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This summary is provided by the STA:
Debate on Hojs ouster motion split along partisan lines
LJUBLJANA - Debate on the motion to oust Interior Minister Aleš Hojs split along party lines with the centre-left opposition accusing the minister of politicising the police force and being responsible for growing repression and unacceptable rhetoric, as the coalition and its tacit supporters in the opposition joined Hojs in accusing the opposition of hampering the government's effort to fight Covid-19 for their own ends. Hojs denied the charges against him, saying he secured police officers with better work conditions. MPs have 17 hours scheduled for debate, with the vote expected to be in Hojs's favour.
Logar and Blinken discuss Slovenia's Security Council bid
WASHINGTON, US - US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he and Foreign Minister Anže Logar would discuss various topics at today's meeting, including Slovenia's candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2024-2025. Logar added that he was happy the bilateral strategic dialogue was continuing, as he started the visit. Logar said he was happy he was visiting Washington, noting that Slovenia and the US started a strategic dialogue during his visit last year to the US.
Vizjak chairs last Council session under Slovenian presidency
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia's EU presidency outlined progress in the Fit for 55 package at a session of the Environment Council, the last Council session before Slovenia hands the baton over to France. Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak said the meeting highlighted balanced climate ambitions, and cost-effectiveness and fairness of the green transition as key challenges in meeting climate goals. He said Slovenia sought to make as much progress on Fit for 55 as possible and to have a coherent approach to all interwoven and connected dossiers.
Some 7,600 jabbed on first day of nation-wide campaign
LJUBLJANA/MARIBOR - Roughly 7,600 people got their coronavirus jabs on Sunday as the nation-wide campaign kicked off in a bid to ramp up Slovenia's vaccination rate. By far the largest share got booster shots. Visiting a vaccination centre in Maribor, Health Minister Janez Poklukar was happy with the turnout. "Yesterday, 33 times as many Slovenian residents as the Sunday before were vaccinated," he said. Of those, 486 got their first jab, 561 had their second and the rest got boosters.
New daily coronavirus case count down to 585 on Sunday
LJUBLJANA - The number of new coronavirus cases in Slovenia continued to drop with 585 new infections confirmed on Sunday. The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital declined by five to 696 this morning, with the number of ICU patients down by one to 215. Ten patients with Covid-19 died, government data show. The 14-day incidence per 100,000 population declined by 9 to 865 and the 7-day rolling average of new daily cases decreased by 13 to 1,209.
Privacy watchdog launches probe into PM's vaccination letter
LJUBLJANA - The Information Commissioner has launched an investigation against the prime minister's office in regard to the vaccination promotion letters citizens received from Prime Minister Janez Janša. The office will have to explain the way personal data was obtained in order to address the letters and the legal basis used for this. The procedure comes after the data protection watchdog received numerous reports by citizens. The letters were addressed to specific individuals.
Education, attracting new staff main goals of SAF
LJUBLJANA - Maj-Gen Robert Glavaš, the chief of the general staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF), discussed the main future goals with reporters, which include recruiting new, young staff, further developing the system of military education and investing in modernisation of transport vehicles and infrastructure. The main objective is to attract new staff. The long-term plan is to increase SAF numbers from 6,365 to 7,000 permanent members and from 723 to 3,000 contractual reserve troops.
Car chase ends in migrant's death
LJUBLJANA - A car chase ended in a car crash and a death in Ljubljana on Sunday evening as a van transporting six Turkish migrants crashed in the centre of the city, killing one of the passengers. Ljubljana police identified the victim as a 22-year-old Turkish national. Police tried to pull over the van on the A1 motorway near Kozina, but the driver refused to stop and the chase continued on the Ljubljana bypass and Tržaška Street before he crashed into a traffic light. The 18-year-old driver, a Kosovo citizen, was detained along with three fellow Postojna residents who allegedly served as a reconnaissance party.
Cardinal Rode, Bishop Filo and Mufti Grabus to get state decorations
LJUBLJANA - Catholic Cardinal Franc Rode, Evangelical Bishop Geza Filo and Mufti Nedžad Grabus will be honoured with state decorations at a ceremony at the Presidential Ceremony next Tuesday under an order signed by President Borut Pahor. Cardinal Rode, who served as the archbishop of Ljubljana between 1997 and 2004, will be awarded the Golden Order of Merit, while the former leaders of the Evangelical and Lutheran Church and Islamic Community will get the Silver Orders of Merit.
Ecumenical tradition revived in Prekmurje
MURSKA SOBOTA - Catholic Bishop Peter Štumpf, Bishop Leon Novak of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, and Pastor Daniel Grabar of the Evangelical Pentecostal Church revived an ecumenical tradition dating back to the 1920s where leaders of different churches from the north-eastern region Prekmurje take a stroll together. "The fruit of this is still here, Prekmurje is known to be ecumenical and we would like to preserve this tradition, so we revived it in this pre-Christmas time," Novak said.
Pahor and Prince of Monaco support Triglav Glacier project
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor and Prince Albert II of Monaco endorsed in a joint letter the Slovenian Olympic Committee's project termed Mission: Triglav Glacier to Beijing on Saturday. The campaign will see a fraction of ice from the Slovenian Triglav glacier travel to the Beijing Olympics to raise awareness about the consequences of global warming, not only the melting of glaciers but also the disappearance of winter sports and winter Olympics.
SDS remains in lead in Vox Populi poll
LJUBLJANA - The ruling Democrats (SDS) continue to top the party rankings in the latest Vox Populi poll conducted by Ninamedia for the newspapers Večer and Dnevnik. Less than a third of the respondents support the work of the SDS-led government. The rating of the SDS was up by 0.7 percentage points to 17.7%, while the opposition Social Democrats (SD) lost just as much to poll at 13.2% in second. The poll projects 27 MP seats for the SDS and 50 for the KUL coalition of centre-left parties.
Slovenia has problems with transposing EU directives in time
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission published the latest Single Market Scoreboard, which shows the number of violations related to the singe market increased last year. Slovenia has difficulties in transposing directives in a timely manner and, in terms of violations, it fares the worst in the environmental policy and transport. By the cut-off date, Slovenia transposed nine of the 17 single market-related directives. The average delay increased by 1.5 months to 8.9 months.
Debate: Know-how, stability key for industrial development
LJUBLJANA - Trained staff, know-how and stability of the business environment are essential for further development of Slovenia's industry and hence a breakthrough in the country's economy globally speaking, heard the closing event of this year's Industry 4.0 and Robotics Month. Cooperation between the economy and the science sector should be strengthened and investment in research and science stepped up, agreed the participants of the conference.
Luka Koper with ambitious plan for 2022
KOPER - Luka Koper, the company operating the port of Koper, released an optimistic business plan for 2022, with both group net sales revenue and transshipment expected to grow. Given the current global situation and economic forecasts for 2022, the company plans a 9% rise in group net sales revenue to EUR 241.51 million and a rise in all segments of cargo transshipment. Net profit is to increase by 23% EUR 32.09 million, mostly as a result of higher than planned net sales revenue and higher financial revenue.
