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A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here
This summary is provided by the STA:
Top court suspends controversial inquiry into Kangler's prosecution
LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court decided on Thursday to impose a temporary injunction on the legislation governing parliamentary inquiry pending its final decision. This means the National Assembly's inquiry into prosecution of former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler, a member of the upper chamber of parliament, will not be able to investigate judges for now. The Judicial Council, which had petitioned the court, believes the legislation does not contain proper safeguards to prevent interference in the judiciary's independence. The inquiry started its hearings on Monday, but is boycotted by coalition parties and the opposition Left. Its chair Žan Mahnič of the Democrats (SDS) announced they would respect the decision, but otherwise continue their work.
Management of energy company Petrol resigns
LJUBLJANA - The Tomaž Berločnik-led management of energy group Petrol resigned "by mutual agreement" yesterday, capping a day of speculation about its fate amidst what media labelled a politically-motivated struggle to control one of Slovenia's largest companies. The official reason for the resignation of all but the employees' representative on the board is differences in views on the implementation of the strategy with the supervisory board. Since becoming director general in early 2011, Berločnik has transformed Petrol from a traditional fuel retailer into a well-performing all-round energy group. The government expects a detailed explanation of the move by 4 November.
Erjavec defends presence in Afghanistan, defence spending
BRUSSELS, Belgium/LJUBLJANA - Defence Minister Karl Erjavec stressed the government would continue investing in the Slovenian Armed Forces as he rejected the calls by the opposition Left to withdraw Slovenian soldiers from Afghanistan and cancel the planned purchase of Valuk six-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). Erjavec, speaking on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial in Brussels, said "if everybody started to withdraw, we could expect terrorism to flourish there, and repeated mass violations of human rights and disrespect of international law".
Slovenia signs special operations memorandum with Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Defence Minister Karl Erjavec signed a memorandum to set up regional command for special operations with his counterparts from Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia as part of a NATO ministerial in Brussels. According to Erjavec, Austria also signed the document. Erjavec told the press the initiative was important, because the Western Balkans could face mass migration or other challenges that could pose a threat to the public order, peace and stability.
PM Šarec to visit Hungary on Monday
LJUBLJANA - PM Marjan Šarec will pay his first official visit to Hungary on Monday to discuss with counterpart Viktor Orban bilateral relations, economic cooperation and a number of EU-related topics. He will also meet Speaker Laszlo Köver and the Slovenian ethnic minority living in Hungary. The prime minister's office said the visit would confirm the good neighbourly relations and regular political dialogue between the two countries, both members of the EU and NATO.
Commissioner-to-be Lenarčič quits diplomatic service
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's likely new European Commissioner Janez Lenarčič, who has worked for the Foreign Ministry since 1992, handed in his resignation last week in what seems a move made out of protest against a legal requirement which he belives deters Slovenian diplomats from taking jobs in international institutions. The law says a diplomat who does not return to the ministry after six years of serving in an international organisation and after that does not remain at the ministry for at least half of the duration of their absence, must pay a contractual penalty amounting to 50% of their last basic pay at the ministry. He said his resignation was an act of protest against the neglectful attitude of the ministry toward "diplomats, diplomacy and by that the state", but the ministry said it had launched the procedure to change the foreign affairs act months ago.
Two Slovenian minority officials honoured with state decoration
LJUBLJANA - Rudi Pavšič and Marjan Sturm, the long-serving retired leaders of umbrella minority organisations representing ethnic Slovenians in Italy and Austria, respectively, were honoured with the Medal of Merit for their decades-long efforts to promote minority rights and inter-cultural dialogue. Pavšič, 67, headed the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Union (SKGZ) for 22 years until last March. Sturm, 68, served as head of the Association of Slovenian Organisations (ZSO) for 25 years. In his acceptance speech, Pavšič said the Slovenian minority in Italy now enjoyed a better status than ever before, while Sturm acknowledged his political credo of consensus and dialogue had not always been met with approval, even among the minority, but said that a large majority would follow it.
Horizon Europe presented in Ljubljana
LJUBLJANA - The EU's new programme promoting research and innovation, Horizon Europe, was presented in Ljubljana at an event hosted by the Brussels-based Slovenian Business and Research Association (SBRA) and the Education, Science and Sport Ministry. According to SBRA head Draško Veselinovič, the idea was to provide information on the drawing of EU funds "first hand". With Horizon Europe for the 2021-2027 period, the EU wants to "correct the mistake of the current programme, Horizon 2020", he said. Under the current proposal, almost EUR 100 billion will be available in the next seven years.
Business sentiment deteriorates in October
LJUBLJANA - Business sentiment in Slovenia again deteriorated at monthly level in October, dropping by 0.7 percentage points over September and being by 7.5 points lower year on year, the Statistics Office said. Affecting business sentiment the most at the monthly level was a drop in consumer confidence, while the deterioration at the annual level is mostly attributed to a lower confidence in manufacturing. Slovenia's consumer confidence worsened for the third month running this month to reach a three-year low.
Supervisors get code of conduct to tackle political pressure
LJUBLJANA - A code of conduct advising members of supervisory boards on how to act in case of political pressure has been formed to tackle the issue in wake of a recent staffing pressure scandal. The new protocol provides specific guidelines, aiming to make any kind of pressure on supervisors completely unacceptable. The code of conduct was produced by the Commission for the Corruption of Prevention and the Slovenian Directors' Association after the secretary general of the ruling LMŠ party called the chief supervisor of Official Gazette to allegedly try to secure a top job for a former MEP.
Spreme Court wins Crystal Scales of Justice Prize
OSLO, Norway - The Slovenian Supreme Court received this year's Crystal Scales of Justice Prize, an award given out by the EU Council and the European Commission for innovative and effective judicial practices in the EU. The court received the award at today's ceremony in Norway for its initiative Improving the Quality of Justice, which focusses on further improving judicial skills, know-how exchange, training court personnel and fairness of procedures.
UEFA fines Olimpija for racial abuse
LJUBLJANA - The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has slapped the Slovenian club Olimpija Ljubljana with a EUR 50,000 fine over its fans racially abusing the goalkeeper of the Turkish side Yeni Malatyaspor in a qualifier for the UEFA Europa League in August, the newspaper Delo reported. The Ljubljana club was also ordered to play its next home match in the European competitions in a partially empty Stožice Stadium. According to the sports newspaper EkipaSN, Olimpija has already appealed against the fine.
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