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:

Sixteen new coronavirus cases, including Vipava care home outbreak

LJUBLJANA/VIPAVA - Slovenia recorded 16 new coronavirus cases after 530 tests on Sunday, including seven in an outbreak at the Vipava care home where nine elderly residents and seven staff are now infected, the latest data from the government and the care home show. The number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 has increased to 11 after four residents from the Vipava facility were hospitalised. Slovenia now has 195 active cases, out of the total of 1,716. More testing will be conducted at the Vipava care home, which plans to test all 108 residents and 45 staff.

Care homes say no systemic solutions found after first Covid-19 wave

VIPAVA - Responding to the coronavirus outbreak at the Vipava care home, the first such case after care home bore the brunt of Covid-19 deaths in Slovenia in the first wave of the pandemic, the Association of Welfare Institutions said no systemic measures had been put in place that would allow infected residents to be isolated effectively. "Despite our warnings that most care homes are without even basic conditions to implement full isolation," the association said. Meanwhile, an expert team from the nearby Šempteter hospital begged to differ, saying after a visit to the Vipava home that the solutions there were appropriate and that a transfer to hospital was not necessary.

France and almost entire Czechia reinstated to green list

LJUBLJANA - The government has re-instated France and the Czech Republic, with the exception of the Moravian-Silesian Region, to the green list of the epidemiologically safe countries, with the decision effective as of Tuesday. Announcing the news, the Government Communication Office said that the decision had been made following a briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the two countries by the National Public Health Institute.

Couple face sanctions for breaching quarantine rules

LJUBLJANA - Government spokesman Jelko Kacin revealed that a couple had breached quarantine rules and now face a fine or even prison on suspicion they spread coronavirus out of negligence. A 37-year-old woman was notified her husband had Covid-19, but failed to inform healthcare staff about the infection right away, whereby she jeopardised other people's health. Her husband kept going to work despite being ordered to self-isolate. The government might discuss sanctions for breach of quarantine rules later today. Kacin said 1,213 quarantine orders were issued to arrivals at the border.

Fiscal Council puts budgets costs of crisis measures at EUR 1.1bn so far

LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council, a government advisory body, estimates the public budget costs of coronacrisis stimulus measures by the start of July at around of EUR 1.1 billion, well below the government's initial estimate of EUR 4 billion and subsequent correction to EUR 2.8 billion. The body overseeing Slovenia's adherence to the fiscal compact initially estimated the first and third stimulus package - the two that were implemented so far - at EUR 2.3 billion in total or 5.1% of GDP.

Opposition insists on own inquiry into coronavirus measures

LJUBLJANA - The four left-leaning opposition parties have filed for a parliamentary inquiry to check financial (in)efficiency of government measures taken to contain the Covid-19 epidemic and mitigate its consequences. They would also like to examine potential violations of human rights and freedoms. The motion by the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the Social Democrats (SD), the Left and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) also takes aim at the legal basis used to appoint advisory groups and the general appropriateness of the anti-epidemic measures.

Prosecutors deem Janša's letter inadmissible pressure

LJUBLJANA - The State Prosecutors' Council condemned a letter PM Janez Janša recently addressed to the state prosecutor general, criticising alleged inaction in prosecuting death threats expressed at anti-government protests and attacks on the police taking place as part of them. It labelled the letter an "unacceptable and political pressure". In the 19 June letter to Drago Šketa, Janša said the prosecution was neglecting its legal role in relation to the anti-government protests for failing to respond to incitement to violence and that Šketa would be responsible if the violence escalated.

Logar vows Slovenia's support for Albania's EU accession

LJUBLJANA - Meeting Albanian Deputy Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj, Foreign Minister Anže Logar vowed that Slovenia would provide support for Albania on the latter's path to the EU. The pair focussed on the country's progress in fulfilling requirements for starting accession negotiations with the bloc. The ministers also talked about the Covid-19 pandemic and the response of both countries, with Cakaj lauding Slovenia's response, and efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation, most notably in business.

Concerns aplenty as contact tracing app hits parliament

LJUBLJANA - A debate in parliament at the committee level on the emergency bill in preparation for the second wave of Covid-19 turned into a discussion on a contact tracing app. The opposition has accused the government of hiding "control over citizens and repression" among welfare measures. The fourth stimulus package, adopted by the government a week ago, includes a legal basis for introducing an app tracing contacts of persons infected with the new coronavirus and of persons who have been quarantined.

Ethnic Slovenian elected to Croatian parliament for first time ever

ZAGREB, Croatia - Barbara Antolić Vupora, an ethnic Slovenian running on the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) in Sunday's elections, has made it to the Croatian parliament. She has become the first member of the Slovenian minority in Croatia to enter Sabor in its 30-year history. The Slovenian minority did not have its candidate in the special electoral unit for ethnic minorities in Croatia, with Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj being re-elected as the joint representative of the Albanian, Bosniak, Montenegrin, Macedonian and Slovenian minorities.

Outlawed in Ormož, Štajerska Ward still plans new campaigns

ORMOŽ - The municipal council in Ormož (NE) has decided to deny hospitality to members of the self-styled Štajerska Ward as the first Slovenian municipality to do so. The paramilitary group nevertheless plans to organise its summer camp there and claims that the decision was unlawful. Last week, the municipal council unanimously endorsed the proposal from the local list Building Future Together, who said that "reason, moral criteria and ethics of all members" had prevailed, as it announced the vote on Facebook on Monday.

Labour Inspectorate issues fines worth over EUR 4m

LJUBLJANA - The Labour Inspectorate conducted almost 14,120 inspections in 2019, finding over 25,220 violations and imposing fines worth EUR 4.1 million. The inspectorate reported suspected offences in 40 cases. The number of alleged violations reported to the inspectorate increased, from almost 6,400 in 2018 to over 7,200. "If there were more inspectors, we could carry out more inspections, and undoubtedly discover even more violations," the inspectorate report for 2019 says.

Slovenia will see fewer residents, more elderly in 2100, says Eurostat

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's population will total more than 1,888,000 residents in the year of 2100 or 207,000 fewer than at the beginning of 2020, show recent Eurostat projections. Senior citizens will represent almost a third of the population in 80 years' time. The life expectancy at birth is expected to get longer and the elderly, aged 65 or more, will account for more than 31% of the population, compared to almost 20% in 2019, the Statistics Office reported based on the EUROPOP2019 projections.

Slovenia to host European Ladies Amateur Golf Championship

LJUBLJANA - The European Golf Association (EGA) has picked Slovenia to host the European Ladies Amateur Championship, which will be one of the largest international sporting events in Slovenia this year. It will take place on the Cubo course in Smlednik, north-west of Ljubljana, between 30 September and 3 October. The events, which had been originally planned to take place in Finland, has been awarded to Slovenia as a Covid-19 safe country.

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

STA, 6 July 2020 - The government has re-instated France and the Czech Republic, with the exception of the Moravian-Silesian Region, to the green list of the epidemiologically safe countries, with the decision effective as of Tuesday.

Announcing the news, the Government Communication Office said that the decision had been made following a briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the two countries by the National Public Health Institute.

France and the Czech Republic were put on the so-called yellow list along with Croatia on Saturday. The Moravian-Silesian Region in the east of the Czech Republic remains on the list.

Slovenian citizens and foreigners with permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia arriving from yellow-listed EU or Schengen zone members are not quarantined under certain conditions.

These include proving they own a piece of property or a vessel there or producing an original bill for accommodation etc.

If they are not able to prove this, they are considered as arriving in Slovenia from a high-risk country and subjected to two-week quarantine.

Slovenian citizens and foreigners with permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia arriving from green-listed EU or Schengen zone members are not quarantined.

Persons who have temporary or permanent residence in these countries are free to enter Slovenia without any restrictions or quarantine either.

More details on the green, yellow and red lists here - but be sure to click the links for updates

STA, 6 July 2020 - The State Prosecutors' Council condemned a letter PM Janez Janša recently addressed to the state prosecutor general, criticising alleged inaction in prosecuting death threats expressed at anti-government protests and attacks on the police taking place as part of them. It labelled the letter an "unacceptable and political pressure".

In the 19 June letter to Drago Šketa, Janša said the prosecution was neglecting its legal role in relation to the anti-government protests for failing to respond to incitement to violence.

Janša also said that Šketa would be responsible if the violence escalated. "You will be directly responsible for any potential victims of the organised threats," Janša wrote, referring to slogans and banners such as Death to Janšism.

Ker je neuradni Uradni list #Globokadržava @Dnevnik_si objavil insinuacije o mojem pismu Generalnemu državnemu tožilcu glede organiziranih grožnjah s smrtjo, ki jih omogoča in posredno vzpodbuja ljubljansko tožilstvo, si lahko v nadaljevanju preberete celoten dopis. pic.twitter.com/dHQdJVThTZ

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) July 2, 2020

The Prosecutorial Council sees the latter as unacceptable and political pressure by the most senior representative of the executive branch of power on the state prosecutor general.

It believes that by referring to Šketa's direct responsibility, the letter expects him to act in contradiction with his legal powers, or the systemic arrangement of the state prosecution in Slovenia, which would result in an unacceptable encroachment on the independence of state prosecutors.

The council stressed that state prosecutors were independent under the law, bound only by the law and the constitution, and that the head of the state prosecution could not force a state prosecutor to take a specific decision in a specific case.

The council moreover referred to the Constitutional Court arguing in one of its rulings that an arrangement enabling unacceptable pressure on a state prosecutor to act in a certain manner would be in contradiction with the Constitution.

A similar response came from Šketa, who said last week that the state prosecution and state prosecutors worked efficiently and in line with the law. Janša's letter was also criticised by part of the opposition, with the Social Democrats (SD) saying they could file an impeachment motion against the prime minister.

STA, 6 July 2020 - Government spokesman Jelko Kacin said that a couple had breached quarantine rules, so they had been reported to police for suspected spreading of the coronavirus out of negligence. They face a fine or even prison, he said at Monday's coronavirus briefing.

A 37-year-old woman was notified her husband had Covid-19 on 20 June, but when calling the 122 emergency number on 3 July for stomach ache she did not inform healthcare staff about the infection. She only did so only after appearing at the UKC Ljubljana hospital's emergency department five hours later, thereby jeopardising other people's health.

Her 40-year-old husband, working for a larger Slovenian company, meanwhile kept going to work despite being sent into quarantine, said Kacin, adding that "a criminal complaint has been filed against both persons for spreading the new disease out of negligence". The couple are foreign citizens residing in Ljubljana.

Under the law on contagious disease, a violation of isolation or quarantine rules is fined with EUR 400-4,000, whereas the penal code carries a prison sentence from six months to up to eight years in case it results in death.

Kacin also presented the latest figures about quarantine orders issued on the border since Saturday. A total of 1,213 such decision were issued at the six border crossings designated for this purpose on the border with Croatia, Hungary and at Ljubljana airport.

Kacin did not say how many people were currently in quarantine, but Health Ministry data as of 29 June show that 7,190 quarantine orders were issued in June.

The spokesperson also said that based on the latest quarantine checks by health inspectors, "the majority of people do stick to quarantine restrictions".

Health inspectors visited over 60 persons in the areas of Maribor and Ljubljana on Sunday, finding quarantine breaches in only four cases.

Two persons were not at the address they had given to authorities, while another two seem to have provided a false address, explained Kacin.

The government's coronavirus task force will discuss the violations this evening while the government is expected to discus changes to its plans to manage the spread of the virus.

The priority is to prevent the spread of the virus to care homes and transmissions from abroad.

Kacin labelled the situation at homes for the elderly a reason for concern. This is after 16 residents and staff of a nursing home in Vipava tested positive for the virus.

"Homes for the elderly are an area at risk, for which we have to introduce a special system. We need to make sure that staff and all their residents are aware of that."

Sixteen new coronavirus cases confirmed, including Vipava care home outbreak

STASTA, 6 July 2020 - Slovenia recorded 16 new coronavirus cases after 530 tests on Sunday, including seven in an outbreak at the Vipava care home where nine elderly residents and seven staff are now infected, the latest data from the government and the care home show.

The number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 has increased to 11 after four residents from the Vipava care home were moved to the Department of Infectious Disease at the UKC Ljubljana hospital.

None of the patients require intensive treatment.

The latest cases bring the country's total of coronavirus cases to 1,716. The death toll remains unchanged at 111.

Testing will continue today at the Vipava care home; 40 more residents and 12 staff are to be tested in the morning with the results due later today.

The home's director Martin Kopatin said the remaining 20 residents are to be tested late in the afternoon or tomorrow.

The facility accommodates 108 residents and 45 staff. The infection there was first confirmed on Friday with one of the residents. The origin of the transmission is still not known.

All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia

STA, 6 July 2020 - The government has made a coronavirus contact tracing app the centrepiece of its new legislative package aimed at stemming a new coronavirus outbreak, but concerns over the proposal that the use of app be compulsory for infected and quarantined persons has prompted the country's privacy watchdog to urge parliament to discard it.

The legislative package in preparation for a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, which appears to be unfolding already, will be debated on the parliamentary committee on Monday before being put to the vote at the plenary session starting on Thursday.

Designed as a tool to alert individuals of contacts with infected persons and supervise abidance by quarantine orders, the app is to be available for free and voluntary download and use, except for persons testing positive for the virus or those ordered to quarantine, where it would be mandatory.

"In the opposite case, the mobile app would lose much of its meaning," the explanation of the legislative provision reads. The failure to use the app when compulsory would carry a fine of between 200 and 600 euro.

Learn more about the red, yellow and green lists here

Representatives of the ministries of health and public administration favour a completely voluntary use of the app although Health Ministry State Secretary Tina Bregant said it would be desirable for the app to be used by between 60% and 70% of the population, which means virtually everyone with a smart phone.

The opposition parties, except for the National Party (SNS), have raised objections to the plans, while the senior coalition Democratic Party (SDS) says the app is urgent or else Slovenia will be forced to reimpose strict lockdown measures, which PM Janez Janša says is the only alternative until an effective vaccine or medication against Covid-19 is available.

The junior coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) finds the app useful, although it expects "certain issues" to be first cleared up. The fellow coalition party New Slovenia (NSi) is yet to take its position on the matter following today's debate and the Modern Centre Party (SMC) is yet to respond.

The opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) would like the provisions on the app to be scrapped altogether, because they see it is yet "another attempt to place the population under surveillance under the pretext of concern for public health".

Similarly, the Left believes the invasion of privacy entailed would be simply excessive, while the Social Democrats (SD) and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) underscore the app should be voluntary. What is more, the users should be well informed and data processing transparent and lawful. The SD has also questioned the app's efficiency.

Information Commissioner Mojca Prelesnik has called on the National Assembly not to support provisions that would make the app compulsory because this runs contrary to the EU guidelines which say tracing apps "must be voluntary, transparent, temporary, cybersecure, using temporary and pseudonymised data".

Prelesnik says that only voluntary download can be acceptable under the European law, while the legal framework that would impose mandatory use should meet basic standards of protection of individual's rights, meaning it should be lawful, constitutional, temporary and proportionate with respect to the intended goal.

"Particular attention should be given to the question of mandatory use for individuals under quarantine. Those are not confirmed as infected, of which the app would alert other users, so such mandatory use in advance could be questionable from the aspect of being proportionate and needed."

Among other things, the commissioner is also concerned about the proposed fine for those who violate mandatory use, noting that contact tracing apps function reliably only on the latest models of smart phones, so the coercion for everyone to download it even though it would not function on their device is disproportionate.

The mandatory use of the app would also run against the terms of use of technological solutions developed by Google and Apple, which many countries in Europe have used for such apps.

Slovenia's app is to be modelled on Italy's or Germany's. These are based on application interfaces developed by the two tech giants and are used solely to notify of potential contacts with the infected persons, says Dušan Caf, director of Digital Society Institute Digitas.

Noting that Google and Apple want user privacy protected, including their voluntary decision to upload and use the app, he explains that tracing apps that do not use the two companies' interfaces do not work when in sleep mode. For full functioning, the companies would have to allow access to certain functionalities of mobile devices, which they do not want to do.

All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia are here

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:

Covid-19 outbreak at Vipava nursing homes as 21 new cases recorded in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA/VIPAVA - Fifteen Covid-19 cases have been confirmed at a nursing home in Vipava since its first resident tested positive on Friday. Nine of the infected people are Pristan Centre for the Elderly residents and the rest staff. The source of the infection is not yet known, but the centre is closed to visitors. The latest government data meanwhile show that 21 new cases were confirmed from 716 tests on Saturday, of which the majority, or four, in Vipava. Six persons were in hospital yesterday, none in intensive care, and one was discharged from hospital. There were also no new deaths, which leaves the national coronavirus death toll at 111. Yesterday's rise in new case prompted PM Janez Janša to take to Twitter saying "the virus is spreading from within", apparently in reference to non-imported cases. He also indicated that there are many violations of the law on infectious diseases and of coronavirus restrictions, especially in hospitality and public assembly, which is capped at 50 persons.

Almost 300 quarantine orders served on border Saturday

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian health authorities issued and served 290 quarantine orders on the border with Croatia and Hungary on Saturday, the first day of tighter restrictions for arrivals in Slovenia. More than half were issued to Slovenian residents who were returning from Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Health Ministry told the STA. The majority of orders for quarantine were served on the border crossing Obrežje with Croatia (130), while only five were handed out at Pince on the border with Hungary. Quarantine orders are served on the border as of 4 July, a day after the government changed a relevant decree to speed up quarantine order serving and moved Croatia, France and the Czech Republic from the green list of safe Covid-19 countries to the yellow one.

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

STA, 5 July 2020 - Slovenian health authorities issued and served almost 340 quarantine orders on the border with Croatia and Hungary on Saturday, the first day of tighter restrictions for arrivals in Slovenia. More than half were issued to Slovenian residents who were returning from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Another 435 were issued today, the Health Ministry told the STA.

The majority of orders for quarantine were served on Saturday on the border crossing Obrežje with Croatia (130), while only five were handed out at Pince on the border with Hungary.

The situation was similar today, when over 270 orders for quarantine were issued at Obrežje and five at Pince.

At Ljubljana international airport, 16 such orders were issued on Saturday and 40 on Sunday.

Four border crossings on the border with Croatia - also Gruškovje, Jelšane and Metlika - are designated as entry points for arrivals from red-listed countries, and one on the border with Hungary plus Ljubljana's airport.

The 775 quarantine orders issued at the six border crossings do not cover 14 persons who entered Slovenia at borders crossings with Italy and Austria and were also sent into quarantine.

Quarantine orders are served on the border with Croatia and Hungary as of 4 July, a day after the government changed a relevant decree to speed up quarantine order serving and moved Croatia, France and the Czech Republic from the green list of safe Covid-19 countries to the yellow one.

Before that, it often happened that a person completed their two-week quarantine before being formally served the order by mail.

The Health Ministry said the work of its almost 20 staff issuing quarantine orders at these six border crossings runs smoothly.

However, waiting times to enter Slovenia got somewhat longer due to the new rules, although they are usually rather long during the summer.

While Croatia was moved from the green to the yellow list yesterday, Slovenian residents can return home without quarantine if they can prove they were indeed in Croatia rather than any other Western Balkan country further south.

More on the green, yellow and red lists can be found here

Outbreak of Covid-19 at Vipava nursing home, 15 infected

STA, 5 July 2020 - Fifteen Covid-19 cases have been confirmed at a nursing home in Vipava, south-west, since its first resident tested positive on Friday, whereas Slovenia recorded 21 new cases on Saturday from 716 tests carried out. The source of the Vipava infection is not yet known, but the authorities hope the virus has not spread out of the nursing home.

Nine residents and six staff of the Pristan Centre for the Elderly - which has 108 residents and 45 employees - are now confirmed infected, and testing is continuing.

The infected residents fell mostly fine, with only two having fever, the centre's director Martin Kopatin told the STA, but those who tested positive on Saturday are already in hospital, while it is being arranged for the others to join them as well.

The staff have been meanwhile sent into quarantine, including those who have not tested positive or showed symptoms but were in contact with the infected persons.

Until 8am this morning, four residents and five employees tested positive, and Kopatin said the plan was to test all residents and staff.

He also explained the nursing home had had an action plane for such an emergency ready and started implementing it immediately.

The elderly were the most vulnerable group during the epidemic, which was formally in place from 13 March to 31 May.

It was three nursing home, in Šmarje pri Jelšah, Ljutomer and Metlika, that were the hotspots.

The majority of the 111 deaths recorded in the country so far were also senior citizens.

Vipava Mayor Goran Kodelja hopes the virus will be contained within the nursing home, which would make it easier to cope with the outbreak.

He also believes it will be easier to decide how to proceed once the source of the infection is established. "I think we have to wait until tomorrow to see what to do."

If necessary, the local Civil Protection unit will be called in. "If the virus has spread outside the nursing home, and if it proves difficult to establish its source, it will be harder to manage the outbreak and more restrictive measures could be necessary," the mayor told the STA.

The number of new daily infections in Slovenia has started rising recently, with health authorities saying the majority of the cases have been imported.

This is why the government has tightened the restrictions to enter Slovenia, moving Croatia from the list of green to yellow countries and introducing the serving of quarantine orders already on the border with Croatia and Hungary as of 4 July.

On Saturday, 21 new cases were recorded after Friday's record 30 since 16 April. Six persons were in hospital yesterday, none in intensive care.

Only three of the 21 newly infected persons are older than 75, whereas the largest number of the new cases - six - are from the 25-34 age group, National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) data shows.

However, NIJZ director Milan Krek, speaking for public broadcaster TV Slovenija after the recent surge, said there was no need yet to declare an epidemic.

He argued that hospitals, other healthcare facilities and epidemiologists were up to the situation.

Prime Minister Janez Janša meanwhile took to Twitter today saying "the virus is spreading from within," in reference to apparently non-imported cases.

He also said coronavirus restrictions were being severely violated, especially in the hospitality sector and in terms of the 50-person-cap imposed on public assembly.

NIJZ data also shows that 180 Sars-CoV-2 cases are currently active in Slovenia.

The government could further step up restrictions, after Interior Minister Aleš Hojs has indicated the border could be closed if the latest tightening does not bring results and Bojana Beović, the government chief advisor for the coronavirus, hinted at lockdown.

Water mills used to be a common sight in the Slovenian countryside. Inland, the owners of the mills were usually feudal landowners; i.e. the castle mills would mainly grind grain for the needs of the Lord. Smaller craft and peasant mills would on the other hand grind only for their own needs, and in the Littoral the owners of the mills were often townships. To enable milling, the accompanying activity of making millstones was developed.

At the beginning of the 19th century, water mills were still regulated by the 1770 Mill Order, which prescribed sanitary measures and customer protection provisions. The Mill Order paid special attention to the care of millstones. During times with a low water level the miller was obliged to grind first for his customers and only then for himself. It was strictly forbidden for millers to discriminate between individual customers, and charging methods were also prescribed by the Order. Land lordships were in charge of controlling the implementation of the Mill Order.

In 1814 new provisions were included into the Mill Order, requiring professional training on the part of the mill owner, and customers were now free to choose the mill where they would grind grain and allowed to be present at the grinding. The miller was obliged to grind the grain of each customer separately, and was not allowed to mix it with other customers’.

The water-flow energy was also used for log, saws and sometimes both devices were combined in one place.

With the introduction of the steam engine, mills began to move from the riversides to the shore.  The first steam engine in Slovenia was set up in Trieste in 1819 by a Frenchman, Sonnerat.  Instead of millstones roller mills were used, the capacity of which exceeded the previous methods of grinding several times. Further enlargements of these mills also required new propellants. All this led to the collapse of the old stone mills and water drive systems.

The introduction of roller mills (first in 1850 in Ljubljana, then in Ajdovščina, Domžale, Kranj, Maribor and Središče ob Dravi) marked the beginning of the Slovenian milling industry.  In connection with the steam mill plants, several pasta factories emerged in Ljubljana, Maribor and Ilirska Bistrica in the last years of the 19^th century, and most notably the Pekatete pasta plant from Bistrica, the brand that survived almost a century before being merged into Zlato polje pastas of Žito.

Although some 1,700 farm mills existed in the end of the 19th century, only a few survived to become part of today’s protected cultural heritage.

A new online store opened last week, El Merkadito, offering a growing range of products from the Americas, the kind of things you just can’t find in Mercator or Spa. Always interested in the exotic, delicious, and spicy we got in touch with the found, Patricia Castillo (now Patricia Grm) from Veracruz, Mexico, to find out more…

How did you come to be in Slovenia?

In 2006, I started a relationship with a Slovenian guy who then became my husband in 2009. I moved to Slovenia in 2008, when I was 20 years old, and the next year we got married. So now I’ve been here for almost 12 years and totally love the country, its people and food. That said, I still miss Mexico, and the kind of food I could eat there, which is how I got the idea for the store.

What were you doing before this?

I’ve worked as a Spanish and English teacher for many years. Back in 2018, I became interested in remote work, and since then I’ve been working that way. Sometimes as a translator, customer support, social media assistant, and now I finally accomplished what I’ve desired for quite a long time, to have my own online shop.

Why now?

With the lockdown everyone was doing more shopping online, and that’s when I noticed the lack of options for online food and drinks in Slovenia. Even local things, let alone foreign brands or products. Also, a great way to experience a country, especially when you can’t visit it, like now, is by trying the real, authentic food. So this seems like a great time to bring some of the America’s to Slovenia

Also, for myself, every time I go back to my lovely Mexico or Panama, where my father lives, I just want to eat the food and products you can easily find there non- stop. Maybe this is just nostalgia, but  in Slovenia I often miss the things I grew up with, so I thought why not bring them here? I’m also convinced many Slovenians are interested in trying new flavors and dishes.

What are some of the products people can find on El Merkadito?.

We have Mexican products such as dried chilies, spicy sauces, spicy candies, chocolate with cinnamon, beans, sweets, beer, and so on, while from the US, we have different brands like Jack Link's, Dr. Pepper, Hershey's, Kellog's, Reeses, M&M's, Cheetos, and more.

You can also find products from Latin American, like Yerba mate tea, pre-cooked white or yellow corn flour, and beer.

Since we’re a small, new company, and in the spirit of solidarity with other small businesses in Slovenia and Europe, we also decided to offer some European products. Supporting each other is a good and healthy way to collaborate with other businesses, and we practice fair trade with the producers to keep this attitude in all aspects of our work.

What’s next?

I don’t know, since these are early days, but I'm really excited about this new adventure. I believe expats, especially from the Americas, will be happy to have some things at home that remind them of their childhood or good memories from where they are from. I'm also sure Slovenians are going to be curious about this, and once they try some of the interesting, delicious and hard to find products El Merkadito offers, we’ll become part of their "I love you list".

Check out the store now to see what you’d like to try, and follow on Facebook to find out when new products are added, with 15% off on your first order  in July.

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 3 July 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Truth Behind PPE Scandal House Raids

STA, 3 July 202 - The left-wing magazine Mladina writes in the latest editorial that the reaction to the house raids in the investigation of ventilator procurement were so strong because the deal that is being investigated is not Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek's but rather of the ruling Democratic Party (SDS).

Under the headline SDS's Deal, editor-in-chief Grega Repovž writes that Počivalšek was not surprised when crime investigators called on him.

"He was ready, he knew they were coming, at least a day earlier he had been notified of their coming one way or another by Aleš Hojs, the outgoing interior minister, or Anton Travner, now former police commissioner, if not through intermediaries by someone higher up."

Repovž says that Hojs tried to cover up his forewarning to those involved by having the info aired by Nova24, "the party TV".

However, he also says that Hojs may have learnt about the timing of the house searches beforehand, he had "obviously not known for months about the ongoing investigation", which Repovž surmises based on the assumption that the police have collected enough evidence for search and detention warrants.

Repovž describes Počivalšek as an ambitious person who enjoys having privileges and power, something that he says Prime Minister Janez Janša recognised and humoured him by awarding him security guards and the title of deputy prime minister.

"He is not hiding that after the ministerial stint he would like to control the Slovenian tourism - adapting the law that would make that possible for him in plain sight (...) He would like to be a king of Slovenian tourism just like Zoran Janković passed as retail master until he was replaced by the first Janša government."

Repovž allows for the possibility that Počivalšek, who agreed with Janša that medical purchases would be conducted through intermediaries, did not know the point was to allow the intermediaries to make money.

"He may have been set up - just like under the first Janša government the procurement of Patria APCs was planted on Karl Erjavec, who likewise enjoyed immensely being defence minister and having the power, bragging about the purchase of that amazing equipment until it turned out Janša's closest aides struck the deal behind his back with the intention of obtaining commissions."

Judging by what those involved say, including the whistleblower Ivan Gale, Repovž says that Počivalšek soon realised what had been going on, considering he told Gale that the ventilators ordered through GenePlanet were "the SDS's deal".

Even though Počivalšek did not gain directly from the deal, Repovež notes that it is still crime if you made a deal possible knowing you would get some indirect benefit such as the government taking decisions to your benefit.

Repovž agrees that the subject of investigation is the SDS's deal, hence such a strong reaction from the SDS leader and PM Janša, his "ire with Hojs and Travner so immense he sacked them on the spot".

"Crime investigators have an easy job: they are dealing with people who do not find anything wrong or unusual about what they were doing, rather they believe that by gaining power that belongs to them as well. However, Počivalšek has the same problem."

Demokracija: People will not tolerate anarchists much longer

STA, 2 July 2020 - In its latest commentary headlined White Lives Matter, Too!, the right-wing weekly Demokracija says that not only in the US, but in Slovenia too, the self-proclaimed "anti-racists" have completely lost their compass, but adds that people will not be tolerating this for much longer.

"The well-known left-wing mafia of extremists has gone diabolically after the slogan of the Slovenian fashion magazine Gloss that says 'All Lives Matter' under a picture of black model Olivia Sang", the right-leaning weekly adds.

According to editor-in-chief Jože Biščak, this was enough for them to completely lose their minds. "This may mean that they will, just like they modified the freedom of expression, change the understanding of another human freedom, that is that a human life is untouchable."

All Lives Matter means exactly that - every life is important (including lives of white people), while the Black Lives Matter slogan puts black people in a privileged position, he adds.

Biščak notes that the latest cover of Demokracija features an adaptation of a scene from the video by African-American rapper XXXTentacion in which a black boy observes a white boy being hanged.

The artist faced only lenient criticism at the time, while the editor believes that Demokracija will be accused of racism.

"I get sick, my stomach turns every time I hear such accusations. It is all our fault, us conservatives and Christians from the right. We are good for the leftists only until we are cornered and we play the game of the second-rate ones while their orchestra plays.

"Once the music stops, they go berserk, they all of a sudden recognise only one law, the law of the street. The more rampaging and destruction, the better. And them hitting the streets, it is again our fault."

According to Biščak, it should be clear to anybody with the right mind that people from the left want to "turn the homeland into an infernal hole", but people will not tolerate this behaviour of "spoiled anarchists" for much longer.

All our posts in this series are here