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STA, 10 April 2021 - The government has expanded the list of exceptions for entry in Slovenia without quarantine or the need to produce a negative PCR test, to include accredited journalists and persons who enter the country for emergency reasons. Coronavirus tests performed in the US and UK have meanwhile been added to the list of valid tests at border crossings.

Under the new decree adopted late on Friday, added to the lists of exceptions are accredited journalists on an official trip abroad and persons coming to Slovenia to take measures relating to elimination of health, life or property risks or material damage, and who are returning home within 12 hours.

Moreover, work migrants and persons posted to perform cross-border services will no longer be ordered to quarantine if they produce a negative PCR or rapid antigen test not older than seven days under the condition that they return to Slovenia within five days. So far, this applied only to daily work migrants.

In addition to PCR tests or certificates confirming that a person has recovered from Covid-19 performed or issued in the EU member states or the Schengen Area, those performed or issued in the US and UK will also be valid for entry to Slovenia.

There are also some changes related to red-listed countries, as the entire Austria is now in the red, as well as Denmark. All administrative units of Spain are also in the red except for Extremadura, Galicia, Balearic Islands, Murcia and Valencia.

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 9 April 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Mantra about society being polarised is plain lie

STA, 9 April 2021 - Mladina says in its latest editorial that leading politicians talking about the nation being divided and society being polarised is a "plain lie" and that its purpose is to create a false narrative about the support for the current government coalition.

The left-leaning weekly adds that this is confirmed neither by election results nor public opinion polls conducted since 2008, saying that "Slovenia is not politically divided into two equal parts" as this is a "plain populist lie."

Appearances and statements by governing politicians clearly show how important it is for them to repeat the theory that society is divided and polarised - this way they show that the public support they receive themselves is much higher than the actual support for their parties and policies.

"In all elections since 2004 ... a majority has been won by parties that declared themselves as clear opponents of the Democrats (SDS)," Mladina adds under the headline A Simple, but Big Lie.

The same is being confirmed by public opinion polls: the SDS and its satellites never get more than a third of overall support, and parties that break their promise of not cooperating with the SDS practically always lose public support immediately.

As for government support, the situation is similar - at this point Slovenia is not polarised, but it could be said that it is almost united: a vast majority is against the government led by Janez Janša and his SDS party.

"What polarisation is President Borut Pahor, an open supporter of the SDS, talking about then when he says that society is divided and polarised?" Mladina wonders, adding that by doing that, Pahor is fictitiously inflating public support for Janša and his government.

Of course, Janša is the one who talks the most about society being divided and polarised, but this theory is also repeated by all members of the government and Janša's satellites, as well as analysts who make public appearances as allegedly unbiased observers.

This is simply a lie as the "public has not been as politically unified as today for quite a while - since 2014. It is united in the conviction that it does not support these arrogant and autocratic authorities or government."

Demokracija: Fact checking to defeat media lies

STA, 8 April 2021 - Demokracija says in its latest commentary that opinions about the state of freedom of the press in Slovenia should be based on checkable facts and adds that people are getting aware that what they used to consider as mainstream, credible and influential media are not that anymore.

The right-wing weekly notes that in the State Department report about the media in Slovenia, the "only opinion by the Americans of their own is that the [Janez] Janša government respects media freedom and that there are no political pressures."

It adds that truth is a very practical challenge: it is based on checkable facts, and facts are undoubtedly on the side of the government, with two things being encouraging.

The first is that the government does not want to be likeable to the mainstream media and be apologetic when it is criticised or accused of something. "Naive people who would let the media guide them like controlled idiots no longer sit in the government palace."

Demokracija adds that the illusion that the established (progressive) media have influence on political decision has been lost with the third government of Janez Janša, which is a huge blow for their egos, as they imagined that they would be running the country regardless of who is in power.

"The second thing that is encouraging is that people are getting gradually aware that those what they used to consider as 'mainstream', 'credible' and 'influential' media are not any of that anymore."

They used to power the "motor of the Slovenian version of the lying cultural Marxism" with hatred towards Janša, the weekly says, expressing the hope that such media subversion is ending.

"Facts can now be checked on the internet, and fact-checking is the best way for truth to defeat lies," concludes the commentary headlined What Gender the Martians Are?

All our posts in this series are here

What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.

If you’d like to keep up on the daily headlines then follow those here, or get all our stories in your feed on Facebook.

FRIDAY, 2 April
        LJUBLJANA - Four centre-left opposition parties tabled a motion asking the National Assembly to impeach Prime Minister Janez Janša before the Constitutional Court. They accused him of violating several articles of the Constitution and laws, pertaining to healthcare, the media, prosecution, and human and constitutional rights.
        BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia will get its pro rata share from a package of 10 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine whose delivery has been pushed forward from the first to the second quarter of the year. Under the plan agreed by EU member states, this means approximately 47,000 doses of the vaccine, of which 10,000 doses will reportedly be donated to the Czech Republic under a bilateral agreement.
        LJUBLJANA - The Health Ministry picked Sanolabor as the supplier of a million rapid antigen test for mass testing for coronavirus. Sanolabor offered EUR 1.37 per test, with the total cost for the state amounting to EUR 1.137 million.
        LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council noted that at least one of the two conditions enabling the government to depart from the obligation of medium-term fiscal balance under exceptional circumstances would be met next year, and advised caution.

SATURDAY, 3 April
        LJUBLJANA - The head of Slovenia's vaccination advisory group, Bojana Beović, told POP TV that the group had proposed suspending vaccination of younger people with the AstraZeneca vaccine until all dilemmas about serious undesired side effects are clarified.
        MARIBOR - Several hundred protesters gathered in the Maribor city centre to protest against anti-coronavirus measures. The rally was organised through social networks. The protesters did not wear face masks and ignored distancing recommendations.
        LJUBLJANA - Health Minister Janez Poklukar ordered an emergency oversight over the payment of epidemic bonuses following media reports about excessively high payouts, in particular to doctors.

SUNDAY, 4 April
        LJUBLJANA/MARIBOR - PM Janez Janša said in his Easter message the coronavirus pandemic had fully exposed society's vulnerability and weaknesses, but expressed confidence Slovenia would overcome this trial.

MONDAY, 5 April
        NAZARJE - Appliances maker BSH Hišni Aparati generated almost EUR 380 million in revenue last year, a rise of almost 10% over 2019. The company did not reveal the profit figure, while telling the STA it was planning to increase revenue to EUR 487 million this year.
        
TUESDAY, 6 April
        LJUBLJANA - As part of the EU presidency trio format, the defence ministers of Slovenia, Portugal and Germany discussed the Strategic Compass process, EU-NATO cooperation, military mobility, and the bloc's support for stabilisation efforts in Mozambique. Minister Matej Tonin stressed the Strategic Compass would be a priority during Slovenia's EU presidency in the second half of the year.
        LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar held a video conference with Bavarian State Minister for European and International Affairs Melanie Huml in preparation of his visit to the German state on 22 June. The pair discussed ways to enhance cooperation in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and Slovenia's upcoming EU presidency.
        LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court announced having annulled in an unanimous decision the implementation of a provision from one of the legislative packages for mitigating the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic that extends accreditations to higher education institutions. The provision was stayed in late January.
        LJUBLJANA - Two groups of petitioners submitted their respective initiatives for a referendum on the contentious amendments to the water act after they had collected over 9,000 and 33,000 signatures, respectively. The upper chamber of parliament voted against a veto on the amendments.
        LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council noted that, according to preliminary data, the national budget deficit in the first three months amounted to EUR 1.29 billion, which is almost half of the deficit planned for the entire year.
        LJUBLJANA - The registered jobless total was down for the second consecutive month in March, standing at 82,638, or 6.1% less than in February. The number is nevertheless 6.1% higher year-on-year.

WEDNESDAY, 7 April
        LJUBLJANA - PM Janez Janša urged countries to join the EU's efforts to provide anti-coronavirus vaccines to less prosperous countries, as he took part in a virtual conference hosted by the World Forum for Ethics in Business to mark World Health Day, which discussed the changing paradigms during the pandemic.
        LJUBLJANA - Bojana Beović, the head of the national advisory committee on immunisation, said Slovenia would not change its Covid-19 vaccination strategy for the time being after the European Medicines Agency announced that unusual blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia denied asylum-seekers access to asylum in 2020, while forcibly returning migrants to Croatia, Amnesty International said in its latest human rights report. The country was criticised for limiting freedom of assembly during the pandemic, handling Covid infections at care homes inadequately, and failing to resolve Roma issues.
        LJUBLJANA - The European Court of Human Rights admitted an application against Slovenia over an alleged violation of the right to a fair hearing. The case concerns Constitutional Court judge Rok Čeferin's failure to exclude himself from a case.
        LJUBLJANA - Preliminary inquiries by the Education Ministry into the sentiment towards the announced self-testing of students showed that around 22% of pupils of the final three years of primary school and 18.5% of secondary school students would self-test. Several parents' initiatives oppose the plan.
        LJUBLJANA - The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning published a resolution on Slovenia's long-term climate strategy until 2050 with one of the goals being climate neutrality and resilience to climate change.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia woke up to an unseasonably cold morning with temperatures dipping into the 20s below zero in the south of the country in what was the coldest April morning on record.
        
THURSDAY, 8 April
        LJUBLJANA - Education Minister Simona Kustec announced pupils would return to schools and children to kindergartens following an 11-day circuit-breaker lockdown 12 April, which is in line with the promise made before the country entered its third coronavirus lockdown. Universities remain shut.
        LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court stayed a provision of a government decree which restricts travel to countries on Slovenia's red list of high-risk countries due to Covid-19, pending its final decision. It invoked its right to stay legislation to prevent the occurrence of irreparable damage.
        LJUBLJANA - The government said it expected that this year's budget expenditure will be EUR 800 million higher than planned in the current budget documents, arguing the situation regarding Covid-19 had deteriorated significantly since the budgeting process was completed.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor congratulated Vjosa Osmani on being elected president of Kosovo and wished her successful work as they had a telephone conversation, focussing on the epidemiological situation and cooperation between the countries and in the region.
        LJUBLJANA - The government decided to donate Covid-19 protective equipment to several Western Balkan countries following a request for aid through the EU civil protection mechanism. Montenegro will receive EUR 107,350 worth of equipment, North Macedonia EUR 115,000, and Serbia EUR 120,300.
        LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council said that public investment that is to increase in the coming years could help drive economic growth and development, but that the institutional framework should be improved if investment is to be efficient.
        STRASBOURG, France - The latest Council of Europe report on penal statistics in its 52 member states showed Slovenia had 109 prisoners per 100 prison beds in 2020, which made it one of the CoE member states with the most crowded prisons; it placed the 9th most prison-crowded country. The Justice Ministry said it was aware of the situation and that two new prisons were planned.
        LJUBLJANA - Five exchange traded funds (ETF) by Bulgarian Expat Capital were listed on the Ljubljana stock market, following years of efforts by the Ljubljana Stock Exchange to attract ETFs there once again.
        LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a new decree on packaging and waste packaging under which all producers of packaging, not just those that put more than 15 tonnes of packaging on the market in Slovenia annually, are liable for waste treatment fees.

STA, 9 April 2021 - President Borut Pahor and Prime Minister Janez Janša expressed their condolences following the death of Prince Philip on Twitter on Friday after Buckingham Palace announced Queen Elizabeth II's husband died aged 99 this morning. The Slovenian Foreign Ministry and the country's embassy in London have also expressed condolences.

Pahor expressed sincere condolences to Queen Elizabeth II and the citizens of the UK on behalf of Slovenia on Twitter and so did the Foreign Ministry.

Also posting on Twitter, Prime Minister Janša said: "I express my deepest condolences to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Family and the people of the United Kingdom on the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh."

I express my deepest condolences to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Family and the people of the United Kingdom on the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh. pic.twitter.com/H5UrI9ODLV

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) April 9, 2021

V imenu Republike Slovenije izrekam Njenemu Veličanstvu kraljici Elizabeti II. in državljanom Združenega kraljestva iskreno sožalje in sočutje ob smrti Njegove Kraljeve Visokosti vojvode Edinburškega.

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) April 9, 2021

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry meanwhile tweeted that "we are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Slovenia conveys sincere condolences to Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Family."

The Slovenian Embassy in London said this was a very sad day for the UK and the whole world.

"A very sad day for the UK and the whole world as we mourn and remember the life of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Our thoughts are with Her Majesty The Queen, the Royal Family and the British people."

Prince Philip spent more than 73 years by the queen's side and would have turned 100 in June.

In a statement shortly after midday, the Buckingham Palace announced that he died this morning at Windsor Castle.

The duke, who was the longest-serving consort in British history, had returned to Windsor Castle on 16 March after spending a month in hospital.

Prince Philip accompanied Queen Elizabeth II on many state visits around the world, including to Slovenia in the autumn of 2008, when they were in the country for three days.

It was the first visit of the kind to Slovenia that was an opportunity to boost relations between Slovenia and the UK. The royal couple were hosted by then President Danilo Türk.

On the occasion, Queen Elizabeth II symbolically received as a gift a Lipizzaner horse from Lipica, although the horse remained in the care of the stud farm here.

Among the highlights of Prince Philip's visit was him presenting gold MEPI Awards to 26 Slovenian students. It was the Duke of Edinburgh who founded the programme in 1956.

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.

This summary is provided by the STA: 

If you're learning Slovenian then you can find all our dual texts here

STA, 9 April 2021 - The government unveiled on Friday its latest strategy for a gradual easing of restrictive measures depending on the epidemiological situation. Easing of several restrictions is envisaged in tier red, which Slovenia will be in as of next week, including reopening of primary schools and kindergartens, and lifting of the curfew.

Criteria at state level

*number of infections represents the average daily number of newly identified infections in the last seven days

Tier black
No. of infections: more than 1,350
Hospitalisations: more than 1,200

- curfew
- limited public transport services
- shops selling necessities, post offices, banks are open
- kindergartens are open along with primary schools for the first three grades of primary school, and schools for children with special needs
- urgent lab courses are allowed for university students
- top, up-and-coming and professional athletes and members of national teams are allowed to train and compete
- contactless sport activities outdoors are allowed
- individual exercise and family exercises are allowed

Tier red
No. of infections: under 1,350
Hospitalisations: under 1,200

- primary schools and kindergartens reopen in full along with secondary schools under model C, which means student alternate between in-class and remote learning every week, in-person seminars and exams with up to 10 people are allowed at faculties
- dorms reopen for secondary school students
- museums, libraries, galleries reopen
- contactless outdoor sports activities are allowed along with individual and family exercise
- individual classes are allowed in music, ballet and contemporary dance schools
- cadets and juniors are allowed to train
- certain services and shops reopen

Tier orange
No. of infections: under 1,000
Hospitalisations: under 1,000

- in-person lessons with some restrictions for college students and university students
- assembly of up to 10 people
- all shops reopen, bars and restaurants allowed to serve customers outdoors
- student dorms open
- no restrictions to movement among regions

Tier yellow
No. of infections: under 600
Hospitalisations: under 500

- tourist facilities reopen
- no more restrictions for secondary schools or faculties

Tier green
No. of infections: under 300

- No more restrictions for the entire country
- General hygiene measures remain in place, bars and night clubs remain closed

The latest data on covid and Slovenia, and thus how close we are to restricitions being lifted

STA, 9 April 2021 - Health Minister Janez Poklukar has announced the government will overhaul the coronavirus exit strategy today to somewhat relax restrictions applying to each of the five-coloured stages. Stage red would kick in on Monday lifting night curfew, keeping schools and kindergartens open like before 1 April while not allowing public assembly.

Details of Slovenia’s New Plan for Relaxation of COVID Rules

STA, 9 April 2021 - The cold snap that hit Slovenia this week caused damage to all types of fruit orchards nation-wide, as well causing injury to vineyards, olive groves and legumes, initial estimates by the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry (KGZS) show. In some areas all fruit crop is gone.

"Never before have fruit growers been in such a difficult situation," Boris Orešek, the head of the KGZS's fruit growing section, told an online press conference on Friday after record low temperatures wreaked havoc at orchards and plantations across the country.

"On the one hand we have cold rooms still full of last year's apples and pears that are hard to sell, and on the other hand we have orchards all empty due to the frost," said Orešek.

The damage was caused by extremely low temperatures and the lengthy frost. The region of Primorska, which has the mildest climate, has had frost since March and in other parts of the country it set in at the beginning of this week. The coldest were the nights to Wednesday and Thursday.

Injury to apple and pear blossoms in the Maribor, Celje and Ptuj areas is 50-70%, while the proportion of damaged blossoms of other trees such as peaches and plums is 60-100%.

In Istria and Primorska even vegetables in greenhouses were affected by temperatures that fell to minus 6.5 Celsius and in the broader Nova Gorica area 80-100% of fruit trees are injured.

Andreja Brence, a specialist on fruit growing from Novo Mesto, described the situation in Dolenjska, Bela Krajina and Posavje as a "catastrophe", assessing there would be but a handful of stone tree fruits this year.

Alenka Caf, an official from Ljubljana reported about damage to blueberries, despite them being used to low temperatures.

The growers that have used over-tree sprinklers to protect their orchards have been able to rescue some of the crop, and some have resorted to burning fires and creating smoke, all of are effective measures to an extent.

However, Brence said this time the problem was exceptionally low temperatures for the time of year, dropping to minus 10 Celsius and lower in some parts.

Data from the Agricultural Institute show between 100 and 120 hectares of orchards in Slovenia have over-tree sprinkler systems, which means less than 3% of all intensive plantations, the institute's official Matej Stopar said.

Farming consultants highlighted the red tape involved in investments in such systems as well as the fact that the systems in place in the Vipava Valley are not functioning because the irrigation system there is under reconstruction.

KGZS boss Roman Žveglič appealed for prompt state aid in response to the disaster. "The sooner the government realises there will be no food without agriculture, the easier will be for us to make changes and urgent adjustments."

The chamber is drawing up a number of proposals, including for an emergency act and a law that would simplify procedures to acquire permits for irrigation and sprinkler systems and allow to put them in place wherever there is enough water.

They are also calling for exempting Covid state aid to the sector from tax and Orešek called for direct financial aid for fruit growers and write-offs of some levies and rents, among other things, which he said were needed for the industry to survive over the next two years.

Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek has already appointed a taskforce to find solutions to mitigate the disaster, including an emergency bill to help those affected, as well as exemptions for social security contributions.

The minister is expected to inspect the damage on the ground on Monday when he is also due to meet the stakeholders to discuss solutions and adaptation to climate change.

STA, 9 April 2021 - The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) has so far received 3,816 reports of side effects after 404,000 Covid-19 vaccinations. In 16 cases serious side effects have been reported after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine, including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, but a link to the vaccine has not been confirmed.

Vaccination with the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine started at the end of December last year, Moderna vaccine has been in use since the second week of January and AstraZeneca from the second week of February.

Until 4 April, at least 276,000 shots of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered with 2,331 reports of side effects, mostly mild ones.

32 reports included undesired events. A dozen older people with several chronic diseases died after the vaccination. In the first case, the person died of a heart attack a day after the vaccination. In the second case, a sudden death occurred 12 days after vaccination in a person with severe chronic heart disease.

In the third case, a person was vaccinated during an incubation period following a coronavirus infection and developed pneumonia, which caused the death.

In the fourth case, death occurred eight days after vaccination because of a heart attack that was a result of an infection of unknown source.

A commission at the Health Ministry analysed all four cases to conclude that connection to the vaccination was not very likely, while the other cases are still being investigated.

In four cases of serious side effects after vaccination with Pfizer, persons had to be hospitalised after they collapsed a few hours after vaccination as they were recovering from Covid-19, a stroke, chest pain, and leukaemia. In these cases connection to the vaccination is also not very likely, the report says.

The commission is also still investigating cases when hospitalisation was needed of vaccinated persons over an allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, a deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, stroke, heart attack, a spontaneous pneumothorax, deterioration of heart failure due to infection of the respiratory system, collapse due to infection of an unknown source, epileptic seizure, fever, chest pain and sever headache.

The NIJZ has also received 1,441 reports of side effects after at least 90,000 shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered. 16 cases included serious side effects, which is 1.1% of the cases.

Two persons with chronic diseased died a few days after the vaccination. One of the persons had been receiving palliative care due to advanced cancer and the other case is still being investigated.

In one case a person had to be hospitalised for chest pain and breathing difficulties, which is unlikely related to the vaccination, according to the commission.

The commission is still investigating cases when hospitalisation was needed after vaccination due to an allergic reaction, a heart attack, paraesthesia, fever with allergic reaction, heartbeat disorders, unstable angina pectoris, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

After 38,000 shots of the Moderna vaccine have been administered, 44 cases of side effects have been recorded, including one serious side effect, which is 2.3% of all reports.

An older person, who seems to have been infected with coronavirus developed pneumonia after vaccination and died. The case is still being investigated.