STA, 3 March 2020 - Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković and six co-defendants pleaded not guilty in a case focussing on EU funds abuse and bank fraud in the construction of the Stožice sports complex as they faced the Ljubljana District Court on Tuesday. 

A total of nine defendants are accused of criminal acts, including abuse of office, fraud of EU funds, fraud to acquire a loan and forgery of documents in the multi-million euro project.

Janković argued that the criminal cases brought against him stemming from the Stožice project were a personal attack on him. Apart from his family, his coworkers have also been drawn into this, he said, adding that the company that built the complex went bankrupt.

"You won't be able to find anybody who would have done it cheaper or better," he said, also noting that the Stožice stadium and arena had opened their doors a decade ago and that they attracted a million visitors a year.

The defendants are former sports institute Zavod Tivoli president Roman Jakič, Uroš Ogrin and Zlatko Sraka, both of the bankrupt construction vehicle company Grep, and Samo Lozej, former director the municipal operator of parking lots and markets. Also among the accused are former construction overseers Borut Skubic and Milan Črepinšek.

Marko Kolenc, of the city's sports department, and project manager Andrej Lavrič did not attend today's hearing and are to make a plea next time. The charges will be presented in more detail at the beginning of the trial.

All our stories on Mayor Zoran Janković can be found here

STA, 4 March - Tourism officials in the regions bordering Italy are not yet reporting a decline in visitors due to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, a major market for Slovenian tourism. The coastal community of Piran has even seen more visitors than in the same period a year ago.

The tourism association at the seaside of Portorož recorded a slight drop in the number of overnight stays at hotels, which they say was mainly due to the fact that two major hotels are closed for renovation.

Most other hotels in the Piran municipality, which also includes Portorož, saw visitor numbers in February trumping those recorded the same month a year ago. "We've seen growth mainly due to foreign visitors, who generated a good fifth more overnight stays in February than last year," they say.

The Portorož tourism association is closely monitoring the coronavirus situation, following the advice of the National Public Health Institute and the Slovenian Tourist Board, and notifying its visitors in turn.

Slovenian Tourist Board says hotels well-prepared for coronavirus

"Our hotels are well prepared too, keeping their guests up to date on the developments, making sure the premises are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, while the staff have attended training on preventive measures," the tourism association said.

Similarly, tourism officials in the port town of Koper have not noticed any particular effect of the coronavirus outbreak. February statistics are not yet in but the local tourism info point has not yet recorded a decline in footfall.

Nor has a fall been observed at the tourism centres in the Soča Valley, although the main tourism season there is yet to begin.

Restaurants along Slovenia's western border are not reporting a drop in turnout by Italian or other foreign customers either, but they are cautious about any projections and further developments.

Shaded countries had at least one confirmed case of coronoavirus as of 3 March 2020. WHO data, map US CDC - details

Gostilna pri Lojzetu, the award-winning establishment at Zemono Mansion, has had some cancellations from Italian and some other patrons who travelled through Venice airport, "but merely as a preventive measure because they wouldn't want to 'infect' any of our guests, even though they were not infected".

However, the restaurant does not expect any difficulties in the future. "We'll always have the restaurant full, it will definitely stay that way," they say.

The Chamber of Trade Crafts and Small Business (OZS) last week called for state aid arguing that the hospitality sector in the Nova Gorica area had been seeing a "drastic decline" in Italian customers.

All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia are here

STA, 3 March 2020 - Veteran politician Janez Janša, the long-time leader of the Democratic Party (SDS), has been appointed prime minister of Slovenia's 14th government, his third stint at the helm of the executive. His stable base of supporters finds him charismatic, capable and effective, his opponents say he is resentful and radical.

The 61-year-old has been at the helm of the SDS since 1993 and enjoys unbridled support among party members, having ran unopposed for the position of party leader for two decades and successfully deflecting all challenges to his primacy. Being the party's unrivalled leader, his political fortunes are inextricably linked with those of the SDS.

The party has been holding steady at or just below the top of party rankings for years. It won the 2018 general election but Janša was unable to put together a coalition because most parties refused to work with him, quoting the radical anti-immigrant rhetoric modelled on his close friend and ally, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

After Marjan Šarec resigned as prime minister in late January, Janša got another chance, as leadership change at the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) made the former Šarec coalition partners less averse to working with Janša, and mindful of the uncertainty that a snap election brings.

His biggest success had been the 2004 election, in which the SDS got 29% of the vote. The SDS went on to build a stable government widely seen as capable, but also one that laid the groundwork for problems in final years of the economic crisis with policies that increased public spending even as they reduced government revenue.

Janša capped his first term by presiding the EU Council in 2008, and although his leadership was applauded across the EU, it was not enough to build up support domestically: in the 2008 general election, the SDS held steady at 29% but was overtaken by the Social Democrats (SD).

If the government serves out its full term Janša will do the cherished job once more as Slovenia is slated to preside the EU in the second half of 2021.

By 2008, Janša was also facing serious allegations of bribery from Finnish defence contractor Patria in exchange for a EUR 278 million purchase of armed personnel carriers, a transaction agreed in 2006.

The trial started in autumn of 2011, just months before Slovenia was about to hold the first snap election in its history and Janša remains convinced that the scandal was fabricated by his political rivals to undermine his chances of winning.

Despite his legal woes, the SDS came second in the 2011 election and Janša became prime minister once again in February 2012 after Zoran Janković, the head of the winning Positive Slovenia (PS), failed to put together a coalition.

The second time around Janša lasted only a year in the prime minister's office, but the policies adopted during that term had profound consequences as the government introduced a number of austerity measures in the wake of the 2008 economic and financial crisis.

The measures were in line with the dominant economic thinking at the time, which focused on the soundness of public finances, but in retrospect they have come to be seen as having contributed to the sluggish recovery of the economy by depressing demand due to wage cuts in the public sector and trimming of investment spending.

The government collapsed after all coalition partners, with the exception of New Slovenia (NSi), left in the wake of accusations by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption about assets Janša could not account for.

In the Patria trial, Janša was found guilty of corruption by the court of first instance and went to jail for several months in 2014 before being released after the Constitutional Court ordered a retrial. The case became statute-barred before a retrial could begin.

While he was in prison, his supporters held regular weekly protests in front of the Ljubljana Courthouse, criticising the judiciary and portraying Janša as a victim of the system.

The protests created a strong grassroots movement that Janša has been able to count on to support his policies and ideas. They were also a manifestation of a long-held belief, going back to the time when he, then a journalist for the weekly Mladina, was first arrested in the late 1980s for divulging classified information, that the "deep state", remnants of the Communist-era centres of power, is dead set against him.

Janša's supporters see him as a strong fighter against remnants of the old political forces. A large part of the public, in particular voters on the left, see in him a shrewd political strategist and demagogue who is very good at playing into the fears of voters, does not chose his means, and continues to deepen divisions in society.

Despite being in prison in the aftermath of the Patria trial at the time, Janša was once again elected MP in 2014, with the SDS coming second to the then newly established Miro Cerar Party (SMC), which was later renamed the Modern Centre Party and will now be a partner in his coalition.

By 2016, cracks had started to show in the SDS, as several senior members had left the party, among them Janša's former Interior Minister Dragutin Mate and long-serving Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel.

The latter, when he left in 2015, said that Janša had deemed him "not orthodox enough", while Mate said that the party's internal democracy had declined.

In terms of relations with foreign politicians, Janša seems to be close to Orban, while he borrowed the slogan Slovenia First for the 2018 election from US President Donald Trump. And like Trump, Janša likes to communicate via Twitter, where he has more than 50,000 followers, more than any other Slovenian politician.

While the judiciary has been a persistent target of criticism by the SDS and Janša, their relationship with the media is testy as well. The most recent wave of criticism came following reports that two media outlets launched by the SDS, ostensibly to counter unfair coverage by mainstream media, had received funding from Hungarian businesses close to Orban.

The SDS has denied allegations that the financial transactions amounted to illegal funding for the party from abroad, and it has dismissed criticism that the Hungarian money makes Janša and the SDS beholden to Orban.

This alleged funding took place after the SDS found itself in crossfire in late 2017 for taking out a EUR 450,000 loan from Dijana Đuđić, an entrepreneur from the Republic of Srpska. The party immediately repaid the loan after this made the news.

Janša was born on 17 September 1958, he graduated in defence sciences in 1982. Soon after, he became the head of the defence commission of the then Association of Socialist Youth of Slovenia, starting to criticise the authorities.

In the 1980s, he was a writer for the weekly Mladina, and was arrested in 1988 and court-martialled on suspicion of leaking military secrets. The protests that accompanied the trial of Janša and three other co-defendants are seen as one of the key milestones in Slovenia's path to independence.

In 1989, he was one of the co-founders of the Slovenian Democratic Alliance, a predecessor of the SDS and one of the first opposition parties in Slovenia. He became a member of the National Assembly in 1990 and is the only MP who has been elected in every single general election since then.

He served as defence minister in successive governments in the early 1990s, including during Slovenia's ten-day independence war in 1991, until he was sacked as a result of a high-profile dispute over the use of military force against a civilian, and in 2000, during the short-lived government of Andrej Bajuk.

Janša has authored several books. His best known works deal with his early political career in the 1990s and the political situation at the time, while in recent years he has also tried his hand in fiction. While in prison in 2014, he wrote the historical novel Noric Kingdom, which imagines an ancient kingdom on present-day Slovenian lands.

He has four children, two with his first wife and two with his current wife, and three grandchildren.

All our stories on Janez Janša are here

STA, 3 March 2020 - Janez Janša, the 61-year-old leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), was elected prime minister-designate on Tuesday, receiving the mandate to form his third government after joining forces with the Modern Centre Party (SMC), New Slovenia (NSi) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS).

Having forged a centre-right coalition with the three partners a month after Marjan Šarec resigned as prime minister, Janša won 52 votes in a secret ballot in the 90-member legislature with 31 MPs voting against, six abstaining and one invalid ballot.

Biography: Janez Janša - Independence Hero, Former Prisoner, Veteran Politician, Now Slovenia’s PM for 3rd Time

After he was sworn in, Janša said the incoming coalition faced important challenges but he expressed the conviction that it would be able to address them with responsible management.

Janša now has 15 days to put to parliament his candidates for ministers. "The first step was made today. I expect that I will be able to bring the list of candidates for the new government to this assembly in a relatively short time."

The SDS will put forward candidates that have experience in government as well as Slovenia's 2008 presidency of the EU since Slovenia will preside the bloc again in 2021, according to him.

In an hour-long address to the National Assembly prior to the vote, Janša acknowledged that the government would not be able to achieve everything it wants to given that it has only two years to serve until the next scheduled election.

Its term would therefore be a "compromise on the solutions which all coalition partners agree on", with emphasis on the things that bring the parties together and measures that do not require significant outlays.

Some of the priorities include cutting red tape and decentralisation, including by basing any newly established institutions outside Ljubljana.

Other measures planned in the coalition agreement will have significant fiscal consequences, including higher pensions and a series of family-friendly measures the government plans to take such as expansion of free kindergarten and a universal child allowance.

One of the key policy priorities is the establishment of a "demographic fund", a pension support fund in which state assets would be pooled to help finance public pensions.

"It is time to establish a fund which would absorb the remaining state assets and manage them with a profit for the benefit of the generation which has created these assets," he said.

The new government plans to liberalise the economy and introduce competition in education and healthcare. As least as a temporary measure to improve national security, it also plans to re-introduce military conscription.

Janša has often been accused of being too radical, in particular due to his anti-immigration sentiment in recent years, but his statements suggest he has softened his stance on migrations.

He said that migrants would be welcome if invited, provided they accepted the fundamental tenets of the "majority culture". "They cannot expect that we will accept their habits, their manner of behaviour, their culture, but we justifiably expect that they will accept ours."

The debate in parliament saw the members of the new coalition pledging to work for the benefit of the entire society and rejecting criticism by the new opposition about the prospects of the new government being too far to the right.

"The experience from recent years makes us justifiably doubt that someone can become wise, tolerant, respectful, just and inclusive over night," said Brane Golubović, the head of the deputy group of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ).

The new opposition spent a significant portion of the allotted time arguing about who and what caused the Šarec government to collapse, with the Left, whose termination of a cooperation deal with the minority government was a major milestone, often in the focus of criticism.

Slovenia may have a new government with full powers within three weeks, the third led by Janša after stints in 2004-2008 and in 2012-2013.

The undisputed leader of the Slovenian conservative bloc, Janša is considered the most experienced politician in Slovenia, his career spanning over three decades.

Aside from having served as prime minister twice already, he was defence minister in three governments in 1990-1994, and again in 2000, during the interim Andrej Bajuk government.

All our stories on the new government and it's proposed policies are here

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

A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here

This summary is provided by the STA:

Janša appointed prime minister-designate

LJUBLJANA - Democrats (SDS) leader Janez Janša was elected PM-designate, receiving the mandate to form his third government. Having forged a centre-right coalition with three more parties after Marjan Šarec resigned as PM, Janša won 52 votes in the 90-member legislature. The priorities listed by Janša in his address include cutting red tape, launching a fund in which state assets would be pooled to help finance public pensions, liberalisation of the economy and more competition in education and healthcare. The debate in parliament saw the members of the new coalition pledging to work for the entire society and rejecting criticism about the prospects of the new government being too far to the right. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban and Manfred Weber, chair of the European People's Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament, were among the first foreign politicians to congratulate Janša.

Slovenia and N Macedonia home ministers discuss migration

LJUBLJANA - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar hosted his new North Macedonian counterpart Nakje Chulev for a meeting that focused on illegal migration, including the situation on the Turkish-Greek border. The pair agreed that the situation on the Greek-Turkish border required close monitoring and united response, with regular exchange of information being of essence. The two ministers also discussed the situation in their own countries, both of which have been seeing an increase in illegal migration in recent years. Slovenian police registered more than 16,000 instances of people crossing the border illegally last year, an increase of more than 73% on the year before. North Macedonia saw the number of such cases increase by almost 46% to 24,000.

Ljubljana mayor, co-defendants plead not-guilty in Stožice case

LJUBLJANA - Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković and six co-defendants pleaded not guilty in a case focussing on EU funds abuse and bank fraud in the construction of the Stožice sports park as they faced the Ljubljana District Court. A total of nine defendants are accused of criminal acts, including abuse of office, fraud of EU funds, fraud to acquire a loan and forgery of documents in the multi-million euro project. Two defendants did not attend the today's hearing and are to make a plea next time.

Charges against police dropped in hospital bribery case

LJUBLJANA - The prosecution has decided to stop further prosecution of four police officers implicated in a queue-jumping racket at Slovenia's largest hospital, according to the tabloid Slovenske Novice. The case is yet to go on trial after pre-trial arraignments in January 2019 because "the judge handling the case is currently also handling other older and higher priority cases", the paper quotes the court.

Slovenia joins group calling for strong single market

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia has joined a group of 15 mostly small EU member states that have called for a strong single market in the bloc in advance of talks scheduled for March on the strengthening of the economic basis of the union. "A well functioning single market is extraordinarily important for Slovenia as a small and open economy since it provides a large space for Slovenian companies and protects the rights of Slovenian consumers," the Slovenian permanent representation to the EU said.

Despite statutory raise, minimum wage remains almost unchanged, union warns

LJUBLJANA - Despite the fact that a minimum wage increase took effect in January, an analysis by the trade union confederation ZSSS shows only meagre increases in take-home pay. A fifth of employers analysed were in violation of legal provisions, while many other companies used a variety of moves to keep salaries nearly unchanged. Minimum wage went up from EUR 886.63 to EUR 940.58 gross on 1 January and the sum can no longer contain bonuses paid to workers alongside salaries. These now have to be paid on top of minimum wage.

Požar found guilty of libel in Melania Trump case

LJUBLJANA - Bojan Požar, the editor of news portal Požareport has received a judicial admonition for writing in 2016 that Viktor Knavs, the father of US First Lady Melania Trump, had been in prison for tax evasion. This comes after Požar was ordered to pay damages to Knavs in a related defamation lawsuit last year. Požar intends to challenge the decision.

New European short films on show in Ljubljana's Galerija Škuc

LJUBLJANA - Dozens of new European short films of various styles and approaches will be screened in Galerija Škuc until Friday as part of the European Film Days in Ljubljana - Europanorama 2020. Various genres, such as fiction, animation and experimental and documentary film, will be featured as up-and-coming directors from almost 30 European countries will be presented. The selected films will be screened in their original languages, with subtitles in English. All events will be admission free.

Doctor declared Delo woman of the decade

LJUBLJANA - Doctor Jožica Maučec Zakotnik, who has been involved mainly in preventive healthcare, won the woman of the decade title given out by Onaplus, the women's magazine issued by newspaper publisher Delo. Maučec Zakotnik has worked as a family doctor, a state secretary at the Health Ministry and a senior official at the National Public Health Institute.

Slovenia to play Greece, Kosovo and Moldova in Nations League

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - Slovenia will take on Greece, Kosovo and Moldova as they play in the third-tier segment of the Nations League, a football competition that has almost entirely replaced friendly fixtures, determined a draw in Amsterdam. Slovenia currently place 64th on the rankings of FIFA, football's global governing body, with Greece the only opponent ranked higher, at 54. Kosovo are in 115th place and Moldova in 175th.

Visiting Ljubljana? Check out what's on this week, while all our stories on Slovenia, from newest to oldest, are here

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

A fire broke out at Surovina waste management site in Tezno on Monday, prompting about 250 firefighters to work overnight. According to 24ur, this is the third and the biggest fire that broke out at the site in the last two weeks.

About five thousand tons of mixed waste designated as “alternative fuel”, including plastic, tyres and waste textiles, was stored in a 3500 m2 hall, built following a vast 2013 fire. Unofficially, the cause of the most recent fire that broken at about noon this Monday was self-ignition.

Almost all of the waste, as well as the hall’s roof, which collapsed inwards, burned in the fire. By now it has already been taken out, although firefighters continue to look for smouldering spots hiding under the charred garbage.

Maribor’s Mayor Saša Arsenovič emphasized that Surovina wasn’t a local governments company but a private waste management enterprise.

In 2018 Gorenje sold the company to Eko Surovina, which is in ownership of Rastoder Ltd, the company owned by the banana tycoon Izet Radtoder. The company then changed its name from Surovina Gorenje to Surovina LTD.

In a press release the Ministry of Environment said today that they regret that another fire occurred at a waste collection facility, and that it is aware of the pressing issue of the packaging waste piling up in Slovenia, an ongoing problem for the past several years.

Meanwhile citizens of Tezno are signing a petition in which they point to the air pollution these waste fires cause. “How much longer are we going to tolerate the pollution of our environment? Were we ever asked to give permission for dumping sites of two large companies (Surovina and Snaga) to be placed nearby our community?” they wrote in their petition.

STA, 3 March 2020 - Bojan Požar, the editor of news portal Požareport has received a judicial admonition for writing in 2016 that Viktor Knavs, the father of US First Lady Melania Trump, had been in prison for tax evasion. This comes after Požar was ordered to pay damages to Knavs in a related defamation lawsuit last year. Požar intends to challenge the decision.

Požar tweeted on Tuesday that he had received a judicial admonition from the first instance court, announcing an appeal. He pleaded not guilty in the first hearing in 2017.

Požar said in an article, published in 2016, that Knavs had been in prison for tax evasion and illicit trade, citing documents known to the broader public as UDBA.net, a list of people who worked for the former Yugoslav secret police, acted as informants or were spied upon by the secret police.

Meanwhile, a damages lawsuit brought against Požar by Knavs has already reached the Higher Court, which decided last year that Požar had to pay EUR 5,000 in damages and apologise to Knavs, said a press release in December from Knavs's lawyers Pirc Musar&Lemut Strle.

Knavs's law firm also said in December that Požar was ordered to post on the news portal the introduction part of the ruling and an apology for claiming Knavs had been in jail.

All our (very careful) stories about Melania Trump are here

STA, 3 March 2020 - Democrats (SDS) head Janez Janša addressed the National Assembly ahead of the vote to appoint him prime minister-designate, stressing that the four parties entering a new coalition would focus on what brought them together. He said he would seek consensus while tackling challenges, adding that the opposition was also invited to cooperation.

 Janša, who in addition to the SDS has secured support of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), New Slovenia (NSi) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), presented the guidelines of the future four-party coalition ahead of Tuesday's secret ballot.

He said that in the coalition agreement, the parties had used the current situation in Slovenia - the fact that the outgoing Prime Minister Marjan Šarec has caused a government crisis with his resignation, as reference point.

According to Janša, the parties have agreed on a coalition contract which would also be the basis for the government programme, to be presented along with the minister line-up when and if he is confirmed as PM-designate.

As the new government has only two years left before the new election, the term will be a "compromise on the solutions which all coalition partners agree on", with the things that bring the parties together being emphasised.

When addressing challenges, the parties will try to reach agreement by looking for consensus, Janša said, adding that he would also invite the opposition and the two minority MPs to participate in the creation of solutions.

"Our door for cooperation for the common good stays open to everybody else as well. We exclude nobody," he said.

Janša noted that the main guideline of the new government was that Slovenia could do much better with measures which did not require additional financial investments, including debureaucratisation and decentralisation.

"There is a segment in the administrative part of the public sector which employs too many people, including quality staff," he said, suggesting that a "certain reassignment" should be made as businesses lacked quality staff.

Janša said that the number of regulations had increased ten-fold since 1992, resulting in an unconstitutional situation in which a citizen "is allowed to do only what is expressly prescribed". The excessive bureaucracy also generates huge state administration costs and protracts procedures.

As for decentralisation of Slovenia, he said that the emerging coalition had pledged that new institutions, if established, would be located outside the capital.

An ambition for the next term is to distribute certain institutions currently located in Ljubljana around the country, he said, adding that provinces should also be established so that the state is better organised when it came to investing EU funds.

Among the measures which require a considerable financial investment, Janša mentioned a public pension support fund, with the population ageing being a strategic problem. He admitted that these problems could not be solved in one term.

"But it is time to establish a fund which would absorb the remaining state assets and manage them with a profit for the benefit of the generation which has created these assets," so that pensions in the future are no longer an exclusive cost for the working population.

While speaking of demographics, Janša touched on migration, saying that those who came to Slovenia, if invited, were welcome, and if they were in trouble, they would also be helped.

"But they cannot expect that we will accept their habits, their manner of behaviour, their culture, but we justifiably expect that they will accept ours."

Janša also announced measures to create a better environment for economic growth, as this is a permanent basis for prosperity. He added that public education and healthcare needed competition, which ensured quality.

"Slovenia will never replace public education and healthcare with a private system, like some countries have, but it needs to be said that neither of the two would work if it is a given, if there is no competition and if there is no possibility of choice."

Janša believes that problems in healthcare are solvable, but not without some order being made there and without the wage system being changed, upgraded. This is also true for some other sub-systems, he added.

He noted that not only highly qualified experts, but highly profitable companies too were leaving Slovenia, and that many more would follow suit if competitive conditions were not created at home.

Janša believes that certain contribution rates would have to be raised, including for health insurance and long-term care. "But this raise will be unnoticed if we create more, if economic growth is higher, if we eliminate all these obstacles."

Turning to security, he said that the current structure of the defence system did not allow for its basic task, national defence, to be performed.

"If nothing changes, in two years we will not even be able to bluff," Janša said, adding that for this reason it was necessary to at least temporarily reintroduce mandatory conscription and military service.

As for international challenges, he pointed to Slovenia's presidency of the EU in the second half of 2021, and added that Brexit was a "strategic catastrophe for the EU, by far the largest since its formation", and that it was not time for experiments.

While large countries are pushing for the decision-making system in the EU to be changed, the Lisbon Treaty enables small countries to win equality, especially if they are skilful enough and if they are able to rally around common interests, Janša concluded.

A series of stories on the new coalition is here

STA, 2 March 2020 - Miro Cerar, Slovenia's outgoing foreign minister, announced on Monday he was quitting the party he founded, saying the Modern Centre (SMC) lost its face after joining a coalition led by Janez Janša, the leader of the right-wing Democratic Party (SDS).

Speaking in parliament, Cerar said he did not wish to be party member any longer, let alone "an honorary member of a party that has ended up without honour".

Cerar had been staunchly opposed to the SMC joining a Janša-led coalition since before the 2018 general election, but the party changed its mind under its new leader Zdravko Počivalšek.

However, despite his decision "in principle not to take part in the Janša government, I seriously considered Zdravko Počivalšek's proposal to head the National Assembly".

"The SMC could thus protect the principle of the division of power and serve as a liberal corrective to a right-wing government."

Cerar said that he had been encouraged by many within and outside the SMC to bid for the post of the speaker, but that after his discussion with Počivalšek last night he realised "it's all manipulation, empty rhetoric and private ambitions of individuals."

Meanwhile, Počivalšek suggested his decision not to put Cerar forward as candidate for the speaker under the Janša government was the reason behind Cerar's quitting the party.

Unofficially, the candidate for the post is Igor Zorčič, the leader of the SMC faction in parliament.

Cerar said that by opting to join the Janša-led coalition, the party had lost credibility to implement its founding values.

He said the party leadership did not see beyond themselves, not even as far as party members, let alone as far as their voters.

Cerar, a jurist and constitutional law expert, founded the SMC shortly before the 2014 election, leading it to victory and going on to serve as prime minister until 2018.

After the party's poor showing in the following general and EU elections, he stepped down as SMC leader, handing over to Počivalšek in September 2019.

Cerar said SMC MPs had forgotten not only who invited them to the project, but mainly who elected them, so he urged them to start thinking with their own heads.

"If this doesn't happen I appeal to party members who want to remain true to the SMC's founding values, democracy, rule of law, human rights and the freethinking liberal stance not to betray those values and leave the party that no longer deserves to be called Modern Centre Party".

"The SMC long ceased to be the party of Miro Cerar, and sadly even the Modern Centre Party, unless modernity is understood as following the latest fashion and turning the way the wind blows," he said.

Cerar would not say whether he will return to serve as MP after his ministerial job ends.

Looking back on the past six years as party leader, PM and party member, Cerar admitted that he may have made some mistakes.

"What hurts the most is that I was wrong about certain people that I proposed for senior positions: from ministers to the head of the deputy faction and others," he said.

In response, Počivalšek said that he had set out the situation in the party to Cerar; unofficial information suggests that they met on Friday morning and again on Sunday evening.

He said that after a long period of turbulence the party needed to undergo a consolidation, which he said could not happen if the party kept returning into the past.

This is why he told Cerar that he would not put him forward for the speaker once he returned to parliament, a decision that Počivalšek said was hard but required for the party to go forward.

Počivalšek, who has served as economy minister in the governments of Marjan Šarec and Miro Cerar, said that the SMC was keeping its social, liberal and sustainable profile.

Yes, the Michelin guide is coming, and Gault&Millau got here in 2019, but such international attention didn’t come without local efforts to draw more interest to the many delights that the varied climates, landscapes and bordering nations of Slovenia afford when it comes to the pleasures of the table.

One project that's been doing this in English since 2017 is “The Slovenia Restaurant Awards”, which showcases the best of the country’s eateries by region, along with an overall winner. With an initial list of 123 nominees chosen by the Gastronomic Academy (composed of chefs and restaurant owners, gastronomic associations, the media and foodies), the competition is then opened to the public, with a vote using a secure system to deter multiple votes. Just like the voters in the Gastronomy Academy, members of the public can choose five restaurants in their own region, and with a further five votes to then assign to the other three regions.

The 123 nominated restaurants, in random order in each regional grouping, are as follows, with details on how to vote below the long (long) list:

Ljubljana & Central Slovenia: JB Restavracija, Restavracija Strelec, Gostišče Grič, Restavracija Atelje, Tabar, Gostilna Dvor Jezeršek, Monstera Bistro, Gostilna Mihovec, Evergreen, Restavracija Cubo, Gostilna na Gradu, Gostilna Čubr, Danilo - gostilna & vinoteka, Restavracija As, Argentino, Gostilna Kovač, Okrepčevalnica Čompa, Gostilnica 5-6kg, Japonska restavracija Maru, Gostilna Skaručna, Altroke, Kendov dvorec, Gostilna Belšak, Gostilna Pr Kopač, EK Bistro, Gostilna Pri Kuklju, Restavracija Maxim, Kralj Žara, Boschtiz, Kult316, Sushimama, B-restavracija, Gostilna Repnik, Harfa, Ošterija Pr’Noni, Gostilna Jakob Franc, Gostilna Ledinek, Gostilna Pr Čop, Gostilna pod Krvavcem, Domačija Javornik, Restavracija Slon 1552, Pri žabarju, Krtina D’Ampezzo.

Alpine Slovenia: Hiša Franko, Vila Podvin, Restavracija Mak, Gostilna Krištof, Restavracija Sedem, Gostilna Ančka, Hiša Raduha, Gostilna Grič, Rožmarin, Gostilna Lectar, City Terasa, Gostilna Pri treh ribnikih, Fudo, Gostilna Lešnik, Hiša Polonka, Gostilna Kunstelj, Restavracija Milka, Gostilna in penzion Resje, Hotel Plesnik, Miza za štiri, Restavracija Topli Val, Gostilna Maribor, Gostilna Pr’ Bizjak, Gostilna Delalut, Dom na Joštu, Vila Prešeren, Restavracija 1906.

Mediterranean & Karst Slovenia: Gostilna pri Lojzetu - Dvorec Zemono, Domačija Butul, Domačija Majerija, Domačija Belica, Hiša Torkla, Gostilna Kobjeglava, Gostilna Mahorčič, COB, Domačija Kabaj Morel, Okrepčevalnica Ruj, Pikol, Turistična Kmetija Arkade Cigoj, Restavracija Dam, Nejka in Uroš Klinec, Špacapanova hiša, Gostilna Podfarovž, Gostilna Ribič, Restavracija hotela Marina, Restavracija Capra, Kužina Stara šola, Gostilna pri Mari, Etna, Gostilna Za gradom “Rodica”, Gostilna Bujol, Gostilna Žeja, Chang, Aviopub, Restavracija Noro, Restavracija Kamin, Hiša Marica, Domačija Šajna.

Thermal Pannonian Slovenia: Hiša Denk, Gostilna Rajh, Gostilna Repovž, Galerija okusov, Pavus - Grad Tabor, Ošterija Debeluh, Domačija Vino Gaube, Tri lučke, Gostilna in pivnica Stari Pisker, Domačija Novak, Gostilna Šiker, Hiša Fink, Gostilna Francl, Gostilna Kunst, Restavracija Kodila, Restavracija Grad Otočec, Taverna Kupljen, Gostilna Ribič, Gostilna Grabar, Gostilna Šempeter, Gostilna Vovko, Restavracija Amon.

If many of those names look familiar then you’re the ideal person to take part in the awards, and thus shine some light on the places you enjoy going to most. The voting – which as of writing is all in Slovene – is open for the whole month of March and can be done at: www.the-slovenia.com/tsra.

The winners will be announced on 5 May, and reported here, with public votes accounting for 25% of the final result, and those from the Gastronomy Academy for 75%. And if you don’t know the restaurants in your region then start Googling and making plans – as all of them will offer something special.