FRIDAY, 18 June
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor said in an interview with the STA that he believed Slovenians could be proud of what the country had achieved in the last 30 years. He acknowledged there is a rift in society now but not as deep as some made it out to be. He warned that an election as such will not necessarily result in change, even if there is a change in government.
PARIS, France - Slovenia's EU presidency priorities and the shared interests of both countries in the EU topped the agenda as Foreign Minister Anže Logar held talks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. Logar highlighted the Conference on the Future of Europe as a shared interest of the successive EU presidencies.
LJUBLJANA - The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) sees Slovenia's losing five spots in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking as a serious warning, pointing to a shortage of IT apprentices or qualified foreign experts at companies.
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted changes to the communicable diseases act after the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional parts of it and thus measures introduced during the epidemic.
MARIBOR - Police said four suspects had been remanded in custody following a series of police raids earlier this week in connection to illegal dumping of nearly 200 tonnes of sewage sludge in a village south of Maribor, as new dumpsites were discovered around Slovenia. Six suspects and two legal entities face criminal charges.
LJUBLJANA - Bankarium, a museum of Slovenian banking managed by the NLB Group, opened in Ljubljana to give visitors an insight into the history of Slovenian banking, experience banking practice and broaden their financial knowledge.
SATURDAY, 19 June
LJUBLJANA - PM Janez Janša told the Indian news channel Wion the EU had not done enough to limit the growing threat from China, arguing it had put its economic interests before its values. He welcomed the conclusions on China adopted at the recent G7 summit and the recent NATO summit, saying "the freedom loving countries have started taking China seriously for the first time in all of its dimensions". He also said China was a bigger challenge than Russia.
SLOVENSKE KONJICE - Janez Janša won his ninth term at the helm of the Democratic Party (SDS) at a party congress to lead the party uninterruptedly since 1993. He was endorsed by 650 of the 656 delegates as the only candidate for the post. Addressing the delegates, he said the SDS is the only party founded before Slovenia's independence that is still in one piece, still in parliament and still a political force with the largest voter support.
LJUBLJANA - The Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) elected Ljubo Jasnič, a former secretary general of the party, the new party leader at a congress. He received 54 out of 117 votes. Addressing the delegates, he said everything would be done for DeSUS to enter parliament again at the next election.
STRASBOURG, France - Foreign Ministry State Secretary Gašper Dovžan took part in the first plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe. In his video address he called for continuation of EU integration and boosting the bloc's resilience.
LJUBLJANA - Rating agency Fitch affirmed Slovenia's credit rating at A with a stable outlook, the Finance Ministry said, adding that this showed the agency acknowledged Slovenia's strong institutional structure, focus on human development and a credible policy framework supported by EU membership.
LJUBLJANA - The Pride Parade was held under the slogan Resist the Oppression as a culmination of a week-long festival, the first time accompanied by the Balkan Trans Intersex March, which pointed to issues faced by members of the transgender, intersex and non-normative sexuality communities.
SUNDAY, 20 June
LJUBLJANA - The STA celebrated its 30th anniversary with a ceremony in front of its headquarters in Ljubljana amid a rather uncertain financial situation to mark 20 June in 1991, when it published its first news article, just a few days before the declaration of Slovenia's independence.
PORTOROŽ - Organised by the University of Primorska, the 8th European Congress of Mathematics started to bring together more than 1,700 mathematicians from across the globe in a hybrid format. One of the world's major events of its kind id due to close on 26 June.
MONDAY, 21 June
LJUBLJANA - PM Janez Janša described arguments about political unity over Slovenia's independence 30 years ago as a "bad myth" in an interview with public broadcaster TV Slovenija ahead of the 30th anniversary of independence, but acknowledged the people's unity as the key factor to the step. Listing Slovenia's key achievements over the past 30 years, he noted Slovenia's being recognised as the world's 5th safest country, as well as becoming part of the EU, NATO, Schengen etc.
LJUBLJANA - The leaders of the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Social Democrats (SD), Left and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) were critical of the current government in an interview with TV Slovenija, regretting that Slovenia is so divided as the 30th anniversary of independence approaches.
LJUBLJANA - The Defence Ministry presented a long-term programme for the Slovenian Armed Forces that envisages a different structure, organisation and equipping, an overhaul of the system of military education and training and a financial framework for realising these plans. The number of soldiers is to gradually rise to 10,000 by 2035.
NEW YORK, US - Boštjan Malovrh, until now Slovenia's deputy ambassador to China, succeeded Darja Bavdaž Kuret as Slovenia's Ambassador at the UN.
LISBON, Portugal - Janez Cigler Kralj, Slovenia's minister of social affairs and equal opportunities, signed the Lisbon declaration on the European platform on combatting homelessness, as he attended a high-level conference on homelessness organised by Portugal's EU presidency and the European Commission.
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary EU Affairs Committee hosted a debate on the future of governance in the EU as part of the Conference on the Future of Europe, with jurists floating an idea to found a European institute of constitutional democracy. Jurist Peter Jambrek said it would focus on fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.
LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court said it ruled that turning down a foreigner's application for a residence permit in the country of residence of their close relatives could interfere with the person's right to family life even when that person committed a crime. The court adopted the position in granting an appeal by a woman whose application for her husband to be granted an extension of the residence permit was rejected.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia introduced an option for residents to choose with which vaccine they would like to be vaccinated against Covid, while the government adopted a set of measures to scale up vaccination by making it more accessible. It tasked the Health Ministry with organising a large number of mobile vaccination units, which were launched in Ljubljana on 23 June.
STRASBOURG, France - The Slovenian women's basketball team was knocked out of the 2021 EuroBasket Women with a defeat against Russia (93:75) in the quarter-finals qualification.
TUESDAY, 22 June
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenian FM Anže Logar told the Euractiv news portal in an interview that the EU should move "as soon as possible" from a wait-and-see approach to a problem-solving strategy in dealing with the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans.
LJUBLJANA - Wolfgang Sobotka, the speaker of the Austrian parliament, paid an official visit to Slovenia to meet his counterpart Igor Zorčič, PM Janez Janša and President Borut Pahor. The focus of the talks was on the EU and its enlargement to the Western Balkans, and bilateral relations, including minority issues.
LJUBLJANA - First Vice-President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola met representatives of both houses of Slovenia's parliament to discuss the parliamentary aspect of Slovenia's EU presidency. She said the priorities of the Slovenian presidency were similar to the priorities of the European Parliament.
MUNICH, Germany - Foreign Minister Anže Logar met Bavarian State Minister for European and International Affairs Melanie Huml in Munich for discussions that focused on the efforts to deepen political and trade relations between Bavaria and Slovenia and the challenges of the Slovenian EU presidency. The ministers also attended the closing part of the 32nd session of the standing bilateral Bavaria-Slovenia commission, which agreed a number of cooperation projects.
LISBON, Portugal - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs took part in a meeting of EU and US ministers in charge of justice and home affairs which discussed cooperation in the combat against terrorism and cybercrime, as well as migration, among other issues.
LJUBLJANA - Ljubljana Archbishop Stanislav Zore looked back upon the path walked since Slovenia declared independence 30 years ago, finding the nation had largely attained its goals, as he celebrated Mass for the Homeland, which was also attended by Slovenia's senior officials.
LJUBLJANA - The Strategic Council for Digitalisation presented the first package of measures promoting digitalisation, which the government endorsed at its last week's session. The council, set up in April, included solutions for the digitalisation of public administration, healthcare, education and business.
LJUBLJANA - State-owned power group HSE posted a net loss of EUR 184.1 million in 2020 after reporting EUR 29.7 million in net profit in 2019. The Šoštanj coal-fired power plant (TEŠ) alone generated EUR 280.4 million in net loss. Meanwhile, the group's sales revenue was record high, at EUR 1.8 billion.
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Journalist Association (DNS) launched a platform for reporting attacks on journalists that will keep track and monitor such attacks as well as raise awareness about the issue.
LJUBLJANA - The latest measurements of school children's fitness show the Covid epidemic has severely impaired their physical efficiency, making 10% addicted to digital devices, and increasing the share of overweight kids by 30%. Revealing the results, experts from the Ljubljana Faculty of Sport proposed several measures to address the issues, such as no more school closures, no homework, and subsidies for sport activity for low-income children.
WEDNESDAY, 23 June
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia issued its first sustainability bond to finance exclusively sustainable projects. Demand for the EUR 1 billion bond with a 10-year maturity date outstripped supply by far. Since Slovenia issued the green bond as the first Central or East European country and as the second EU member state, the Finance Ministry labelled the transaction a milestone.
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor decorated the STA with the Order of Merit in recognition of its "irreplaceable mission" in the media space for the past 30 years and its vital role in the period when Slovenia was gaining independence. He also decorated the Koper bureau of public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and the Slovenian bureau of Italian public broadcaster RAI.
ROME, Italy - Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek signed a letter of intent on cooperation in spacial activities for peaceful purposes with the Italian Space Agency as part of a two-day visit to Italy. He also met Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti with the pair calling for boosting economic cooperation.
NOVA GORICA/GORIZIA, Italy - Senior officials from Slovenia and Italy marked the 30th anniversary of Slovenia's independence in Europe Square, which links the city of Nova Gorica with its Italian counterpart Gorizia in what President Borut Pahor hailed as an "unprecedented" occasion.
LJUBLJANA - Susan K. Falatko, the chargé d'affaires at the US Embassy in Slovenia, told the STA that the embassy is closely monitoring the debate about the financing of the STA, whose importance should not be underestimated. She said the US is looking forward to cooperating with the Slovenian EU presidency, as many of the priorities of the presidency corresponded to those of the US, one of the being the Western Balkans.
LJUBLJANA - The Kresnik Prize for best novel of the year went to Borut Kraševec for his debut novel Agni, which the jury praised as challenging the reader's fixed perceptions about the novel as the genre as well as about life in general as it fuses various voices.
LJUBLJANA - The CIVICUS international alliance of NGOs placed Slovenia on its list of countries to be monitored for a decline in fundamental civil liberties, which draws attention to countries where there is a serious and rapid decline in respect for civic space.
KOPER - A 100-metre extension to Quay I of the container terminal at the Koper port was inaugurated in what the port operator's CEO Dimitrij Zadel said was a key strategic project that would allow Slovenia's sole maritime port to preserve its leadership in container transshipment in the North Adriatic.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's insurance industry saw a decline in combined profit last year despite an increase in gross written premium. Business was affected by low interest rates and the financial crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, Gorazd Čibej, director of the Agency for Insurance Supervision, said.
SOLKAN - A 13-year-old boy drowned in the river Soča on the kayak route near Solkan, in what is the second teenage death in this area in less than a year. A tree branch apparently caught his life jacker, pushing him into the water and under a rock.
LJUBLJANA - An exhibition entitled Impressions 30 opened at the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, presenting personal memories of Slovenians around the world from 30 years ago when Slovenia became independent, along with additional material published by Slovenians abroad.
THURSDAY, 24 June
LJUBLJANA - Portugal will hand to Slovenia as the next EU presiding country many dossiers, including the endorsement of national recovery and resilience plans and EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, Portuguese FM Augusto Santos Silva said after meeting his counterpart Anže Logar. He said he was confident that Slovenia's presidency could make a breakthrough in relation to accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. "I believe this will be a major achievement of the Slovenian presidency."
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenian PM Janez Janša is among the EU leaders attending a summit in Brussels dedicated to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, post-pandemic economic recovery, migrations, and relations with Russia and Turkey. Janša did not make a doorstep statement or take questions from reporters on arrival.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia test-introduced the European digital Covid certificate, while the system will be fully up and running next week, Health Minister Janez Poklukar told the press. For registered uses with digital identity, the certificate became available on the zVem portal this evening.
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a spending ceiling for the coming two years, capping expenditure at EUR 13.30 billion in 2022 and at EUR 13.05 billion in 2023. The cap on outlays for 2022 was raised by EUR 701.5 million, while for 2023, the outlays are planned to drop by EUR 255.2 million compared to 2022.
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted the annual investment plan for the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) worth around EUR 73,4 million, which will enable the Defence Ministry to conclude contracts on investments to build an infantry battalion group and a special operations unit, as well as buy a transport plane and light 4X4 armoured vehicles.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders reiterated his concerns over the fact that Slovenia has still not appointed its European delegated prosecutors. He contacted Slovenian Justice Minister Marjan Dikaučič today to voice his concerns and request explanations for the situation.
LJUBLJANA - The centre-left opposition called for Slovenia's top officials to protest against Hungary's controversial new anti-LGBTQ law, voicing disappointment over Slovenia's failure to join the 16 EU countries that expressed their concern over the law in a joint statement.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's business sentiment improved for the 7th straight month in June. The indicator is now at 8 percentage points, up 2.2 points from May and up 31.2 points year-on-year, the Statistics Office reported.
