STA, 11 April 2020 - President Borut Pahor intends to end his political career after his term ends in 2022, he told the Saturday edition of the newspaper Dnevnik in an interview in which he talked about the ongoing health crisis. He also talked about his cooperation with PM Janez Janša, saying they try to act in unison and keep disagreements out of the public eye.

In the interview he praised people for respecting the strict measures that have been put into place. He said he was not afraid of getting infected and said he would self-isolate and work from home if that were to happen.

In case his health deteriorated to the point that he were unable to do his job, the speaker of the National Assembly would take over, Pahor said.

He is mostly supportive of the measures imposed by the government, saying that politicians had to make arbitrary decisions without reliable scientific grounds. "That's what politics is for!" he said, adding however that nobody can be envious of the government's responsibility.

He said that his cooperation is based in his philosophy of what it means to be the president of a country. "I am not here to praise the government, nor to criticise it or hand out instructions. I am in this position to cooperate with the government," he said.

"There are things I would not have said, but the prime minister is in a demanding situation and this must be taken into account when we demand more patience from him," Pahor said. He added that the conversations he had with the prime minister do not indicate that Janša wants to use the situation to expand the government's powers.

Pahor also believes that the situation is not such to demand Slovenia to follow the measures adopted in Hungary, where the parliament handed all the power to the prime minster. Pahor believes that Slovenia is proof that lives can be saved in a democratic way.

He is worried about the social, economic and likely political crises that are to follow the corona crisis. "We will likely find ourselves in a global depression."

"There will be social unrest that will have to be regulated smartly. It will be very important for everybody in political authority to show a great measure of patience despite criticism and ugly words. One will have to just swallow it. People will find themselves in distress, they will say things and we will have to understand it."

"As long as we, as people, refrain from violence, those in power will have to be more patient towards the people," the president said. He elaborated by saying he was referring to the protests that followed the 2008 economic crisis.

During the protests, "some resorted to things I believe were not legitimate, including verbal abuse, the latter will also have to be refrained from. Those who do not carry responsibility will be able to afford more, while the rest of us who are in power will have to be careful to avoid it."

Pahor also spoke about the EU, saying that there was a possibility of three crises colliding: health and migrant crises and economic recession. He believes the solution, once again, will be not less but more EU.

The president regretted that the bloc has underestimated the threat of a pandemic, as this strengthens the feeling among people that EU is useless.

Drawing parallels with the 2008 financial crisis when he was prime minister, Pahor said that the concept of borrowing was now based on the premise that this was a temporary crisis, although it is unclear at the moment how long it will last.

"But this will not make the debt any less of a problem. It's a problem of a different sort... It has triggered a very difficult debate in the eurozone for which there is no happy ending in sight, although one will have to be found if we want to preserve the EU and the euro. I think a compromise will be made, one we are not familiar with yet."

He also said that in the previous crisis, Germany and France were more united in efforts to overcome it. "[Angela] Merkel and [Nicolas] Sarkozy were the engine I miss today at the helm of the train," he said of the German chancellor and former French president.

"With that it was easier for Slovenia to see where things were headed and what measures to adopt," Pahor said. However, he does not believe that Slovenia should swap its alliances with Paris and Berlin with the Visegrad Group, even though the country has great friends in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. "Slovenia is a core country of the EU and this must remain so."

When asked whether he feared that Slovenia could end up on the outskirts of the EU because the senior coalition Democratic Party (SDS) is close to the Hungarian Fidesz, Pahor said that he does not express opinions about party affairs, "but I do understand some misgivings that may stretch into distrust. It is not my job to deepen the mistrust, my role is to address it."

STA, 11 April 2020 - Alojz Uran, who served as the Archbishop of Ljubljana between 2004 and 2009, has died at the age of 75, the Slovenian Bishops' Conference announced on Saturday.

Uran was named the Archbishop of Ljubljana in October 2004, succeeding Archbishop Franc Rode, who became the Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

He resigned in November 2009, officially due to health problems, to be succeeded by the coadjutor archbishop of Maribor, Anton Stres.

It became public only later that Uran was instructed by the Holy See to withdraw from public life. Under a decree from the Congregation for Bishops in Rome, he left Slovenia to live and work in Trieste.

He was allowed to return to Slovenia in 2015, where he performed pastoral activities and participated in other activities of the local church. His health deteriorated in recent years and his activities were very limited.

Born in Ljubljana, Uran was ordained to the priesthood in June 1970, at the age of 25. Before being appointed the Archbishop of Ljubljana, he served as Auxiliary Bishop of Ljubljana since 1992.

The Slovenian Bishops' Conference said that due to the coronavirus epidemic, Uran's funeral will be held in family circle in Ljubljana Cathedral. A memorial service will be held at a later date, when the end of the epidemic is declared.

Condolences have already been expressed by Prime Minister Janez Janša and President Borut Pahor.

Janša told Ljubljana Archbishop Stanislav Zore over the phone that with his openness and tireless will, Uran had been an important building element in the Slovenian Catholic Church.

"The Catholic public has lost a dedicated shepherd who acted for the benefit of the Slovenian nation," the prime minister was quoted by the Government Communication Office.

Pahor also expressed his sincere condolences over Uran's death to Archbishop Zore and the Slovenian Bishops' Conference.

Zore said in a video statement published on the website of the Slovenian Bishops' Conference said that Uran had a good and joyful heart, adding that he was thankful for the "gift of Uran's life, spirituality and bishophood."

The Ljubljana archbishop noted that Uran had been very ill and had undergone several surgeries in the last three months, and that he had spent his last days in solitude. "He accepted this as part of his offerings," he added.

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:

Former Ljubljana Archbishop Alojz Uran has died

LJUBLJANA - Alojz Uran, who served as the Archbishop of Ljubljana in 2004-2009, has died at the age of 75, the Slovenian Bishops' Conference announced. Uran was named the Archbishop of Ljubljana in October 2004, succeeding Archbishop Franc Rode, and resigned in November 2009, officially due to health problems, to be succeeded by Anton Stres. It became public only later that Uran was instructed by the Holy See to withdraw from public life. Under a decree from the Congregation for Bishops in Rome, he left Slovenia to live and work in Trieste and returned to the home country in 2015. Prime Minister Janez Janša and President Borut Pahor expressed condolences to Ljubljana Archbishop Stanislav Zore and the Slovenian Bishops' Conference.

Five new Covid-19 deaths confirmed, death toll up to 50

LJUBLJANA - Another five Covid-19 patients died on Friday to bring the death toll related to the coronavirus epidemic to 50. Another 1,232 tests were performed yesterday and 28 new infections confirmed, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 1,188, show the latest government figures. A total of 94 Covid-19 patients were in Slovenian hospitals yesterday, 12 fewer than on Thursday. The number of patients who require intensive care was meanwhile up by one to 37. A total of 11 persons were released from hospital care on Friday, bringing the overall number to 148.

Report: EUR 900m in aid available in second stimulus package

BRDO PRI KRANJU/LJUBLJANA - The government met to discuss guidelines for additional measures to mitigate the effect of the coronavirus epidemic on the economy, with PM Janez Janša announcing that the government had been acquainted with relevant reports and decided to put all measures for securing liquidity of the economy into one package. The measures will start to be prepared after Easter holidays, and the government will be able to discuss it together with amendments to the first package on 20 or 21 April. The public broadcaster TV Slovenija reported on Friday that the package would include EUR 900 million in loans and loan guarantees provided by the SID Banka bank, the Slovenian Enterprise Fund and the Regional Development Fund.

Persons entering Slovenia to be quarantined for a week as of Sunday

LJUBLJANA - Persons entering Slovenia as of Sunday will be subjected to a week-long quarantine at home or at a location agreed with the civil defence, and then tested for the new coronavirus, says a government decree which shortens such quarantine from two weeks. If a person declines to be tested after a seven-day quarantine or if test cannot be performed, the quarantine will be automatically extended for a week. Foreigners who are coming to Slovenia to work will be ordered quarantine at the address stated by the employer, which they will need to prove at the border. Exempt from the measure are cross-border daily and weekly migrant workers and drivers of cargo vehicles, among others.

Survey: High support for govt does not show in party ratings

LJUBLJANA - About a month after being sworn in, the government of Janez Janša enjoys a high public support, but this has not reflected in support to the coalition parties, shows a poll commissioned by the newspaper Delo. In the poll carried out by the pollster Mediana on 6-9 April, more than 43% of the respondents assessed the government's work as positive. This does not reflect in support for the coalition parties, with the ruling Democrats (SDS) remaining in lead, but support for the party has dropped by one percentage point to 18.7%. It is followed by the opposition LMŠ party of the former PM Marjan Šarec, which lost two percentage points to 11.5%, and the opposition Social Democrats (SD), which gained two points on March to 8.7%.

Pahor says his job is to work with govt, he will end political career in 2022

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor has told Dnevnik in an interview that he intends to end his political career after his term ends in 2022. He also talked about the ongoing health crisis and his cooperation with PM Janez Janša, saying they try to act in unison and keep disagreements out of the public eye. In the interview he praised people for respecting the strict measures that have been put into place. He said he was not afraid of getting infected and said he would self-isolate and work from home if that were to happen. As for Janša, Pahor said his cooperation is based in his philosophy of what it means to be the president. "I am not here to praise or criticise the government, but to cooperate with the government," he said.

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

All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian artists. Today it’s Aleksander Sandi. You can see more of his work here.

Contents

Five new Covid-19 deaths confirmed, death toll up to 50

Persons entering Slovenia to be quarantined for a week as of Sunday

Report: EUR 900m in aid available in second stimulus package

If you're curious how some foreigners in Slovenia are experiencing the crisis, you can find a series of stories here

Five new Covid-19 deaths confirmed, death toll up to 50

STA, 11 April 2020 - Another five Covid-19 patients died on Friday to bring the death toll related to the coronavirus epidemic to 50. Another 1,232 tests were performed yesterday and 28 new infections confirmed, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 1,188, show the latest government figures.

A total of 94 Covid-19 patients were in Slovenian hospitals yesterday, 12 fewer than on Thursday. The number of patients who require intensive care was meanwhile up by one to 37.

A total of 11 persons were released from hospital care on Friday, bringing the overall number to 148.

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Persons entering Slovenia to be quarantined for a week as of Sunday

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STA, 11 April 2020 - Persons entering Slovenia as of Sunday will be subjected to a week-long quarantine at home or at a location agreed with the civil defence, and then tested for the new coronavirus, says a government decree which shortens such quarantine from two weeks. Cross-border workers, cargo vehicle drivers and transit passengers will be excluded.

Under the decree, if a person declines to be tested after a seven-day quarantine or if test cannot be performed, the quarantine will be automatically extended for a week.

If the test is negative, the quarantine ends, but the person will need to immediately inform the health authorities about possible Covid-19 symptoms. This also applies for the duration of the quarantine.

If the test is positive, the person will be treated under the standard procedure for such cases. The quarantine will also be extended if the results are not available on the day of the testing, but only until the results are known.

Persons who have permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia will be quarantined at home or, if this is not possible, at a location agreed with the civil defence. They will have to cover the costs of the quarantine.

Persons who do not have permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia will need to provide an address where they will be accommodated and quarantined, otherwise they will not be allowed to enter the country.

Foreigners who are coming to Slovenia to work will be ordered quarantine at the address stated by the employer, which they will need to prove at the border.

Employers will need to provide foreign workers with adequate conditions for the quarantine, as well as with food and security. Their accommodation must meet the recommendations issued by the National Public Health Institute (NIJZ).

Slovenian citizens who state that they are infected or that they have apparent symptoms of Covid-19 upon entering Slovenia will be instructed to immediately contact the health authorities. Foreigners will not be allowed the enter the country in such cases.

The decree does not apply to cross-border daily migrant workers and weekly migrant workers who work in Austria, and for persons attending a funeral of a close relative in a neighbouring country.

Also excluded are drivers of cargo vehicles who transport goods to and from Slovenia or across Slovenia, persons who will travel through Slovenia in a single day, and persons who possess diplomatic passports.

The measure does not apply to persons providing urgent services, members of rescue and protection services, health workers, police officers, firefighters and persons participating in humanitarian convoys.

Also excluded are citizens of Slovenia, Austria, Italy and Hungary who own or lease land plots located on both sides of the border and who perform agricultural work on such land.

Head of the Koper unit of the NIJZ Milan Krek told the press today that the current measures had prevented a steep increase in the number of infected persons, which would overburden the healthcare system and cause excessive number of deaths.

He added that Slovenia had been handling the epidemic very well, much better that many countries, but that the situation was not stable yet and that people should stick to the expert recommendations.

"We need to hold on for a few more days in order to stabilise and ease the epidemic," Krek said, adding that it was risky to soften the restrictions before the epidemic was stabilised.

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Report: EUR 900m in aid available in second stimulus package

STA, 11 April 2020 - The government met on Saturday in Brdo pri Kranju to discuss guidelines for additional measures to mitigate the effect of the coronavirus epidemic on the economy. The public broadcaster TV Slovenija has reported that the package will include EUR 900 million in loans, guarantees and guarantee schemes.

The second stimulus package looks to ensure liquidity of the economy and features necessary corrections and amendments to the first, EUR 3 billion package, passed on 2 April.

TV Slovenija reported late on Friday that the measures had already been drafted, saying that companies would have EUR 900 million on their disposal in the form of loans, guarantees and guarantee schemes.

The package reportedly includes quick and favourable loans secured with state guarantees, and loan guarantee schemes intended for boosting liquidity, provided by the SID Banka bank, the Slovenian Enterprise Fund and the Regional Development Fund.

SID Banka has also proposed that a new fund worth EUR 1 billion be established to tackle liquidity issues, the public broadcaster said.

Measures to help the tourism sector, which has been severely affected by the pandemic, would reportedly be in force until the end of the year. One of the proposed measures is deferral of refunds to passengers and guests in relation to cancelled trips.

According to the unofficial proposal, tourism and hospitality companies will have more than EUR 100 million in favourable loans.

What is more, the state is to help businesses pay rent for commercial premises by subsidising up to 70% of the amount or enabling them to defer rent payment.

According to TV Slovenija, the timetable sets the deadline for the passage of the second package at 30 April.

Prime Minister Janez Janša said in a video address after the session that the government had been acquainted with relevant reports from the five task forces and decided to put all measures for securing liquidity of the economy into one package.

The measures will start to be prepared immediately after Easter holidays, and the government will be able to discuss it together with amendments to the first package on 20 or 21 April, he added.

"No vulnerable group will be excluded," Janša, said, adding that due to the complexity of the matter, specific legislative projects had been divided into three parts.

One of them is amending the infectious diseases act, one of the basic legal tools to fight the epidemic, as it has been established that it needs several changes and amendments and that some provisions are outdated.

The Ministry of Health has been tasked to draft changes by the end of next week, Janša said, adding that some of the provisions would be changed based on the experience gained in the fight with the coronavirus epidemic.

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STA, 10 April 2020 - Ljubljanske Mlekarne, Slovenia's largest dairy, has dispatched the first shipment of its iconic Planica ice cream to China, part of a total of 43 tonnes planned to be exported there this year.

The shipment of almost 35,000 one-litre boxes of Planica tropical and chocolate flavours, sent on its way from the Koper port on Thursday, is expected to reach its destination within five weeks.

Named after the alpine valley that is home to Slovenia's ski jumping centre, the ice cream has been manufactured by Ljubljanske Mlekarne since 1974.

Initially coming only as a family pack combining three colour chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavours into one, the brand has since been expanded to come in various shapes, sizes and flavours.

"At a time of global disruption to business due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are the more enthusiastic about the deals such as this one," the Ljubljana-based dairy said.

The company deems the breakthrough the more important due to the excess supply of milk throughout Europe as a result of the fallout from the pandemic.

The dairy said its milk sales in China were doing well with the customers there associating Slovenian dairy products with high quality.

Ljubljanske Mlekarne buys more than 500,000 litres of milk from Slovenian dairy farms every day, which represents a third of Slovenian raw milk production.

Slovenia produces 30% more milk than it consumes.

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 10 April 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Mystery of Janša’s attack on Čeferin after mild criticism of govt

STA, 10 April 2020 - The latest editorial of the left-wing weekly Mladina reflects on what it sees as a rage reflex that seems to be triggered in PM Janez Janša by even a hint of criticism. It looks at the attacks mounted against Aleksander Čerefin after the Slovenian UEFA head said he was tired of hearing the constant apocalyptic coronavirus comments by Slovenia's leading officials.

The weekly paper's editor in chief Grega Repovž argues that Janša's comment about greed causing football matches not being cancelled also after the WHO had declared an epidemic, made during Tuesday's special address to the nation, was a jab at Čeferin meant to suggest UEFA could have prevented the fateful 19 February Milan match between Atalanta and Valencia.

Repovž points out that a potential cancellation of the match had been in the domain of Italian authorities, which had recorded three coronavirus cases in the county by that point.

While also highlighting other demonstrably false statements made by Janša in a part of the address targeting the former government, Repovž says the criticism by Čeferin, who just argued he would prefer a less bleak and more encouraging tone from Slovenian officials, should have been easy to swallow for those in power.

"But no, no. Janša cannot allow that. An attack followed. A fierce attack. Janša's propaganda machinery jumped first, followed by his twitter trolls. There was no mercy," Repovž says, adding that this was still not enough for Janša to later at least hold back in his address to the nation.

"What kind of person do you have to be to accuse somebody of what Čeferin was actually accused of by Janaša, through his media directly and in his speech indirectly? What to think of a man who has so much power and responsibility, but invests so much energy and anger into a single critical remark and even brings it up in an address to the nation," Repovž wonders in the commentary entitled Rage.

Demokracija: Beware of WHO's Advice!

STA, 9 April 2020 - The right-wing weekly Demokracija rebukes the World Health Organization (WHO) for its action in the Covid-19 crisis. "Even if it was probably set up with good intentions, the WHO has turned in a politicised and corrupt organisation."

The WHO first long insisted on the stance that "general use of protective masks is not necessary", but then made a U-turn this week, starting to support the countries which encourage their citizens to wear them.

Editor-in-chief Jože Biščak finds it hard to believe the medical reasons have changed in the meantime, saying WHO staff simply want to keep their well-paid jobs, blowing hot and cold depending on where money comes from.

It recalls several cases of its "odd" action, ranging from a cheap purchase of malaria vaccine, which caused thousands of child deaths in Africa, to its complete inefficiency in fighting tuberculosis, Ebola and Covid-19, wondering if it was deliberate.

When some started warning that flights from China to Europe should be suspended, the WHO said there was no evidence the virus is transmitted with contact among people.

"When the moment of truth came, it was already too late. The number of victims is nearing 100,000 and the number of those infected goes into millions."

Demokracija blames "the belated and totally misplaced reaction" to the virus spread on the WHO and its national offices in the form of public health institutes, in reference to Slovenia's National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

"So when you listen to the WHO advice in the next crisis, mind your money and use common sense if you want to do best for you and your family.

"When the WHO is giving advice, people are often dying, which Spain, Italy and France are realising as they mourn their deceased." The situation would be similar in Slovenia if the new government had not taken the necessary measures and advised people, unlike the NIJZ, to wear masks.

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 10 April 2020 - The Agriculture Ministry has announced that the expected arrival of almost 200 Romanian seasonal workers to help at Slovenian hop farms has been cancelled due to coronavirus concerns. The ministry is looking for solutions involving domestic labour, but the hop growers are sceptical and worry the crop will be lost.

While the head of the Slovenian Hop Growers Association Janez Oset had announced on Thursday that several buses of seasonal workers from Romania would be brought in in agreement with authorities, the ministry said in the evening the plan was too risky.

The ministry said it was working hard on the issue and was in touch with temping agencies for students and the Unemployment Service to activate domestic labour.

However, Oset has told the STA Romanian workers are usually hired because Slovenian unemployed persons shun work at hop farms, as it involves long working hours and is poorly paid. He says that hop trellis construction work is urgently needed across 800 hectares of hop plantations, meaning roughly half of the total in Slovenia.

The representative of the growers, who suggested on Thursday that an improvised quarantine scheme would be organised at the farms to comply with the 14-day quarantine demand for individuals entering the country, said the costs involved in growing hops amounted to EUR 15,000 per a single hectare. He wonders who will be held responsible if the crop is lost.

The association, which had planned another major arrival of Romanian workers in about ten days, has sent another appeal to the relevant ministries to allow the Romanian workers in.

Agriculture Minister Aleksandra Pivec has however called on students, temporary redundant workers, unemployed workers and younger pensioners in Slovenia to come to the aid of what are 120 hop growers in Slovenia, who operate on 1,596 hectares of land.

"I call on everybody who is healthy, can work and likes to spend time outdoors or is located where the growers are currently most in need of labour - Slovenian farmers really need you now. You are also needed by those for whom quality health domestic food is a key source of survival. We need to join forces to preserve Slovenian food production," she told the press today.

The problem is not limited to hop growers, as foreign seasonal workers are also lacking in orchards and vegetable farms.

Echoing Oset's concern, Tatjana Zagorc, the head of the agriculture department at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), said for Friday's edition of the newspaper Dnevnik that experience so far had shown not many Slovenian workers could stand the strain involved in fruit picking.

In response to the minister's call on workers in Slovenia to help with seasonal work on farms, Goran Lukić, the head of the Counselling Office for Workers, urged the minister to raise the minimum hourly wage for this type of work and provide legal security to seasonal workers.

Asserting that the minister should be ashamed, Lukić noted that the new coronavirus crisis mitigating legislation lifted time restrictions on temporary and odd forms of work in agriculture.

The minimum hourly wage for this type of work for 2019 was 4.95 euro, which means that it was below the statutory minimum wage, and the same is expected to apply this year, he said.

"Let me remind you that the amount of the lowest gross hourly rate is determined once a year by the minister in charge of agriculture," Lukić wrote in a public letter.

He accused the minister of having extracted temporary and odd jobs in agriculture from the framework of labour legislation and set rates below the minimum wage.

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:

Slovenia sees EU fiscal package as step in right direction

LJUBLJANA - Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj hailed the agreement reached by EU finance ministers on a fiscal package to combat the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic as a "a step in the right direction". "We have a few new instruments, now let's focus on the recovery. We've laid out a sober, responsible, rapid but also ambitious and prudent path to recovery," he said. His comments come after EU finance ministers agreed a EUR 500 billion package of short-term measures to mitigate the economic consequences of coronavirus. Slovenia will be eligible for roughly EUR 900 million in loans from the European Stability Mechanism and another EUR 900 million under a new mechanism called SURE.

Slovenia successful in tackling coronavirus but acute phase not over yet

LJUBLJANA - Bojana Beović, an infectious disease specialist, told Mladina that Slovenia was yet to exit the acute phase of the coronavirus epidemic. However, the Italian scenario is very unlikely to unfold as hospitals have admitted much fewer Covid-19 patients than had been projected. In the next phase the younger population should be allowed to get infected under controlled conditions to gain herd immunity. Slovenia plans to shortly start examining the presence of antibodies which show that a person has recovered from the infection, she said. Slovenia recorded two more Covid-19 fatalities on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 45. The number of infected persons rose by 36 to 1,160.

Pahor deems explanation by PM and FM key for CoE media freedom affair

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor commented on the dispatch sent by Slovenia to the Council of Europe (CoE) in response to a warning about pressure on the media in the country by saying it made sense to wait for an official explanation by the prime minister and foreign minister to see if the letter's content was in fact Slovenia's official position. The letter will be discussed by parliament's foreign policy and culture committees on Tuesday, along with a perceived U-turn in Slovenia's foreign policy. The session was called by the four opposition parties.

Foreign minister and apostolic nuncio discuss cooperation

LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar met with Apostolic Nuncio Jean-Marie Speich to review cooperation between Slovenia and the Holy See. They agreed bilateral relations should be deepened. Logar pointed to the importance of spiritual care in the time of the coronavirus pandemic and added that Slovenia appreciated the role of the Holy See in the international community in promoting peace, dialogue and understanding between nations.

Public health insurer says state will have to chip in

LJUBLJANA - The public health insurer ZZZS expects the coronavirus crisis to slash its revenue by around EUR 215 million this year, while higher expenditure is expected on top of that, to the tune of EUR 30 million due to higher sick leave costs alone. The impact of a deferral of health insurance contributions to help businesses is estimated at EUR 200 million. It has urged the government to cover the shortfall. "This is a substantial amount for the healthcare budget. The deferred contributions help the economy but they hurt healthcare," ZZZS director general Marjan Sušelj told the STA.

Large shipment of protective equipment delivered

BRNIK - More than twenty tonnes of protective equipment, including face masks for medical staff, was delivered from China to the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, one of the largest such shipments since the start of the coronavirus crisis. The 1.1 million FFP2-type masks, which are crucial for frontline staff, along with almost 16,000 protective uniforms for doctors and 1.7 million gloves, was delivered from Chengdu aboard an Airbus A330.

Suspected restriction violation reports totalling 900 so far

LJUBLJANA - The Health Inspectorate said it had so far processed some 900 cases of suspected violations of lockdown restrictions, issuing a total of 128 fines worth more than EUR 9,000. Some 1,500 cases of suspected violations have been referred to the health inspection service by the police. Out of the 128 issued fines, the highest one (EUR 417) has been issued nine times. Fines will increase on Saturday to EUR 4,000 - EUR 100,000 for legal persons and EUR 400 - EUR 4,000 for individuals.

Lawyers want court work resumed, Supreme Court reluctant

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Bar Association has recently appealed to the Supreme Court and Justice Ministry to resume normal operations where possible despite the coronavirus epidemic. Otherwise, Slovenia would be faced with a collapse of the rule of law, warned the association. The Supreme Court is hesitant about heeding the bar's proposal though, highlighting that the emergency measures are valid until further notice, with court restrictions valid until 1 July at the latest.

Older shoppers now ID'd at store entrance

LJUBLJANA - A new regulation entered into force requiring consumers above the age of 65 will need to prove their age with an identity card to enter grocery shops during dedicated opening hours. The government has decreed special shopping hours for vulnerable groups to protect them against coronavirus infection between 8am and 10am and an hour before the shops close. The special opening hours apply exclusively to those above the age of 65, the disabled and pregnant women.

Survey shows high level of trust in conventional media

LJUBLJANA - A survey conducted by Mediana showed most Slovenians trust conventional media, meaning TV, radio and printed media reports, during the coronavirus epidemic. More than half the respondents (51%) said they trusted or fully trusted TV reports, while 8% said they did not trust them at all. The shares for radio reports were 48% and 8% respectively, and for printed media 40% and 7%. The level of trust in online news portals was much lower, at 25%, standing at only 4% for social media.

Damages claims by former CEO against port operator rejected

LJUBLJANA - The Koper District Court rejected a claim by Gašpar Gašpar Mišič, the former chief executive of port operator Luka Koper, who sought in excess of EUR 750,000 for wrongful dismissal plus reinstatement to the post. Gašpar Mišič, who ran Luka Koper between September 2013 and April 2014, had sought damages based on a 2019 decision by the Supreme Court, which found he was wrongfully dismissed.

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

All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian artists. Today it’s Xenia Guzej. You can see more of her work here.

Contents

Two new fatalities bring coronavirus death toll to 45

Slovenia successful in tackling coronavirus but acute phase not over yet

Survey shows high level of trust in conventional media during epidemic

Large shipment of protective equipment delivered

Two new fatalities bring coronavirus death toll to 45

STA, 10 April 2020 - Slovenia recorded two more Covid-19 fatalities on Thursday, bringing the death toll of the coronavirus epidemic to 45. The number of infected persons rose by 36 to 1,160, show the latest government data released on Friday.

The number of Covid-19 patients who require hospitalisation dropped slightly to 106, of whom 36 were in intensive care, two more than on Wednesday.

Nine were discharged from hospital, for a total of 137 persons who no longer require hospital treatment.

Slovenia has so far performed over 33,000 covid-19 tests.

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Slovenia successful in tackling coronavirus but acute phase not over yet

STA, 10 April 2020 - Bojana Beović, an infectious disease specialist, has told the weekly Mladina that Slovenia was yet to exit the acute phase of the coronavirus epidemic. However, the Italian scenario is very unlikely to unfold as hospitals have admitted much fewer Covid-19 patients than had been projected.

Beović, who heads the Health Ministry's medical task force for coronavirus, said that the effectiveness of the latest preventive measures would be clear after this weekend, and "only after that can we talk about an exit strategy."

Slovenia has "caught the last train in preventing an exponential growth of infections" and the number of severely ill patients in Slovenia will apparently not exceed the capacity of the country's healthcare system.

Beović also said at a press conference today that, considering that the daily number of new infections was dropping, the epidemic had probably reached its peak, but that more would be known after the Easter holidays.

She called on people to refrain from contacts for another week or two, noting that the epidemic wave ended only when an infected person passes the infection to under one person on average.

Beović proposed in the Mladina interview that, in the next phase, the younger population should be allowed to get infected under controlled conditions to gain herd immunity. But she stressed that it would be hard to contain the spread of the virus between generations.

"The risk of doing something like this is too high at the moment. It is true, though, that in the long run, while a vaccine is not yet available, such tactics should be chosen."

Beović was also asked about this at the press conference, saying that if a vaccine or effective medication was not available soon, this was the only option, which would actually be implemented once kindergartens and schools reopen.

Slovenia plans to shortly start examining the presence of antibodies which show that a person has recovered from the infection. But the epidemic needs to last longer for such research to produce quality results, and it would be good to also have a quality test for antibodies, Beović told Mladina.

As for the criticism in the public about the perceived excessiveness of the measures and pessimism of the government, she said that "it is better to stay on the side of caution" and that the trend should first turn downwards before one could speak about optimism.

Beović noted that there were no official guidelines for the treatment of Covid-19 because of the lack of reliable data, while there were some reports about successful application of blood plasma of persons who had developed antibodies.

She personally expects the most from the antiviral drug remdesivir. "If this does not prove to be effective, we can say that we will remain in the dark."

The epidemic has exposed care in nursing homes as the biggest shortcoming in the healthcare system, as these are equipped more like hotels, while what their residents need is something like a nursing hospital.

She also stressed that it was important to restart the healthcare system, "otherwise it will not be possible to eliminate all the backlog in examinations and surgeries in the foreseeable future."

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Survey shows high level of trust in conventional media during epidemic

STA, 10 April 2020 - Slovenians mostly have no issues trusting conventional media, meaning TV, radio and printed media reports, during the coronavirus epidemic, shows a survey released on Friday by pollster Mediana.

More than half the respondents (51%) said they trust or fully trust TV reports, while 8% said they do not trust them at all. The shares for radio reports were 48% and 8% respectively, and for printed media 40% and 7%.

A lower level of trust was recorded for online news portals, which also had the highest share of undecided respondents. Trust or full trust was expressed by 25% and no trust at all by 30%.

There is even more scepticism towards social media, where the share of those fully trusting the reports was 4% and of those not trusting them at all 44%.

The survey was carried out between 3 and 5 April through online polling. It involved 703 respondents aged 15 to 75.

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Large shipment of protective equipment delivered

STA, 10 April 2020 - More than twenty tonnes of protective equipment, including face masks for medical staff, was delivered from China to the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport on Friday morning, one of the largest such shipments since the start of the coronavirus crisis.

The 1.1 million FFP2-type masks, which are crucial for frontline staff, along with almost 16,000 protective uniforms for doctors and 1.7 million gloves was delivered from Chengdu aboard an Airbus A330.

The equipment was ordered by the Agency for Commodity Reserves via Public Digital Infrastructure, a company owned by gaming millionaire Joc Pečečnik, and is part of a large, EUR 30 million-plus order the company has received.

Prime Minister Janez Janša, sharing photos from the airport on Twitter, said that "the holidays will be calmer" now.

Late in the evening, another seven tonnes of protective equipment will arrive at Ljubljana airport from Qingdao, China, the Foreign Ministry said, adding that this will be the first of several special transport flights organised by the Agency for Commodity Reserves.

The plane will bring more than 1.1 million of protective face masks and other types of protective equipment donated by Chinese cities twinned with Slovenian cities, Slovenian and Chinese companies, the Association of Chinese Businesses in Slovenia, the Chinese Olympic Committee, the Slovenian community in China and a number of individuals.

The Foreign Ministry thanked those involved for their donations, adding that the plane will also carry protective equipment Slovenia bought in China.

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Do foreigners in Slovenia feel more or less safe sitting out covid-19 here than in their home country, and what are their experiences? All the stories in this series are here. If you' like to contribute, see here or at the end of the story

Who are you, and how did you come to be here?

Hi, my name is Mark Evans and I'm an Australian immigrant to Slovenia, originally from our capital city of Canberra. My husband is a Slovene living and working in Ljubljana, and I moved here to live with him back in April, 2018 after completing my BA in European politics and public policy. I'm currently working part time while searching for full-time work in my field (difficult to find without citizenship, sadly!). I'm also mulling over applying for an MA.

Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.

Well, we're alive, healthy and mostly sane, which is luckier than many. We live in a multistory apartment building and this last month has left me extremely envious of anyone with a proper balcony or a garden. With the incredible weather I'd love to be out cycling far more than I am, and I'm envious of my family back home in Canberra, who have far more space and easy access to wilderness areas which they can enjoy safely. My husband and I share our apartment building with many retirees, so we're worried about the risk of bringing the virus back home with us and endangering the health of our older neighbours.

What do you think about the economic measures the government is taking, are they helping your business?

My husband was right in the middle of changing jobs as this crisis struck, and we're incredibly fortunate that his work life hasn't been too severely disrupted by the pandemic because he can work remotely - many don't have this privilege. While the government's measures are rock solid in supporting formal employees, they fall short for the people who need support the most - already marginalised members of society working in low paying, informal jobs, like migrant workers.

When did you realise that coronavirus was going to be a big issue?

I didn't pay much attention to the crisis in China, and only started to follow it after the outbreak in South Korea. With a background in public policy I was paying more attention to the news than many, but even then I under-estimated the severity of the threat. I was well aware of the enormous amount of work which governments and non-governmental organisations had poured into pandemic preparedness since SARS in 2002-3. I hadn't realised how far these measures had eroded since 2016, or how little attention our governments would pay to experts until it was too late.

What is your impression of the way Slovenia is dealing with the crisis?

My feelings on the Slovene handling of the crisis are mixed. In the short-term, the current administration has been successful in controlling the epidemic, and taken the difficult decision to lock the country down in a timely manner. However, this is coming hand-in-hand with naked power-grabbing by Janez Janša and his allies, as they use the crisis as an excuse to replace qualified public servants with yes-men, to threaten dissenters and to stifle the media. While I do not feel endangered by Covid19 here in Slovenia, I am extremely worried about the path this administration will take in the aftermath of the pandemic. If it follows in the footsteps of Janša's allies in Hungary, I suspect these power-grabs will only intensify. And if Hungary's recent attacks on democracy and the rights of LGBT+ citizens are any evidence, I am deeply worried that SDS will soon be turning its sights on the rights of couples like me and my husband. I am, after all, the kind of gay immigrant "degenerate leftist" Demokracija magazine warns its readers about.

How does that compare to the situation in Australia?

Australia's approach to the pandemic has contrasted strongly to Slovenia's - where I am comfortable in the short term in Slovenia but worried about the long term, I feel the opposite for Australia. Our government was far slower than Slovenia to act - we had weeks of extra time before the outbreak really started, but were very slow to take it seriously. As a result, an epidemic arose and thousands of Australians have now been infected, while dozens are already dead. However, once the federal government finally did act, it brought together a coordinated cabinet of state and territory governments from both sides of politics to organise a unified and de-politicised response. Its handling has definitely not been perfect, but the government has shown remarkable cooperation with opposition parties, and has made hard decisions for the public good which I never would have expected it would step up to make.

What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?

Communications in Australia followed the same trajectory as its policy response - slow, confused and conflicted at first, and wasting many weeks. As the epidemic picked up speed our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, infamously declared he'd still be going to watch the rugby in a packed stadium. However, once the scale of the impending catastrophe became undeniable, the government got its act together and put together a responsible and effective communication campaign which has finally convinced the public of the danger.

Here in Slovenia I've observed very different communications from the civil service versus the government itself, and the disconnect worries me. Civil services and businesses largely seem to have responded quickly and capably, and the messaging I see coming from the public sector is encouraging. Much of what I see from the government itself is, however, appalling. It is extremely alarming to see the Prime Minister falsely blaming the WHO for the pandemic on Twitter while his administration abuses the crisis to slander and harass its opponents in the media. A government using its emergency powers to scapegoat "global elites" in the face of all evidence and defame its critics as "escaped mental patients" is something you'd expect from a tinpot dictatorship, not a democratic EU member state. If this behaviour continues - and I expect it will, given SDS' long history of promoting falsehoods and slandering critics - then I am extremely worried about the damage it will do to public trust in government institutions and communications.

What's the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation?

A working exercise machine! We have an elliptical here at home, but it's broken. I'm an avid cyclist and I'd kill for a good bike machine to have at home, since I can't really get out for rides right now. I'm getting by on at-home workouts but it would be wonderful to have the feeling of motion again.

One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis.

If I didn't know for sure that I was an extrovert before this crisis began, I certainly do now. I miss being able to get out and about in crowds, and I miss being able to see my friends face to face. I think many other people are learning this about themselves too - even if you don't consider yourself a very social person, there are all those little day to day human interactions we rely upon and take for granted. The world can feel like a very lonely place now that they're gone.