatia be red-listed, and anyway the criteria for putting countries on one of the three lists had changed.

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Slovenia no longer considers just the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants over a 14-day period, it also assesses the possibility of the infections spreading or being transmitted into other countries.

Gantar also said Slovenia would stop rapidly changing the status of countries, instead the decisions will be taken in conjunction with other countries.

Croatia is currently on Slovenia's yellow list. Citizens of those countries except for those residing in Slovenia are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine on entering Slovenia unless they are just passing through or fall under one of 18 exemptions. Slovenian arrivals are also checked more closely, as they need to prove they have not come from a red-listed country.

See more statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia here

Finland puts restrictions on those coming from Slovenia

STA, 23 July 2020 - The Finnish government has placed Slovenia on a list of countries for which restrictions apply on arrival due to the coronavirus outbreak. From Monday, the restrictions will also apply on arrivals from Austria and Switzerland.

According to a post on its web site, the Finnish government today decided to reinstate internal border controls for traffic between Finland and Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland. This is because these countries have seen an increase in the number of coronavirus infections since the previous assessment.

The Finnish government updates the list of countries for which restrictions apply about once a fortnight. EU countries already on the list are Spain, Luxembourg, Portugal, Poland, France, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

The restrictions entail a 14-day self-isolation on arrival. They can be lifted once the incidence of coronavirus has not exceeded eight new cases per 100,000 residents in the previous 14 days.

Data from Slovenia's Covid-19 tracker site, which pools official data, shows that the country with a population of two million has 257 active cases as of 22 July, out of a total of 2,033 so far confirmed.

Slovenians can travel to virtually all EU and EEA/Schengen countries restriction free, one rare exception is Ireland.

15 Jul 2020, 10:33 AM

STA, 14 July 2020 - Slovenia and Croatia confirmed on Tuesday revised programmes for the decommissioning of the Krško nuclear power station and the storage of radioactive waste, as the ministers in charge of energy chaired a session of the intergovernmental commission on the management of the jointly-owned power station.

The revised programmes had previously been confirmed by the Slovenian government and the Croatian parliament and reflect the decision to extend operation of the plant by 20 years beyond its originally planned shutdown in 2023, and the decision that each country will build its own radwaste repository.

Vrbina, where Slovenia's share of the waste will be stored

"I am very satisfied that after a long time the two countries have finally implemented the commitment from the intergovernmental programme and confirmed the third revision... The programmes are crucial for the preservation of excellent and safe operations" of the power station, Slovenian Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec was quoted as saying.

Croatian Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić likewise expressed satisfaction. "I'm glad we have successfully brought this long process to a conclusion," he said according to the Slovenian Infrastructure Ministry.

The next session of the intergovernmental commission is scheduled to take place in Slovenia in the first half of 2021.

Slovenia plans to store its portion of nuclear waste in Vrbina, close to the power station, a project which is already well under way. Croatia plans to build a repository in Čerkezovac, close to the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina, by 2024.

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