What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.
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FRIDAY, 21 January
LJUBLJANA - Parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič and Defence Minister Matej Tonin announced testing positive for coronavirus.
LJUBLJANA - Ana Bojinović Fenko, a professor of international relations, and Marta Kos, Slovenia's ex-ambassador to Germany and Switzerland, criticised PM Janez Janša's statements on China and Taiwan, as they spoke to the STA about the country's new foreign policy strategy before it hit parliamentary benches.
VILNIUS, Lithuania - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs concluded his participation in a two-day conference on migrations where he argued modern surveillance systems and physical barriers should be used where necessary to improve border protection.
LJUBLJANA - Interior Ministry State Secretary Franc Kangler denied allegations about his unwarranted interfering in the police work and staffing as he was interviewed by the parliamentary inquiry into suspected political interference in the police.
GORSKI KOTAR, Croatia - Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek and Minister for Slovenians Abroad Helena Jaklitsch met the members of the Slovenian community living in Croatia's Gorski Kotar area, discussing positive developments.
LJUBLJANA - The Economy Ministry and the Slovenian Enterprise Fund awarded EUR 30 million to 311 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises for digital transformation of their business and production processes. The money will come from ReactEU mechanism.
LJUBLJANA - The Environment Agency released an atlas of climate projections for Slovenia until the end of the 21st century to help stakeholders adapt to climate change. It features 2,250 graphic simulations for various meteorological, hydrological and agrometeorological variables.
SATURDAY, 22 January
LJUBLJANA - One Slovenian and three Belgian citizens were injured in a hot air balloon accident, as they fell out of the basket when it hit the ground on the Ljubljana Marshes. The injured were taken to hospital, three of them with severe yet not life-threatening injuries. The cause of the accident is yet to be determined.
LJUBLJANA - As many as 69 children suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome have been treated at Slovenia's only children's hospital since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic in March 2020 in what Ljubljana Paediatric Clinic doctor Tadej Avčin told N1 news portal made the two-million nation a world leader per capita.
LJUBLJANA - Law entered into force under which retail businesses are no longer required to issue a paper receipt to the customers unless the latter ask for it.
SUNDAY, 23 January
TRIESTE, Italy - SKGZ, an umbrella organisation of the Slovenian minority in Italy, expressed its gratitude to Italian President Sergio Mattarella for his role in national politics and relations with Slovenia as his term came to a close.
LJUBLJANA - A poll released by commercial POP TV showed the ruling Democrats (SDS) five percentage points ahead of the opposition Social Democrats (SD) despite losing about a percentage point in a month to 16.3%. The Left trails in third at 7.6%.
POSTOJNA - A bear attacked a 63-year-old man in the Postojna area during a hunting drive. He was left with a broken arm, rib injuries and several wounds on his back. As the bear attacked in defence of her two cubs, the Hunters' Association decided against proposing she be put down, but said Slovenia's 1,000-plus bear population was too large.
TITISEE-NEUSTADT, Germany - Anže Lanišek placed second for the second consecutive day in the Ski Jumping World Cup event in the third podium finish for the 25-year-old in a row this season to climb to the 5th in the overall World Cup rankings.
MONDAY, 24 January
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Foreign Minister Anže Logar came out of the meeting of EU foreign ministers by calling for an all-out effort for a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine dispute. The Foreign Ministry said Slovenia was not planning to reduce its diplomatic staff numbers in Kyiv for the time being and was coordinating all activities with other EU countries.
LJUBLJANA - The self-isolation period for most persons infected with Covid-19 was cut from at least ten to seven days provided they test negative on the 7th day and have not had fever or any other symptoms for 24 hours.
LJUBLJANA - Energy trader GEN-I generated a record net profit of EUR 71 million last year on EUR 3.4 billion in revenue, according to figures presented by Robert Golob, the former CEO. The profit was up more than fourfold and revenue rose by 50%.
MARIBOR - Marles Hiše Maribor announced Invera Equity Partners, a Dutch private equity fund manager, acquiring 58.2% stake in the company to consolidate its position as the leading manufacturer of prefabricated wooden buildings in Slovenia and make it a major player in Central Europe.
LJUBLJANA - The Ministry of Public Administration picked Telemach as the provider of mobile telephony services, cell phones, and data transfer for the Slovenian public administration in 2022-2025 in a deal worth around EUR 6.6 million. Telekom Slovenije and A1 Slovenija reportedly submitted too costly bids.
TUESDAY, 25 January
BRDO PRI KRANJU - President Borut Pahor and Prime Minister Janez Janša highlighted Slovenia's good relations with all of its neighbours as they hosted the annual reception for the diplomatic corps, which was attended by some 85 diplomats. Pahor also put in his word for sincere ties with Russia and China.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia placed 41st among 180 countries in Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perception Index, its poorest showing since 2013, having slipped six spots and losing three points. The Justice Ministry said the ranking did not necessarily reflect the actual situation in the country.
ZAGREB, Croatia - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs met his Croatian counterpart Davor Božinović for talks focusing on Croatia's accession to the Schengen passport-free zone, which Slovenia supports, and bilateral cooperation, mainly in preventing illegal migration.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia confirmed a record of 17,491 new coronavirus cases as the daily tally increased by 40% on the same day a week before amid climbing hospitalisations but decline in ICU cases. With 14 more deaths, the death toll rose to 6,268.
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary inquiry into the government's response to Covid-19 interviewed former Health Minister Tomaž Gantar, who said in some cases the government could have acted better in dealing with the first two waves of the epidemic. He was critical of communication with the public, and of closure of schools while the economy kept running.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenian tourism saw visitor numbers rise by 31% to over 4 million as visitor nights increased by 22% to 11.3 million in 2021. Both figures are still far behind the records of 2019. Domestic visitors accounted for 2.2 million of arrivals, which was largely attributed to tourism vouchers.
LJUBLJANA - The Economy Ministry announced it will provide a total of EUR 640.7 million in development incentives this year to raise productivity through green and digital transition and even regional development. EUR 479.2 million will be in grants.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's Employment Service recorded a significant rise in applications for the employment of foreigners in 2021. It received a total of 52,281 applications, the most since the current system was put in place in 2015.
STRASBOURG, France - The European Court of Human Rights' annual report showed the number of applications brought against Slovenia rising by 30% in 2021 to 234. Violations of the human rights convention were found in two judgments against the country.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's Civil Aviation Agency recorded 17 infringements related to flying unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, in 2021 with fines worth a combined EUR 10,900 issued in nine cases. This was the first year that new European legislation regulating drones was fully effective.
WEDNESDAY, 26 January
LJUBLJANA - Robert Golob, the former CEO of energy trader Gen-I, was elected the leader of the non-parliamentary green party formerly known as Z.Dej but renamed Movement Freedom to challenge PM Janez Janša in the April election. Janša dismissed his bid as an "exam resit by Zoran Janković", a reference to the Ljubljana mayor's failure to form the government after his party, which also included Golob, won the 2011 election.
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee got acquainted with the country's new foreign policy strategy, with Foreign Ministry State Secretary Gašper Dovžan saying most of the changes were made because the international environment had changed. The opposition expressed some reservations, in particular about Slovenia no longer being referred to as a core EU member state.
LJUBLJANA - Foreign Ministry State Secretary Gašper Dovžan dismissed fears that the prime minister's recent statements on Taiwan may adversely affect the country's bid to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2024-2025, telling the Foreign Policy Committee the bid would be a good opportunity for Slovenia to show its advocacy of respect for human rights, international law and borders, for peace and stability.
LJUBLJANA - Supreme Court judge Branko Masleša showed his diploma and bar exam certificate after being called on to do so by the Judicial Council amid allegations by some media questioning his qualification. In a detailed explanation he criticised the body for falling for politically-motivated imputation in some media, thus doing the harm to the judiciary as a whole.
BREŽICE - The government visited the eastern Posavje region, home to Slovenia's sole nuclear power plant, with PM Janez Janša noting challenges in the energy sector as the top priority, but also the role of other efforts, including tourism development.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed amendments sponsored by the opposition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) to reduce the cost of sick pay on the employer and self-employed at the expense of the public healthcare fund as fellow centre-left opposition parties voted against.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly voted down the opposition Left's motion to call a referendum on the government's purchase of Boxer armoured personnel vehicles from the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, which means the National Assembly can now ratify an agreement for Slovenia to purchase 45 such vehicles.
CELJE - Maksimilijan Matjaž, the Bishop of Celje, founded an office to admit complaints by the victims of sexual abuse committed by the clergy and other members of religious life in line with instructions made by Pope Francis in an apostolic letter in May 2019. The news came a day after Dovolj.je (It's Enough), a Catholic advocacy for abuse victims, urged appointing an independent commission of individuals of high moral integrity to investigate and crack down on this type of crime as soon as possible.
LJUBLJANA - Marjan Divjak, the nominee for vice-governor at Slovenia's central bank, held a presentation at the Presidential Palace saying the regulator should actively participate in monetary policy-making in the eurozone, highlighting elevated inflation and climate change as the biggest future challenges.
LJUBLJANA - The Manager Association picked Igor Mervič the Manager of the Year for transforming retailer Spar Slovenija from a company with four stores into the country's second largest retailer during his 28 years as director general. Mervič led Spar Slovenija between 1992 and the end of 2020. He is now a member of its supervisory board, and an adviser at the Spar multinational.
THURSDAY, 27 January
LJUBLJANA - The OECD has urged Slovenia to encourage people to work longer and to reform its pensions system to make it financially sustainable while preserving pensioners' living standards, as it issued a new report based on a a two-year analysis of the country's pension system which ran in 2020-2021.
LUXEMBOURG - The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) expressed concern about proposed changes of the penal code which it said could affect the effectiveness of the EPPO. The changes, disavowed by the majority of the parties since they were confirmed by the Justice Committee, would give prosecutors less time to investigate before cases became statute-barred.
NOVO MESTO - Drug maker Krka saw a record EUR 1.57 billion in sales revenue in 2021 as net profit rose by 5% to EUR 304.7 million. This year Krka plans sales at EUR 1.61 billion and net profit at EUR 300 million, with EUR 130 million to go for investment.
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Credentials and Privileges Commission backed Marjan Divjak to be appointed a vice-governor at Slovenia's central bank. The single issue raised against him was his role in the NKBM bank IPO and sale.
LJUBLJANA - The government once again decided against appointing Lidija Tičar Padar as acting director of the Public Research Agency (ARRS). Instead, it replaced at four members of the agency's management board.
LJUBLJANA - The investment promotion agency SPIRIT Slovenija presented the FDI Awards to the dairy Ljubljanske Mlekarne, the ICT company Comtrade and the paper mill Papirnica Vevče. Foreign investment in Slovenia rose by 2.4% last year.
LJUBLJANA/LENDAVA - Slovenia joined observation of International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a number of events, including with the National Assembly being illuminated as part of the #WeRemember campaign. The main ceremony was the evening before in Lendava with President Borut Pahor calling for the preservation of peace, security, tolerance and coexistence.
