STA, 11 June 2019 - After winning an important legal battle against the users of Ljubljana's Rog squat, the city has set up a construction site outside the former bicycle factory's southern wall. Speaking of the mayor's "might is right approach", the users of the centre insist on participating in plans for Rog's renovation and "will defend Rog just like in 2016".

The users of Rog, which developed into an alternative arts and social centre in 2006 after it had been left to decay for 15 years, told the press on Tuesday that the move spoke volumes about the sincerity of the city's offer for dialogue.

They said the construction fencing was put up in the presence of city officials by builder Euro Grad on Monday, the very day they had drawn up a response to Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković regarding the format of the talks on the future of the huge complex located just off the city centre.

While the city has already put a EUR 27 million price tag on the commercial makeover of Rog, the users want to discuss the centre's future in the format of an open public panel, which they plan to organise on 18 June.

The city, which bought Rog's 7,000 m2 premisses in 2002, recently won ownership lawsuits against eight of Rog's users who had managed to enforce their possession right.

While the eight users ended up with procedural costs totalling EUR 40,000 and had to leave, the city authorities - by some accounts unable to make a decisive move as long as dozens of unidentified users continue to hold on to Rog - has been insisting that it be clear who they are talking to.

The users told the press that they were not bent on staying in dilapidated buildings, but they are also convinced the planned Centre Rog project only shows that "the city is unable to face real problems and that it is leaving Ljubljana's inhabitants with no alternative to watching the capital turn into an amusement park for tourists and wealthy investors".

"We successfully defended Rog in 2016 and we will also do it in 2019," they told the press, referring to a previous attempt by the city to start with the demolition of most of Rog's buildings.

The Ljubljana Municipality responded by saying its representatives would not attend the public panel announced by Rog's users. The time for such discussions has expired and the city held a number of public debates with various stakeholders in the past, the press release says.

"By destroying the construction site, set up outside the factory wall, the temporary users of Rog showed their true face," the city authorities wrote, speaking of hypocrisy on the side of Rog's users and announcing the public would be informed about the continuation of the works in due time.

As for the dialogue efforts, the city said that 10 June had been the deadline for a response from Rog. The response was provided with the names of three users who would attend the talks, but there was not concrete content, which had been a basic condition for dialogue, the press release says.

STA, 11 June 2019 - Coalition parties are mostly in favour of somehow suspending the privatisation of Abanka, although opinions differ and at least some advocate the position that commitments must be honoured. In any case, it appears that the government will have the final say.

Abanka is supposed to be privatised by the end of the month according to commitments Slovenia made in exchange for EU clearance of state aid. But just weeks before the due date Prime Minister Marjan Šarec cast doubt on the procedure by calling for a re-examination of the commitments.

His party, the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), thinks it is necessary to clarify what went on in the run-up to the bailout, a reference to ongoing police investigations of the circumstances of the 2013 bailout.

"We'll see what goes on in the coming days and weeks. But these are things that cannot be resolved fast. The government will have to adopt a position and we have to clarify what had been going on," LMŠ deputy group leader Brane Golubović said on Tuesday.

Similarly, the Social Democrats (SD) think a reconsideration is in order. The government should "decide whether to carry out the sale or not, and whether to negotiate new terms with the Commission at least until court procedures regarding the correctness of the calculation of the bank capital shortfall are ongoing," deputy group chair Matjaž Han said.

The Modern Centre Party (SMC) shares the SD's opinion. "We advocate the position that the government should reconsider and, if necessary, stop the sale," deputy group leader Igor Zorčič said, adding that his party was "against unnecessarily selling state assets".

Only the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) thinks obligations Slovenia made should be honoured. "The state has made some commitments regarding the bank and will probably have to realise them," the party said, but added that it would still be good if Slovenia had one state-owned bank.

The SAB, led by Alenka Bratušek, prime minister during the bailout, pointed out the coalition agreement said the government would try to convince Brussels it did not have to sell Abanka. But since the Finance Ministry has to its knowledge not yet launched the talks, "this indicates that we will probably sell Abanka".

Given that Slovenia has managed to rescue its banks with its own money and the economy without the intervention of the troika, the right approach could result in the Commission not insisting on the sale, the SAB believes.

The Finance Ministry would not comment on the issue.

The privatisation of Abanka had been considered a foregone conclusion until last Friday when Šarec cast doubt on the plan by saying on Twitter that SSH, which manages equity in companies on behalf of the state, may have to reconsider the move.

The tweet came after the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija aired a documentary about the 2013 bailout a day earlier, raising questions in particular about the role of the European Commission in ordering that junior creditors of three banks be wiped out.

SSH said yesterday it had to stick to the commitment to sell Abanka, which Slovenia made when it received clearance for state aid, but it also said that the government could take a final decision on the bank's sale.

The European Commission has said it expects Slovenia to honour its commitments.

STA, 12 June 2019 - Storms with massive hail the size of oranges hit parts of south Slovenia late on Tuesday afternoon, damaging dozens of houses. Almost 90 local firefighting brigades were deployed yesterday and today to help locals.

The National Emergency Centre reported significant hail damage in the municipalities Kočevje and Črnomelj, with some damage also recorded in and around Ribnica and Sodražica.

About 130 buildings have been affected in Kočevje municipality where the large hail crushed roof tiles, according to the deputy civil protection commander Igor Kalinič.

Firefighters are already helping residents cover roofs on houses, Kalinič told the STA.

In Črnomelj municipality, over 50 buildings were damaged, mostly in villages in the Kolpa Valley, civil protection commander Jože Weiss told the STA.

An extreme weather system developed over south Slovenia and north Croatia yesterday as warm airmass from Africa collided with cooler air coming in from the Alps, creating dozens of storm cells.

The hailstorms come almost exactly a year after the region suffered massive hail damage, but preliminary estimates suggest the damage is not as bad as it was last year.

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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:

Left wants Abanka privatisation suspended

LJUBLJANA - The opposition Left urged the government to scrap the privatisation of Abanka, Slovenia's third-largest bank, just weeks before an EU-imposed deadline for privatisation. It also wants the government to renegotiate privatisation commitments with the European Commission, designate Abanka a strategic asset, and examine the possibility of suing the Commission at the EU Court for pressuring the government into privatising the three banks bailed out in 2013. Coalition parties said they were mostly in favour of somehow suspending the privatisation of Abanka, although opinions differ.

Contractor picked for Ljubljana airport terminal extension

LJUBLJANA- Fraport Slovenija, the operator of Ljubljana airport, has selected the companies GIC Gradnje and Elcom to extend the existing passenger terminal in a repeat call for bids after the National Review Commission introduced a new practice in tenders. According to Monday's announcement, the two companies had submitted the lowest bid in the repeated tender and the decision to select them had been made only recently, although GIC Gradnje already said unofficially in April they had been selected.

Local initiatives call on Pahor to discuss migration issue

LJUBLJANA - Representatives of three civil initiatives from areas bordering on Croatia and Italy and facing an influx of illegal migrants asked President Borut Pahor to call a meeting on the migration issue. The debate should feature representatives of the deputy groups, mayors of border municipalities, civil initiatives and the interested public. Addressing a letter to Pahor, the civil initiatives from Ilirska Bistrica and Črnomelj near the border with Croatia, and from Škofije near the border with Italy said that the locals' rights were being violated.

Cerar opens consulate's new premises, meets Fedriga, minority

TRIESTE, Italy - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar and Massimiliano Fedriga, head of the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, opened new premises of the Slovenian Consulate General as Cerar began a two-day visit to Trieste. He also held a bilateral meeting with Fedriga and met representatives of the Slovenian minority in Italy. Cerar welcomed Fedriga's efforts to find a solution for the minority to get a representative in Italy's lower and upper chambers of parliament, a provision set down in the law governing Slovenian minority rights, and expressed the expectation Italy would return the National Home in Trieste to the Slovenian minority.

Professional public shocked following thumbs down for Slovenian judge

MARIBOR/LJUBLJANA - The professional public in Slovenia is shocked after the country's candidate for the EU's General Court failed to get endorsed by the court's advisory panel. However, such rejections are not rare. Maritime law professor Marko Pavliha is the first Slovenian to be interviewed by the panel, but he is far from being the first candidate whose bid was rejected as unsuitable, Janja Hojnik, an expert on EU law, told the STA. Hojnik, a lecturer at the Maribor Faculty of Law, said the panel had turned down one out of seven candidates over the past five years, including those from Italy, Sweden and Malta, and four from Slovakia.

Slovenian PM attends ILO centenary celebrations

GENEVA, Switzerland - PM Marjan Šarec reaffirmed the Slovenian government's "sincere and firm commitment to the ILO's principles, values and mission" as he addressed an event marking the centenary of the ILO. The anniversary was marked as part of the 108th session of the International Labour Conference, which is dedicated to the future of labour and should result in an ILO Centenary Declaration. Slovenia advocates an ambitious declaration to reaffirm the ILO's mandate and clearly define its future role. Šarec met ILO head Guy Ryder, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, and visited CERN.

Conference underlines EU commission's call for reforms

LJUBLJANA - A call for health, pension, long-term care and labour market reforms along with a consolidation of public finances echoed at a conference the latest recommendations issued to Slovenia by the European Commission. Maarten Verwey, head of the Commission's Structural Reform Support Service, said Slovenia had had mixed succeess in recent years as regards the adoption of reforms that would secure long-term financial stability. The event was hosted by the STA and the European Commission Representation in Slovenia, bringing together government and Commission officials as well as social partners.

Employment prospects remain robust

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian companies have strong demand for labour, with forecasts for the third quarter of the year suggesting that a fifth of employers plan to hire, 77% expect no change and only 2% project layoffs, according to the latest employment forecast by temping agency Manpower. This makes for a seasonally-adjusted net employment forecast of 20%, up 11 percentage points over the previous quarter and one of the strongest growth rates in the world.

Govt drafts bill to contain bear and wolf populations

LJUBLJANA - In an effort to bypass environmentalists' campaign against the culling of bears and wolves, the Agriculture Ministry drafted an emergency bill targetting 200 bears and eleven wolves, following protests by farmers whose herds had been decimated. The draft legislation echoes the ministry's initial plans for the management of big carnivore population in Slovenia for this year, which were presented last November. The government is expected to adopt in at Wednesday's correspondence session.

Jesenice hospital closes department due to shortage of nurses

JESENICE - A shortage of nurses has prompted the Jesenice General Hospital to close part of its internal medicine department, with 17 beds left unoccupied. The closure comes after the Oncology Institute, the country's main cancer treatment hospital, opted for the same measure due to the same reason last month. All clinical departments in Slovenia have witnessed a trend of nurses leaving for less demanding but similarly paid jobs in healthcare over the past two years. Many have also left the healthcare system for jobs in more lucrative sectors of the economy, Janez Poklukar, the hospital's director, said, urging a systemic solution.

Literary historian Janko Kos gets Golden Order of Merit

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor decorated literary historian and critic Janko Kos, 88, with the Golden Order of Merit for his exceptional oeuvre and outstanding lifetime achievements in comparative literature. Kos, who is also a literary theoretician, publicist and editor, received the accolade as one of the founders of comparative literature in Slovenia, the president's office said.

IJS scientists with major discovery in electrical conductivity

LJUBLJANA - Researchers of the Slovenian Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS) are the first to confirm in an experiment the existence of the Kondo effect in an electrical insulator, establishing that conduction electrons are not a key condition for such an effect, as believed so far. The discovery, made in an accelerator at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, was recently reported on in the monthly scientific journal Nature Physics.

Duncan Haldane, Ronald Šega join Slovenian engineers' academy

BRDO PRI KRANJU - The Slovenian Academy of Engineering (IAS) met at Brdo pri Kranju on Monday to formally admit newly-elected members, ten domestic experts and eleven from abroad, including Nobel laureate Duncan Haldane of Scottish-Slovenian descent and US astronaut Ronald Šega of Slovenian descent. President Borut Pahor, the honorary sponsor of the event, noted that one of the IAS's priorities was "consolidation of our industrial identity".

German boy dies in freak accident during holidays in Slovenia

BOVEC - A German teenager died in an accident at a school holiday camp near the Soča village in north-western Slovenia on Monday afternoon. He died as a rock rolled off a hill and crushed him against a nearby tree. According to a press release from the Nova Gorica Police Department, the 12-year-old boy was attending a nature school camp organised by a German alpine organisation.

Poets, critics and translators join forces for Pranger festival

LJUBLJANA - Martina Potisk was declared the winner of this year's Stritar Prize for up-and-coming literary critics, as the 16th Pranger festival of poetry, literary criticism and translation got under way in Ljubljana, to be held also in Rogaška Slatina and Šmarje pri Jelšah. The festival, running until 16 June, will see three panels dedicated to literary criticism. Barbara Korun, Domen Slovinič and Aljaž Koprivnikar will be featured as critics, each having picked three poets with new collections to jointly reflect on their work.

Imago Sloveniae and Summer in Old Ljubljana festivals open

LJUBLJANA - The annual international music festivals Imago Sloveniae and the Summer in Old Ljubljana kicked off with a concert celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Ljubljana-based Forum of Slavic Cultures, which connects Slavic nations in culture, arts, education and science. Under the title Slavic Rhapsody, the concert will present Slavic folk music and its echoes in music by featuring segments of operas, symphonic and choir music by composers such as Antonin Dvorak, Bedrich Smetana, Marjan Kozina, Stevan Mokranjac, Jakov Gotovac and Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.

Slovenia demolish Latvia 5:0 for first Euro qualifier win

RIGA, Latvia - The Slovenian national football team defeated Latvia 5:0 in Riga on Monday evening to earn its first win in the four matches it has so far played in the qualifiers for the 2020 Euro. In what was almost a do-or-die game after they drew the first two matches and lost to Austria on the road on Friday, Slovenia came out of the gates, with Domen Črnigoj scoring goals in the 24th and 27th minutes.

STA, 11 June 2019 - The annual international music festivals Imago Sloveniae and the Summer in Old Ljubljana will kick off Tuesday evening with a concert celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Ljubljana-based Forum of Slavic Cultures, which connects Slavic nations in culture, arts, education and science.

Under the title Slavic Rhapsody, the concert will present Slavic folk music and its echoes in music by featuring segments of operas, symphonic and choir music by composers such as Antonin Dvorak, Bedrich Smetana, Marjan Kozina, Stevan Mokranjac, Jakov Gotovac and Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.

Music will be performed by the Symphonic Orchestra of the SNG Maribor theatre, the choirs of the Serbian and Croatian public broadcasters. Soprano Alina Yarovaya, tenor Aljaž Farasin and violinist Nikola Pajanović will perform solos.

The pieces played at the concert reflect a unique duality, originating in folklore but at the same time being far removed from its origins by way of composers' upgrading of the music. It shows how regional folklore is transformed into music representing a nation, Imago Sloveniae has said.

It is no coincidence that a lot of the music featured stems from Romanticism, the time when many nations started developing their national identities and striving for independence, the organisers also said.

The concert will take place in Congress Square, but in case of rain, it will be performed in the nearby Slovenian Philharmonic Hall.

The programme for both festivals is here, while if you want to see what else is on in town this week check out what’s on in Ljubljana…

STA, 11 June 2019 - The Slovenian national football team defeated Latvia 5:0 in Riga on Monday to earn its first win in the four matches it has so far played in the qualifiers for the 2020 Euro.

In what was almost a do-or-die game after they drew the first two matches and lost to Austria on the road on Friday, Slovenia came out of the gates, with Domen Črnigoj scoring goals in the 24th and 27th minute.

The match was practically decided in the 29th minute, when Josip Iličić scored from the penalty spot for 3:0. The same player scored the fourth goal for Slovenia in the 44th minute from just inside the box.

This was the first time Slovenia scored four goals in the first half since the 2004 Euro qualifier with Cyprus in April 2003.

Slovenia did not have to wait too much for another goal against the hapless Latvians, as Miha Zajc scored in the 47th minute from very close to the goal, setting the final score 5:0.

The pace settled down from then on, with Slovenia more or less controlling the match to earn their biggest win since March 2016, when they defeated the minnows San Marino 6:0 in the 2016 Euro qualifiers.

Slovenia's head coach Matjaž Kek commended the players for bouncing back from the defeat in Klagenfurt. "You don't score five goals on the road every day. Congratulations to the lads, this is a nice conclusion to the season."

Latvia's Slaviša Stojanović, who coached Slovenia in 2011-2012, said that "this was a football clinic. We saw two different qualities. You can see the difference in quality."

After four rounds in Group G, Slovenia is in fourth place with five points, trailing Poland (12), Israel (7) and Austria (6).

Slovenia will have a break in the qualifiers for three months, and will then host Poland on 6 September an Israel on 9 September.

STA, 10 June 2019 - Coalition partners and ministers agreed at Monday's summit that healthcare and the pension system would be the priorities of Slovenia's budgets in 2020 and 2021. Each will get EUR 200-300 million more annually.

Nevertheless, Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj said as he spoke to the press after the Brdo pri Kranju meeting the budgets would still be in surplus.

The coalition and government partners met to agree further steps in planning the budgets for the coming two years.

The government is due to send the draft budgets to parliament by 1 October based on a budgeting decree which was passed in April.

The decree caps expenses for 2020 at EUR 10.45 billion, whereas for 2021, they can be a bit higher, at EUR 10.50 million.

Bertoncelj said he had presented the planned revenue and the spending ceilings for the state budget, the health and pension purses as well as for local government.

He expects the government to meet for its first session dedicated to the budget on 4 July, by when the ceilings for individual budget users should be ready.

Although he does not expect everyone to be happy with the distribution of funds, Bertoncelj intends to insist on the ceilings set in April, since this would keep the budgets within the fiscal rule.

The coalition also agreed to have the budget surplus at around 1% of the country's GDP, while Bertoncelj would also like to cut pubic debt to 65% and 61% of GDP, respectively, with a view to have a structurally balanced budget by 2022.

"The budgets for the next two years will have to be within this framework, and we committed to it today," he stressed.

The budgets will be drafted on the basis of the government's macroeconomic forecaster IMAD's outlook, which puts Slovenia's growth for 2020 at 3.1% and at 2.8% for 2021.

Bertoncelj pointed out Slovenia's GDP growth was now double the eurozone average, and its public debt was being reduced the fastest among all eurozone members.

Health Minister Aleš Šabeder, on the other hand, presented the situation in healthcare, noting the priorities were a long-term care bill, improving the management of medical organisations and reducing waiting times.

Happy the healthcare system can count on an additional EUR 400-600 million in 2020-2021, he said the funds would have to be spent in line with the priorities.

"All resources on the market will probably have to be identified and a decision made on how to involve them in cutting the long waiting times," said Šabeder.

Prime Minister Marjan Šarec agreed, but was quick to add this should not be a cover for "permanent privatisation" of the healthcare system.

Šabeder stressed the long waiting times would first be tackled where they were the severest, announcing the first pilot project for orthopaedics.

He, however, admitted his ministry was just starting to tackle the issue, stressing waiting time records would first have to be sorted out.

Šabeder believes more funds would have to be provided to finance not just individual doctors but entire teams of doctors and nurses to cut the waiting periods.

He said the bill on long-term care could be adopted by the end of the year, but noted it was too early to discuss funding, as several scenarios were still being studied.

The coalition partners were generally happy with the summit, with Defence Minister Karl Erjavec, the leader of the Pensioners' Party, saying the budgets should make it possible to meet the country's commitments to NATO and to raise pensions.

Šarec, on the other hand, said names of Slovenia's possible candidate for the European commissioner had not been discussed.

June 11, 2019

Secession was a new general style that emerged in various but not all places of Europe at the start of the 20^th century, following the developments in transportation and telecommunications, mass production, and expansion of the new class of wealthy. The bourgeoisie, while imitating aristocracy in its propensity to decorum, set to break up with traditional styles and historic imitations, which brought not only to variations in how this style was expressed in different cities, but also in what it was called (Secession, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Glasgow School, etc.)

Related: Slovenia by the Book: Let’s See the City - Ljubljana: Architectural Walks & Tours - A great book, written by two architects, that acts as your guide to the city

Secession arrived in Ljubljana about a decade after it emerged in the Art Nouveau centres of Europe. Most of Secessionist buildings were completed in the first decade of the 20^th century, the majority of which can be found between the old city centre and the railway station, that is along Miklošičeva Street and around Miklošič Park. This part of the city is also known as Secessionist Ljubljana.

For visitors to Ljubljana who would like to take some pictures of this short-lived but beautiful architectural style we have listed some of the most representative examples below.

STA, 10 June 2019 - The shareholders of NLB bank on Monday confirmed the proposal to pay out EUR 142.6 million in dividends at EUR 7.13 per share, and endorsed all new candidates for the supervisory board.

Mark William Lane Richards, Shrenik Dhirajlal Davda and Gregor Rok Kastelic have been appointed new supervisors and Andreas Klingen was reappointed effective on 11 June.

The management has been authorised to buy NLB up to 36,542 own shares on the organised market over the next 36 months to be used in remuneration packages.

It also received a discharge of liabilities despite a counterproposal by a shareholder who also proposed that the shareholders task the management with making provisions for lawsuits brought by wiped-out junior creditors.

The motion was rejected because it is not within the purview of the shareholders to do that.

Chairman Blaž Brodnjak described 2018 as a very special year since the bank was privatised, which will allow it to conduct business free of limitations imposed by the EU due to state aid commitments once the state has reduced its stake to 25% plus one share.

"When another 10% is sold, it will be able to breathe with full lungs and start competing on a level playing field," he said.

As for business prospects, Brodnjak said the trends were good but indicated the bank was remaining vigilant since the region where it operates is very open and hence susceptible to external shocks.

Since last year's initial public offering, NLB's ownership is dispersed among small domestic shareholders and foreign institutional investors.

The state's stake has been reduced to 35%, but it is expected to be reduced further by the end of the year to 25% plus one share.

One benefit of the state no longer exerting majority control is that the board members are no longer subject to pay restrictions imposed on managers of state-owned companies.

Supervisory board president Primož Karpe said the debate about future remuneration packages has been concluded and pay levels will range from EUR 340,000 to EUR 420,000 gross starting with salaries for June.

This is a significant improvement from current levels: the annual report for 2018 shows that CEO Brodnjak got EUR 192,000 last year, while foreign board members got slightly more, up to EUR 210,000.

"We reached a consensus in the end, bearing in mind that we wanted a stable and motivated board," Karpe said about the new remuneration packages.

STA, 10 June 2019 - Ways of encouraging economic cooperation, especially trade and investment, were in the focus of Monday's meeting in Ljubljana between Japan's State Minister of the Economy, Trade and Industry Yoshihiro Seki and Slovenia's State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti.

Bilateral trade reached EUR 196.3 million in 2018, which makes Japan Slovenia's 32nd largest trade partner, the Ministry of Economic Relations and Technology said in a release, noting "Japan's investments contributed to Slovenia's excellent economic performance in 2018".

Cantarutti and Saki also discussed NEDO, a three-year Japanese-Slovenian project developing smart networks, and Society 5.0, a Japanese initiative focusing on the question of how to utilise modern scientific and technological breakthroughs for the benefit of all segments of society.

The ministry said Society 5.0 was an area in which Slovenia and Japan should continue cooperation, as this would be one of the priorities during Slovenia's EU presidency in 2021.

Signing a bilateral agreement on regular air traffic and a deal on flights between air carriers Adria Airways and ANA would be according to the ministry very important for Slovenia, as an increasing number of Japanese tourists visits Slovenia.

Seki, on the other hand, pointed to the Slovenian law on foreigners, which he said made it very hard to obtain all the necessary work permits.

Cantarutti welcomed the idea for Slovenia to take part in the EXPO 2025 in Osaka, and the Olympics Tokyo will host in 2020 were highlighted as another area with a great potential for bilateral cooperation.