14 Aug 2019, 14:42 PM

Slovenian Construction Sector Sees Strong Growth in H1

STA, 14 August 2019 - The value of construction works in Slovenia rose by 14.4% in the first six months of 2019 year-on-year, shows data released on Wednesday by the Statistics Office. Following a rise in May, the value of construction works decreased by 6.7% in June over the previous month.

In the first half of the year the value of works on buildings rose by 11.9%, whereas the value of works on engineering objects was up by 15.1% compared to the same period in 2018.

Compared to May, the value of works on buildings was down by 8.8% in June and of works on engineering objects by 6.4%.

The year-to-year comparison for June on the other hand shows a 5.4% overall increase for the industry. Standing out is a 9% increase for non-residential buildings, whereas the value of works on residential buildings decreased by 2.1% in June year-on-year.

More details on this data can be found here

14 Aug 2019, 13:00 PM

Slovenia & Japan Sign Agreements on Development of Rehab Technology

STA, 13 August 2019 - Japanese and Slovenian partners signed two agreements in Ljubljana on Tuesday that pave the way for cooperation in development and research of robotised rehabilitation devices.

Fujita Health University signed one of the accords with the University of Ljubljana and the other with the Ljubljana-based URI Soča Rehabilitation Institute, and Toyota Motor Corporation.

The signing was attended by Economy Ministry State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti, who praised it as a major paving stone for further cooperation between Slovenia and Japan in the field.

"Cooperation between Slovenia and Japan has seen tremendous progress in recent years," said Cantarutti, praising the agreements as an "excellent example of cooperation between science and research and business", and a new opportunity to upgrade medical rehabilitation robotics.

Bilateral cooperation was also praised by Japanese Ambassador to Slovenia Masaharu Yoshida, who noted that Fujita Health University was a leading institution in the field in Japan. The university operates Japan's largest university hospital, treating 1.83 million patients a year.

"The agreement signed today will allow us to find a common path in development of rehabilitation robots and, above all, to put them on the market," said Robert Cugelj, director general of URI Soča.

The institute's main goal is to get its expertise and technology into the real world, and sell it. "In this way we generate value added mainly for patients, both those from Slovenia and elsewhere," said Cugelj.

The head of the institute's research and development department, Zlatko Matjačić, presented two projects that formed the basis for cooperation.

One is a rehab robot to train patients how to maintain balance and movement coordination during walking, which is being developed by the Slovenian institute, and the other is a robot developed by Fujita Health University and Toyota.

These are two exoskeletal devices focusing on two different areas. "The Japanese have focused on the leg's function and support during walk, while we're focusing on the integrated function of balance and coordination," Matjačić said.

They would now like to combine their expertise, technology and experience into a now concept to help in the rehabilitation of patients after stroke.

Fujita Health University professor and president Eiichi Saitoh was happy that the university was linking with the world's leading rehabilitation institutions, expressing belief that expertise is expanded and enriched through such cooperation.

Keisuke Suga of Toyota's BR-Medicare hailed the new partnership, which said would help implement Toyota's vision of mobility for all. The department headed by Suga specializes in development and production of devices used in patient rehabilitation.

The Japanese delegation already met Health Ministry State Secretary Simona Repar Bornšek on Monday and will be received along with URI Soča officials by President Borut Pahor on Wednesday.

All our stories on Japan are here, while those on robotics are here

14 Aug 2019, 10:11 AM

Foreign Direct Investment in Slovenia More than Doubled in H1

STA, 13 August 2019 - Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Slovenia more than doubled in the first half of 2019 to reach EUR 614.4 million. The figure is considerably higher than the EUR 242 million recorded in the same period of 2018, according to central bank data. What is more, FDI nearly doubled between June 2018 and June 2019 year-on-year.

Banka Slovenije's monthly report for June shows that FDI reached EUR 1.4 billion between June 2018 and June 2019, which is almost double the EUR 721.1 million recorded between June 2017 and 2018.

Last year, FDI in total reached EUR 1.2 billion, with the central bank pointing out that several large takeovers had taken place during this period, including the one of insurer Adriatic Slovenica by Italian Generali group, of home appliances maker Gorenje by Chinese Hisense and of poultry producer Perutnina Ptuj by Ukrainian MHP.

Slovenia's FDI abroad, on the other hand, was far lower. In the first half of 2019, reached EUR 52.6 million, a significant drop over the EUR 159.9 million in the same period of last year.

Between June 2018 and June 2019 Slovenia's FDI reached EUR 117.8 million, down from EUR 130.3 million invested between June 2017 and June 2018. Last year, Slovenia's FDI reached a total of EUR 63.3 million.

14 Aug 2019, 10:01 AM

Emergency Culling of Wolves Agreed After Increase in Farm Attacks

STA, 13 August 2019 - In the wake of severe criticism by farmers that the emergency law to cull bears and wolves does not bring results, changes facilitating a faster reduction of the wolf population were agreed at a high-profile meeting Environment Minister Simon Zajc hosted at his ministry on Tuesday.

From now on, the Forest Service and the Institute for Nature Conservation will allow that wolves are killed in the entire areas where a pack of wolves lives.

At the moment, wolf culling is limited to the meadows which domestic animals use as pastures, a rule making the culling very hard and has been challenged by hunters.

Zajc explained, speaking to the press after the meeting, the solution was in line with the emergency law, which was passed in June.

A change to the system of emergency culling of wolves was also agreed to allow the Environment Agency to initiate emergency culling whenever a farmer has reported their domestic animals were attacked.

So far, the initiative has had to come from other stakeholders, most often from the Forest Service.

Nevertheless, the Forest Service and the Institute for Nature Conservation will still have to decide whether the culling is justified.

Zajc believes the two biggest obstacles to the emergency law bringing results have been removed.

Under the emergency law, hunters can kill eleven wolves and 175 bears, with the respective populations estimated at around 1,000 and at nearly 90.

Today's meeting came after farmers urged the government at a protest on Saturday to bring the wolf population under control, arguing the new law was ineffective.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Forest Service, the Institute for Nature Conservation and the Hunters' Association, among others.

Representatives of the Farmers' Trade Union, who staged the rally on Saturday, did not attend, and Zajc rejected their call for his resignation.

He however announced new meeting for the coming months to come to agreement on how to comprehensively improve the management of wolf and bear populations.

Forest Service data shows that nearly 680 domestic animals, mostly sheep and goats, were attacked by the end of July, double the number from the same period last year.

Earlier in the day, the leader of the opposition People's Party (SLS), Marjan Podobnik, said his party would offer every hunter who kills a wolf in line with the law EUR 500.

He also criticised the rather strict provisions governing the reduction of the wolf population, saying hunters would not hunt in fear of high fines.

Podobnik explained that a wolf could only be killed if it could be proved that it had attacked animals several times.

While the attacks on domestic animals are a problems, the safety of people in rural areas is just as important, he told the press in Ljubljana.

All our stories on wolves are here, while all our stories on hunting are here

14 Aug 2019, 01:43 AM

Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Wednesday, 14 August 2019

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also ollow 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

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

This summary is provided by the STA:

Foreign minister meets counterpart while on vacation in Croatia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's Foreign Minister Miro Cerar had an unofficial meeting with his newly appointed Croatian counterpart Goran Grlić Radman, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry confirmed for the STA after Croatian media reported that the pair met as Cerar was on holiday in Croatia, a popular summer destination for many Slovenians. The ministry said that Cerar and Grlić Radman would hold their first official meeting on the sidelines of the EU foreign affairs ministerial scheduled for 29 and 30 August in Helsinki.

Changes agreed to speed up wolf culling

LJUBLJANA - In the wake of severe criticism by farmers that the emergency law to cull bears and wolves does not bring results, changes facilitating a faster reduction of the wolf population were agreed at a high-profile meeting Environment Minister Simon Zajc hosted at his ministry. From now on, wolves could be culled in a broader area where a pack of wolves lives, not just where the attacks take place. A change to the system of emergency culling of wolves was also agreed to allow the Environment Agency to initiate emergency culling whenever a farmer has reported their domestic animals were attacked.

FDI in Slovenia more than doubled in H1

LJUBLJANA - Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Slovenia more than doubled in the first half of 2019, reaching EUR 614.4 million, The figure is considerably higher than the EUR 242 million recorded in the same period of 2018, according to the June report of the central bank. What is more, FDI invested between June 2018 and June 2019 nearly doubled year-on-year, reaching EUR 1.4 billion compared to EUR 721.1 million recorded between June 2017 and 2018. Last year, FDI in total reached EUR 1.2 billion, with the central bank pointing out that several big takeovers had taken place during this period.

Slovenia and Japan agree closer cooperation in rehab technology

LJUBLJANA - Japanese and Slovenian partners signed two agreements that pave the way for cooperation in development and research of robotised rehabilitation devices. Fujita Health University signed one of the accords with the University of Ljubljana and the other with the Ljubljana-based URI Soča Rehabilitation Institute, and Toyota Motor Corporation. The signing was attended by Economy Ministry State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti, who praised it as a major paving stone for further cooperation between Slovenia and Japan in the field.

Kemis to appeal against inspectors' order to remove renovated facilities

VRHNIKA - The Vrhnika-based hazardous waste treatment company Kemis said it will appeal against a decision ordering it to remove the facilities rebuilt after a devastating fire on the site in 2017. Unless the appeal is granted, the company will be forced to close down. After the building inspectorate found last week that the buildings renovated in the wake of the May 2017 fire were illegal and should be removed, Kemis stopped bringing waste from its clients to Vrhnika. Kemis has been given until June 2020 to dismantle the buildings, but CEO Boštjan Šimenc said that in this case Kemis would be gone.

SDS files fresh proposal to increase state funding for private schools

LJUBLJANA - The opposition Democrats (SDS) mounted their fifth attempt at getting parliament to put public funding for private primary schools on a par with that for public schools. The bill was submitted after the centre-left coalition was unable to override an upper chamber veto on changes that in fact lowered funding for private primary schools. It seeks to implement a 2014 Constitutional Court decision ordering that funding be equalised with that for public schools, which are 100% state funded. The SDS repeated that the ill-fated government-sponsored bill, which stipulated that the state-approved curricula be 100% state funded but slashed funding for additional activities and services from 85% to zero, failed to implement the top court's ruling.

Man gets residency status 27 years after erasure

LJUBLJANA - Budimir Vuković, one of the thousands of citizens of the former Yugoslavia who were deleted from Slovenia's registry of permanent residents in 1992, has been granted a temporary residence permit at last, regaining his driving licence as well as a right to work, the newspaper Dnevnik reported. He has been living in Slovenia since 1978. Being left without permanent residency status following Slovenia's independence, and without citizenship or any documents, the former technician at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant was unable to leave the country, while living here unlawfully since the erasure. He is now earning his living selling Kralj Ulice, the newspaper sold by the homeless people.

Climber Garnbret defends bouldering World Champion title

HACHIOJI, Japan - Slovenian climbing phenomenon Janja Garnbret successfully defended her title of bouldering World Champion, taking gold at the championships in Japan's Hachioji. Silver went to Japanese veteran Akiyo Noguchi and bronze to British climber Shauna Coxsey. The 20-year-old, who won all six bouldering events of this year's World Cup season, has become the first female climber with two consecutive bouldering World Championship golds.

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

13 Aug 2019, 15:51 PM

Sport Climbing: Garnbret Takes Gold in Japan, Wins Bouldering World Championship (Video)

STA, 13 August 2019 - Slovenian climbing phenomenon Janja Garnbret has successfully defended her title of bouldering World Champion, taking gold at the championships in Japan's Hachioji on Tuesday. Silver went to Japanese veteran Akiyo Noguchi and bronze to British climber Shauna Coxsey.

The 20-year-old, who won all six bouldering events of this year's World Cup season, has become the first female climber with two consecutive bouldering World Championship golds.

"Last year was really special, as that was my first title, but this year things were a bit more intense and particular because of what I had managed to achieve during the entire bouldering season. I'm truly happy I was able to keep a cool head and that I achieved this," Garnbret commented.

This is already Garnbret's forth gold and fifth medal in total at World Championships, while Slovenia now has a 15 such medals.

Garnbret is meanwhile far from done in Hachioji, as she will also be defending her World Champion title in combined, the discipline with which sport climbing will be making its Olympic debut in Tokyo next year.

She is moreover among the favourites in lead, having won silver at last year's World Championships in Innsbruck.

All our stories on sport climbing are here, while those on mountaineering are here

13 Aug 2019, 12:27 PM

“Erased” Man Gets Slovenian Residency Status 27 Yrs After Being Deleted

STA, 13 August 2019 - Budimir Vuković, one of the thousands of citizens of the former Yugoslavia who were deleted from Slovenia's registry of permanent residents in 1992 (the Erased, Izbrisani), has been granted a temporary residence permit at last, regaining his driving licence as well as a right to work, the newspaper Dnevnik reports.

Vuković has been living in Slovenia since 1978. Being left without permanent residency status following the country's independence, and without citizenship or any documents, he has been unable to leave the country, while living here unlawfully since the erasure.

"Considering that I've been living in Slovenia for 41 years, I'd expect they'd recognise me permanent residence status. But I understand that bureaucracy operates step by step," said Vuković, who used to work as a technician at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant.

He is now earning his living selling Kralj Ulice, the newspaper sold by the homeless people. "I'll be selling the paper until I've found another job," says Vuković, who spends his free time as an author.

Being given back his driving licence, he made his first legal trip abroad on Sunday, driving to Austria for a coffee.

"I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I'm well on course to have my status fully resolved," Vuković commented on the ruling giving him temporary status for the paper on Monday.

He was granted temporary residence status by the Administrative Court based on the European Convention of Human Rights and judgements issued by the European Court of Human Rights.

These require countries to tackle the status of people residing in them for a long time regardless of whether they their status had been legalised from the start.

Matevž Krivic, a former constitutional judge who has been acting as counsel for Vuković and other erased, says that this is far from being the only such case.

Gani Redžić, who has been living in Maribor for 52 years, has been granted temporary residence permit only recently based on an appeal to the Constitutional Court.

However, unlike in Vuković's case, the Maribor administrative unit "forgot" to restore Redžić's right to social benefits, the newspaper Dnevnik reports.

13 Aug 2019, 11:40 AM

Govt. Has Plans to Repatriate Slovenians from Venezuela (Feature)

STA, 11 August 2019 - The Government Office for Slovenians Abroad (Urad Vlade Republike Slovenije za Slovence v zamejstvu in po svetu) has drawn up a proposal to repatriate persons of Slovenian descent from Venezuela, following calls, including in parliament, for a government decree to this effect. The government is expected to discuss it soon after the summer recess.

A key condition for the start of repatriation proceedings is Slovenia designating the situation a grave economic and political crisis. This has already been done several times before by the Foreign Ministry, and calls have been mounting in Slovenia to help Slovenians living there.

Interior Ministry data puts the number of Slovenian citizens living in Venezuela at 335, while the total number of people of Slovenian descent there is estimated at 1,000.

Slovenian authorities have received 47 requests for repatriation after the start of the last crisis in the country.

The Office for Slovenians Abroad has told the STA that repatriation was a complex procedure and that Slovenia had very limited experience in the field. The only repatriation executed so far was for a family from Syria in 2013 due to the civil war there.

Under the law, individuals of Slovenian descent are eligible for repatriation, but in the case of the repatriation from Syria entry was also granted to the non-Slovenian family members on the basis of asylum rules on family reunification.

"Such a solution also seems to make the most sense when it comes to repatriation from Venezuela," representatives of the Office for Slovenians Abroad said.

Repatriation status can be used by individuals for a maximum of 15 months. In this period they have the right to free healthcare, Slovenian language lessons for family members, a work licence, enrolment in higher education institutions under favourable conditions, as well as to favourable treatment when applying for a job compared to third-country citizens.

To accommodate repatriated individuals, the government can set up an immigration home where basic provisions are secured, including financial aid for those below the minimum income threshold.

The 15-month status cannot be extended, meaning the repatriated individual needs to secure a different status as the basis for continued residence in Slovenia, for instance Slovenian citizenship, the status of a Slovenian without Slovenian citizenship, or an appropriate status of a foreign citizens with a residence permit.

Repatriated individuals can also return to Venezuela, this, however, needs to be organised by them independently and at their own cost.

There have also been warnings about the repatriation approach, with the head of the Foreign Ministry's consular service, Andrej Šter, recently noting in a interview that countries which have larger numbers of their citizens in Venezuela have been approaching the situation differently.

"The joint foreign service of the EU and some other countries told us that it is not advisable to start with repatriation and that it makes more sense to opt for evacuation from difficult circumstances.

"This means helping people to live with fewer problems while not luring them into selling everything and leaving without a chance of return," Šter told Dnevnik's Saturday supplement Objektiv.

He added that these people were mostly part of the middle and upper-middle class in Venezuela and would not be happy hearing upon arriving in Slovenia that they would be accommodated by the state in a dilapidated army apartment or barracks.

The Office for Slovenians Abroad commented on this by saying that efforts were also under way to help such people directly where they lived - humanitarian aid has for instance been secured for them several times through two Slovenian associations active in Venezuela.

It moreover warned that "it is of course not be expected" that all persons of Slovenian descent living in Venezuela would want to be repatriated.

The first cases of Slovenian immigrants in Venezuela date back to the period between the two world wars, but a bigger wave was recorded after WWII. A number of Slovenians, mostly from the western region of Primorska, made their way to Venezuela until the end of the 1950s. An estimated 550 to 800 Slovenians emigrated to Venezuela by 1960, the Foreign Ministry data shows.

According to the ministry, the emigration was triggered by the economic and partly political situation in the homeland at the time, as well by the desire for adventure and by existing ties to Slovenians already in Venezuela. The situation is reversed today.

13 Aug 2019, 09:32 AM

Real Estate Agents Challenge Limit on Commission Fees

STA, 12 August 2019 - More than 60 real estate agencies asked the Constitutional Court on Monday to review a recently adopted bill that limits commission fees for leasing real estate and other costs which real estate agencies can charge their clients.

According to Boštjan Udovič from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), the 66 agencies involved want the top court to review and stay provisions limiting service commissions.

They argue the bill encroaches on the right to engage in free enterprise and the right to property, meaning it also violates the European Convention on Human Rights as well as EU law.

"The legislator failed to demonstrate any public benefit that would justify such an intervention in the rights of the plaintiffs. The goals allegedly pursued are general and have to do with housing policy and not with property brokerage," Udovič told the STA.

The legislative changes, originally passed on 11 July and again a week later following a National Council veto, entered in to force on 10 August and protect tenants against paying commissions for services provided by a real estate agency which was hired by the landlord.

They also introduced cap on commissions that can be charged by apartment rental agencies; the capped amount corresponds to one monthly rent, but should not go lower than 150 euro.

13 Aug 2019, 02:32 AM

Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Tuesday, 13 August 2019

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also ollow 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

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

This summary is provided by the STA:

Housing central topic of International Youth Day in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's youth organisations took the opportunity of International Youth Day to highlight housing as the key problem faced by new generations. They criticised a lack of action on the part of the government, saying the flawed housing policy, coupled with precarious and low-paying jobs, made it hard to become independent. Youth organisations are unhappy about the government's response to their calls, saying that all responsibility had been relegated to the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning. Otherwise, the young in Slovenia are mostly happy with their lives.

Šarec party extends lead in Delo poll

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec's party regained ground in the latest poll commissioned by the newspaper Delo to increase the lead ahead of the opposition Democrats (SDS) to 2.6 percentage points. The Marjan Šarec List polled at 16.8%, up 2.2 percentage points from the month before, while the SDS kept its rating virtually unchanged at 14.2%. The coalition SocDems lost 0.6 percentage points to 7.2%, whereas the opposition New Slovenia gained 1.4 points to 6.7% to come ahead of the Left (6.5%).

Survey: Young women in Slovenia unhappy with their standard

LJUBLJANA - Less than half of young women in Slovenia are happy with their current standard of living and many are unhappy at work and ready to move abroad in search of better job opportunities, found a survey conducted among 500 women aged 20-35 years by the institute Nefiks. Only 35% of the women surveyed have a job agreeing with the level and type of their education. Almost 60% would prefer to work in the public sector due to greater job security. As many as 44% are not planning a family.

Realsters challenging cap on commissions at top court

LJUBLJANA - More than 60 real estate agencies asked the Constitutional Court to review a recently adopted bill that limits commission fees for leasing real estate and other costs which real estate agencies can charge their clients. According to Boštjan Udovič from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), the 66 agencies involved want the top court to review and stay provisions limiting service commissions. They argue the bill encroaches on the right to engage in free enterprise and the right to property, meaning it also violates the European Convention on Human Rights as well as EU law.

Perutnina Ptuj CEO says peddling Ukrainian poultry would be suicidal

LJUBLJANA - Perutnina Ptuj CEO Enver Šišić dismissed speculation in an interview with Delo that the Slovenian poultry producer would start using Ukrainian meat to sell it under the Perutnina Ptuj brand after being acquired by the Ukrainian MHP holding. He said that packaging Ukrainian meat under the Perutnina Ptuj brand would amount to suicide, noting that MHP had paid EUR 240 million for Pertunina Ptuj because it valued its business model, which means controlling production field to fork.

Slovenia in focus of Austria's largest art fair

VIENNA, Austria - Slovenia will be the country in focus at viennacontemporary 2019, the largest international art fair in Austria, which will take place in Vienna from 26 to 29 September. The fair will feature more than 100 galleries and 500 artists from 25 countries, providing a glimpse into the contemporary art scene in Central and Eastern Europe. In focus will be a state without territory, the NSK State in Time, an ongoing project launched by the Slovenian art collective Neue Slowenische Kunst.

Jazzinty brings top musicians to Novo Mesto

NOVO MESTO - The 20th Jazzinty festival will draw a number of acclaimed musicians to the town of Novo Mesto until Saturday. Workshops, a key feature of the festival, will be given by experienced mentors and world-renowned musicians pursuing new trends in jazz and improvisation. The festival will also feature concerts by base player Linda Oh, pianist Fabian Almazan and singer Michael Mayo, while the entire team of mentors will work on a project entitled A Different Point of View, their own take on classic jazz.

Slovenia Open kicks off on the coast

PORTOROŽ - The ATP Challenger Zavarovalnica Sava Slovenia Open, the biggest international tennis tournament in the country, got under way in the coastal town Portorož, with the finals scheduled for Sunday. A total of 48 players will vie for the top prize which comes with US$50,000 cheque. Seven Slovenian tennis players will compete in the tournament, including top seed Aljaž Bedene, currently 90th in ATP rankings, and Blaž Rola, the third-seeded player.

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

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