STA, 9 September 2020 - The UK-based company Ascent Resources has formally begun procedures to start an investor dispute against Slovenia at international arbitration for taking measures to protect its groundwater from fracking, the NGO Friends of the Earth has announced.

On its website, the NGO released a letter addressed to Prime Minister Janez Janša, Foreign Minister Anže Logar and Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak on 23 July by the London law firm Enyo Law, which says it represents Ascent.

In the letter Ascent formally notifies the existence of the dispute, while also expressing willingness for negotiation in "hope that an amicable solution can be found to the present dispute".

The letter alleges actions by Slovenia in breach of its obligations under the UK-Slovenia bilateral investment treaty and the Energy Charter Treaty, which it alleges caused considerable harm to the investors' investments in Slovenia.

They say the investors have invested sums in excess of EUR 50 million in the development of the Petišovci oil and gas field.

Enyo Law alleges that the Environment Agency (ARSO) has missed deadlines in issuing its decision on the application for a screening assessment, and that its decision that an environmental impact assessment was required was at odds with with opinions issued by other Slovenian government authorities and institutions.

"The ARSO decision was not based on the recommendations of Slovenia's own experts and, furthermore, it contradicted the opinions they gave. It is therefore manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable," reads the letter.

The law firm also says that while the procedure at ARSO was ongoing, the Slovenian minister of the environment and spatial planning repeatedly made public statements portraying Ascent and the Petišovci project in a negative light, and that leaks were made by ARSO to the press.

The letter says that this "further demonstrates that ARSO was biased against the investor and that the ARSO decision was politically motivated".

With the letter, investors formally consent to submit their investment dispute with Slovenia to international arbitration, which is considered a formal notification of the existence of the dispute.

"We sincerely hope that an amicable solution can be found to the present dispute, and will welcome any constructive proposals you may have," reads the letter, adding that Ascent is "ready to engage at a senior level" with the Slovenian government.

Friends of the Earth note that several EU countries have banned or introduced moratoria on fracking, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia, and Sweden.

ARSO issued a decision in March that an environmental impact assessment is needed before a permit can be issued for extraction of gas in Petišovci in the north-east of the country by re-stimulating two currently producing wells as planned by Ascent Resources and its Slovenian partner Geoenergo. The decision was upheld by the Administrative Court in June this year.

In 2018 the then Environment Minister Jure Leben ordered internal oversight at ARSO, which found pressure and threats had been exerted on the agency's work and that its independence had been undermined. The findings cost the then director of ARSO Joško Knez his job.

Incumbent Minister Andrej Vizjak has also said that he is not in favour of fracking.

All out reports on Ascent Resources in Slovenia

STA, 9 September 2020 - Slovenia has lost another case targeting its neighbour as the General Court of the EU dismissed its appeal to annul the European Commission's delegated regulation that allows Croatian wine producers to use Teran, the name of a red wine protected by Slovenia, on their wine labels. The decision was met with frustration and blame game at home.

Under the derogation granted to Croatia in 2017, the designation Teran may be used to refer to a wine grape variety on the labels of wines produced in Croatia, but only for the designation of origin Hrvatska Istra and on condition that Hrvatska Istra and Teran appear in the same visual field and that the font size of the name Teran is smaller than that of the words Hrvatska Istra.

Slovenia had Teran, a red wine traditionally produced from the Refosk grape grown in the region of Kras, recognised as a protected designation of origin (PDO) in 2006.

In challenging the regulation, Slovenia raised its retroactive effect, alleging infringement of the second subparagraph of Article 100 (3) of Regulation No 1308/2013, which is the legal basis of the contested regulation, and infringement of the principles of legal certainty and the protection of legitimate expectations.

The third paragraph of Article 100 reads: "Where the name of a wine grape variety contains or consists of a protected designation of origin or a protected geographical indication, that name shall not be used for the purposes of labelling agricultural products."

The second subparagraph says: "In order to take into account existing labelling practices, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 227 laying down exceptions from that rule."

The court found that the Commission had indeed applied the subparagraph concerned retroactively - it took effect on 1 January 2014 - but said the regulation pursued an objective in the public interest, which made it necessary for it to be given retroactive effect.

It said the objective pursued by the contested regulation was "to protect legal labelling practices existing in Croatia on 30 June 2013" when the country joined the EU, and "resolve the conflict between those practices and the protection of the Slovenian PDO Teran".

The court also held that Slovenia failed to prove the Commission failed to have regard to the principles of legal certainty, the respect for acquired rights and the protection of legitimate expectations by giving retroactive effect to the contested regulation.

The court fully upheld the Commission's arguments that Teran was also a grape variety in Croatia so the exception was possible under EU rules to use the name without affecting Slovenian Teran wine producers, who preserve exclusive PDO rights.

The row over Teran goes back to spring 2013 when Slovenia removed Croatian wine carrying Teran labels from its store shelves. Croatia protested, calling for a joint cross-border protection of Teran, which Slovenia said was not possible because of different agroclimatic conditions in which the grapes are grown and wine produced.

Despite the ruling, the row may not be over yet, as General Court judgements may be appealed at the Court of Justice of the EU. Slovenia has two months to appeal, but it is not clear yet whether it will, with those responsible saying they would first need to examine the judgement before deciding on further steps.

Wine growers from Kras who produce Teran believe the government should appeal and will seek a meeting with PM Janez Janša to explain to him how they are affected by the judgement.

Agriculture Minister Aleksandra Pivec said the judgement would cause damage to Slovenian Teran producers with concerns that Croatian Teran could flood the Slovenian market, but also said the judgement needed to be respected.

Slovenian officials were quick to engage in a blame gave over who is responsible for the outcome, the second such after Slovenia lost its case against Croatia over its failure to implement the border arbitration award.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar criticised the Slovenian diplomatic service for "falling asleep", failing to react promptly on time in the preliminary procedure.

Announcing a debate in parliament on the matter and an examination of all activities pertaining to it, Logar raised the issue of "responsibility of those who opted for the legal action we lost".

"Let's remember another suit that we've lost. Lost suits certainly do not testify to active and confident foreign policy action that would improve the position, influence and reputation of foreign policy, rather the opposite," he said.

However, Dejan Židan, who served as agriculture minister at the time of crucial developments between 2010 and 2018, and who championed the idea to challenge the derogation in court, dismissed the allegation against him saying he was "proud" of action to protect Teran.

Returning the ball to the incumbent government, the Social Democrat said the government of the time had little chance to communicate within the European People's Party that key decision-makers came from, asserting that had Germany or Italy been in Slovenia's place the Commission "would never have adopted such a delegated regulation".

Similar frustration was expressed by Teran growers and experts involved in the case, who argued that Slovenia's arguments were sound, but the problem was politics and a lack of unity in Slovenia.

Regretting the development, parliamentary parties argued that experts should decide whether Slovenia should appeal against the General Court's decision. Many were critical of Židan, as well as a lack of unity among Slovenian political representatives.

Meanwhile, the Commission responded by saying that both Slovenian and Croatian wine producers can continue producing and selling their wines.

"The delegated regulation allows Croatian wine producers that had traditionally produced wine with Teran grape variety to continue labelling the wine with this name. However, it also introduces three conditions restricting the scope of the derogation and avoiding any sort of confusion between this wine and the Slovenian PDO wine Teran, reads a release from the Commission.

STA, 8 September 2020 - The EU Commission has given a go-ahead for an investment worth EUR 80 million out of the cohesion fund to co-finance the new rail section from Divača to Koper, said the Commission on Tuesday. The funds will be spent on building a tunnel and two viaducts on the track, which is to improve rail interconnection.

The project would not only boost rail links in Slovenia but also support the internal market by strengthening economic and social cohesion, said European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira as quoted in a press release.

"The new section is vital for managing the growing demand along the track and for linking the key corridor in the core network and maritime routes," said Brussels.

Ferreira pointed out that the EU's investment was necessary for strengthening rail links between Central Europe and port operator Luka Koper, with the latter being an important nexus of cargo and passenger traffic.

By switching from roads to railways, the project will moreover help reduce emissions and improve air quality in line with the Green Deal targets, which are also pursued by cohesion policy, said the Commission.

The price tag of the entire Divača-Koper project, the biggest publicly-financed construction project currently under way in Slovenia, is estimated at EUR 1.194 billion.

The investment will be financed from various sources, with Slovenia expected to invest the biggest share. The amount of state funding will depend on potential cooperation with another EU country along the corridor.

The project will be moreover funded by EU grants, loans by international financial institutions, commercial banks and SID Bank, the state-run export and development bank.

The National Review Commission has recently shortened the list of suitable bidders for the principal construction works on the rail section. While some bidders will reportedly be asked to supplement their bids, one bidder each from Slovenia, Turkey, China and Austria remain in play.

More details on the state of the project will be presented at a press conference of Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec scheduled for tomorrow.

STA, 8 September 2020 - Gorenje Group generated a net loss of EUR 55.2 million last year, down from 2018's EUR 111.2 million. One-off events excluded, the group's loss amounted to EUR 37.3 million. Revenue meanwhile rose by 4% to EUR 1.23 billion, shows the group's annual report published on the website of the AJPES agency.

Profit before tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 4.4% to EUR 28.3 million, while operating loss rose from 28.2 million in 2018 to EUR 44.6 million.

The group said the loss was largely a result of poor performance in the first quarter of 2019, when the volume of sales was rather low.

Following a number of measures to avert the trend, business improved, with a pronounced upward trend recorded in the second half of the year, which was however not enough to offset the early poor start.

The group generated almost 57% of revenue in eastern Europe, about a third in western Europe and the rest around the globe.

The group's home appliances unit increased its revenue by 6.6% to EUR 1.15 billion, posting the biggest rise (+11%) in east European markets.

It had an average 10,661 employees last year, or 437 fewer than in 2018, mostly because of sale of four non-core companies.

The parent company Gorenje meanwhile generated EUR 836.6 million in sales revenue, up 2.1% from 2018, posting a net loss of 59.6 million, down from EUR 126.8 million.

The group continued integration into China's Hisense Group last year, transforming from a publicly listed company into a limited company.

To improve efficiency, reorganisation of business processes at the level of the entire Gorenje group was launched after the group was bought by Hisense in 2018.

Gorenje announced a new investment cycle for this year to develop new products and modernise production in a bid to offer new and competitive products.

This should bring about growth in sales and revenue, so Gorenje Group expects to finish 2020 with a profit.

STA, 7 September 2020 - Slovenia has for years now been witnessing a rise of precarious forms of labour, which mostly exclude the right to paid sick leave, holiday, lunch and transport allowances. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made the situation worse and while NGOs, calling for systemic changes, are pessimistic, the Labour Ministry is planning some steps in the autumn.

Absent a formal definition of precarious work in Slovenia, estimates of the number of precarious workers vary. The Statistics Office, counting student workers, agency workers, those working short-time involuntarily, and the self-employed working for a single employer, put the figure at 39,000 in the first quarter this year.

The Movement for Dignified Work and Welfare Society estimates the figure much higher, at between 200,000 and 250,000, as it also factors in those on fixed-term contracts and the self-employed who work for several clients but are exposed to competition.

Speaking with the STA, Mirsad Begić of the ZSSS trade union confederation pointed the finger at state institutions and employers as regards the absence of a single definition, while he also took issue with the distinguishing between legal and illegal precarious labour arrangements.

He argued this took normal labour arrangements out of the picture and suggested precarious work was only about exploitation that is illegal. "Such a rendering of the concept is misleading, since people are often excessively exploited even in entirely legal forms of work."

Borut Brezar in Hana Radilovič of the the Movement for Dignified Work and Welfare Society moreover warned that the coronavirus crisis further aggravated the status of precarious workers, who often live below the poverty line.

A study conducted recently among the self-employed showed a third were feeling depressed while 14% even had suicidal thoughts after starting the path of self-employment.

Aid provided to the self-employed during the epidemic amounted to EUR 350 in basic income in March and EUR 700 each in April and May along with covered social contributions.

While calling for systemic measures, the union and movement are pessimistic as regards promises of political action. "It seems that it still holds in politics that changes are avoided by forming a taskforce," said Brezar and Radilovič, pointing out this had also happened without any results under the past two governments.

The movement is proposing a minimum hourly wage for precarious work forms and paid sick-leave for the self-employed, while it also promotes changes to public procurement rules, which often prioritise cheap bidders that exploit workers.

Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Minister Janez Cigler Kralj told the STA he was aware of the negative impact of precarious work at the micro and macro levels.

"At the micro level we speak of negative effects in terms of the absence of minimal legal, economic and social security. At the macro level, it is the existence and maintenance of social security systems and tax policy that are affected," he said.

Calling for measures based on in-depth studies, he said he was looking forward to the results of a multidisciplinary analysis of precarious work, which will be presented in the autumn. "If needed, we will propose measures on the basis of this," he announced.

One perceived issue is the absence of collective organisation among precarious workers. Begić pointed out that a Trade Union of Precarious Workers had been formed almost four years ago but had so far failed to win proper recognition.

"There have been no tangible results due to the difficult situation of those affected, the tough conditions for unions in general and scarce resources," he said.

STA, 7 September 2020 - Ikea is looking for more than 300 staff for its first Slovenia store, due to open in Ljubljana later this year. Candidates for various positions in sales, logistics, customer relations and customer support, restaurants and other departments can apply for a job by the end of September.

According to the representatives of the Swedish furniture retailer, they began the process of mass employment in Slovenia today. All vacancies will be open until the end of September, followed by interviews and evaluations of registered candidates in October.

"We are pleased to be able to offer unlimited opportunities in a global company to candidates who are interested in working with us," said Cas Lachaert, market manager at Ikea Slovenia. They are looking for employees from a wide variety of backgrounds, while preferring those who believe in the company's values.

In the spring, when the Ljubljana unit hired about 20 staff, Ikea received about 200 applications for each job advertised.

The store is being built in the BTC City shopping district in Ljubljana. When the foundation stone was laid in October last year, it was announced the store would be built within a year. It will cover more than 31,000 square meters and offer almost 10,000 products.

Details of the open jobs at Ikea in Ljubljana

STA, 4 September 2020 - Builder Kolektor Koling signed the latest in a series of high-value construction contract in Croatia on Friday, this time for a EUR 35 million reconstruction of transport surfaces and rails at the port of Rijeka.

The work on the project, 85% of which is financed through the EU's Connecting Europe Facility fund, will start in December, Kolektor said.

The Slovenian builder will renovate over 110,000 square metres of surfaces, 1,625 metres of crane tracks and over 12 kilometres of rail tracks along with several other essential infrastructure segments at the port.

Kolektor Koling said this was already the second major project agreed in Rijeka in the recent three months, while the company's director spoke of over EUR 200 million worth of construction work secured in Croatia in the recent period.

Kolektor is presently building the main road section between Škurin and the Rijeka port estimated at EUR 75 million, as well as a wastewater collection, disposal and treatment system on the island of Krk estimated at over EUR 44 million.

Other ongoing projects include the development of multimodal platforms at the Rijeka port in conjunction with the Jadranska Vrata terminal worth EUR 37 million, and water supply reconstruction for the city of Petrinja, estimated at EUR 35 million, Kolektor Koling said.

STA, 31 August 2020 - Comtrade CDS, the largest Slovenian IT company in terms of workforce size, has been acquired by the British IT company Endava in a deal worth EUR 60 million, the business newspaper Finance reported on Monday.

According to Finance, Comtrade CDS was recently spun off from the Slovenian arm of the Serbian Comtrade group, and consists of the divisions for digital services and system integration, which together accounted for almost two thirds of Comtrade's EUR 70.5 million in revenue last year.

The roots of the Slovenian Comtrade arm go back to the former Ljubljana IT company Hermes SoftLab, which was bought by Serbian entrepreneur Veselin Jevrosimović in 2008 for roughly half of what was paid now by Endava.

The Endava deal involves a company with employees with offices in Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the headquarters in Dublin. The Slovenian part of the Comtrade group had a workforce of 672 people last year and its core company 498, which makes it the largest Slovenian IT company in this respect.

Finance quotes Comtrade CEO Alexis Lope-Bello as describing Endava as the right partner that will nurture and develop CDS in ways Comtrade was not able to.

London-based Endava was registered in 2000 and primarily focuses on IT services for telecommunication, financial institutions, logistics, healthcare and the public sector. Employing almost 6,500 people, it generated EUR 386 million in sales revenue in the 12 months running up to March this year.

STA, 2 September 2020 - The Finance Ministry has proposed a raising of excise duties that entails a 4.8% increase in the average price of a pack of cigarettes in October. The prices of other tobacco products will also go up, while heat-not-burn products and electronic cigarettes will not be affected. The rise is expected to bring in an additional EUR 18 million a year.

In line with the proposal, to be discussed by the government at one of its forthcoming sessions, excise duty per 1,000 cigarettes will increase from 114 to 120 euros.

The rise, expected to take effect on 1 October, will also affect cigarettes, cigarillos, fine-cut tobacco and other types of smoking tobacco. The duties for heat-not-burn tobacco and electronic cigarette will not change.

Excise duties for tobacco products last increased in June 2019.

STA, 31 August 2020 - Slovenia's economy has been hammered hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdown with fresh data from the Statistics Office showing the country's output contracted by 13% in real terms in the second quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago. The second straight quarter of negative growth puts Slovenia in a technical recession.

Seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 9.6% compared with the first quarter, and by 12.9% year-on-year. This means that the country's economy shrunk at an annual rate of 7.9% in the first half of the year.

Revised data from the Statistics Office show the seasonally-adjusted annual rate of decline in the first quarter, at the end of which Slovenia declared the epidemic and put public life on hold, was 3.7%, which compares to an earlier estimate of 3.4%.

The year-on-year contraction posted by Slovenia in the second quarter is somewhat lesser than the average for the eurozone and the EU running at -15.0% and -14.1%, respectively.

Fresh statistics show the country's shutdown imposed in mid-March had the biggest impact on domestic consumption, which slumped by 12% due to a 11.8% drop in final consumption expenditure and a 12.8% fall in gross capital formation.

Household final consumption expenditure slumped by 16.6%, of which 21.2% on the domestic market, with the highest decrease seen in consumption of fuels and services.

Gross fixed capital formation declined by 16.7% as construction investment decreased by 14.1% and investment in machinery and equipment slumped by 26.2%.

Due to a slump in external demand, exports fell by 24.5% compared with the second quarter of 2019; exports of goods decreased by 21.9% and exports of services fell by 35%.

Imports declined by 25%. Like in the case of exports, the slump in services was mainly observed in the travel industry.

The value added also declined, in particular in the hospitality sector, but the biggest negative impact was from manufacturing, said Romana Korenič from the Statistics Office.

Employment also fell in the second quarter, with the total of those in employment falling by 2% year-on-year to 1,023,200. Hit hardest were administrative and support services, manufacturing, and accommodation and food service activities.

On the upside, the situation started to improve in swathes of the economy the third quarter of the year, judging by macroeconomic data and survey among businesses and consumers.

Considering forecasts by domestic and international institutions, Slovenia's economy is not expected to contract by more than 8% this year, provided there are no new major shocks.

Signs of improvement were also noted by the Slovenian central bank in its response to the contraction in the output in the second quarter, which it said had been expectedly strong.

It said available data such as electricity consumption, tax revenue, the purchasing managers' index or business confidence suggest a considerable economic recovery in the summer.

As the coronavirus crisis set in, the central bank forecast a contraction of between 6% and 16% for the year depending on which of the three scenarios it had proposed would unfold.

"The current situation in the economy indicates the fall in the economic growth this year will be closer to the less adverse scenario, that is in accordance with our central forecast (of -6.5%)," said Banka Slovenije.

However, the central bank also noted that the situation is uncertain and that the recovery will largely depend on the development of the coronavirus pandemic and on how countries respond to a potential major outbreak.

"Due to the uncertainty, companies will keep postponing investment and households will remain cautiously frugal," a release from Banka Slovenije reads.

Similarly, IMAD, the government macroeconomic think-tank whose forecasts serve as a basis for state budgeting, said the contraction was within its expectations, with an improvement expected in the third quarter.

Noting that business sentiment and consumer confidence have been picking up since May, IMAD said they were still below the levels seen prior to the global coronavirus outbreak.

"In the third quarter we can expect a quarterly improvement or a lesser year-on-year decline in economic activity. With the presence of the virus and a new increase in infections in recent weeks, the situation remains uncertain, thus further fluctuation in economic activity is expected," commented IMAD director Maja Bednaš.

More data on this can be found on SURS