05 Jun 2020, 19:45 PM

Last Week in Slovenia: 29 May - 4 June 2020

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, 29 May
        LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed the third economic stimulus package, valued at roughly a billion euro. The legislation brings a subsidised short-time work scheme until the end of the year and a one-month extension of the existing furlough scheme until the end of June for all employers. All Slovenian permanent residents will also get vouchers to spend on tourist accommodation in Slovenia.
        LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed an emergency law aimed at accelerating major investments to help the economy. The government will draw up a list of 50-odd investments which will be handled as a matter of priority in granting construction permits and other approvals.
        LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed legislation under which Slovenia will support the EU SURE instrument to mitigate unemployment risks across the EU with up to EUR 88.1 million in loan guarantees. The scheme is designed to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic's massive negative impact on the European job market.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's GDP decreased by a slower-than-expected 2.3% in the first three months of 2020 year-on-year due to a slowdown in domestic consumption and external demand. Seasonally- and working days-adjusted GDP contracted by 4.5% compared to the last quarter of 2019 and by 3.4% year-on-year, the Statistics Office said.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor proposed that the National Assembly take a vote on Barbara Zobec and Andraž Teršek for one vacancy on the Constitutional Court, as the nine-year term of Dunja Jadek Pensa runs out on 14 July. Statements by parliamentary factions suggest Teršek enjoys broader support, since Zobec was unequivocally endorsed only by the ruling Democrats (SDS).
        LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar underlined good relations between Slovenia and Norway in a phone conversation with his Norwegian counterpart Ine Eriksen Soreide as well as Slovenia's interest in further strengthening economic cooperation with Norway.
        LJUBLJANA - Several thousand people flooded the streets of the capital Ljubljana for what is the sixth Friday in a row that protesters, most of them on bicycles, expressed opposition to government policies. Smaller crowds also gathered in other cities around the country. After a minor altercation with police, six persons were fined.
        LJUBLJANA - After two months and a half of severe air traffic restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, regular passenger transport services resumed at Ljubljana airport. The first flight was operated by Air Serbia. More airlines are expected to start operating Ljubljana flights from mid-June.

SATURDAY, 30 May
LJUBLJANA - The Foreign Ministry amended a decree on quarantine requirement for people coming to Slovenia from third countries by adding new exemptions, including Slovenian citizens and foreigners with a permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia, persons attending a relative's funeral, those coming for a medical procedure, and those transiting Slovenia.
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor expressed concern in an interview with the weekly Nedelo that the growing economic and social crisis will increase people's distress and that the anti-government protests will intensify as a result. This is why he believes the government should hear the protesters' messages and restore cooperation with the opposition.

SUNDAY, 31 May
AJDOVŠČINA - Slovenian ultralight aircraft maker Pipistrel announced a special version of its plane had have joined the US Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) fleet as low-cost, high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles. The company said its airframes were being equipped with sensors to collect video and signals intelligence.

MONDAY, 1 June
        LJUBLJANA - Most lockdown measures were relaxed as the Covid-19 epidemic was declared officially over. Large accommodation facilities, spas, gyms and pools were allowed to reopen, although most large hotels said they would do so gradually. Public gatherings of up to 200 persons were permitted, and primary school pupils from grade four started returning to classrooms.
        LJUBLJANA - Due to an increased number of migrants heading west on the Balkan migration route, acting Police Commissioner Anton Travner ordered expanded surveillance of the border with Croatia. The beefed up border policing will be in force between 2-5 June, involving an additional 1,000 police officers.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia assumed the one-year chairmanship of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative and of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region. The main focus of the country's chairmanship of both forums will be green cooperation, the Western Balkans and EU enlargement.
        LJUBLJANA - The government extended by three months the 15-month period in which persons of Slovenian descent brought from Venezuela have the status of a repatriated person. The extension, which is part of the latest legislative package to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, applies to those Venezuelan Slovenians who arrived in Slovenia between 13 November 2019 and 12 March this year.
        LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Janez Janša announced a major digitalisation effort that would accompany the cutting of red tape in the public administration, telling Nova24TV that the first major steps should be taken this year. "Modern technologies make it possible to speed up procedures," he said.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian frontline staff got an unprecedented thank you for their work during the coronavirus epidemic as military planes and US fighter jets conducted a flypast of the entire country, the first day after the formal end of the epidemic.
        LJUBLJANA - Janez Kocijančič, the long-serving Slovenian sports official who was also active in politics and business, died at the age of 78. He had headed the European Olympic Committees since 2017 and served as the head of the Slovenian Olympic Committee between 1991 and 2014.

TUESDAY, 2 June
        MARIBOR - It was revealed that a pupil at the Ludvik Pliberšek Primary School in Maribor tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in what was the first positive case among children after they started returning to school on 18 May. The 17 classmates of the infected third-grader, who was asymptomatic, and their teacher were sent into a two-week quarantine, while the remaining pupils at the school were allowed to continue going to class.
        LJUBLJANA - The Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) rejected the offer for a partnership agreement on key legislation proposed by PM Janez Janša, joining the other left-leaning opposition parties in opposing the proposal which is now seems to be supported only by the National Party (SNS). Janša said the government had extended an offer of cooperation of the kind his party never received while in opposition.
        LJUBLJANA - The government dismissed Tomaž Besek and Mitja Križaj as non-executive directors on the management board of the Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC) and appointed Alenka Urnaut Ropoša and Boris Novak to replace them, serving from 3 June until the end of 2022. The government provided no explanation for the replacements.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia purchased EUR 54.4 million worth of protective equipment through the national Agency for Commodity Reserves during the epidemic. Between 14 March and 31 May, the agency signed 64 contracts worth EUR 184 million, which includes contracts that were subsequently annulled or not realised, shows data released by the agency.
        RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Slovenia pledged EUR 20,000 in an online donor conference for Yemen, launched by the Saudi Arabia and the UN. The conference aims to get pledges for US$2.4 billion to ensure humanitarian aid to the war-torn country in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
        LJUBLJANA - The Hungarian channel TV2, whose owner is associated with the Fidesz party, and Croatian entrepreneur Ivan Ćaleta are bidding to purchase Planet TV, the troubled subsidiary of telecoms incumbent Telekom Slovenije which produces the eponymous TV channel, reported web portal Necenzurirano, citing an unofficial source.
        LJUBLJANA - The Administrative Court upheld the decision of the Slovenian Environment Agency that an environmental impact assessment is needed before any permits can be issued for hydraulic fracturing planned by British company Ascent Resources at the Petišovci gas field in the north-east of Slovenia, the company said.

WEDNESDAY, 3 June

        LJUBLJANA - Italy opened its borders to all EU citizens, and Austria announced the opening of its borders for 4 June, decisions that mean Slovenians are now allowed to travel to all neighbouring countries. Slovenia welcomed the development.
        LJUBLJANA - After a significant uptick in joblessness in March and April due to the Covid-19 crisis, the trend slowed down in May, as the jobless total was up by only 2% on the monthly level to 90,415. Compared to May 2019, the figure was meanwhile up by 18,403 or 25.6%, the Employment Service said.
        LOŠKA DOLINA - Defence Minister Matej Tonin set out a plan to invest EUR 780 million in defence over the next six years as he joined President Borut Pahor for the viewing of a military exercise dubbed Leap 2020 in Babno Polje in the south of the country.
        LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Justice Committee endorsed changes to the penal code, raising the penalties for migrant smugglers and those involved in illegal migration. The penalty for migrant smugglers would thus increase from five years to three to ten years in prison.
        LJUBLJANA - The Statistics Council asked the Constitutional Court to review the controversial dismissal of Bojan Nastav as the general director of the national Statistics Office. Nastav was dismissed under the public sector employees act, but some jurists believe this is unlawful since the Statistics Office is governed by a special act.
        LJUBLJANA - The four centre-left opposition parties urged Milan Krek to resign as director of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) after he failed to provide an answer at a government press briefing as to whether face masks are mandatory at shopping malls. The parties also urged action from Health Minister Tomaž Gantar.

THURSDAY, 4 June
        LJUBLJANA - The government put Austria on a list of countries whose citizens are free to enter Slovenia without restrictions from midnight, a move that comes after Austria opened its borders for all neighbours bar Italy. Government coronavirus spokesman Jelko Kacin said the National Institute of Public Health is keeping a close eye on the situation and analysing when restrictions might be lifted.
        LJUBLJANA - Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek confirmed that his State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti is leaving the ministry. Cantarutti intended to leave before the change of government but was willing to stay on until the end of the Covid-19 epidemic, Počivalšek said.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor's entire advisory committee on climate change resigned in protest against Pahor's lack of response to recent legislative measures restricting the involvement of NGOs in environmental assessment and building permits procedures.
        LJUBLJANA - The National Bureau of Investigation conducted house searches in connection to the bankruptcy of the air carrier Adria Airways. Unofficially, police were looking into suspected abuse of office and business fraud.
        LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary foreign policy and EU affairs committees rejected the opposition's criticism of Foreign Minister Anže Logar's disparaging comments on the judiciary that he had attached to Slovenia's report for the European Commission's first annual rule of law report. The coalition majority instead condemned a letter sent to the Commission by the MEPs of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) which accused Logar of promoting the ruling party's views.
        LJUBLJANA - The government appointed former criminal police officer Anton Olaj a new state secretary at the Interior Ministry as on 8 June. Olaj served in the police force from 1981, when he joined a police station in Ljubljana, to 2012, when he finished his police career as Novo Mesto Police Department director.
        LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Composers' Association presented the Kozina Award for 2020 to Bor Turel, one of the pioneers of electroacoustic and experimental music in Slovenia. Turel was honoured for his all-round oeuvre of electroacoustic music.
        LJUBLJANA - Ding Dong Zgodbe (Ding Dong Stories) by Jana Bauer, illustrated by Bojana Dimitrovski, has won the Desetnica Prize for the best children's and youth book of the last three years. The book was published in 2018.

All our posts in this series are here

05 Jun 2020, 14:25 PM

More Companies Announce Layoffs Due to Lockdown

RTV Slovenia, the national broadcaster, reports that Rogaška Crystal, Fraport (Ljubljana International Airport) and Hoedlmayr Logistics (based in Logatec) have all announced layoffs which will occur in the near future.

Rogaška Crystal (Steklarna Rogaška), which was facing a lack of orders even before the crisis and mostly relies on exports to the United States, where the industry has been hit severely by the recent events of social unrest, first announced that 200 workers would lose their jobs, but managed to reduce the number to 138 layoffs. Eighty-one of its workers will lose their jobs by the end of this week, and 56 will have to leave the company in September.

Job losses have also been announced in Fraport (Ljubljana International Airport), which is expected to lay off 120 people, which amounts to around a quarter of all of the airport’s employees, according to unofficial information.

Since cars sales almost completely halted during the lockdown, Hoedlmayr Logistics, a car transportation company, also announced plans to lay off 113 of their 166 employees. Most of these are foreign workers, with just 22 Slovenian citizens.

Already in April Hisense, the Chinese owner of Gorenje, a major European manufacturer of home appliances with its main production facility located in Velenje, announced that about 1,000 of its staff would lose their jobs. Later on in May, Revoz, the Renault subsidiary located in Novo mesto, also announced layoffs for 400 of its workers.

Data from the Employment Service of Slovenia suggest that about 13,000 people lost their jobs during coronavirus shutdown, with the number of people currently looking for employment standing at about 90,000.

The lowest number of registered unemployed in Slovenia since 2004 was 59,303 job seekers in September 2008, and the highest 129,843 job seekers in January 2014, according to the Statistics Office database.

05 Jun 2020, 13:29 PM

Study Shows Slovenia’s Cultural, Creative Sector Employs 7% of Workforce

STA, 5 June 2020 - The first comprehensive national analysis of the culture and creative sector was presented in Ljubljana on Thursday, showing the industry employs almost 52,000 workers or 7% of Slovenia's workforce, and generates almost 3% of GDP. The study is to help culture stakeholders to plan new policies.

The analysis had been commissioned by Centre for Creativity at the Museum of Architecture and Design from Ljubljana's Institute for Economic Research.

It shows that in 2017, the industry generated almost EUR 3 billion in sales revenue or 2.7% of Slovenia's GDP, more than for instance the chemical industry.

It also shows the sector is comparable to the EU's - it generates 3.5% of gross value added (3.9% in the EU) and 8.4% of all Slovenian companies come from it (8.3%).

The researchers agree that the analysis clearly shows the significance and development potential of the culture and creative sector.

But in order to boost it, understaffing, lack of skills and financial instability will have to be addressed and a support systems for internationalisation set up.

Although well developed, the sector faces similar problems like elsewhere in Europe: it is fragmented, lacks investment, and operates at the level of micro companies and the self-employed.

State Secretary at the Culture Ministry Ignacija Fridl Jarc said this was the first national study which showed the value of the sector and its significance.

It moreover helps reflect on its potential, thus putting its creators and companies on an equal footing with employees in other sectors, she noted.

Fridl Jarc is confident that the analysis will serve as a basis for further studies as well as for recommendations for policies in the field.

The analysis had studied over 35,200 individuals working in creative jobs and almost 24,100 registered organisational units in the sector.

Nika Murovec, one of its three authors, said the analysis was a great challenge because data that had to be collected and analysed is very heterogeneous.

The sector is very diversified, ranging from extremes such as art which is hard to survive on the market without support to software development and video games as a pure profit-making segment, she added.

05 Jun 2020, 13:20 PM

Slovenian Football Restarts Today

STA, 5 June 2020 - The national football championship will resume on Friday after being on hold for almost three months due to the coronavirus outbreak, albeit without spectators. All first league players have tested negative for Covid-19 and are ready to go, but it is expected that they will need a game or two to return to top form.

Entering the pitch first today will be players of Aluminij and Mura, and this match will be followed by a Celje-Rudar encounter in the evening.

The national championship was halted in mid-March after 25 out of the 36 scheduled matches played. Olimpija Ljubljana leads the standings with 50 points, ahead of Celje and Aluminij (45 each). The defending champions Maribor are fourth at 43 points.

Olimpija's Ante Vukušić, who is tied at the top of the scorer standings this season, has told the STA that the team is getting back in shape and that it would need a game or two to get to the top of its game.

The Croatian believes that Celje is the top contender for the title. "They have played well, and the coach has constructed the team very well. They are difficult to play," he said, adding that the other competitors were close as well.

"Maribor has gotten an injection of fresh blood with the new coach and director of football and will be very motivated. But all is up to us and I think there will be no major problems," Vukušić believes.

"We have shown the most so far. We have the best starting line-up in the country. I don't underestimate anyone but we know that we have the quality to win it all," he added.

The schedule is complete and matches in the first league are expected to conclude on 22 July, followed by the play-off matches for the survival in the elite division and/or advancement from the second division.

The national cup competition will resume next week. The cup semi-finals will be played on 9 and 10 June, and the final on 24 June, all of them on the neutral pitch of the National Football Centre in Brdo pri Kranju, also without spectators.

The second league for men and the first league for women had been ended in mid-May.

To be promoted from the second league is Koper, the club which topped the standings before the epidemic. The second-placed Gorica will enter play-offs with the club which finishes ninth in the premier league.

The women's premier league ended without the official champion declared. The decision on which club will represent Slovenia in European competitions in the next season will be based on past results.

05 Jun 2020, 08:42 AM

Slovenia Implemented 2/3 of GRECO Anti-Corruption Recommendations, None Related to MPs

STA, 4 June 2020 - Slovenia has implemented two thirds of GRECO's recommendations pertaining to preventing corruption among MPs, judges and prosecutors, which puts it among the top ten countries in terms of implementation, shows a report released by the Council of Europe's (CoE) Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).

GRECO's annual report for 2019 says that by 31 December, Slovenia fully implemented 14 out of a total of 21 recommendations made by the CoE's anti-corruption body.

Another five were partly implemented and two were not.

As a result, Slovenia emerged one of the 14 countries covered by the report which did not implement all GRECO recommendations by the end of 2019.

The report, released on Wednesday, also shows that only Finland and Norway implemented all GRECO recommendations for MPs, judges and prosecutors.

Slovenia was among the countries which implemented the greatest share of recommendations for prosecutors - 89%.

While Finland, Norway and Sweden fully implemented all recommendations for judges, Slovenia's share in this segment amounted to 75%.

However, Slovenia was one of the 14 countries which did not fully implement a single recommendation for prevention of corruption among MPs.

The country which had received the largest number of recommendations from GRECO was Turkey (37), followed by Greece and North Macedonia (each 25).

Faring slightly better than Slovenia had been Austria (20) as well as Belgium, Bulgaria and Estonia (each 19).

05 Jun 2020, 08:39 AM

House Searches in Kranj, Ljubljana Over Adria Airways Bankruptcy, Suspicious Transactions

STA, 4 June 2020 - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is conducting house searches in the Kranj and Ljubljana areas over suspicion of abuse of office or rights in business, with the news portal 24ur reporting that these are related to the bankruptcy of the air carrier Adria Airways.

The website of the commercial broadcaster POP TV noted on Thursday that, as Adria Airways was about to go bust in late 2019, there were suspicions of wrongdoings and lack of transparency in the company's management and operations.

It was reported by the newspaper Delo in February that the police were investigating suspicion of abuse of office and business fraud, adding that some 5,000 US dollars had also gone missing from the company's safe.

According to 24ur, official Adria Airways receiver Janez Pustatičnik has confirmed that the house searches are being carried out at the company's headquarters.

The General Police Administration told the STA today that NBI investigators were visiting residential, commercial and other premises in the areas of Kranj and Ljubljana in the ownership of one legal entity and two individuals.

Two house searches are still under way and one has been concluded. Pre-trial investigation is being conducted against two foreign individuals.

Already in March, Pustatičnik hired an audit firm to analyse the company's documentation looking for evidence of potential misdeeds by the company's previous owners and management.

He said at the time that focus would be on collecting evidence of potential liability of the former management and detecting "avoidable actions" that may have resulted in asset stripping.

The spotlight will be on the German turnaround fund 4K Invest, which bought the company from the state in 2016 and oversaw a series of business decisions that led to the company's bankruptcy.

According to 24ur, the suspicious dealings include transactions to tax havens worth millions of euros, and conducting business through Malta.

An investigative portal has reported, however, that the group of companies around 4K Invest has been liquidated, with all traces of their transactions, many to tax havens, erased from the public domain.

All our stories on Adria Airways

05 Jun 2020, 04:31 AM

Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Friday, 5 June 2020

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:

Austrian citizens may enter Slovenia without restrictions from Friday

LJUBLJANA - The government put Austria on a list of countries whose citizens are free to enter Slovenia without restrictions from midnight, a move that comes after Austria opened its borders for all neighbours bar Italy. Government coronavirus spokesman Jelko Kacin said the National Institute of Public Health is keeping a close eye on the situation and analysing when restrictions might be lifted. He indicated more would be clear when Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio visits on Saturday.

Economy minister's right-hand man resigns

LJUBLJANA - Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek confirmed that his right man Aleš Cantarutti is leaving the ministry. Cantarutti intended to leave the post of state secretary before the change of government but was willing to stay on until the end of the Covid-19 epidemic, Počivalšek said, adding he had decided to return to the corporate sector a while ago. Media had speculated that Cantarutti was leaving over alleged irregularities in the procurement of supplies to fight Covid-19 outbreak.

House searches under way over Adria Airways bankruptcy

LJUBLJANA - The National Bureau of Investigation unofficially conducted house searches in connection to the bankruptcy of the air carrier Adria Airways. The news portal 24ur reported that Adria Airways receiver Janez Pustatičnik had confirmed investigators were searching the company's headquarters. Unofficially, police are looking into suspected abuse of office and business fraud. The company had been owned by German 4K Invest fund before going into receivership in October 2019.

No new coronavirus infections recorded

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia has recorded no new coronavirus cases among 828 tests carried out yesterday, fresh data from the government show. Five Covid-19 patients remain in hospital, none of them requiring intensive treatment. The total number of Sars-Cov-2 cases so far confirmed in the country remains at 1,477, but only five cases remain active. The death toll remains at 109.

President's climate change committee resigns over NGOs developments

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor's entire advisory committee on climate change resigned in protest against Pahor's lack of response to recent legislative measures restricting the involvement of NGOs in environmental assessment and building permits procedures. "We had expected he would intervene to at least preserve the status NGOs had before the emergency legislation," said geographer Dušan Plut.

Minority looking forward to return of Trieste National Hall

TRIESTE, Italy - As Italy is expected to symbolically return National Hall in Trieste to the Slovenian minority a hundred years since the then commercial and cultural hub of the Slovenian community in the city was burnt down by the Fascists, ethic Slovenians see the move as a symbolic act of reconciliation and a correction of history. Narodni Dom represents the lungs of the Slovenian community, Council of Slovenian Organisations (SSO) head Walter Bandelj told the STA.

Committees reject criticism of Logar's rule-of-law letter

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary committees on foreign policy and EU affairs rejected the left-leaning opposition's criticism of Foreign Minister Anže Logar's disparaging comments on the judiciary that he attached to Slovenia's report for the European Commission's first annual rule of law report. After more than ten hours of debate, the coalition majority instead condemned a letter sent to the Commission by the MEPs of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) which accused Logar of promoting the ruling party's views.

Olaj new state secretary at Interior Ministry

LJUBLJANA - The government appointed former criminal police officer Anton Olaj a new state secretary at the Interior Ministry as on 8 June. Olaj served in the police force from 1981, when he joined a police station in Ljubljana, to 2012, when he finished his police career as Novo Mesto Police Department director. He will succeed Franc Breznik, who resigned in April due to speeding and drunk driving.

Slovenia implemented two-thirds of GRECO recommendations

STRASBOURG, France - Slovenia has implemented two thirds of GRECO's recommendations pertaining to preventing corruption among MPs, judges and prosecutors, which puts it among the top ten countries in terms of implementation, shows a report released by the Council of Europe's (CoE) Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) for 2019. However, Slovenia was one of the 14 countries which did not fully implement a single recommendation for prevention of corruption among MPs.

Court of Audit unhappy with regional development management

LJUBLJANA - The Court of Audit found Slovenia's regional development management only partly effective in an audit that included the government, the Economy Ministry and six municipalities in the period between 2014 and 2017. It found that the government failed to define goals and provide concrete guidelines, and failed to establish a comprehensive overview system for reporting on individual issues of regional development. The court issued recommendations on how to amend the situation.

Slovenia seeks balance between transport safety, business sense

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia called for a balance between safety and commercial viability for transport companies as EU ministers in charge of transport debated how to kick-start the transport sector after the coronavirus epidemic. There was agreement about the need to find a compromise solution that would ensure passenger safety and give transport companies a sustainable business model, said Infrastructure Ministry State Secretary Aleš Mihelič.

Fraport Slovenija to slash workforce due to Covid-19

BRNIK - Ljubljana airport operator Fraport Slovenija plans to cut staff due to a substantial decline in revenue. Negotiations between the management and in-house trade union will start next week. Faced with large-scale redundancies, the union hopes for solutions and government aid. According to unofficial information, the operator plans to reduce its workforce by 120 - as much as a quarter of the entire staff of 475.

Magna paint shop workers still on furlough

MARIBOR - The majority of just over 200 staff at the Magna Steyr car paint shop near Maribor remain on furlough until the end of June, just as the Environment Agency has started processing the company's application for an environment permit for an extension of the investment, two years since it was filed, the newspaper Večer reported. The exiting facility paints cars assembled in the Magna plant in Graz, Austria, which reportedly produces only a minimal number of cars at the moment.

Hit opening casinos on Austrian border

NOVA GORICA - Gaming company Hit announced that it will open its casinos on the Austrian border on Saturday. The decision, coming as most restrictions for tourism services have been lifted and as Austria is fully opening its border with Slovenia, means Hit's Mond casino and hotel in Šentilj, as well as its Korona and Casino Larix units in Kranjska Gora will open for business again. Its casinos on the Italian border will remain closed for now.

Luka Koper signs construction contracts for container pier extension

KOPER - Port operator Luka Koper and construction company Kolektor Koling signed a building contract for the extension of the Koper port's first pier, a project worth EUR 45.6 million. The first phase entails the pier extension by 98.5 metres in length and 34.4 metres in width and is to be completed by March 2021. The second phase entails the construction of 24,830 square metres of storage area on the south side of the pier is to be finished in early 2022.

Elektro Ljubljana happy with 2019 operations despite drop in profit

LJUBLJANA - Elektro Ljubljana, the largest of the five companies managing Slovenia's electricity distribution network, generated EUR 13.9 million in net profit in 2019, a 18% drop on 2018 that the company also attributes to divestment of non-core assets. Elektro Ljubljana spent almost EUR 40 million on investment, a record in the last ten years. CEO Andrej Ribič said he was happy with the investment executed.

Slovenian cities vying to join 100 Intelligent Cities

CELJE - A consortium of eleven Slovenian cities has applied for an open call for the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge, a programme funded by the European Commission. The initiative aims to set up a network of 100 innovative and smart cities that could help develop new technologies and sustainable strategies. The group comprises Celje, Ljubljana, Maribor, Kranj, Koper, Nova Gorica, Novo Mesto, Ptuj, Slovenj Gradec, Velenje and Murska Sobota.

Comprehensive culture study reveals sector's significance

LJUBLJANA - The first comprehensive national analysis of the culture and creative sector showed the industry employs almost 72,000 workers or 7% of Slovenia's workforce, and generates almost 3% of GDP, more than the chemical industry, for instance. The study is to help culture stakeholders to plan new policies. The analysis had been commissioned by Centre for Creativity at the Museum of Architecture and Design from Ljubljana's Institute for Economic Research.

Bor Turel honoured with composers' award

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Composers' Association presented the Kozina Award for 2020 to Bor Turel, one of the pioneers of electroacoustic and experimental music in Slovenia. Turel was honoured for his all-round oeuvre of electroacoustic music, including electroacoustic compositions, radiophonic musical pieces and ars acustica pieces. His compositions have been performed at major international contemporary music festivals, including those in Paris and Cologne.

Ding Dong Stories declared best children's book

LJUBLJANA - Ding Dong Zgodbe (Ding Dong Stories) by Jana Bauer, illustrated by Bojana Dimitrovski, has won the Desetnica Prize for the best children's and youth book of the last three years. Published in 2018, the six short stories bring adventures of a little girl hidden behind blue doors and a boy peaking behind red doors. The transition from reality into a fantasy world is always marked by a door bell.

Top footballers all given clean bill of health

LJUBLJANA - A day before the Telekom Slovenije League football championship matches resume, the Slovenian Football Association (NZS) announced that all players had been given a clean bill of health after being tested for Covid-19. Players and staff from ten first-division teams as well as referees were swabbed on Wednesday, with all tests coming back negative.

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

04 Jun 2020, 18:01 PM

Only 5 Active Covid Cases in Slovenia, Austrians Free to Enter from Midnight

STA, 4 June 2020 - Slovenia has recorded no new coronavirus cases among 828 tests carried out yesterday, fresh data from the government show. Only five cases of infection remain active in the country.

Five Covid-19 patients remain in hospital, none of them requiring intensive treatment.

The total number of Sars-Cov-2 cases so far confirmed in the country remains at 1,477. The death toll remains at 109.

The country has so far conducted 81,333 tests for Sars-Cov-2.

STA, 4 June 2020 - The government has put Austria on a list of countries whose citizens are free to enter Slovenia without restrictions from midnight, a move that comes after Austria opened its borders for all neighbours bar Italy, government coronavirus spokesman Jelko Kacin announced on Thursday.

This leaves Italy as the only neighbouring country whose citizens are still subject to travel restrictions in Slovenia. Kacin said the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) is keeping a close eye on the situation and analysing when restrictions might be lifted.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio is scheduled to pay a visit to Slovenia on Saturday and Kacin indicated it should be clear by then when the restrictions might be lifted for Italian citizens as well.

Croatia was the first to be put on the list of countries whose citizens may enter Slovenia without any restrictions, on 19 May, followed by Hungary at the end of May, both based on bilateral agreements between foreign ministries.

Such bilateral agreements are in lieu of an EU-wide agreement on the reopening of borders after the coronavirus epidemic.

According to current rules, other EU and Schengen zone citizens may enter Slovenia without restrictions only if they fall into one of 17 categories of exemptions, such as tourism, ownership of property, some kinds of business or to visit relatives, in all other cases they must submit to a 14-day quarantine.

Similar measures are in place for third-country nationals, but for them the list of exemptions is much narrower.

Kacin said Slovenia was currently in the process of analysing which countries in the region, in particular in South-East Europe, as well as more distant countries may be placed on the list. The decision will be based on analyses of the epidemiological situation in each individual country.

04 Jun 2020, 16:01 PM

Agencies Launched to Bring Greater Transparency, Ethics & Competence to Slovenian Art Market

STA, 4 June 20202 - The Slovenian art market could be in for an overhaul, as two private agencies have been founded to improve transparency in what is often an opaque field, where the majority of all are sales happen on the black or grey market.

Damjan Kosec founded a commercial gallery focusing on Slovenian contemporary fine art called SLOART at the end of September 2019. He told the STA at the time the gallery aimed to encourage the creation of an art market in Slovenia "based on transparency, ethics and competence".

But soon it became clear that more effort will be needed to make deals transparent, so he decided to found two private agencies. ARTSTAR will deal with certification and appraisals, and ARTINDEX will explore the art market and provide access to the prices fetched by Slovenian art pieces.

Kosec told the press on Thursday the art market in Slovenia was beset by anomalies because of its history and in particular because the ministries of finance and culture saw no interest in regulation.

By publishing the prices fetched by works by Slovenian artists, ARTINDEX will restore transparency on the market, and encourage or even force artists to issue invoices.

"If somebody does not issue invoices [for the work they sell], they will have no registered sales. At the moment this is not a problem, but in two or three years collectors will also start paying attention to how much an artist sells," Kosec explained.

In the future, the agency will be compiling annual rankings of the 100 most important Slovenian artists.

Another big problem of the Slovenian art market is forgery. Kosec pointed to rumours and cases when someone has bought a forged art piece, which created distrust among collectors.

Often the problem is also that appraisals diverge substantially. This is why the ARTSTAR agency was founded, where a four-member team of art historians, critics and appraisers, and a group of experts in art and materials will be setting the prices, acting independently.

Kosec hopes the two agencies will help set up an art market in Slovenia that will be comparable to art markets in other countries.

Other galleries do not seem to be open to this project though, with Kosec noting that they had all created their own micro markets, clients and prices. But he hopes they will be drawn to his project eventually or even be forced to join in.

Kosec's main goal is to set up a market for living authors, as this is where the bulk of grey economy takes place.

State regulations and bad laws are forcing artists to resort to grey economy, Kosec said, noting that through taxes and contributions the state took up to 56% of the money a young or retired artists received for an art piece, and the remaining 44% were split between the artist and the gallery.

Moreover, there is a ceiling for earnings of artists whose contributions are paid by the state as a form of aid, so when artists come close to reaching this ceiling with their earnings, special fees or financial prizes, they stop issuing invoices for fear of losing state support.

04 Jun 2020, 13:16 PM

Trieste National Hall Returns to Slovene Ownership 100 Yrs after Fascist Arson (Background)

National Hall back into Slovenian hands 100 years after Fascist arson

Slovenian minority sees Narodni Dom restitution as important gesture

Historians say authorities failed to react to National Hall arson

National Hall back into Slovenian hands 100 years after Fascist arson

STA, 4 June 2020 - One hundred years since National Hall in Trieste was burnt down by Fascists, Italy is expected to give this former state-of-the-art commercial and cultural centre of Slovenians in Italy back to the Slovenian ethnic minority. The symbolic gesture could bring about the much needed reconciliation between the minority and majority populations.

Narodni Dom, as is called in Slovenian, epitomised the economic and political power of Slovenians in Italy, which accounted for around 25% of Trieste population before WWI.

Its torching on 13 July 1920 symbolises the onset of Fascist violence against Slovenians. A pivotal report on Slovenian-Italian relations in 1880-1956, which was released in 2000 but has not been published in Italy to date, says the arson "publicly heralded the long-lasting violence against Slovenians".

The multi-purpose centre was launched in 1904 featuring a bank, a hotel, a library, a 400-seat theatre, a sports hall, a music school, a print shop and the newspaper Edinost, several associations, restaurants and bars as well as flats.

Prosperous Slovenian politicians and businessmen from Trieste, who were behind the idea to build such a unique centre unknown of in Europe or the US at the time, selected Maks Fabiani, one the finest architects in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to design it.

After it was burnt down, the centre was repaired and turned into Regina Hotel, which was closed soon after WWII and bought by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region to be later given to the University of Trieste.

Although the Slovenian minority had wanted to have National Hall returned ever since the end of WWII, it was not until 2001 that Italy committed to returning it in an umbrella law to safeguard the minority.

The centre, now valued at over nine million euro, should have become available to Slovenian and Italian cultural and scientific organisations within five years since the passage of the law, so the delay prompted the Slovenian and Italian foreign ministers, Karl Erjavec and Angelino Alfano, to sign a deal in 2017 to speed up its renovation and return.

What sparked the attack on National Hall was an incident involving a Yugoslav flag in Split, a port in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where two Italian seamen died a day earlier in a clash with locals.

Thousands of protesters that gathered in Trieste on 13 July demanded revenge for the two victims, urging the authorities to hunt down the "dangerous" Yugoslavs, writes historian Milica Kacin-Wohinz in her book Slovenians in Primorska Region under Italian Occupation in 1918-1921, which is also available in Italian.

An innocent man died at the rally, with the Fascists claiming he had been killed by Slovenians, which fuelled the irate crowd to march towards National Hall.

The centre was closed and guarded by over 400 men, including soldiers, by the time the crowed arrived, as the Italian authorities had anticipated it could become a target of attacks.

When several shots were fired from Balkan Hotel within the centre and two grenades were lobbed from it, the soldiers there to protect National Hall turned the fire towards the hotel, which prompted the protesters to break in, douse the centre with petrol and set it on fire. They also prevented firefighters from putting the fire out, so it was in ruins by the next day.

The arson was followed by the protesters raging around the city attacking several other Slavic institutions, including the office and flat of the representative of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later became known as the Trieste Kristallnacht.

The turmoil worsened the political situation in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, fuelling ethnic hatred, which the Fascists harnessed as they were rising to power. When the Fascist regime came to power in October 1922, ethnic minorities became a target of heavy assimilation pressure.

Slovenians were first deprived of the right to their mother tongue, which was followed by the closure of Slovenians schools and other institutions, by political persecution, confiscation of property and deportations.

This led to young Slovenian patriots getting organised within the TIGR organisation in 1927, around a decade after Trieste as well as a large chunk of lands populated by Slovenians became part of Italy following the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the end of WWI.

When Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rapallo in November 1920 setting the border after WWI, around 500,000 Slovenians and Croats came under Italy.

And although Trieste and a large area populated by Slovenians was also assigned to Italy after WWII, Trieste has remained a political, economic and cultural centre of the Slovenian minority to this day, although relations between the minority and Italy have never been fully tension-free.

It is estimated that some 80,000 ethnic Slovenians live in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, an area where Slovenians have been present from the 13th century according to historical records.

Writer Boris Pahor, at the age of 106 still a vocal advocate of Slovenian minority rights from Trieste, witnessed how National Hall was burnt down.

He told the STA that for him as a seven-year old and for Slovenians in Trieste the arson "meant the end of the world". He described the incident in two of his works, including the 1972 novel Trg Oberdan (Oberdan Square).

Pahor has taken this opportunity to once again urge Italy to publish the 2000 report on Slovenian-Italian relations, which was compiled by historians from both countries. "The report is still locked in Rome, it has never come to schools," said Pahor, who believes there is still a great risk of Fascism reappearing.

Slovenian minority sees Narodni Dom restitution as important gesture (feature)

STA, 4 June 2020 - The Slovenian minority in Italy see the planned returning of Narodni Dom (National Hall) to the minority on the 100th anniversary of its arson as a symbolic act of reconciliation and a correction of history. Narodni Dom represents the lungs of the Slovenian community, Council of Slovenian Organisations (SSO) head Walter Bandelj has told the STA.

"The restitution of National Hall would be a huge gesture for the minority, a rectification of history," said Bandelj.

He sees the building designed as a Slovenian cultural centre as the "lungs of Slovenian identity", which is why it is important that it is returned to Slovenians. The building is in the centre of Trieste, which highlights the role Slovenians have had in the city, he said.

According to Italian Senator Tatjana Rojc, a member of the Slovenian minority, National Hall was a symbol of the economic and cultural rise of the Slovenian middle class in Trieste.

It was to show that Slovenians are not only the proletariat in Trieste as some still think today, that they are not just port workers, maids and laundresses, but also people who are successful in business and culture, she said.

Igor Gabrovec, an ethic Slovenian who is member of the regional legislative assembly of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy, believes that by building it, Slovenians had proven to Trieste and especially themselves that they were economically and politically successful, "which is why the attack on National Hall was a shot through the heart of the Slovenian community and the idea of pan-Slavic unity".

The restitution of National Hall would be a "symbolic act of reconciliation which we all justifiably expect a hundred years after the arson of this building on 13 July 1920," said Ksenija Dobrila, the head of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Union (SKGZ). "It would be a confirmation that we are full-fledged members of this space."

Italian Ambassador to Slovenia Carlo Campanile agrees that Italy would thus send a future-oriented message. "It will be an invitation to cooperation, a message that we wish to grow and develop together in the spirit of friendship and cooperation while dealing with our common problems and challenges".

Yet whether or not Italy will indeed transfer the ownership of the building to the minority organisations on 13 July, when the presidents of the two countries, Borut Pahor and Sergio Mattarella, are expected to meet to mark the anniversary of the arson, is not certain yet.

The ambassador did not exclude this possibility although noting that the Covid-19 epidemic had affected all proceedings in Italy lately. "Of course this must not be an excuse. It's a path we've started and I hope it will be concluded as soon as possible. There's a will for this to happen on both sides," he said.

Italy committed to returning the building to Slovenians in the 2001 act protecting the Slovenian minority. The law said the building, which was rebuilt between 1988 and 1990, and now houses the headquarters of the college of modern languages for interpreters and translators, part of the University of Trieste, as well as a Slovenian information centre, should be returned within five years.

Since nothing would happen over the next 16 years, the then foreign ministers, Karl Erjavec and Italy's Angelino Alfano, reached an agreement in 2017, reaffirming Italy's commitment and set the end of 2020 as the final deadline for the return.

The process got an additional boost with talks between Pahor and Mattarella, who expressed the wish to meet in Trieste on 13 July and reach an agreement on the restitution.

"A few more steps are needed before minority organisations move to National Hall, but the outlook is very good," assessed Slovenian Consul General in Trieste Vojko Volk.

He sees this as "the biggest event for the Slovenian minority in Italy since independence if not of this century".

Bandelj said the minority was hoping that at least an agreement on ownership would be activated before 13 July, which would say that "we will become owners in two to three years".

He said it was understandable that the University of Trieste needed some time to move its college out the building. A reasonable deadline would be set, he noted.

Bandelj said the minority was financially capable of owning the building. "We have organised to have all institutions that would operate in the building after it is returned to Slovenians pay rent so no extra costs would emerge."

Dobrila stressed an agreement on ownership was important for the organisations to have the freedom to develop the concept of the building, and to restore the "original idea of our ancestors and create heritage for the generations to come".

She envisions the building as a centre of all communities in Trieste, dedicated to art, culture and research.

Both Dobrila and Bandelj deem the planned visit of the two countries' presidents on 13 July a far-sighted sign of peace, harmony and coexistence. A ceremony with 150-200 participants at the opera house, which was planned for the anniversary, was postponed for a year because of coronavirus.

Historians say authorities failed to react to National Hall arson (feature)

STA, 4 June 2020 - A hundred years ago, the Italian state authorities allowed the torching of Narodni Dom (National Hall) in Trieste by not punishing anybody for the crime and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was too weak to react, historian Borut Klabjan has told the STA. Italian historian Raoul Pupo said investigating the matter did not suit the Fascists.

Before the First World War, Trieste was a global, multicultural, multi-ethnic city that attracted people from all over the world who wanted to benefit from its prosperity and rapid growth, said Klabjan of the Institute for History Studies at the Koper Science and Research Centre.

"Trieste before the First World War was definitely the city with the highest share of Slovenians. Back then, Trieste had 220,000 to 230,000 people, and a quarter, perhaps even a third of them, were Slovenians. Ljubljana had 50,000 people at the time, more than half of them Slovenians. Trieste was in fact the largest Slovenian city."

The war cut into this flourishing city, and when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart, Italy occupied the area. Its plan was homogenisation of the territory and it did not recognise others on it - neither Germans in the north nor Slovenians and Croats in the east.

Tensions built up soon, which led to the arson of the National Hall, a Slovenian commercial and cultural centre, on 13 July 1920.

According to Pupo, the multicultural and cosmopolitan character of Trieste was a heritage of the pre-national period of the city's history in which collective identities were not formed based on people's origin or their mother tongue but based on their faith, loyalty to institutions etc.

But in the second half of the 19th century, a process of parallel competitive nationalisation of language groups, which was typical of the Hapsburg monarchy, started in Trieste as well, undermining the spirit of tolerance.

"National movements have very different sources of inspiration, as the Italian national movement copied the French model of voluntary nation, while the Slovenian national movement followed the example of the German ethicist concept.

"Both shared the desire to have exclusive power over a territory, which should be achieved using any means available," said Pupo, a lecturer at the University in Trieste.

"The arson was not an act by an Italian state institution but the attitude of the state institutions was what had allowed it to happen," said Klabjan, who is working on a monograph about the events that happened on 13 July 1920 together with his colleague Gorazd Bajc.

The attack on National Hall was the first by Fascists, the largest and not nearly the only one. "Given that the reaction of the authorities was such that they blamed Slovenians for provoking Italians, and not reconciling themselves to the fact that the area became Italian, this attitude of the authorities that did not punish anyone for the arson, gave wings to the movement."

In a matter of months, the movement brought together the majority of the extremists who were involved in the arson and the Fascist movement began. After National Hall, they targeted other property of Slovenians and political opponents, especially socialists, communists and republicans, who wanted to stand up to Fascist violence.

The leader of the Fascists was Francesco Giunta, who came to Trieste in the spring of 1920, when the situation was perfect for developing Fascist ideas, a mix of nationalist claims in relation to the then ongoing Paris Peace conference, and political pressure, Klabjan said.

Neither he nor others who took part in the National Hall arson were punished because the authorities found them useful and wanted to use them to crush socialists, communists, Slovenians and Croats.

The young Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians (SHS) also failed to respond, presumably "to keep a low profile in relation to Italy", Klabjan said, noting that he was still investigating this aspect.

The SHS was afraid to anger Italy, with which it needed to reach an agreement on the borders as soon as possible, so "in relation to Italy it was the weaker partner". It did not have a lot of room to manoeuvre either bilaterally or multilaterally.

Evidence suggests the SHS did not respond to the National Hall arson but only to the subsequent attack on an office of a delegation of the SHS.

The latter was also what triggered a reaction from foreign consuls in Trieste. The British, French, Czechoslovak and American consuls thought about taking steps but failed to do so in the end, partly because the SHS did not react.

But documents show that representatives of other countries blamed the Italian authorities for not preventing the havoc in the city, Klabjan said.

Pupo, a member of the Slovenian-Italian historic and cultural commission which drew up a report on the relations between the two nations from the late 19th century until after the Second World War a few years ago, believes nobody was ever punished for National Hall arson because this did not suit the Fascists or state institutions, "which already covered for them".

"It was not good to investigate details which could potentially undermine the official reconstruction of events drawn up by civil commissioner Mosconi.

"There are still so many opaque aspects to the whole incident that many things remain unclear to this day: who stabbed two persons in Piazza Grande, of whom one later died? Who dropped a bomb or bombs? Who shot? Who knows ..."

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