STA, 24 September 2020 - Slovenia recorded 122 new coronavirus infections in 2,848 tests on Wednesday. While two patients died, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital remained stable, fresh government data show.

The number of patients in hospital dropped by two to 63, but 13 were in intensive care, three more than the day before.

Two persons with Covid-19 died, increasing the death toll since the start of the epidemic to 145.

Slovenia now has 1,427 active cases out of a total of 4,816 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic.

New infections were confirmed in 53 municipalities yesterday. Ljubljana recorded 24 new infections, followed by Maribor, Domžale and Črna na Koroškem with eight, and Kranj, Kamnik, Slovenska Bistrica, Pivka and Litija with four cases each.

In the last two weeks, Slovenia recorded 68.4 infections per 100,000 people. 2,526 people are currently quarantined.

Nuška Čakš Jager from the National Institute of Public Heath said most of the infections were community transmissions, while the share of imported cases has been decreasing. Recent imported cases came from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Austria.

Since the virus is spreading throughout Europe, government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin said today that in the absence of an EU agreement regarding the crossing of the border, the Slovenian government would have to decide on potential changes to its list of epidemiologically safe countries.

He said he expected Austria and Hungary, which have seen a surge in new infections, could be removed from the list of safe countries.

In Slovenia, the number of infections has been rising among medical staff and in care homes. Currently more women than men are infected and most of the cases are aged between 45 and 54.

Two members of primary school staff and three kindergarten teachers tested positive along with five primary school students, three high school students and two kindergarten children.

One care home resident and one employee tested positive on Wednesday. Infections were also confirmed in three employees and one resident of a centre for persons with disabilities. On Tuesday, the CUDV centre for persons with disabilities in Črna na Koroškem was mentioned as a new hotspot.

A care home in Rogaška Slatina had one resident test positive on Wednesday and one patient receiving palliative care died during the night, the head of the home, Kristina Kampuš, told the STA.

The head of the Danica Vogrinec care home in Maribor, Marko Slavič, told the press today that the institution still had 40 infected residents, 33 of whom have only mild symptoms. Three have been transferred to the hospital, while four of the infected residents have died.

But Slavič said that in the last five years, 50.4 people died on average at the home between January and September. This year 48 people died. "So Covid did not make this situation worse," he said.

No additional infections were confirmed after yesterday's testing, so Slavič thinks the situation is under control.

Currently, 22 members of the home's staff are quarantined. None of them have any health problems and some of the infected have had no symptoms.

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STA, 8 September 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz have climbed the North Face of Mount Triglav, Slovenia's highest peak, following talks in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

The government has posted three photos of the two leaders in climbing gear on its Twitter profile. In one they are pictured with helmets on their heads, in another with helmets in their hands.

Predsednik vlade ?? @JJansaSDS in zvezni kancler Republike Avstrije ?? @sebastiankurz v osrčju gora. #Triglav #SevernaStena

Foto: Dragan Tatic/BKA pic.twitter.com/PV3q1XzpZ5

— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) September 8, 2020

Two photographs appear to have been taken at the start of the ascent and a third one shows them higher up the rock from below.

Janša also posted several photos of the feat on his Twitter profile. "The Slovenian route in Triglav North Face climbed. Glorious weather on top. Fine company of excellent mountaineer Sebastian Kurz and substantive discussions," Janša tweeted.

Slovenska smer v S Triglavski steni preplezana. Čudovito vreme na vrhu. Odlična družba izvrstnega gornika in @sebastiankurz in vsebinski pogovori ???? pic.twitter.com/mA56vTMQvr

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) September 8, 2020

One of the photographs shows Kurz in the wall, and in two others the pair are pictured in high spirits "above the clouds", just below the summit.

Triglav North Face is the highest, broadest and most magnificent of Slovenia's rock walls. It is criss-crossed with climbing routes.

Mount Triglav (2,864 metres) is Slovenia's most popular peak as well as the national symbol.

Es hat mich sehr gefreut, heute mit @JJansaSDS als erfahrenem Bergsteiger eine Bergtour bei beeindruckender Kulisse im schönen #Triglav Nationalpark machen zu können!

Foto: BKA/ Dragan Tatic pic.twitter.com/HmjuEXpEkT

— Sebastian Kurz (@sebastiankurz) September 8, 2020

Kurz met Janša earlier during his first bilateral trip abroad since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Addressing reporters after talks, they called for a joint approach in combating the novel virus and illegal migration.

Asked how he felt about the climbing venture ahead of the attempt, Kurz said that the Slovenian prime minister was an experienced climber and he had no worries ahead of the climbing test.

STA, 8 September 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for a joint approach to the new coronavirus and to illegal migration as they met in Ljubljana this morning.

Janša and Kurz agreed that a full lockdown because of coronavirus should be avoided this autumn, with Kurz stressing that a "light at the end of the tunnel" could already be seen in the fight against the virus.

The chancellor said Austria's goal was to keep schools open, and preserve normal life in all areas as much as possible but with certain rules and adjustments.

Janša warned that the danger of the epidemic was not over yet, as infection numbers were going up throughout Europe. But unlike in the spring, now fewer people develop the disease and die from it, which probably means "we've learned something" and that the protective measures work, he said.

The prime minister noted that Austria and Slovenia had worked closely when the pandemic started, and that Austria had been a kind of a role model for Slovenia in the first, worst weeks of the battle against the virus, being one of the few European countries that were well prepared for the pandemic.

The pair agreed such cooperation would continue.

Obisk v ?? Sloveniji z delovnim zajtrkom z @JJansaSDS pričenja zvezni kancler ?? Republike Avstrije @sebastiankurz. Pogovori o odnosih med državama #koronavirus. pic.twitter.com/4iOisIO9TC

— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) September 8, 2020

Bundeskanzler @sebastiankurz in Slowenien. Treffen mit slowenischem Premier @JJansaSDS. Gespräche über die Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Ländern. ????#coronakrise pic.twitter.com/sACfdBZOYM

— Austrian Embassy SI (@AUSTRIAinSI) September 8, 2020

Turning to illegal migration, Janša stressed that protecting the EU's external borders would be crucial. He called for a strengthening of border protection, a joint EU approach to the issue and assistance to the countries that could be hit the hardest so as to avoid the situation Europe was in in 2015.

He also said countries on the EU's external borders should be assisted. Janša and Kurz agreed that protecting the external borders was essential for removing check points on the EU's internal borders.

The Austrian chancellor, who is on his first visit abroad since the start of the pandemic in February, said "we need a stronger, more competitive Europe in the globalised world". He said today's visit to Slovenia was a sign of a special bond between the two countries.

The pair labelled bilateral relations between Slovenia and Austria as good. Austria is Slovenia's third most important economic partner and the biggest foreign investor.

Janša said the government was preparing measures to make Slovenia even more attractive to foreign investors. Kurz welcomed this, noting that Slovenia was an important economic partner of Austria and that several thousand Austrian companies operated in Slovenia.

The talks also touched on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Carinthian plebiscite, after which a sizeable part of the Slovenian-speaking territory became Austria after World War I, and the plans for the Slovenian and Austrian presidents to mark the anniversary in Klagenfurt on 10 October together.

This will be the first time that the presidents of both countries will attend the ceremony, so Janša welcomed the initiative. He said several issues regarding the Slovenian minority in Austria remained open but that now they could be tackled easier than in the past.

Kurz also discussed this with President Borut Pahor today, who welcomed the programme of the Austrian government for tackling the issues of minorities and expressed hope that some of the measures discussed would become laws soon. Kurz expressed his genuine readiness for this, according to Pahor's office.

In talks with Janša, Kurz said that his government's programme for the anniversary did not envisage only a financial present for the minority to mark the anniversary but also other measures to support the Slovenian community in the future. He did not specify though when the minority is to receive this present.

Kurz also touched on the efforts to recognise the German-speaking community in Slovenia as a minority in the Constitution, saying Vienna was "grateful" for that.

Janša and Kurz are later scheduled to head to Triglav for a climbing adventure in the north face of Slovenia's highest mountain, with Kurz telling the press he was not worried as the Slovenian prime minister was an experienced climber.

STA, 3 August 2020 - Drago Jančar, arguably Slovenia's leading contemporary writer, will formally receive on Monday the Austrian State Prize for European Literature 2020. The life-time achievement award is awarded to writers with a strong international presence.

"Taking an individual to penetratingly render understandable the delusions of our history: this is one of the big strengths of his literature," the jury wrote about the 71-year-old.

Jančar is well known in the German-speaking world and a number of his works have been translated into the German, among them the 2017 novel And Love Itself (In Ljubezen tudi)

His works often deal with individual's struggles with society and some delve into post-WWII events in Slovenia, a source of many present-day political fault lines.

Jančar, a novelist, playwright and essayist, is the most widely translated Slovenian writer and has received an unparalleled number of awards in Slovenia and abroad.

He has written eleven novels; one of the most celebrated ones, I Saw Her That Night (To Noč Sem Jo Videl; 2010) has been translated into at least ten languages.

He is the only Slovenian writer to have won the prestigious Slovenian Kresnik Prize for the best novel of the year four times, most recently with And Love Itself in 2018.

The Austrian State Prize for European Literature is handed out annually for the oeuvre of a European author that has won international acclaim and has been translated into German.

Some of the previous winners include French writer Michel Houellebecq (2019), English novelist Zadie Smith (2018) and Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano (2012).

STA, 29 July 2020 - A 28-year-old Austrian paraglider was found dead in the Julian Alps in the early morning hours on Wednesday. The man took off from the Kobala paragliding takeoff in western Slovenia alongside a friend at 1pm yesterday but when he was still missing in the evening, a report was made to the police.

The Nova Gorica Police said the man was reported missing at 9pm, which triggered an immediate launch of a search and rescue campaign. He was found dead at about 3am this morning in steep and inaccessible terrain on the mountain of Vršič above the Predolina pasture.

The police said the paraglider seemed to have either fallen or crashed into the steep mountain side, sliding vertically at least 100 metres. He was found at the altitude of 1,326 metres.

His body was transported to Tolmin with a helicopter this morning.

Aviation crash investigators of the Infrastructure Ministry and the district prosecutor's office have been engaged for the investigation.

STA, 23 July 2020 - Slovenia and Austria have agreed to try out joint surveillance of the shared border using technology such as cameras and drones, as Interior Minister Aleš Hojs held talks with his Austrian counterpart Karl Nehammer at a conference on migrations along the Balkan route.

The trial will "examine the possibility of effective cooperation in joint border surveillance and the transfer of these practices to the Slovenian-Croatian border, which is more prone to migration pressure," reads a press release from the Interior Ministry.

The meeting came at a conference on migrations featuring the home ministers of 18 countries at which it was decided to set up a platform to fight illegal migration on the Balkan route.

The platform, headquartered in Vienna, will facilitate coordination in four segments: border surveillance, return of migrants who are not eligible for asylum, the fight against smugglers of migrants, and the creation of faster and more efficient asylum procedures.

Hojs was quoted as having expressed concern about the situation regarding migrations, which he said was similar than in 2015. In view of abuses of asylum procedure, he urged the ministers to "examine their asylum systems and take advantage of methods to prevent abuse".

"In the past Slovenia adopted several measures that we are now stepping up. Changes to penal law are ready, and we are changing the foreigners act and the international protection act to make procedures more efficient," he said.

Hojs also stressed that protection of external borders was crucial in managing migrations through Western Balkans.

"The commitment that we are going to make in the joint statement - that countries will to a greater extent support the member states on the EU's external border - is therefore all the more important. Slovenia is definitely willing to do this to an even greater extent than so far," the minister was quoted as saying.

Hojs held several bilateral meetings on the margins of the conference, including with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and the head of the European Asylum Support Office, Nina Gregori.

STA, 14 July 2020 - Foreign ministers from Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia, known as the Central5, held talks in Budapest on Tuesday focusing on the opening of borders with third countries in the light of the coronavirus epidemic.

The EU's recovery instrument, multi-annual budgetary framework and the role of state subsidies in investments and regional economic cooperation was also on the agenda, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry said.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said it made sense for Central European countries to coordinate their policies and help each other, noting that this was a region with strong historical, economic and human ties.

??, ??, ??, ?? in ?? Na povabilo madžarskega zunanjega ministra so se danes v Budimpešti srečali zunanji ministri skupine #Central5 ? pic.twitter.com/1r0aohzFpY

— SLOVENIAN MFA (@MZZRS) July 14, 2020

He stressed that strong cooperation was necessary to overcome the current health crisis, Austrian press agency APA reported.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Central European countries had successfully worked together to introduce protective measures against the virus, and they have decided to maintain their cooperation amid upsurges in several neighbouring countries, Hungarian press agency MTI reported.

The group of five countries decided to establish the Central5 format in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. The first meeting was held in Vienna on 16 June.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Anže Logar invited his counterparts to a meeting in Slovenia. The tentative date is 15 September, the Foreign Ministry said.

STA, 22 June 2020 - Foreign Minister Anže Logar and his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg told the press after they met in Ljubljana on Monday that they would do everything in their power so that the shared border was not closed again due to Covid-19. The countries have boosted information exchange and coordination in this field, they added.

Logar stressed that Slovenia, which had its borders opened to a majority of the Western Balkan countries until recently, was keeping close tabs on the development of the pandemic in the countries and taking quick measures if the epidemiological situation worsened.

Schallenberg said regarding Slovenia's decision to remove a majority of the Western Balkan countries from the so-called green list that "one needs to be aware that if one Schengen area country opens its borders, it assumes the responsibility of all others".

He explained that Austria decided which country was safe not only based on an increase in the number of infected persons, but also on a set of other criteria, including to which countries have opened up to these countries.

Ministra @AnzeLog in Schallenberg sta poudarila odlične odnose med državama, izpostavila Leto sosedskega dialoga in zadovoljstvo z dobrim gospodarskim sodelovanjem. Minister Logar je izpostavil tudi pričakovanja slovenske narodne skupnosti v ??➡️https://t.co/MkS2cGhSGz pic.twitter.com/sPphivf2RX

— SLOVENIAN MFA (@MZZRS) June 22, 2020

Logar and Schallenberg agreed they will keep each other informed about future measures and coordinate the country's actions, if necessary. The latter said he could not promise that movement across the shared border would not be restricted again.

The countries are doing everything they can to prevent this, because they do not only share the border, as many citizens and families in both countries are closely connected to the border area, the Austrian minister added.

Logar also said that he had agreed with Schallenberg that reviving the trade flow, including by keeping borders open, and kick-starting the economy and life in general was very important for recovery after the pandemic.

Austria in particular is important for economic cooperation as it is at the top in terms of foreign investments, volume of trade and arrivals of tourists, he added.

Remaining an open issue is control on the Austrian side of the border aimed at stemming illegal migration, which Schallenberg said had been extended until November, as a new increase was expected given the situation on the Turkish-Greek border.

The Austrian minister said that the control was help of sorts for Slovenia, as everybody who crosses illegally into Slovenia knew it would be hard to enter Austria. "This is not a sign of distrust in Slovenia, but a clear signal to smugglers."

Logar said that while Slovenia did not oppose temporary controls on internal EU borders if these were warranted, there should be very transparent and realistic reasons for such measures.

They also discussed cooperation on the EU's multi-year financial framework and the recovery package. "Slovenia and Austria are perhaps sometimes on opposite banks here, which is normal when one is a net contributor and the other is a net recipient," Logar said.

Nevertheless, he is convinced that agreements should be reached as soon as possible, even before the summer holidays. "Sometimes you need to take a step back so that we together can take two steps forward," Logar added.

Schallenberg shared the view that an agreement at the EU level needed to be reached as soon as possible.

The ministers touched on the Slovenian minority in Austria, labelling the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Carinthian plebiscite as an important bilateral event. Logar said it was a historic opportunity to make a step forward in this field.

Schallenberg said he was optimistic about the possibility to develop a "positive story, which will be oriented towards the future while not forgetting about the past" as part of the anniversary.

The Austrian minister also reiterated the wish that the German-speaking community in Slovenia be recognised as a minority.

Later in the day, Schallenberg met representatives of the community, who informed him that certain progress had been made in the dialogue with the previous Slovenian government.

The community thus expects from the current government to continue the dialogue and adopt measures which would ensure long-term protection of the community's work, the community's union of cultural association said in a press release.

The anniversary of the Carinthian plebiscite was meanwhile the main topic as Schallenberg was received by President Borut Pahor, who noted that he and his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen had agreed to mark it together

Preparations are under way and they pursue the goal that ceremonies are held with dignity and in a European spirit. The presidents will speak about this at a meeting on 7 July in Vienna, the president's office said.

It added that Pahor was happy with the intention of the new Austrian government to improve the situation of the Slovenian minority, and that the anniversary could be a major milestone in the advancement of bilateral relations.

STA, 4 June 2020 - Slovenia has recorded no new coronavirus cases among 828 tests carried out yesterday, fresh data from the government show. Only five cases of infection remain active in the country.

Five Covid-19 patients remain in hospital, none of them requiring intensive treatment.

The total number of Sars-Cov-2 cases so far confirmed in the country remains at 1,477. The death toll remains at 109.

The country has so far conducted 81,333 tests for Sars-Cov-2.

STA, 4 June 2020 - The government has put Austria on a list of countries whose citizens are free to enter Slovenia without restrictions from midnight, a move that comes after Austria opened its borders for all neighbours bar Italy, government coronavirus spokesman Jelko Kacin announced on Thursday.

This leaves Italy as the only neighbouring country whose citizens are still subject to travel restrictions in Slovenia. Kacin said the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) is keeping a close eye on the situation and analysing when restrictions might be lifted.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio is scheduled to pay a visit to Slovenia on Saturday and Kacin indicated it should be clear by then when the restrictions might be lifted for Italian citizens as well.

Croatia was the first to be put on the list of countries whose citizens may enter Slovenia without any restrictions, on 19 May, followed by Hungary at the end of May, both based on bilateral agreements between foreign ministries.

Such bilateral agreements are in lieu of an EU-wide agreement on the reopening of borders after the coronavirus epidemic.

According to current rules, other EU and Schengen zone citizens may enter Slovenia without restrictions only if they fall into one of 17 categories of exemptions, such as tourism, ownership of property, some kinds of business or to visit relatives, in all other cases they must submit to a 14-day quarantine.

Similar measures are in place for third-country nationals, but for them the list of exemptions is much narrower.

Kacin said Slovenia was currently in the process of analysing which countries in the region, in particular in South-East Europe, as well as more distant countries may be placed on the list. The decision will be based on analyses of the epidemiological situation in each individual country.

STA, 3 June 2020 - Slovenians will be able to cross the border without restrictions to all neighbouring countries from Thursday as Austria abolishes health checks on its border with Slovenia as the last neighbour to do so.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced on Wednesday that the country was abolishing border and health checks on all its borders, except with Italy, on Thursday.

Quoted by the Austrian press agency APA, Schallenberg said the regime on the borders with Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia and Hungary from tomorrow would be the same as before the coronavirus pandemic.

This means that on entering the country from those countries passengers will no longer have to quarantine or be required to present proof of not being infected with the novel virus.

Slovenia's Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision. "It's good and happy news and the success of Slovenia's diplomatic efforts", ministry spokesman Aleksander Geržina said.

Austria had reimposed border checks on the border with Slovenia, an internal EU border, during the migration crisis in 2015, a move that Slovenia has been protesting against as being unwarranted.

"Slovenia's epidemiologic picture is one of the best and this fact deserved recognition," said Geržina, who said diplomats had been working for about a month for Austria to sea the real picture.

Austria lifting health checks is important so that Slovenian citizens can start travelling freely while respecting all rules related to the Covid-19 pandemic and so that people can finally start planning their holidays as they are used to, said Geržina.

Austria was the last of Slovenia's neighbours to end health restrictions that were imposed following the coronavirus outbreak as Italy lifted border restrictions for EU citizens today.

Croatia and Hungary have lifted restrictions for Slovenian citizens earlier. These are also the only countries whose citizens can enter Slovenia completely without restrictions.

This is because Slovenia has already entered into bilateral agreements with the two countries that make such restriction-free travel possible.

Geržina expects Slovenia will soon add Austria to the list of countries from where entry is possible without restrictions. The government places countries on the list based on the recommendation from the National Institute of Public Health.

Citizens of other EU countries are allowed to enter without a mandatory 14-day quarantine if they have permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia, own property or vessel here, have booked accommodation, or fall under any of the 17 exceptions to the rule.