Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.
A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here
This summary is provided by the STA:
Property prices showing signs of stagnation
LJUBLJANA - After three years of steep growth, real estate prices started to show signs of stagnation in the first half of 2019. Prices of flats are very close to the record figures from 2008, while prices of houses are lagging behind significantly, show data from the Mapping and Surveying Authority. The average price of a second-hand flat in Slovenia in the first half of 2019 was EUR 1,810 per square metre, which was 1.7% more than in the second half of 2018. The average price of a second-hand apartment in Ljubljana was at EUR 2,780 per square metre between January and June, about 0.5% more than in the second half of 2018. The authority says that prices have stagnated in Ljubljana since the beginning of 2018.
Church reported to have won EUR 22m damages over denationalisation
LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana Higher Court has ordered the state-run Farmland and Forest Fund to pay almost EUR 22 million to the Ljubljana Archdiocese within 15 days over protracted denationalisation procedures, Dnevnik reported. According to the newspaper, the damages of EUR 13.3 million plus default interest, litigation and other costs stem from lengthy procedures in the restitution of the forests in the area of Mozirje (N) and Pokljuka (NW) that were nationalised after WWII. The fund explained for the STA it had so far paid over EUR 17 million and owed another EUR 4 million to the archdiocese, which would eventually get EUR 21.17 million in compensation.
Ambassador Jarc to replace Lenarčič as ambassador to the EU
LJUBLJANA - The government decided to recall Slovenia's Ambassador to Serbia Iztok Jarc to appoint him Slovenia's permanent representative to the EU. He will succeed Janez Lenarčič, who is expected to be appointed European commissioner. Jarc will be recalled on 17 November, after less than a year in Belgrade. He previously served as ambassador to Israel and the UK and also as agriculture minister in the first Janez Janša government (2004-2008).
Šarec lays wreath at Nazi concentration camp memorial in Italy
TRIESTE - PM Marjan Šarec laid a wreath at Risiera di San Sabba, a former Nazi concentration camp in Trieste, ahead of All Saints' Day, condemning Nazism and Fascism and urging co-existence among nations. "Despite the horrors that took place here, this is now a place where we meet and send out a message that nations want to cooperate," Šarec said at the commemoration. He was particularly happy that Boris Pahor, a Slovenian writer from Trieste and a concentration camp survivor, attended the commemoration. "Some are still living witnesses of those events."
Govt amends weapons act to introduce stricter supervision
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted amendments to the weapons act which bring a change in the categorisation of weapons and tasks administrative units to check ex officio every five years whether the owners of weapons meet certain criteria, including public order concerns and reliability. It also adopted a decision on the National Security Council to expand its members with the minister in charge of infrastructure and the state secretary in the prime minister's office in charge of national security.
Govt takes measures to cut short wait times in healthcare
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted an annex to the agreement governing the scope of public healthcare services and their financing to expand it in order to cut short waiting times for medical services. The annex determines that the Health Insurance Institute (ZZZS) will secure EUR 10 million more funds for the type of services for which waiting times are long. The annex would also secure funds for vaccinations and a pilot project to optimise waiting times, as announced by Health Minister Aleš Šabeder a while ago.
Govt injects 2TDK with EUR 56 million
LJUBLJANA - The government as the founder and only shareholder of 2TDK decided to inject the company managing the Koper-Divača rail project with EUR 56 million. This will raise the company's share capital to EUR 77 million. The capital increase is in line with the act on the new rail track to the Koper port. In line with the investment plan, the money for the project will be provided by Slovenia and possibly another capital partner. In case it decides to finance the project alone, Slovenia will have to provide more than EUR 500 million.
Player in JBTZ affair dies
LJUBLJANA - David Tasić, a former journalist of the weekly Mladina, a publisher and one of the four political convicts in the 1988 JBTZ trial, a key event in the mosaic of Slovenian independence, has died, the newspaper Delo reported. Tasić was known for covering political events in Slovenia and Yugoslavia, and opening up topics that were considered taboo. He left Mladina in 1989 and established one of the first independent private publishers in Slovenia, Založba Karantanija. After 1999 he kept a low public profile.
NKBM hearing aborted over plea bargain
MARIBOR - The plea hearing in a case against former executives of NKBM bank hardly begun at the Maribor District Court when it was adjourned because the judge recused herself after rejecting a plea bargain reached between the prosecution and one of the accused. Even though most of the defendants, including former NKBM chairman Matjaž Kovačič and former board member Manja Skernišak, were present for the hearing, they were unable to enter their pleas. Kovačič and Skerinšak are charged with abuse of office in relation to suspicious real estate transactions in Croatia in which the bank was allegedly swindled out of EUR 28 million in 2006-2009.
Ring smuggling Chinese to Italy arrested
MARIBOR - Slovenian police busted last week a ring that made an estimated EUR 1.3 million in illegal gain by smuggling at least 143 Chinese from China to Italy through Slovenia over the past year and a half. Of the four Slovenians and eight Chinese operating the ring, three are in detention and two in house arrest. One of the detained suspects is Slovenian and the others are Chinese with permanent residence in Slovenia, Maribor police said. To get illegally from China to Italy, a Chinese citizen had to pay from EUR 9,000 to EUR 14,000.
Slovenian households more frugal last year
LJUBLJANA - Slovenian households stepped up saving in 2018, recording a gross household saving rate of 12.6%, up 0.2 percentage points on 2017. The country's gross rate, which shows what share of household disposable income is saved, was one of the highest in Europe, the Statistics Office (SURS) said. "The saving rate was increasing in the recent years, but it's still lower than it was before the financial crisis," said SURS deputy head Karmen Hren ahead of World Savings Day, observed on 30 October. For the second consecutive year, the rate was higher than the average rates in EU-28 and EA-19 member states - 10% or 12.4%, respectively.
Kaja Teržan wins top poetry award with The Circle
LJUBLJANA - This year's Jenko Prize, the most prestigious national award for the best poetry collection from the past two years, has been given to Kaja Teržan for her second collection, Krog (The Circle). Teržan, born in 1986, gets the prize, given out by the Slovenian Writers' Association, with a 1,000 euro grant. The judging panel said Teržan had become one of the country's up-and-coming poets already with her debut Delta (2015), which received critical and public acclaim. The awards ceremony in Kranj this evening, which Teržan was not able to attend, was the culmination of Jenko Days, a festival held in honour of 19th-century poet Simon Jenko.
Visiting Ljubljana? Check out what's on this week, while all our stories on Slovenia, from newest to oldest, are here
If you're learning Slovenian then you can find all our dual texts here
