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:

Slovenian soldiers staying in Iraq for now

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian soldiers deployed in the German-led international operation Inherent Resolve will remain in Iraq for now since they are in a relatively safe region in Erbil. In the event of a deterioration of the situation, they can be pulled out on short notice, Slovenian authorities said. Due to increased risk, several measures have been adopted at Erbil base where six Slovenian soldiers are stationed. Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said Slovenia could pull out its troops "within hours" if needed.

Court upholds Mercator share seizure

LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana District Court has fully upheld the Competition Protection Agency's decision to temporarily seize Mercator shares from the retailer's owner, Croatian group Agrokor, rejecting the latter's appeal. The anti-trust watchdog announced the court's decision upon receiving it today, while Agrokor's successor Fortenova announced it would use all legal means available to have the seizure annulled. The agency seized 70% of Mercator shares from Agrokor on 16 December to ensure the insolvent Croatian group pay a EUR 53.9 million fine for failing to notify it of the 2016 takeover of Slovenian-based bottled water company Costella.

Slovenia issues EUR 1.5bn bond at record low interest rate

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia successfully completed a EUR 1.5 billion ten-year eurobond issue, leveraging market appetite for fixed assets to secure a record-low coupon interest rate of 0.275%. The last bond issue a year ago came with a coupon rate of 1.188%. The bond issue makes Slovenia the first eurozone country to tap the bond market this year and the issue size covers almost the entire planned borrowing of EUR 1.58 billion for 2020.

Slovenia advocates easing of tensions over Iran

LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar has voiced support for a de-escalation of tensions in the conflict between Iran and the United States. "It is necessary to calm down the situation, prevent the triggering of any violence or threat," he said. "Slovenia's position is that we have to do everything to de-escalate tensions, to prevent the conflicts from escalating. It is also important that civilisational norms and international law be respected," Cerar added. "Any attacks on civilians, diplomatic and consular missions or cultural monuments are inadmissible."

Left wants Slovenia to pull out of NATO mission in Iraq

LJUBLJANA - The opposition Left called on the government to withdraw immediately from the NATO-led Inherent Resolve mission in Iraq and bring home the six Slovenian troops serving there and an officer deployed at the US military command centre in Tampa, Florida. The call follows the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani by the US. The party also plans to request a session of the Foreign Policy Committee to discuss the situation in Iran. The party wants the body to condemn the violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity by the US targeting Iran.

Cerar finds EU enlargement increasingly likely

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian Foreign Minster Miro Cerar believes that with the new European Commission, EU enlargement to the Western Balkans is increasingly more likely. He also announced the region's EU prospects would be a priority of Slovenia's EU presidency in the second half of 2021. Speaking at an event on the Western Balkans organised by the Institute for Strategic Studies in Ljubljana, Cerar said the region should be given the prospect of an EU future. "I'm increasingly optimistic about enlargement, even if we had some bitter moments last year," he said.

Jobless total up in December due to fixed-term jobs elapse

LJUBLJANA - The number of people out of a job registered with Slovenia's Employment Service increased in monthly comparison in December as many fixed-term contracts expired at the end of the year. A total of 75,292 persons were registered as unemployed at the end of December, up 4% from November but down 4.1% from December 2018. A total of 7,954 people registered as freshly unemployed in December, which is 31.8% more than in November and 9% more year-on-year. Most of the newly unemployed, 4,668, were workers whose fixed-term contracts expired at the end of the year.

Bank bailout documents released by central bank

LJUBLJANA - The central bank has released documents related to the erasure of holders of subordinated bank liabilities in the 2013 bank bailout, under a law that provides legal recourse to those affected. Released are the documents relevant to the wipe-out of EUR 963 million worth of qualified liabilities affecting up to 100,000 individuals, shareholders and holders of junior bonds. They include decisions ordering measures for each of the banks bailed out by the state, and documents revealing the content of contractual relationships with the entities involved asset quality reviews, stress tests and property appraisals.

Court upholds law banning pharmacies from owning wholesalers

LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court announced it had rejected a petition in which Lekarna Ljubljana, the company operating a chain of pharmacies in greater Ljubljana, challenged a law prohibiting pharmacies from owning or controlling drug wholesalers and advertising pharmaceutical products.

Fugitive tax debtor apprehended

LJUBLJANA - Following three months of police search, runaway tax debtor Zlatan Kudić was apprehended on New Year's Eve, reportedly in central Ljubljana. One of the biggest tax debtors in the country, Kudić will await the end of his tax fraud trial in detention. The Financial Administration (FURS) should not hold out much hope of recovering EUR 25 million worth of his debt. Moreover, it is questionable whether Kudić formally has any assets left at all.

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

Slovenia is seeing a growing number of tourists, but where do they come from, and how long do they stay? You might be surprised at the answers.

Using SURS data for August 2019, the peak month, a total of 879,291 tourist arrivals were recorded. The top two countries, by far, were Germany and Italy. With regard to the number of overnight stays, the shortest trips to the sunny side of the Alps were made by visitors from South Korea – just 1.22 nights, on average – with the average overall being 2.48. An outlier here is Malta, with an average of 5.01 nights, and visitors from Iceland (3.94), Russia (3.80), and Israel (3.66) also seeming to adopt a more leisurely pace to enjoying the country.

The full list, from most tourist arrivals to least, can be seen below, with more data to explore on SURS. Note that the figures are based on hotel, hostel and other accomodation registrations, which may explain the relatrively low numbers from next door Croatia

STA, 7 January 2020 - Slovenian soldiers deployed in the German-led international operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq will stay in the Erbil base, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday after Germany and several other countries decided to temporarily pull out their troops from Baghdad following the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

All of Slovenian soldiers are currently in Erbil in northern Iraq, the ministry noted, adding it was constantly monitoring the situation and would make decisions based on further developments.

"The Slovenian Armed Forces troops in Iraq are safe," Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said. "We estimate that the situation in this part of Iraq is fairly stable, we are keeping an eye on the situation."

Due to increased risk, several measures have been adopted at Erbil base. Soldiers are required to wear flak jackets and helmets, and they are not allowed outside base. Their primary assignment - the training of Iraqi troops - has been put on hold as well, he said.

Slovenia can pull out its troops "within hours" if necessary, with several scenarios prepared in the event a political decision is reached to withdraw the soldiers. Slovenia has an agreement on logistic support with the German Defence Ministry, another possibility would be using the government jet, he said.

Erjavec was also quick to point out that Slovenian soldiers were not a part of the NATO operation but the global coalition against Islamic State, which is supported by several United Nations resolutions.

"It would be very bad if each country decided individually what to do. After all, we embarked on this mission together and should leave it together if such a decision is made." Based on the current security situation in north Iraq, pulling out troops now would be premature, he said.

After the US air strike in which Soleimani was killed on Friday, the situation in the country deteriorated.

Germany announced today it would transfer its 30 soldiers stationed in Baghdad and Taji to Jordan and Kuwait after the Iraqi parliament adopted a resolution calling on the government to expel foreign troops from the country.

Croatia also said that 14 of its troops had been transferred to Kuwait and seven returned home after their concluded their mission.

In line with an agreement with NATO, Italian forces also pulled out last night, Italian newspaper La Stampa reports today. Italy had some 50 Carabinieri stationed at the US army base in Baghdad.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg would not comment on the possibility of expulsion of foreign troops from the country on Monday. He said NATO's mission benefited both the allies and Iraq, and that NATO had been invited to the country by Iraqi authorities.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor said on Monday he was being briefed on the state of the six-strong Slovenian contingent in Iraq and that the situation was being monitored. "In the event the decision is taken that their status in Iraq has to change, the Slovenian state will immediately respond," he said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg would not comment on the possibility of expulsion of foreign troops from the country on Monday. He said NATO's mission benefited both the allies and Iraq, and that NATO had been invited to the country by Iraqi authorities.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor said on Monday he was being briefed on the state of the six-strong Slovenian contingent in Iraq and that the situation was being monitored. "In the event the decision is taken that their status in Iraq has to change, the Slovenian state will immediately respond," he said.

Ex-Yu Aviation reports that passenger numbers are looking up again at Ljubljana Airport, after last year’s collapse of Adria Airways saw Slovenia lose 60% of its international seat capacity, and that the recovery should be further boosted by the business hub that’s developing in the area.

With regard to flights, post-Adria, a growing number of carriers have announced plans to increase the frequency of services offered to and from Ljubljana, such as Aeroflot, Air France, Air Serbia, British Airways, Finnair, Montenegro Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa Swiss International Air Lines and Transavia, while the Slovene government is in talks to with three European regional carriers to subsidise flights to and from Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Brussels.

Turning to the business hub, a spokesperson for the airport’s operator, Fraport, is quoted as saying: "When you enter the airport, the first thing you notice is the growing Brnik Business District. TNT Express Worldwide, Cargo-partner and Kuehne + Nagel have already set up their own logistics hubs here. UPS Adria Ekspres is building a logistics centre as well, and Iskra Mehanizmi and SchaferRolls are constructing their facilities here too. More than half of the plots are, or will shortly be, under long-term leases, while some of the bigger plots are still available.” No word, though, on whether a hotel operator is interested in one of these plots.

Fraport thus remains confident with regard to the airport’s new terminal, work on which started in the summer of 2019, with the opening due to take place in June 2021, in time for just Slovenia's six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The new terminal will operate in conjunction with the renovated existing terminal, raising capacity from 500 to 1,280 passengers per hour.

STA, 6 January 2020 - The coalition Social Democrats (SD) want Slovenia and the EU to help Australia fight bushfires, by offering civil protection resources and other forms of assistance to save lives.

The party formally asked the government on Monday to offer assistance to Australia given that Slovenia has one of the best civil protection systems in the world and a broad network of voluntary firefighters.

Slovenia should also offer secondary assistance by supporting NGOs that want to help Australia with activities such as reforestation and protection of animal and plant species.

Meanwhile, the party's MEPs Tanja Fajon and Milan Brglez urged the European Commission to draw up a plan of joint EU activities and form a European unit pooling together free civil protection and firefighting resources from across the bloc.

However, the office of Slovenia's European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič told the STA it had not received the initiative yet.

It noted though that the EU and its members had mechanisms to help, but that the Australian authorities must first request aid.

Australia last asked for EU assistance last November, when the EU's Copernicus Earth observation programme provided it with satellite images of New South Wales.

According to unofficial information, Australia has requested satellite images from Copernicus five times so far but has never requested aid from the EU's mechanisms for civil protection.

Sources in Brussels say that highly developed countries outside the EU usually do not request this type of aid, which is why some find the SD initiative somewhat unusual.

A total of 24 people have died in the Australian bushfires since the end of September, and more than 1,800 homes have been damaged or completely destroyed. It is estimated that more than a third of animals from the affected areas have died, and the koala bear population is in jeopardy as most of its habitat has been destroyed.

STA, 6 January 2020 - Four former top executives of Hypo Alpe Adria have been sentenced to between six and eight years in prison for defrauding the now defunct financial group of EUR 22 million through property transactions.

Former Hypo Alpe Adria CEOs Anton Romih and Božidar Špan, former Hypo Leasing director general Andrej Potočnik and former Hypo Alpe Adria Consultance director Andrej Oblak were found guilty of abuse of office and money laundering by the Ljubljana District Court on Monday.

"Guilty because they abused their position with the intent of gaining a pecuniary advantage for themselves," judge Srečko Škerbec declared at the close of a long-running trial, one of the first in the country to put bankers in the dock.

He said the quartet committed the crimes with the assistance of Hilda Tovšak, the former boss of builder Vegrad, who pleaded guilty to aiding in the abuse of office and money laundering in the case in the pre-trial hearing in November 2015, agreeing to a suspended sentence.

The highest sentence, eight years in prison, was given to Oblak, the former CEO of Hypo Alpe Adria Consultance. Romih was given six years in prison, Špan six years and six months and Potočnik six years.

The judging panel also imposed fines of EUR 37,000 on Oblak and EUR 35,000 on each of the other three defendants. Once the judgement becomes final, they will also have to pay back the illegal proceeds they made.

The court upheld the prosecution's view that the defendants had defrauded the bank of several million euro, the money which they had moved off-shore to Liechtenstein and Luxembourg before attempting to launder it.

The court held that Oblak had sought to hide the origin of proceeds by means of numerous financial transactions and swaps for equity stakes, while the others had accepted what they knew was unlawfully gained money and covered its origin.

The criminal acts were related to real estate projects in Ptuj in the north-east of the country and Trzin in central Slovenia.

"It involved an enormous procedure and complex financial transactions," said judge Škerbec as the reading of the judgement went on for several hours. The defendants were not present to hear it.

He noted the many twists and turns in the trial, including obstacles in the reading of evidence, interruptions and defendant absences, noting that witnesses from Austria, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg had been called to the stand.

Early on in the trial, the defence succeeded with its motion to suppress evidence because the court had failed to inform witnesses in a Luxembourg law firm about their rights.

More than 60 hearings into the trial after more than 40 witnesses had been heard, the trial had to start anew last year after it had been interrupted for more than three months.

The delays were due to numerous motions for exclusions of evidence and the judging panel, and defendants being absent for medical reasons, including one losing consciousness in court.

"The defence sought exclusion of the presiding judge or the entire judging panel 14 times, and several motions concerned exclusion of evidence," said the judge.

"In their closing arguments the defence repeatedly asserted that the panel did not follow their proposals. However, I accepted at least one third of the defence's motions," Škerbec said.

The prosecution had sought a total of 38 years in prison for the quartet, a year and a half more than the combined sentence handed down by the court.

Nevertheless, prosecutor Ana Bučar is happy with the ruling, so she is yet to decide whether to appeal against it.

She is happy the court has recognised the defendants' acts as criminal acts and sentenced them to prison, and also that "this lengthy trial which was extremely complex from the aspect of evidence and procedural law has ended".

Meanwhile, the defence has already announced appeals and highlighted that a number of procedural mistakes had been made, so it expects the rulings to be quashed by higher-instance courts.

Lawyer Žiga Petrnel said that "we didn't agree with the indictment five years ago and we agree even less with the verdict now".

His colleague Dejan Markovič is disappointed that in the lengthy trial with more than 160 hearings the court has made several procedural mistakes to the detriment of the defendants. "So the ruling will definitely be quashed at one of the appellate courts."

Lawyer Blaž Kovačič Mlinar said he had expected "such an outcome" because the judge had been steering the trial towards "a guilty verdict".

He thus believes that "only at the appellate courts will we be able to start discussing the substance of the matter".

Kovačič Mlinar also believes "the defendants were found guilty also because their defence had been decisive and active".

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:

President Pahor urges de-escalation in Middle East

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor called for a de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East as he made an appeal for a peaceful resolution of disputes following the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani by the US. He acknowledged that the order by US President Donald Trump to kill Soleimani had "caused tensions across the Middle East and in the entire international community". Meanwhile, defence expert Vladimir Prebilič said the Soleimani killing had been poorly thought through and that the move was made keeping only US interests in mind.

Pahor congratulates new Croatian president, happy with pledge to improve ties

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor congratulated Croatia's newly elected President Zoran Milanović, telling the press that he was happy that Milanović had made improving relations with Slovenia a priority. Although Milanović was Croatia's prime minister when the country unilaterally withdrew from the border arbitration procedure, Pahor hopes dialogue will lead to the implementation of the border arbitration decision. He is to attend Milanović's inauguration in early February.

Analyst reserved about Milanović's pledge to improve relations with Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian political analyst Borut Šuklje said one should be reserved about the announcement of the Croatian presidential election winner Zoran Milanović that he would improve relations with Slovenia, and pointed to his past actions and statements. He believes close tabs should be kept on what will be going on in the coming months. Šuklje noted that Milanović as prime minister signed the so-called Mokrice agreement in 2013 with then Slovenian PM Janez Janša, which included several commitments, none of which had been met by Croatia. Milanović was also against the border arbitration agreement in 2009.

Former Hypo execs sentenced to prison

LJUBLJANA - Four former top executives of Hypo Alpe Adria were sentenced to between six and eight years in prison for defrauding the now defunct financial group of EUR 22 million through property transactions. The Ljubljana District Court found former Hypo Alpe Adria CEOs Anton Romih and Božidar Špan, former Hypo Leasing director general Andrej Potočnik and former Hypo Alpe Adria Consultance director Andrej Oblak guilty of abuse of office and money laundering. The highest sentence, eight years in prison, was given to Oblak, the former CEO of Hypo Alpe Adria Consultance. Romih was given six years, Špan six years and six months and Potočnik six. The judging panel also imposed fines of EUR 37,000 on Oblak and EUR 35,000 on each of the other three defendants. The defence will appeal the ruling.

Slovenia gearing up for 10-year bond issue

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia plans to issue a ten-year bond and has mandated Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, J.P. Morgan and Unicredit Banka Slovenija to manage the new euro benchmark, the Finance Ministry says on its web site. "The deal is expected to be launched in the near future, subject to market conditions," the treasury said about the bond with a stated maturity date in 2030. According to the debt financing programme, Slovenia will issue fresh bonds worth a maximum of EUR 1.58 billion this year. The country issued fresh debt worth EUR 1.5 billion in January 2019 and also in January 2018.

Melania Trump continues to top Reporter's list of most influential Slovenians

LJUBLJANA - US First Lady Melania Trump remains the most influential Slovenian, according to a list compiled by the right-leaning magazine Reporter, ahead of PM Marjan Šarec and UEFA boss Aleksander Čeferin. The Reporter Top 100 list takes into account formal influence associated with the person's post or job, as well as their informal influence. PM Šarec this year replaced Aleksander Čeferin in second spot, with Reporter commenting that along with the powers associated with the executive post, Šarec has also gained informal influence.

Slovenian judge Nina Betetto new CCJE head

STRASBOURG, France - Slovenian Supreme Court judge Nina Betetto took over on 1 January as the head of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), a Council of Europe advisory body. Betetto, born in 1962, was elected the new president at the CCJE's plenary last November and UK judge Kim Lewison was elected vice president, a two-year office Betetto held previously. Betetto graduated in law in Ljubljana in 1985 and earned her master's degree in 1994. In 2006, she became a Supreme Court judge and has been a CCJE member since 2009.

SocDems want Slovenia, EU to help Australia fight fire

LJUBLJANA - The coalition Social Democrats (SD) want Slovenia and the EU to help Australia fight bushfires by offering civil protection resources and other forms of assistance to save lives. The party formally asked the government to offer assistance to Australia given that Slovenia has one of the best civil protection systems in the world and a broad network of voluntary firefighters. Slovenia should also offer secondary assistance by supporting NGOs that want to help Australia with activities such as reforestation and protection of animal and plant species.

Science Council backs umbrella research bill

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia seems to be a step closer to a new umbrella science and research law, as the Science and Technology Council, a body advising the government, backed a bill on science and research and on innovation. The bill aims to introduce stable funding at 1% of GDP after science and research suffered severe cuts during the recession, and consequently raise the autonomy and responsibility of research organisations. The bill will now be sent into inter-departmental harmonisation and then to the government. Jernej Pikalo, the minister in charge of science, expects it to be on the parliament's agenda in spring.

Humanitarian worker Kozorog named Slovenian Woman of the Year

LJUBLJANA - Physician and humanitarian worker Ninna Kozorog, the head of Humanitarček, an NGO which has campaigned for assistance to retirees living in poverty, was on Sunday declared the Slovenian Woman of the Year 2019 by the women's magazine Jana/Zarja. The association's activities include a project called Vida, which aims at highlighting the difficulties faced by the elderly in remote areas. According to Jana/Zarja, Kozorog always makes sure that people keep their dignity.

Pahor, Šarec thank carollers for bringing message of peace

LJUBLJANA - On Epiphany, child carollers dressed up as the biblical Magi visited President Borut Pahor, PM Marjan Šarec and Speaker Dejan Židan, who thanked them for bringing a message of peace, cooperation, respect and help to fellow human beings. The president said that, as messengers of peace, carollers had an important and noble mission, as not every part of the world enjoyed peace, with the world entering the new year with some concerns regarding international peace.

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

In 1584 the Gregorian calendar was introduced in Slovenian lands, which from the extinction of the Counts of Celje in 1456 belonged to the Austrian line of the Hapsburg Monarchy. 

The new calendar was promulgated in 1582 by Pope Gregory XII, addressing the leap year calculation problem of the earlier Julian calendar. Since every fourth year in the Julian calendar is a leap year, an average year is 235.25 days long. But as the tropical solar year is 365.24217 days long, in time the Julian calendar drifts away from observed astronomical events such as vernal equinox, the base for calculating Easter.

The new, Gregorian calendar, introduced leap year omissions every year that is divided by 100 but not if it can also be divided by 400. In order to realign with the tropical year, the introduction of Gregorian calendar at the time required the skipping of 10 days. Which is why the date that followed January 6^th in 1584, was January 17.

Although the Gregorian calendar has been adopted by most of the world, the Julian calendar remains in use by the Christian Orthodox church, which is why Orthodox Christian holidays are currently celebrated 13 days after their Catholic/Protestant dates.

Therefore, we have another Christmas coming on January 7^th and another New Year on January 13.

Cheers!

Ljubljana has been working hard to improve accessibility for everyone – putting in ramps, adding lifts to buses, offering the free Kavalir electric “car” service and attachments to motorise ordinary wheelchairs, as well as supporting the excellent Ljubljana By Wheelchair project (and here we’ll also highlight the pridem.si project that covers the whole of Slovenia).

These efforts have been recognized with the capital’s listing with four other cities as models for others to follow in the EU. The four others are Breda and Rotterdam (both in the Netherlands), Lyon (France), Chester (the UK). The full text, which can be found here, notes the projects mentioned above, plus the urban electric train, which is free to use and also has a free audio guide.

STA, 6 January 2020 - President Borut Pahor has congratulated Croatia's newly elected President Zoran Milanović over the phone. "I am happy that he reiterated in our conversation that he wanted to improve relations with Slovenia and that this will be one of his priorities," Pahor told the press on Monday.

"I replied that, in this sense, Slovenia has a friend, somebody completely devoted to dialogue, to finding solutions. But added that he must be aware of my position about the arbitration agreement and that these must be taken into account."

He expressed hope that the dialogue will lead to the implementation of the border arbitration decision through agreement of both countries and to benefit of them both.

Pahor said he would attend Milanović's inauguration in early February, to convey the message that Slovenia and Croatia are neighbouring countries and must also be friendly countries.

He believes that his presence at the inauguration will also be that relations between the two countries were mostly good, bar one, very complicated chapter.

However, a tribunal has decided on the issue and the decision will have to be upheld sooner or later, added Pahor.

Milanović was Croatia's prime minister at the time when Croatia withdrew from the border arbitration procedure, declaring it null and void after a wire tap showed inadmissible communication had taken place between Slovenia's arbitration agent and the tribunal member nominated by Slovenia.

The agent and the tribunal member resigned immediately and the tribunal decided that the breach was not such as to warrant a discontinuation of the arbitration process.

Nonetheless, Croatia withdrew and has been refusing to implement the border arbitration decision ever since it was presented in mid-2017.

Pahor, who signed in his capacity as prime minister in 2009 the arbitration agreement with Croatia that led to the arbitration procedure, said today that he would approach his relationship with President Milanović "with open arms and open doors".

Social Democrats (SD) president Dejan Židan also congratulated Milanović, who is a member of the Croatian Social Democrats (SDP).

Židan expressed confidence that the countries will be able to renew friendly relations "based on the rule of law, mutual respect and dedication to common European values".