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This summary is provided by the STA:
Govt suspends regional approach to restrictions
BRDO PRI KRANJU - The government decided to suspend the current regional approach to coronavirus restrictions and move the entire country into the red tier, meaning that kindergartens and the first three forms of primary school will open across the country next week. So will museums, galleries and libraries, starting on Friday, and ski resorts for skiers testing negative from Saturday. PM Janez Janša said differences between regions had been significant only weeks ago, but now the incidence of new coronavirus cases had converged. Decision on which business to open is yet to be taken.
Coalition to analyse situation, reshuffle possible
BRDO PRI KRANJU - The leaders of three coalition parties stressed their commitment to continue working together as the government faces a vote of no-confidence in parliament. They plan to analyse the situation by 15 February. Asked about the status of Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) MPs following the party's quitting the coalition, PM Janez Janša said the answer was in the vote on the latest stimulus package, which all five DeSUS MPs endorsed. New Slovenia (NSi) leader Matej Tonin said a cabinet reshuffle was possible after the vote of no-confidence.
1,267 coronavirus cases as hospitalisations drop below 1,000
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia reported 1,267 new coronavirus cases from 14,545 tests on Wednesday as the epidemiological situation kept improving. Hospitalisations dropped below 1,000 for the first time since early November. Further 16 Covid-19 patients died, fresh official data show. The number of hospitalised patients dropped by 23 to 989, whereas the total of those requiring intensive care stood at 165, the same as the day before. 67 were admitted to hospital and 74 were discharged home.
Fewer exceptions for entering the country without quarantine, negative test
LJUBLJANA - The government amended the rules for entry into Slovenia on Wednesday to scrap some of the exceptions for entering the country without a quarantine or a negative coronavirus test. The new rules will take effect on Friday, deputy Police Commissioner Tomaž Pečjak explained at today's press conference. They will remain in place until 12 February. The minority in Italy expressed concern over the negative test requirement being imposed on cross-borer workers and students.
Fiscal Council warns more than half of Covid funds for 2021 spent
LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council urged for simple and targetted anti-crisis measures, as it noted that EUR 472 million had already been paid out from the national budget for coronavirus relief measures, which is more than half of the funds reserved for this purpose in 2021. In January, budget revenue amounted to EUR 888 million, which was 1.9% less than in January 2020, while expenditure increased by 48% to EUR 1.322 billion.
FM Logar tells Politico Slovenia to be honest broker during EU presidency
BRUSSELS, Belgium - In an interview with the Brussels-based Politico, Foreign Minister Anže Logar said Slovenia would be an honest broker dealing with all EU issues when it takes the EU presidency on 1 July. He indicated a preference for a peer-review system over Article 7 procedure against member states. "As a presidency country, you should be, in a way, an honest broker that is dealing with all issues that are on the agenda of the European Union," Logar was quoted as telling Politico.
Simplification of election of minority MPs endorsed
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Commission for National Communities endorsed amendments to the general election act that would simplify certain procedures for the election of the two MPs representing the Italian and Hungarian minorities. The current system, which minority MPs Felice Žiža and Ferenc Horvath said was antiquated, would be replaced with a first-past-the-post system, a type of majoritarian system where the candidate with the highest number of votes is elected.
Mitja Slavinec new state secretary at Education Ministry
LJUBLJANA - The government relieved Jure Gašparič of his duties as a state secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and appointed Mitja Slavinec to succeed him. Slavinec, who is taking over on Wednesday, is a doctor of physics. Most recently he has served as the dean of the University of Maribor Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Gašparič last week questioned the delay in the approval of university enrolment places for next academic year.
University reps for prompt approval of enrolment
LJUBLJANA - The chancellors of Slovenian universities urged the government to approve the university enrolment plan for 2021/2022 and then engage in strategic reflection on which studies should be prioritised, as PM Janez Janša hosted a meeting over the matter with higher education and business representatives. The Student Organisation of Slovenia, the SVIZ trade union of teachers and the VSS trade union of higher education opposed the meeting, arguing strategic reflection cannot be done overnight.
Tatjana Mlakar nominated for ZZZS head
LJUBLJANA - The general assembly of the public health insurer ZZZS named Tatjana Mlakar general manager pending clearance from the National Assembly. She was nominated by the ZZZS management board in January following the third call for applications. In her programme Mlakar noted the need to modernise the system to adapt to an ageing population, the development of increasingly expensive technologies and medicines, and reform of health insurance subsystems.
OMV selling off service stations in Slovenia
LJUBLJANA - The Austrian energy group OMV announced it would sell off its 120 petrol stations in Slovenia as part of an ongoing EUR 2 billion divestment programme. In Slovenia, the group operates filling stations under the brands OMV, Eurotruck, Avanti and Diskont. "With its limited integration within the downstream oil value chain, the divestment of this business represents a further step in OMV's portfolio optimization," the group said in a press release.
Novel geothermal project planned in Lendava
LENDAVA/MARIBOR - A pilot project designed to extract geothermal energy from abandoned oil and gas wells start in Lendava, in what is seen as a potential use case for abandoned wells around the world. The project involves sinking a Slovenian-designed geothermal gravitational heat tube into an abandoned well to a depth of about three kilometres to secure sufficient heat energy to produce power.
More households could easily make ends meet in 2020
LJUBLJANA - The share of Slovenian households having no problems making ends meet rose from 18% in 2019 to 21% in 2020. The share of those having a hard time living through the month on their wages remained unchanged at 20%, whereas 31% of the households had "minor problems", data from the Statistics Office show. The rate of serious material deprivation meanwhile rose by 0.4 of a percentage point to 3%, meaning around 61,000 persons lived in materially-deprived households.
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