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STA - Below is a roundup of major events on Thursday, 28 March 2019:
Slovenia protests as Croatian police boat crosses deep into Slovenian waters
LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar announced that Slovenia would issue a diplomatic note to Croatia over a grave border violation by a Croatian police boat in the Bay of Piran last Sunday. Cerar said the boat crossing 2.5 km into Slovenian waters and even 1.3 km across the bay's midline was a special kind of provocation that involved a failure to honour international and EU law and the Schengen border. The June 2017 international border arbitration decision, which Croatia refuses to implement, gave 80% of the bay to Slovenia.
SSH supervisors and CEO Glavina agree to part ways
LJUBLJANA - The supervisors of Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) and the state asset custodian's CEO Lidia Glavina agreed on a termination of Glavina's term. She will be replaced temporarily by chief supervisor Igor Kržan. Glavina, who has been rumoured to face dismissal for a while, was appointed the interim CEO in July 2016 after serving as a supervisor since the spring of 2015. She was appointed for a full term in February 2017. Her term was marked by the privatisation of the NLB bank and the restructuring and sale of the automotive parts maker Cimos to the Italian fund Palladio Finanziaria.
New environment, health ministers appointed
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly confirmed the latest replacements in the Marjan Šarec government, voting 49 to 20 twice to appoint Aleš Šabeder as new health minister and Simon Zajc as new minister of the environment and spatial planning. The opposition National Party (SNS) supported both candidates, New Slovenia (NSi) approved of Zajc but not of Šabeder, while the Left and the Democratic Party (SDS) directed criticism at both. Coalition parties pointed to the mountain of problems that both new ministers are facing.
MHP takeover bid values Pertunina Ptuj at EUR 194m
LJUBLJANA - Ukrainian MHP holding, acting through its Cypriot affiliate Hemiak Investments, has published a takeover bid for the remaining 9.31% shares of the Slovenian poultry group Perutnina Ptuj it does not hold already, offering EUR 17.82 per share, or just over EUR 18m for the outstanding stake. The takeover bid concerns 1,015,658 shares and is valid until 22 May. The offer comes after the Ukrainian company had already paid EUR 176.3m for a 90.69% stake in the Slovenian poultry group it acquired from the Russian-owned steel group SIJ in November 2018.
NSi pushing for separate constitutional review of 2019 budget
LJUBLJANA - After the opposition Democratic Party (SDS) announced last week it would ask the Constitutional Court to review the supplementary budget for 2019 arguing it poses a major risk for Slovenia, New Slovenia (NSi) said today it would file a separate motion. While agreeing with the SDS that the supplementary budget was unconstitutional, the fellow opposition party finds the SDS's motion legally faulty so it decided not to provide signatures of support of its MPs. Instead, the party will prepare a new motion and seek support among parliamentary parties.
Maritime pilots in Koper port threaten with strike in April
KOPER - The employees of the company providing piloting services in the port of Koper have announced a strike for 3 April, which could seriously hamper the operations at Slovenia's sole maritime port. They demand greater safety at work, which would be secured with additional hirings and pilot boats, as well as higher wages.
Visitor numbers to Slovenia down in January
LJUBLJANA - After continuous growth for the past months and years, the Slovenian tourism industry saw a drop in visitor numbers and nights spent in January, the latter due to fewer domestic guests. Fresh data from the Statistics Office show that 265,153 visitors spent a total of 758,425 nights at the country's accommodation facilities in January, a decline of 5.5% and 2.1% year-on-year, respectively.
Top research centre IJS celebrates 70th anniversary
LJUBLJANA - The Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS), Slovenia's leading science and research centre, will mark its 70th anniversary with a high-profile ceremony at Cankarjev Dom in the evening, featuring a talk about flying robots by top robotics expert Vijay Kumar from the University of Pennsylvania. The IJS is the largest research centre in the country which by far transcends the Slovenian borders in terms of science and culturally, says its boss Jadran Lenarčič. With some 990 employees, it covers a range of basic and applied research.
Two-week festival of Slovenian theatre gets under way
KRANJ - World Theatre Day traditionally marked the start of the 49th Week of Slovenian Drama today. Hosted by the Prešeren Theatre in Kranj, this year's festival will feature 15 shows in 13 days. The schedule includes seven plays featured in the competition section, four in the accompanying programme and four in the international programme. At the opening ceremony, the Slovenian Association of Drama Artists will present the Marija Vera Award for lifetime achievement to actor Vladimir Jurc and the Polde Bibič lifetime achievement award to costume designer Marija Vidau.
Illustration festival starts in Ljubljana
LJUBLJANA - The 13th Slovenian Biennial of Illustration got under way at Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana, celebrating Slovenian illustrators' accomplishments of the past two years. Running until 19 May, the festival will present 72 illustrators, the largest number so far, and will focus on new artistic methods and technologies used in illustration. The festival opened with an awards ceremony at which the Slovenian illustrator Kostja Gatnik was honoured for his lifetime achievement with the Hinko Smrekar Award.
