This site’s Google Analytics show that marijuana and Slovenia are often searched for together, and while the country has a reputation as a place that grows good pot it remains illegal, with even the medicinal kind in limbo.

That’s for those varieties with high contents of THC, though, the most well-known cannabinoid and the one most responsible for the high that comes with smoking, vaping or ingesting the dried flowers of the plant. Those low in THC and high in CBD, the second most famous cannabinoid and the one most associated with the wellness industry, are legal to grow and sell, and many stores, including pharmacies and petrol stations, now offer products that claim to offer many of the benefits of marijuana without the *cough* “disorienting side effects”.

Earlier this year I wrote about Sena Flora, a retail store on Ljubljana’s Trubarjeva cesta that sells CBD buds, hash, crystals, chocolates and lotions, but today’s story moves a little further up the chain. It’s an interview with Oliver Muldoon, a British man who’s lived Slovenia for about 10 years, about his latest venture, Responsible Post, which sources and packages high CBD and low THC marijuana buds for further distribution and sale, albeit for use as “tea”.

I got in touch with Oliver and asked some questions about the business, and he was kind enough to both answer my questions and provide a few samples to help with the story, which did indeed have a pleasant, calming effect.

How long has Responsible Pot been running, and how did you get the idea?

The core mission of my company, Noodlum, which specialises in communications, is to help raise awareness of emerging industries and revolutionary technologies, and we are currently working on several projects in Slovenia, with this being the most recent.

My main work involves writing and editing, which is how I first came across this idea towards the middle of last year. Not long after helping professors at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Medicine get their articles published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, I was hired to edit a series of CBD research papers. When reading through the results I realised that the received wisdom about cannabis was completely out of step with the facts. The positives associated with the plant were evident, and empirically verifiable, but their dissemination was being restricted by taboo, misinformation and a lack of knowledge — even fear. I decided to do something about it and found reliable partners to move ahead with the project.

Observing the trend for cannabis with THC values below 0.2% to be marketed in Slovenia as a tea, as demonstrated by Vutra, BeHempy and others, we set up Responsible Pot to help support their awareness-raising efforts. As many will confirm, the aroma of cannabis has been drifting around Ljubljana’s bars, parks and coffee places for several years. Wanting to acknowledge the elephant in the room, we decided to try making the business case for a legal cannabis culture in Slovenia.

We started by approaching bars where cannabis was being used to ask the owners if they wanted to start providing a legal alternative – legally compliant cannabis buds. So far, we’ve had a great response. There are now 12 Responsible sPots throughout Slovenia, most of which are in Ljubljana, and this number is rising every week. It works for our vendors because they can keep their businesses running lawfully and they now have a completely new product range to offer when the tourists arrive this summer. Legal cannabis has been widely available in other EU countries, such as Austria and Italy, for years – visitors from those countries will be relieved to find a legal supply while on vacation.

For those who are too far away from a sPot, orders can be made online at www.responsible-pot.com. I should also mention that Vutra’s cannabis buds are available in Petrol gas stations throughout Slovenia, and Martin Fon’s Sena Flora is a great place to visit on Trubarjeva cesta. We are delighted to see awareness steadily rising.

Is marijuana legal in Slovenia? No, not quite...

Article 9 of the law on the production and traffic of opium poppies and cannabis in Slovenia (source)

Where do you source your cannabis products?

We have a strong scouting network throughout Italy, Austria and the rest of the EU, which have access to the best quality buds for our customers. Since the market is relatively young and still developing, options are constantly increasing and so we are always keeping a watchful eye on up-and-coming growers in the market. The Slovenian growing sector is still too small for a reliable high-quality supply at present, but we have heard that legislative changes could help Slovenia position itself at the forefront of the regulated growing scene in the years ahead.

Which of your products, if any, do you use?

We have just launched two new strains, Responsible Pot Lemon and Responsible Pot Amnesia. As you would expect, we all use our products.

What do you find are the effects of using these products?

Responsible Pot buds are cannabis buds with low levels of THC, which is the cannabinoid in the plant that gives that “stoned” feeling. With our buds, that sensation isn’t there because the level is below 0.2%. Although cannabis has been used by civilisations around the world for millennia, its general prohibition over the past century or so has not made it easy for the medical community to investigate the health benefits. Nevertheless, enough research has already been done for the World Health Organisation to recommend that CBD, one of the 113 known cannabinoids, be removed from the controlled substance list and that cannabis itself be rescheduled, in effect confirming that the plant does have some medical benefits after all.

As to what those benefits are, I would encourage anyone reading to do their own research, and to refer to their general practitioner. More information is coming out every week. Like Martin Fon, who is doing wonderful work in the centre of Ljubljana, I would recommend CBD – A Patient’s Guide to Medicinal Cannabis. Healing without the High by Leonard Leinow et al., but I would also suggest contacting the ICANNA International Institute for Cannabinoids, which is doing great work to raise awareness.

Do you see your business as being part of a broader push to legalize the sale of products with a higher THC content in Slovenia?

Yes, we see business as being the driver behind acceptance of the cannabis plant generally. Full legalisation, with a sensible measured approach, is the goal because of the many advantages it brings – safety, regulation, standards, taxation, jobs, economic growth and so on. Apart from that, as we are now starting to understand, it’s the ratio of THC to the other cannabinoids that seems to be pivotal, rather than its strength in isolation. And this ratio is becoming increasingly important to people as more details on the 113 known cannabinoids come to light.

Currently the THC limit in Slovenia is 0.2%, but in Austria that figure is 0.3%. In Italy, depending on how you interpret the legislation, this figure is 0.5% or 0.6%. In Switzerland, the maximum level of THC permitted is currently 1%.

To put these figures in perspective, the cannabis typically available on the black market has THC levels of between 15 and 25%, sometimes as high as 30%. Therefore, even this 1% figure is still extremely low and still will not cause any “high” effect. Raising this very low level, even marginally, would help Slovenia’s fledgling industry to flourish.

Opportunities in the Slovenian marijuana business

Where do you see the biggest potential in the cannabis market in Slovenia – in growing, packaging / distributing, or sales to consumers, and do sales seem to be more common online or in brick & mortar stores?

Hopefully one day in all those areas. We see an industry in the making for Slovenian workers, and the foundations are being laid now. Recent months have been spent establishing a network of Responsible sPots in Ljubljana, but we have now switched to promoting wholesale and online sales too.

First and foremost, Responsible Pot is a movement to get people to start using cannabis responsibly. We’re promoting a common-sense solution to cannabis use through business. But this is a quest to get cannabis understood and accepted by mainstream society rather than an attempt to gain market share or profits, which is why we have decided to sacrifice some of the latter for exposure and awareness. At under €9 per gram, our buds are among the most competitively priced on the market.

There are several other cannabis companies joining us in Slovenia, and we all have a common goal – to increase mainstream acceptance of this wonderful plant. Its use is widespread and everyone either uses cannabis or knows someone else who does. After seeing what’s happened with legalisation in Canada and some US states, who lead the way with global trends, we think it’s time to make stronger efforts to help the largely decent and law-abiding cannabis community feel more part of society – and to feel comfortable doing so. We want to remove this ridiculous sense of “shame” a huge chunk of our population wrongly feels, generate some extra taxes, and start to build a new industry so that Slovenia can get new jobs and more options for its young people.

CBD in Ljubljana and Bled

Where can people buy your products, and learn more about your business?

We have several partners in Ljubljana, which is where we’re based, and then in Bled and Slovenj Gradec. These venues are called Responsible sPots and lead the way with providing cannabis to their consumers in a law abiding and regulated environment.

Currently, Responsible Pot is available at Daktari, Icelend on Copova, Etna Picerija, the Craft Room, Kavarna Eipper, Kavarna Zofa, Sunrise Bar, Bar 200, Kafetarna in Trzin, Castle Hostel 1004 in Bled and the Tea Room in Slovenj Gradec. Customers can also now order online.

Anything else you want to add?

When researching the idea, and devising an implementation strategy, we looked at the Netherlands’ coffee shop culture and took some pointers. The quickly realized that friendly coexistence required tact and diplomacy, and so closed their doors during school lunchtimes. We decided to make a similar recommendation that some of our Responsible sPots sell our buds only after 8 pm, so that they can cater to families with young children during the day who might not want to be in an environment where cannabis is consumed. We think that’s important in helping more venues to come forward with a legal cannabis alternative, while still catering to their entire customer base. Long term, working together to find a way forward is the best option.

You can learn more about Responsible Pot at the website, and if you'd like to start selling their poducts in your cafe, bar, wellness centre or elsewhere then you can contact them here. All our stories about cannabis and Slovenia can be found here

STA, 29 March 2019 - Slovenia recorded a general government surplus of EUR 303m last year or 0.7% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), the Statistics Office reported on Friday, the biggest surplus on record.

While Slovenia recorded a general government a surplus of EUR 5m or 0.01% of GDP in 2017, it significantly increased last year.

"This is the first time such a high surplus was recorded since such data have been monitored, i.e. since 1995," Nina Stražišar of the Statistics Office told the press in Ljubljana.

Expenditure continued to grow, but at a slower pace than revenue. Revenue rose by 1.178bn or 6.3% year-on-year while expenditure was up by 4.7% or EUR 881m.

Due to the favourable conditions on the labour market and economic growth, the state collected EUR 649m more in taxes than in 2017. Revenue from value added tax (VAT) was up by 8.1%, while revenue from income and property taxes rose by 10.2%.

Revenue from taxes and social security contributions increased by 7%, while the good performance of companies in which the country holds ownership stakes resulted in a 21% rise in non-tax revenue from dividends.

On the other hand, expenditure for gross investments in fixed assets surged by 24.9% and for subsidies by 8.6%. Expenditure for intermediate consumption increased by 7% and spending for welfare payments by 3.5%.

This implies there was an acceleration in the drawing of EU funds in the second half of 2018, Stražišar said.

The state meanwhile reduced interest expenditure by 15% due to refinancing of outstanding debt with new bonds with lower yields and repurchase of a portion of bonds denominated in US dollars.

Interest expenditure excluded, the growth of expenditure would be 6% and general government surplus would amount to EUR 1.2bn or 2.6% of GDP.

The Finance Ministry has projected that general government surplus will slightly increase this year, to 0.8% of GDP.

Consolidated general government debt amounted to EUR 32.23bn or 70.1% of GDP, which is 3.9 percentage points down compared to 2017.

Contributing the most to the reduction of debt was the nominal growth of GDP. In nominal terms, general government debt increased by EUR 371m or 1.2%.

More detailed data can be found here

Mladina: Who is opposed to changing the system of supplementary health insurance, and why?

STA, 29 March 2019 - The left-wing weekly Mladina looks into the reasons for the opposition to the idea to abolish supplementary health insurance in its latest commentary, noting that it is more than 15 years old, much older than the Left, which usually gets credit for the idea.

"The people who are screaming about excessive public spending are also screaming about the Left (and the coalition) wanting to take EUR 500m away from healthcare by forcing the idea," editor-in-chief Grega Repovž says in Crazy World.

"The idea to abolish supplementary health insurance is much older than the Left. It is more than 15 years old. It has been present since it was revealed that some lobbies are using it to literally cut away a part of public money they collect instead of the state."

According to Repovž, these lobbies are turning this money around on financial markets, take their 10% and then return it to the state. "This would have been abolished everywhere long ago. But not in Slovenia. Let's see why this is. Because the reasons are actually very banal, shallow and evil."

The coalition is not actually proposing abolition of supplementary health insurance, but its merging with compulsory insurance. The catch is that people with lower income would pay less, up to 20 euros a month, and those with higher income would pay more, up to 70 euros.

A majority of the decision-making MPs, officials, directors - the entire upper class, would pay more, and the thing is that they do not want to pay more. They instead let three private insurers to get their EUR 60m every year from the people.

In short, the entire upper class is pretending ignorance and does not want to shoulder its share of costs for healthcare, the share proportionate to their income. This is why they are willing to lie that the coalition (and the Left) wants to take EUR 500m away from the healthcare sector.

"Well, the question is on whose side the new health minister is. He has not been convincing so far, but he belongs to the party of the prime minister, who has committed to implementing this objective in the agreement with the Left."

It is very easy to explain the reasons for abolition of supplementary health insurance to the public, for example with the situation of general practitioners, concludes the commentary.

Demokracija: Fidesz helps EPP ahead of EU election

STA, 28 March 2019 - The right-wing weekly Demokracija says in its latest commentary that the European People's Party (EPP) members made the right decision in not expelling the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and thereby diminishing EPP leader Manfred Weber's chances of becoming the next president of the European Commission.

Last week, Weber faced the serious threat of a discord in the EPP right ahead of the EU elections, and a possible break-up of the group was not excluded either, as some parties had announced they would leave the EPP if Fidesz was expelled or forcedly suspended.

At first, it seemed that a majority of the EPP members were leaning towards such a proposal from 13 members, as this was supposed to be the key to success of Christian democrats in the May elections, editor-in-chief Jože Biščak says in EPP's Training Day in Brussels.

But after the speech by Janez Janša, the head of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), who seriously warned that such a decision could cause irreparable damage, the scales tipped to the other side and Orban's proposal for a six-month suspension was accepted.

A continuation of the dispute would mostly benefit the political groups on the left, as socialist Frans Timmermans would easily beat Weber, Biščak says, noting that the solution was temporary, as everybody is waiting for the election result.

The compromise between the EPP and Fidesz is the best solution for European conservatives at the moment, as they remain (at least seemingly) unified, and one can say that Orban did a favour to Weber.

As projections suggest, Orban will be a great winner of the EU elections in Hungary, and Weber's chances of becoming the next president of the European Commission would have dropped drastically had Fidesz left the EPP, as it would be followed by more parties. Actually, it would be mission impossible, concludes the commentary.

All our posts in this series can be found here

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STA - Below is a roundup of major events on Saturday, 30 March 2019:

Militia leader Šiško sentenced to eight months in prison

LJUBLJANA - Andrej Šiško, the leader of an armed militia called the Štajerska Guard, received an eight-month prison sentence for inciting to violently subvert the constitutional order. The Maribor District Court handed down its verdict after a trial that lasted only five weeks and Šiško was immediately released from custody. The six months he has spent in detention will count towards his sentence. Reacting in his signature fashion, Šiško said the ruling confirmed that Štajerska had been established as an independent land. Foreign Minister Miro Cerar labelled the ruling a win for the rule of law.

Austrian MEP Mlinar SAB's frontrunner in EU elections

LJUBLJANA - Angelika Mlinar, a member of the Slovenian minority in Austria and an Austrian MEP, will top the ticket of the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) in the May EU elections, the party's executive council decided. Mlinar told Austrian media today that she knew Slovenia well, having lived here for 13 years. Mlinar and the SAB have been political allies for years. She attended the founding congress of the party five years ago and also took part in its latest congress in February.

Cerar, Kaiser confirm positive trends for Slovenian minority

BRDO PRI KRANJU - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar and Carinthia Governor Peter Kaiser noted positive trends in relations between the Slovenian community and the Austrian region of Carinthia, and strengthening of cooperation in various areas, as they chaired a session of the Slovenia-Carinthia Committee. Representatives of both sides reported on different areas of cooperation and joint projects in business, culture, agriculture and other fields, establishing cooperation is very good, Cerar told the press.

Pahor and Guterres honour efforts of ITF demining fund

NEW YORK, US - President Borut Pahor and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened on Thursday a photo exhibition marking 20 years of Slovenian-run demining fund ITF - Enhancing Human Security. The pair discussed topical issues including climate change, agreeing that stronger political will and mobilisation were needed. The Western Balkans was also broached and Pahor, a co-initiator of the Brdo-Brijuni Process, acquainted Guterres with the preparations for the May summit of the regional initiative.

Erjavec attends ministerial on UN peacekeepers

NEW YORK, US - Defence Minister Karl Erjavec took part in a ministerial on UN peacekeeping operations at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, where he also met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday. He supported Guterres's initiative Action for Peacekeeping and efforts for peace operations to become an even more credible and effective tool of securing peace. Erjavec also announced the Slovenian defence, foreign and interior ministries planned to set up a training centre for soldiers, police officers and civilians that will take part in peacekeeping operations.

Slovenia's general government surplus at 0.7% of GDP in 2018

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia recorded a general government surplus of EUR 303m last year, or 0.7% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Revenue grew by 1.178bn, or 6.3%, year-on-year while expenditure rose at a slower pace, going up by 4.7%, or EUR 881m. Consolidated general government debt in 2018 amounted to EUR 32.23bn, or 70.1% of GDP, which is 3.9 percentage points down compared to 2017.

Slovenia's annual inflation rate ticks up to 1.6% in March

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation rate in March was at 1.6% due to costlier services, while a 0.7% inflation was recorded on the monthly level due to higher prices of clothing, footwear and fuel. The prices of services went up by 3.2% on average in a year while goods were 0.9% costlier. The prices of non-durable and semi-durable goods increased by 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively, while durable goods prices went down by 1.4%.

Unior group more than doubles net profit

ZREČE - The group around the tool maker Unior generated EUR 246.5m in net sales revenues last year, up 3.1% compared to 2017, while more than doubling net profit to EUR 12.2m, showed the company's annual report. EBITDA dropped by 7.5% to EUR 30.2m. Unior said that net profit for 2017 was lower due to revaluation of the assets of the ski resort operator RTC Krvavec at the end of that year due to a planned sale and their transfer to short-term assets for sale.

Jožef Stefan Institute getting lab for chemistry in extreme conditions

LJUBLJANA - The Jožef Stefan Institute selected the idea for a chemistry lab allowing experiments in extreme conditions as the winner of the institute's annual competition for young scientists. This means researchers Matic Lozinšek, Blaž Alič, Mirela Dragomir and Kristian Radan will receive EUR 330,000 for the equipment needed in the new lab that will use experimental techniques to enable a synthesis and characterisation of materials at very low temperatures or at very high pressure. The idea is to merge two extreme fields of research - chemistry involving the most reactive chemical element, fluorine, and high pressure research.

SBI TOP index down 0.51%

LJUBLJANA - The SBI TOP index of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange shed 0.51% to 867.66 points. Trading was mixed, but the only two major items with noteworthy trade volumes, pharma company Krka and insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav, finished in the red. The pair accounted for the bulk of the day's EUR 1m in total turnover.

STA, 28 March 2019 - Leading Slovenian media companies, except the public broadcaster and national press agency, are in the hands of many different owners, domestic and foreign. But their ownership is often blurred, which a media expert believes contributes to the crisis of legitimacy they are in.

The leading TV channels are TV Slovenija, POP TV, which is the most popular TV channel in the country, A Kanal and Planet TV.

The list of Slovenian quality newspapers includes Delo, Dnevnik and Večer, but the largest market share of 42% in 2017 has tabloid Slovenske Novice.

The sale of Pop TV and Kanal A has recently been aborted, while Dnevnik and Večer are about to merge, and national telco Telekom Slovenije is said to be planning to sell Planet TV and news portal Siol.

But Jernej Amon Prodnik, head of the journalism department at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences, says Slovenia urgently needs a strategic reflection on its media to provide for quality journalism.

Although formally the country has many media outlets, in reality the media market is controlled by a handful which shapes the media landscape and public opinion, he says.

While calling for state subsidies to boost media plurality, Amon Prodnik believes it is an illusion to think deregulation and media concentration would facilitate quality journalism and quality media.

This could only aggravate the situation in a country as small as Slovenia. "It could easily happen that a few people would literally control topical and political daily news."

Unlike the privately-owed media, the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and national press agency STA are not under so much market pressure, which Amon Prodnik deems good for journalists and editorial policy.

"Studies from abroad have shown that public media usually report about more different views, are more critical and their reporting is deeper," he has told the STA.

Amon Prodnik also opposes "a full merger of Dnevnik and Večer", which he says "could prove to be the final blow to both newspapers".

This would be a major problem in the long run because Slovenia has "relatively few general newspapers, which despite all the technological changes still largely dictate the daily media routine and represent quality journalism".

According to publisher Dnevnik's annual report for 2017, Dnevnik and Večer were the third and fourth newspapers in terms of market share, boasting 16.6% and 15.6%, respectively. Delo was in second place with a 21% share.

The merger of Dnevnik and Večer has already been approved by the Culture Ministry and is now awaiting clearance from the Competition Protection Agency.

The media company Dnevnik is owned by the publisher DZS (35.11%) and DZS Investicije (15.94%), with almost 26% owned by Austria's Styria Media International.

Večer is published by Slovenian media group Večer Skupina, which is owned by Uroš Hakl and Saša Todorović (each holding some 40% stakes).

The only newspaper in full foreign ownership is business daily Finance, which has been owned by Sweden's Bonnier Business Press since 2006 and had a 4.7% market share in 2017.

On the other hand, TV stations POP TV and Kanal A, that is their producer Pro Plus, have not been sold to United Group as planned.

The sale was estimated at EUR 230m and would be the biggest deal of its kind in Slovenia to date, with many fearing it for distorting competition.

It was in early 2019 that Pro Plus's owners - CME Media Enterprises, which is part of the Bermuda-based Central European Media Enterprises (CME) - changed its mind.

Amon Prodnik says this is good news for the Slovenian media environment. "Pro Plus has a relatively excessive influence, and in case of the takeover, it would further increase it and expand it to other communication levels."

Meanwhile, news portal Siol and TV station Planet TV, both indirectly owned by national telco Telekom Slovenije, are rumoured to get new owners.

Some information indicates that Telekom's supervisors could decide to sell TS Media, under whose wing is Siol.net, in the coming days.

Telekom also owns 66% of Antenna TV SL, which produces Planet TV, with the rest owned by Antenna Slovenia from the Greek group Antenna Group.

News portal Požareport has reported Planet TV could be bought by Serbian businessman Dragan Šolak, the founder of United Group, which also owns teleco company Telemach.

Foreign ownership is also expanding among news portals, with Styria Media International buying in February a 35% stake in Feniks Media, the company publishing news portal zurnal24.si.

Apart from partly owing newspaper Dnevnik, Styria is also the owner of second-hand goods portal bolha.com and job portal mojedelo.com.

Just recently, Novatv24.si, the company which is behind TV station Nova24TV - a TV broadcaster founded by senior opposition SDS members - saw a change in ownership.

Some 15% held by Hungary's Ripost Media was bought by Hungarian Agnes Adamik, with around 30% remaining split equally between another two Hungarian firms.

The media company Salomon, which is part of the company Media24 and indirectly in the hands of businessman Martin Odlazek, was recently reported to be buying a 19% in Infonet Media.

Infonet, owned by radio mogul Leo Oblak, operates a network of commercial radio stations around the country, including the most popular one, Radio 1.

Statistics Office data shows that at the end of 2018, there were over 2,320 journalists in Slovenia, 61% of whom were women. Over 75% have higher education.

March 29, 2019

A man and woman were found dead in an apartment in Radovljica Monday night, with bleeding due to knife wounds being the cause of death.

The results of an autopsy indicate that the woman, city councillor Nevenka Osterc, must have died over the weekend and that she was murdered by her visiting partner, who after killing her took his own life.

Our earlier stories on this case can be found here

STA, 29 March 2019 - Andrej Šiško, the self-styled leader of a militia called the Štajerska Guard, has been sentenced to eight months in prison for trying to subvert the constitutional order. Matej Lesjak, charged with aiding Šiško, received a three-month suspended sentence. The ruling is not final yet.

The sentence was handed down by the Maribor District Court on Friday after a trial that lasted only five weeks on the first ever charges brought for the crime of inciting to a violent subversion of the constitutional order.

Judge Vanja Verdel Kokol ordered that the 49-year-old Šiško be released from custody today after more than six months in detention. The time he has spent in detention will count as part of the sentence.

According to the judge, Šiško attempted to subvert the constitutional order with various moves, including by threatening the then Prime Minister Miro Cerar in January 2017 and founding the Štajerska Land and then a para-military unit, the Štajerska Guard, in September 2018.

Verdel Kokol said Šiško had gone too far and that history thought us that such actions must not be underestimated.

She noted that the defendants started claiming the whole thing was but a provocation only after criminal procedure had been filed against them.

"A democratic society should not be taken for granted and it can be jeopardised. This is why clear boundaries must be set to prevent undermining its foundations."

Šiško, the leader of the non-parliamentary United Slovenia Movement, and Lesjak, a former member of the opposition Democratic Party's (SDS) youth wing were apprehended in September after a video was posted on social media of a para-military group parading with airsoft rifles in the woods in north-east Slovenia.

While Šiško is considered to have organised the exercise, Lesjak is believed to have filmed it and posted the video on the internet.

Both claimed the campaign was but a provocation designed to bring to the public's attention the problematic workings of Slovenia's politics, mass media and security system.

Bot the judge dismissed this, wondering why Šiško had gathered information about the militia members' blood type if it was all a joke.

The state has a monopoly over national security and there is no space for para-military groups. "Incitement to a violent subversion of the constitutional order may encroach on the fundamental rights of Slovenian citizens," she said.

According to the judge, the intention of the exercise was to spread ideas propagated by Šiško in order to attract more followers angry with the current government.

It is therefore unimportant whether they carried real weapons; even display of weapons similar to real weapons achieved its purpose, the judge said.

Šiško, reacting in his signature fashion, said the ruling confirmed that Štajerska had been established as an independent land. He now expects a meeting with the prime minister and home minister to set down the details of his militia's cooperation with the police and the army.

He also rejected the notion that he incited to violence, "but what others understand is another thing altogether. I speak Slovenian, but obviously the prosecutor and the judge have trouble understanding."

The prosecutor had proposed that Šiško spent 16 months in prison - the maximum sentence would be five years - but was nevertheless satisfied with the sentence. The defence said the ruling was expected.

Šiško's lawyer, Lucija Šikovec Ušaj, framed the trial in free speech terms, arguing that Slovenia will have to come clear once and for all about whether people have the right to free speech.

"If they say we don't, we'll have to stick to it. Such dictatorships do not last long, though. It is true, however, that Europe is gravitating towards limiting free speech and the judge has joined this bandwagon," she said.

The five-week trial saw a fair share of unusual scenes, from Šiško spending days delivering his defence to his supporters at one point appearing in front of the Maribor Courthouse with a white stretch limo to salute their leader.

Šiško, the leader of the far-right party United Slovenia, has long been active politically and he even ran for Maribor mayor from detention in the November 2018 local elections, securing 1.43% of the vote.

He has also announced his intention to stand in the May elections to the European Parliament, while his lawyer Šikovec Ušaj is among the founding supporters of a new far-right party, the Homeland League, which plans to field her in the EU election.

As part of getting to know more about the work of SILA we found out that their 2019 Spring Soirée would be benefitting Europa Donna, a Europe-wide organisation that works on behalf of women with breast cancer, as well raising awareness of the importance of screening. What’s more, one of the speakers at the event would be the group’s president in Slovenia, Tanja Španić, a doctor of veterinary medicine with a PhD in molecular and behavioural neuroscience. Curious to learn more, we got in touch with Dr Španić, who was kind enough to answer our questions.

How long have you been working with Europa Donna, and how did you get involved?

I have been active with Europa Donna (ED) since 2010. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, when I was 26 years old and at the beginning of my PhD in biomedicine. I went through different kinds of treatment, and after the primary treatment was finished I went to rehabilitation where I met other women with the same experience, who told me about Europa Donna and their section for young patients. So I decided to join them. Soon, I became the head of the group of young women with breast cancer, then secretary general and in 2017 president of ED Slovenia. Meanwhile I’ve finished my PhD and another research project. Combining both jobs was impossible, so at some point I had to choose. I decided for Europa Donna.

What’s the aim of Europa Donna, and what work does it do to achieve this?

Europa Donna Slovenia has been a member of The European Breast Cancer coalition Europa Donna since 1997. The European Coalition has 47 member countries. Together, we create advocacy initiatives in support of the 10 goals of Europa Donna and thus improve the lives of women with breast cancer. In Europa Donna Slovenia we connect the healthy population, cancer patients, individuals, experts and institutions.

The main goal of our association is to provide equal opportunities and access for all breast cancer patients in Slovenia in order for them to have access to screening, early diagnosis, immediate and effective medical treatment with rehabilitation. With our experience, we developed different kinds of support, financial, legal and psychosocial, for patients and survivors. We provide this through specific sections, workshops, meetings and groups. Over the past two years, we started with an active program to support relatives and children on this path with cancer. All psychosocial support is grouped in the ROZA program (www.europadonna-zdruzenje.si/kdo_smo/program_roza). For the broader public, we are mostly known for our awareness campaigns during Pink October activities like lectures, stands, walks and runs, exhibitions around Slovenia.

What are some of the systemic and social challenges that women with cancer face in Slovenia?

First, you have to face with the stigma of being diagnosed as a cancer patient. If you successfully finish the treatment, you come to a stage where you have to face other obstacles like going back to work, part-time retirement, lower income, how to change jobs, not to mention dealing with the late and long-term side effects of the treatment. Usually, these treatments are very aggressive and long, with quite a lot of consequences like fatigue, big and stiff scars, lymphedema. A healthy person never thinks about the consequences of the treatment like that. And lots of cancer patients face misunderstandings from their employer, because you look OK but in fact you are not. In collaboration with other cancer patient organisations we are very active in talking about the issues and social challenges that we face after treatment.

How can people get involved?

We make quite a lot of effort to provide most of the programs free of charge for users or with a very low contribution. Anyone can become a member of Europa Donna Slovenia and help with membership or a part of their personal income tax (dohodnina). Anyone can become our donor or supporter on a monthly basis.

You can learn more about Europa Donna in Slovenia here, or on follow the group on Facebook, while you can read about its work all over Europe, and in English, here.

STA, 28 March, 2019 - The government adopted on Thursday legislative changes raising the threshold for exemption of annual holiday allowance from income tax and social security contributions. The measure will be applied this year, but only for holiday allowance up to the average national monthly wage.

"We've kept the promise and adopted the changes to the laws on pension and disability insurance and on income tax to exempt the holiday allowance of taxes as early as in 2019," the government wrote on Twitter.

"Every euro that employers spend on holiday allowance will be transferred to the employees, the state has given up income tax and contributions," Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj said.

Income tax and social security contributions will still have to be paid on the amount of holiday allowance exceeding the average monthly wage. At the moment, holiday allowance in the amount of 70% of the average monthly wages is exempt.

Slovenian employers are required by law to pay holiday allowance, while taxation in practice puts a soft ceiling on the amounts since taxes eat away at a large share of any allowance beyond what is tax exempt.

The benchmark will be data by Slovenia's Statistics Office, which publishes wage statistics on a monthly basis.

The latest available data is for January, when the average monthly gross wage stood at 1,729 euro and the average net wage at 1,116 euro.

The measure is designed to cut labour taxes and raise the disposable income of the workers who receive higher annual holiday allowance than the minimum wage - which is the lowest amount of holiday allowance the employer can pay out.

The government says this should improve Slovenia's competitive advantage, stimulate consumption and encourage companies to pay out more generous holiday allowances.

This is the first in a series of tax measures the government announced recently.

Last week, the Economic and Social Council, the country's main social dialogue forum, agreed this measure should be implemented as soon as possible, whereas the other measures will be subject to negotiations.

Bertoncelj said the government had kept its promise to sort this out as soon as possible. He expects the National Assembly will rush the bill as well since the government has proposed it be fast-tracked.

The Finance Ministry expects that the bill will reduce tax revenue by roughly EUR 90m annually, while the contributions shortfall is expected to amount to no more than EUR 2.4m.

All our stories on taxes in Slovenia are here