STA, 25 September 2019 - Responding to the scandal involving millions in contentions payments at the University of Maribor, the SVIZ teachers' trade union urged Chancellor Zdravko Kačič to consider resigning for failing to immediately present all the facts to the public and notify the police of potential irregularities.

By resigning, Kačič would facilitate a process in which the payment of some EUR 50 million would have to be cleared up, the union said on Wednesday.

"It is completely unacceptable that the chancellor of the public university Zdravko Kačič did not immediately notify oversight institutions and law enforcement of the findings of the audits into fees payments and of other irregularities which point to suspicion of crime and liability for payment of damages," it said in a release.

The union believes that by failing to act on time, Kačič, chancellor since June 2018, is responsible for major damage the scandal has caused to the country's second-largest public university and its staff.

The SVIZ recalled that a few years ago, the Supreme Court had ruled the university's pay system was unsuitable, failing to remunerate staff in line with academic titles.

The university thus broke the law and saved a lot of money on the back of many of its junior staff, while its elite has been receiving indecent fees, the SVIZ said.

Responding to the appeal, Kačič said he had acted as soon as he received the report, so there was no need for his resignation. "I didn't 'misplace' the document, forget about it or conceal it ... but immediately started dealing with it," he said in a release.

He reiterated that he checked the document, which is neither an audit report nor a legal or expert opinion, on 20 June 2018, the day he took office, then talked to auditors to discuss reviewing the financial transactions, presented it to deans in January and then handed it to university members for comments.

"I kept the university board up to date on all steps and handed all the papers on 9 May to an independent institution for a comprehensive review and a final audit report, which will serve as a basis for the university to take action," the chancellor explained, adding the final report is expected next month.

The SVIZ trade union also called on Education Minister Jernej Pikalo to ask the Court of Audit to review the university's financial operations.

Also responding to the scandal, the VSS trade union of university teachers said it expected Kačič to present documents proving the payments were justified and to sanction the cases when staff had abused office for personal gain.

The VSS urged the state as the founder of the university to change legislation and improve oversight to prevent such cases and to enable science and university education to develop even if they brought no short-term profits.

The head of the VVS shop at the university, Marija Javornik Krečič, said university staff was both disappointed and shocked at the controversial fees.

While the media report about payments worth millions of euro, the trade union had to fight legal battles for proper pay of many of university staff, she said.

The alleged abuse is not just a result of vague rules, but of their disrespect coupled with wild corporate logic penetrating universities and some university teachers appropriating certain faculties and areas of research.

Yesterday, Kačič came out strongly against Friday's media report questioning around EUR 50 million euro in payments to its professors through works contracts.

He said the TV Slovenija report was based on incomplete facts from two reports rather than on audits as stated by TV Slovenija.

The chancellor said he had not been acquainted with the 2017 report by the previous leadership, while he knew about the second one from February 2018.

While stressing that neither had found any irregularities, but merely pointed to potential risks, Kačič said he would present the second report once it was reviewed by an independent institution and became final. Only then would the university take action if necessary.

As for the sum of EUR 50 million, Kačič said it referred to the works contracts for the entire period between 2010 and 2016.

STA, 24 September 2019 - University of Maribor Chancellor Zdravko Kačič has come out strongly against a recent media report questioning some EUR 50 million in payments to its professors through works contracts. He said on Tuesday that Friday's TV Slovenija report was based on incomplete facts, but did affect the reputation of the country's No. 2 public university.

According to the broadcaster, auditor Ernst & Young found rather high payments to university professors and the university and its faculties' deals with companies suspicious in March 2017.

Some professors received almost EUR 30 million in various fees and another EUR 20 million was paid to university staff who were treated as external staff, TV Slovenija said.

Kačič told the university's senate the media report was based on two reports commissioned by the former chancellor with Ernst & Young - Consulting, Tax Consulting, and not with an auditor. The first was made in 2017 and the other in February 2018.

"Neither found any irregularities in the university's financial operations, but merely pointed to potential risks," said Kačič, who was in charge of the university's finances under the previous leadership.

When he became chancellor in June 2018, Kačič was not acquainted by predecessor Igor Tičar with the first report, but he did receive the second one.

After presenting it to the deans and demanding explanation from faculties, he handed all the papers to "a neutral institution to comprehensively review it and prepare a final report, which will serve for further action", he explained.

Earlier this year, the chancellor said the Institute for Business Accounting had been asked to give its final opinion. Its findings should be known next month.

"If qualified experts find irregularities ..., university institutions will take action," the chancellor's office said in a release after the senate's session.

Kačič said the idea was to present the second report to the public once it became final and contained proper findings and recommendations for further action.

As for the sum of EUR 50 million, Kačič said it referred to the works contracts for the entire period between 2010 and 2016.

"There are many such contracts. For instance, the professors teaching at the Faculty of Medicine are originally employed at the UKC Maribor hospital," he said in reference to the media report that some university staff had been treated as external staff (outsourcing) in receiving payment for their services.

Works contracts are also used for work on different projects, including for university-business ones.

"The payments on the basis of works contracts for University of Maribor staff for 2011 to 2016 amounted to EUR 21.2 million, not EUR 50 million," Kačič's office said.

"We don't want to sweep anything under the carpet, but it is inappropriate to jump to conclusions on the basis of incomplete facts," the chancellor said.

STA, 24 September 2019 - The 25th City of Women (Mesto Žensk), an international festival of contemporary arts, will kick off in Ljubljana on 1 October; however a series of events will take place as a prelude to the festival's opening, starting tonight (Monday, 24 September) with an exhibition Cheers to Women - 25 Years of Film and Video.

The exhibition launch will be held at Alkatraz Gallery in the Metelkova Mesto alternative arts centre, with the display focusing on creative endeavours of female film makers and video artists in Slovenia.

The feminist festival, running until 13 October, will be held under the slogan #HerStory, a pun referring to female, often forgotten or erased, history as well as female stories.

The events will take place at 18 venues and will include 160 participants, said the festival's programme director Teja Reba at today's press conference, highlighting that this year the festival will spread to Maribor and Zagreb as well.

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"We're not talking about a special part of history which would only apply to women, but about a part of general history which is missing since mostly men's events were valued in the past," said Reba.

According to her, the time has come for "some feminist revisionism - a feminist re-interpretation of facts, events and traditions". The festival thus aims "to make visible all that has been overlooked, silenced and repressed".

The programme reminisces about the festival's past achievements, but also looks to the future by promoting up-and-coming female artists and art collectives as well as questions the existing forms of artistic expressions nowadays, said the organisers.

Highlights include a film marathon of Slovenian female film makers and video artists at the Slovenian Cinematheque as well as the opening performance of famous German theatre collective She She Pop, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary as well, at the Ljubljana Mladinsko Theatre (SMG).

The legendary duo, a recipient of this year's Theaterpreis Berlin, a prestigious German theatre prize, will put on Drawers, a performance about the German reunification process retold through the eyes of women from West and East Berlin.

Slovenia's Gender Pay Gap Relatively Low in the EU, But Rising Fastest

Eva D. Bahovec, the festival's honorary president and professor at the Faculty of Arts, said that the University of Ljubljana, marking its centenary this year, and City of Women will hold a regional symposium on Simone de Beauvoir celebrating the 70th anniversary of her influential work The Second Sex.

The artist-in-residence of this year's festival is Alicja Rogalska, a Polish-British artist who has dedicated herself to exploring the issue of erased people, left without citizenship after Slovenia declared independence in 1991.

Her exhibition Kinds of Pressure at the Škuc Gallery will analyse the global labour conditions under capitalism and its dehumanising effect, but a discussion with the artist at the exhibition opening will also touch upon her research on the erased and how to talk about an identity that was taken away.

This year, City of Women was awarded the European Cultural Foundation's annual Princess Margriet Award for Culture. The prize, honouring the festival's achievement in supporting women in culture and its intersectional feminist approach, will be presented in Amsterdam on 2 October.

You can find the City of Women website, in English, here, while a PDF guide – in English and Slovene – is here

It’s always fun to read travel guides to places you know, to see what’s being sold as the real thing and how it compares to your experience. We thus turned with interest to the UK Independent’s recent article, “Maribor Guide: Where To Eat, Drink, Shop And Stay In Slovenia’s Second City”, by Pavlo Fedykovych.

The author touches on the inevitable (the World’s Oldest Vine and the Old Town), gives a very brief look at some cultural options, and then explores what to do in the surrounding environment. The bridge across the Drava is noted as architectural highlight. Turning to Maribor’s restaurant and bar scene, the newspaper presents Mak restaurant and Malca Minogrede among the former, and Piranha Cocktail Bureau and LUFT 360 among the latter.

You can see the full article, and other suggestions for how spend your time in Maribor, here.

September 11, 2019

Festival Maribor launched yesterday and continues tomorrow, Thursday, with the Vegetable Orchestra concert, following the vegetable instruments workshop for kids and adults that took place today.

The festival of chamber and orchestral music gradually evolved over the last half a century from a baroque music festival into an event that features a broad range of classical and post-modern music and organisational styles.

In the week that follows participants can attend various concerts, workshops and shows at venues around Slovenia's second biggest city, Maribor.

For the event line-up, tickets and other details, please visit the festival’s website.

The festival will conclude with the No Borders Orchestra concert on September 19.

STA, 1 August 2019 - Slovenian football champions Maribor qualified for the third round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers by eliminating AIK in Stockholm on Wednesday evening by virtue of scoring more away goals. Maribor had to work extra time as the regular time ended with a 3:3 tie on aggregate.

After beating AIK 2:1 in Maribor last week, the perennial Slovenian champions survived the tough match in Stockholm by losing 3:2 after extra time and advancing to the next round of qualifying on away goals.

It was Romanian Alexandru Cretu to score the decisive goal for Maribor in the 116th minute with a header assisted by Mitja Viler, bringing Maribor closer to what would be the club's third appearance in the group stage of the Champions League.

"I don't feel like a hero, this is a result of the hard work of the entire team. It was a tough match, we knew that it would not be easy because they have players who fight hard all the time," Cretu said after the match.

In the third round, Maribor will play the Norwegian champions Rosenborg, which eliminated the Belarusian champions BATE Borisov. The first leg will be played in Slovenia's second largest city on 7 August.

Maribor head coach Darko Milanič said that the team had believed in success until the last minute. "Both teams were too good for this stage, and it's unfortunate that we met at this point already. Well, it turned out great for us.

"Unbelievable! This is a match everybody will remember, not only players, but you and the fans too," he told reporters, adding that Maribor was already looking ahead and preparing for the next opponent Rosenborg.

Milanič said he had never coached against the Norwegian champions, but that he had been told by sport director Zlatko Zahovič that Maribor was "in for a hard fight with a very well physically prepared team."

If Maribor fail to advance past Rosenborg and secure the last qualifying round for the Champions League, they will enter the last round of qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

STA, 25 July 2019 - Slovenian football champions Maribor opened the second round of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League against AIK Stockholm with a 2:1 win at home on Wednesday evening. The team is happy with the win, but is aware that the away goal scored by the Swedish side will make the return leg next week very difficult.

Some 7,800 spectators in Ljudski Vrt stadium saw Maribor score early in the match, with Rok Kronaveter convert in the 6th minute, after which the Slovenian champions continued to apply pressure.

But the 12-time Swedish champions responded, as Henok Goitom scored a goal in the 28th minute with a diagonal shot from the left side of the box.

It took Maribor only ten minutes to score the second goal, with Saša Ivković converting a header after a corner kick by Kronaveter.

Maribor head coach Darko Milanič said the win was a self-confidence boost. "We have a win in our pocket, and we have played a good game, which will certainly be helpful in the future."

Milanič said that the opponent was very difficult, "perhaps even too good for this stage of competition", which is why he expects a tough return leg on 31 July. He is aware that the away goal scored by AIK is a problem.

"A majority of things in our game were really excellent, it's a shame that we were too offensive after we scored the first goal and let them score the equaliser."

Milanič expects a different game from the Swedish champions in Stockholm. "We have to be prepared for much more tempo. We will need to adjust, calm down their game and be good in possessing the ball," he concluded.

The winner of the encounter will play in the next round of qualifying against the winner of the matchup between BATE Borisov of Belarus and Rosenborg of Norway.

STA, 22 July 2019 - The Chinese owners of airport operator Aerodrom Maribor have put up signs to limit access to Maribor airport, which is currently managed by DRI, a state-owned company, media reported on Monday.

This is the latest twist in the story of Maribor Airport, whose management was handed over to DRI, the state-owned consulting and engineering company specialised in infrastructure projects, in early June.

The government decided for the move after the Chinese-backed Aerodrom Maribor announced in January it was invoking a six-month notice and terminating the 15-year lease agreement it signed in 2017 due to delays in a planned expansion of the airport's runway.

DRI got the operating licence last week, so the airport reopened last Friday after being closed for a day.

But today, signs saying Private Property, No Trespassing, No Parking appeared at the entrance to the parking area.

The Infrastructure Ministry told the STA that the easement in the area of Maribor airport, owned by Aerodrom Maribor, was settled in the land register and that any disputes over the matter would be settled in court.

The ministry assessed that "the Chinese owners who unilaterally pulled out of the lease agreement for no apparent reason are doing this to hinder the operations of Maribor airport and are implementing their interests at Slovenia's expense".

DRI meanwhile told the STA today the signs did not disrupt the airport's operations.

DRI is to manage the airport until the end of 2020 or until the Infrastructure Ministry finds a long-term solution.

The ministry denied in a press release last week claims that Aerodrom Maribor terminated the lease agreement due to delays in the planned expansion of the airport's runway.

It added no deadlines or any other conditions for the state had been set in the 2017 agreement.

The project entails changes to the spatial plan for the area, which is a lengthy procedure and can take several years, it noted.

The Chinese-backed firm SHS Aviation bought Aerodrom Maribor at the beginning of 2017 from Delavska Hranilnica savings bank, signing a 15-year lease agreement with the state.

It made huge announcements when it took over, but few of its plans came to fruition and the airport has been languishing, serving only a handful of charter flights and subsisting mostly on revenue from pilot training.

STA, 13 July 2019 - The 29th season of the Slovenian football premier league will get under way today, featuring Maribor as the defending champion and nine more teams looking to upset the most dominant team in the history of Slovenian club football.

Maribor have won 16th Slovenian league titles so far and are followed by Olimpija of Ljubljana, which has restored its status as a serious rival in recent years, managing to snatch the title in 2016 and 2018.

While things were also fairly close in the last season, a strong challenge by Olimpija is looking somewhat less likely ahead of the new session, with Maribor having acquired the Ljubljana team's leading scorer and the no. 2 scorer overall in the last season Rok Kronaveter.

Maribor, who have successfully began their qualifying campaign for the Champions League, already have the league's top scorer, Luka Zahović, the son of Slovenia's former international star Zlatko Zahović. What is more, the team has been joined by the fourth best scorer of the league in the last season, midfielder Rudi Požeg Vancaš.

"I'm happy with the roster. It clearly has quality and can meet the demands we have," Maribor's head coach Darko Milanič told the press. He said the goal was to repeat the last season, when Maribor also made it to the final of the Slovenian Cup competition and to the third round of qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

The Cup was won by Olimpija, which lost its first qualifying match for the Europa League on Thursday and has mostly been making headlines in recent weeks over reports its owner Milan Mandarić is about to sell the club to an Italian businessman.

The team's coach Safet Hadžić in confident nonetheless: "I'm very happy with the preparations... perhaps I still expect a reinforcement in a position or two, but momentarily all is ok. We're a club that is chasing the title, but we should not underestimate the other teams. Domžale and the rest are not naive."

Domžale, whose two titles date back to 2007 and 2008, is indeed looking as a potential challenger, having reinforced the team significantly. The club leadership says the goal is to advance step by step and get close to Maribor and Olimpija.

The new season will be opened today at 6pm by the Tabor Sežana - Aluminij encounter, while Maribor will also play, against Triglav at 8.15pm.

A total of 36 rounds will be played until 16 May, with a winter break scheduled between 14 December and 22 February. All the matches will be broadcast by TV Slovenija or Planet TV.

STA, 10 July 2019 - The suspended president of the Maribor Labour Court Stanko Omerzu was handed a suspended two-month prison sentence with one year probation by the Maribor Local Court on Wednesday for a death threat issued in a store to his former intimate friend. A separate trial against Omerzu over stalking the same woman is expected to continue on Thursday.

Omerzu, who was suspended by Supreme Court President Damijan Florijančič last September as he refused to step down, has already appealed the ruling.

The judge's case has also been making headlines over delays caused by the long-standing Labour Court president avoiding picking up official letters from the court and having hearings postponed due to ill health.

Before suspending him, Florijančič expressed concern about the developments in Maribor, saying it was especially hard to understand how official letters could not be delivered to a judge who was a suspect in criminal proceedings, especially given that the person was on sick leave.

All our stories on domestic violence in Slovenia are here