Ljubljana related
STA, 30 January 2020 - Slovenia's national motorway company DARS and Turkish builder Cengiz signed on Thursday the master agreement on the construction of the second tube of the Karavanke motorway tunnel, a step that comes more than two years after the original tender was published. Works could start in March, weather permitting.
"We're glad that after five rounds of appeals to the National Review Commission, we have finally signed the contract," DARS chairman Tomaž Vidic said.
Under the contract, Cengiz has 20 business days to submit a EUR 12 million bank guarantee, whereupon it will be able to start work.
Preliminary activities on the border tunnel - Austria has already made significant progress on its portion of the second tube - are to be initiated next week as DARS and Austrian motorway operator Asfinag meet to discuss the timeline.
Vidic said this was a five-year endeavour and problems may appear on either side of the border, which is why he would not venture to speculate whether Cengiz could catch up with the builder working on the Austrian section, which started works in September 2018.
"We think the problems are manageable. We have a skilled builder with a wealth of experience, which is key," he said.
Cengiz board member Asim Cengiz said Slovenian companies would be involved in the construction works. Talks with potential partners are already under way.
The contract is worth EUR 98.6 million VAT excluded and covers construction of 3,546 metres of tunnel on the Slovenian side of the border. The Austrian section is almost a kilometre longer.
Once the second tube is completed, the original tunnel, which entered service in 1991, will be closed for approximately two years for significant renovation and upgrade works.
Karavanke tunnel is one of the main transport routes between Slovenia and Austria. It is a key artery for cargo and one of the main entry points for millions of north European tourists en route to the Adriatic Sea.
STA, 16 January 2020 - Slovenia remains an attractive destination for Austrian investors, shows this year's survey of the representation of the Austrian economy in Slovenia, Advantage Austria Ljubljana, but its director Peter Hasslacher notes that the main problems have persisted for years, and that it is high time for "concrete measures and reforms".
The survey, carried out in cooperation with the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics at the end of last year, shows that 75% of Austrian entrepreneurs in Slovenia believe that the country will also be attractive for new investments this year.
"The result is good, but it is average in comparison with their assessment from a year ago. In 2018, this was the opinion of 91% of the respondents, a record-high number," Hasslacher told the press in Ljubljana on Thursday.
He added that Slovenia was attractive for Austrian investments due to its geographical position, in particular the maritime port of Koper, skilled workforce, access to south-east European markets and safety.
But according to Hasslacher, the annual survey shows that the sentiment of Austrian companies in Slovenia has deteriorated somewhat and that they are growing pessimistic.
On the one hand, Austrian companies in Slovenia are very satisfied with the quality, level of education and motivation of workforce, with access to public contracts and the tax system in the broadest sense.
"Tax burden on companies, public administration, inflexible labour legislation, default on payment and low availability of workforce meanwhile remain the critical points of the investment environment," he added.
For this reason, Hasslacher believes the Slovenian government should take measures as soon as possible and facilitate permit issuing procedures, reduce administrative barriers and enable more openness and transparency.
It should also reduce the tax burden, especially when it comes to rewarding performance, provide greater flexibility of the labour market and invest more effort in preventing corruption, he added.
The shortage of skilled workforce is an increasing problem which was detected by 63% of the respondents, up 16 percentage points compared to 2018. Around 64% of the respondents said they were looking for workers with secondary education.
Advantage Austria Ljubljana sees a solution in dual vocational education, in a combination of theoretical education and practical training or traineeship in companies.
With around EUR 3.6 billion in investments, Austria is the largest foreign investor in Slovenia, with around 1,000 Austrian subsidiaries in Slovenia employing some 20,000 people.
STA, 19 December 2019 - Angelika Mlinar, a member of the Slovenian minority in Austria and a former MEP for Austria, has been appointed minister of development, strategic projects and European cohesion policy.
Mlinar was born on 29 June 1970 in the village of Altendorf in the south of the Austrian province of Carinthia.
She has a PhD in law from Salzburg University, having previously obtained her master's degree at American University in Washington.
She has worked for several NGOs, and also served at the European Commission Representation in Ljubljana from early 2000 to mid-2005.
She has been an active member of the Slovenian minority, but not a traditionalist one, she says.
Between May 2009 and June 2010, she was secretary general of the National Council of Carinthian Slovenians (NSKS), one of the two umbrella organisations of the Slovenian community in Austria.
Some of her statements in that capacity earned her a lawsuit from the right extremist organisation Heimatdienst, while a few years ago she said she had not been very popular among politicians because of her criticism of the attitude of the Slovenian state to the minority in Carinthia.
Mlinar became known in Slovenia in the autumn of 2013, when she was elected to the Austrian parliament as the first female member of the Slovenian minority. She represented the liberal party Neos, which she co-founded, until June 2014, when she went on to became MEP.
As MEP she advocated a more cohesive and stronger Europe, and promoted human rights and women's rights. She also worked extensively with refugees.
In November 2014, she was elected a vice-president of ALDE.
But last spring she decided to quit as NEOS vice president, saying she was "too independent and too liberal for NEOS". She said she did have enough support within her party to stand in the 2019 European elections and even announced she would resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.
But then she topped the ticket of the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) in Slovenia in the May EU elections. Although she performed well on preference votes, this did not suffice for her to become one of the eight Slovenian MEPs given the party's poor showing overall.
In the campaign, she spoke in favour of common European values and solutions, and called for more determination in the representation of Slovenia's interests within EU institutions. She was also critical of Austria's policy towards Slovenia.
As candidate for MEP she did not yet have Slovenian citizenship although she had residence in Slovenia, where she lived for 13 years.
And it was the citizenship that turned out to be the biggest obstacle to her appointment as minister without portfolio for development and cohesion policy.
She had requested Slovenian citizenship before asking for permission for dual citizenship from Austria. After Austria gave her the green light, Slovenia granted her Slovenian citizenship on grounds of national interest.
The right-wing opposition and conservatives in general have taken issue with the way she was granted citizenship and questioned her loyalty to Slovenia.
The situation escalated at her committee hearing, where she failed to secure support for the appointment amidst nationalist criticism that some critics say undermined relations with the entire Slovenian ethnic community in Austria.
As minister she plans to focus on improving the efficiency of EU funding. She highlighted R&D, information and communication technologies, competitiveness and regional development as the key areas Slovenia needed to invest the just over EUR 3 billion in cohesion policy funds it is entitled to in the current multiannual financial framework.
STA, 12 December 2019 - The government has granted the citizenship request by Angelika Mlinar, an Austrian former MEP who has been nominated to head the government office in charge of cohesion policy, on grounds of national interest.
The government said on Thursday the request had merit in that "there is interest by the Republic of Slovenia in admitting the person in question into citizenship."
The decision is based on provisions of the citizenship act which provide a path to citizenship for individuals that Slovenia deems useful for "scientific, economic, cultural, national and similar reasons".
It is most often used to fast-track citizenship applications of athletes and scientists and by mid-2018 almost 1,500 people had become citizens that way.
Following the clearance from the government, the Ministry of the Interior will now issue a formal citizenship decision.
Mlinar had been nominated by the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) to head the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, having previously topped the SAB slate for the EU election.
An Austrian citizen but ethnic Slovenian, Mlinar lived in Slovenia for several years. Despite diverging opinions due to vague legislation, the prevailing sentiment is that she needs Slovenian citizenship to become a cabinet member.
Her request in Austria that she be allowed dual citizenship is still pending and Mlinar has said that she would not want to give up her Austrian passport to be allowed to serve as minister.
The government must formally nominate a new minister by 7 January, three months after Iztok Purič stepped down.
STA, 29 October 2019 - A project presenting stories of refugee and migrant children in Slovenia carried out by the Časoris on-line magazine for children has been awarded this year's Intercultural Achievement Award (IAA) in the media category, conferred by the Austrian government.
Representatives of Zavod Časoris, the publisher of the magazine, received the award from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs at a ceremony in Vienna on Monday.
The award supporting intercultural projects related to education, youth, women, media, migration and integration went to the magazine for its project Stories of Children of the World among more than 200 competing projects from 31 countries.
Announcing the news, the publisher said that it was the first project from Slovenia to receive the award.
As part of the project, the on-line magazine has presented since 2017 a total of 17 stories of children from various countries; their customs, culture and tradition.
This year, seven of these children were revisited to see how they have integrated in the new environment in Slovenia and what helps them the most in the integration.
The creator of the project, journalist and editor Sonja Merljak Zdovc, said on the occasion that the project wanted to give a voice to those who were otherwise not heard.
"These are children who came to Slovenia from other countries - unaccompanied, as refugees or migrants, who were fleeing from war or poverty, and dreaming about a better, safer and more decent life," she added.
You can see examples of stories from Časoris, in both Slovene and English, here
STA, 12 October 2019 - The Austrian gaming group Novomatic has taken over Casino Riviera in the Slovenian seaside resort of Portorož, which means it now controls nine out of 26 licensed casinos in the country.
It was the newspapers Delo and Dnevnik which reported about the takeover on Saturday. The acquisition was made a few days ago.
Acting through the company Novo Investicije, Novomatic acquired Casino Princess in Nova Gorica in June. The casino had been indirectly owned by the Turkish chain Princess Group International.
In the past few years Novomatic acquired the casinos Kongo near Grosuplje just south-east of Ljubljana and Lev in Ljubljana from Slovenian entrepreneur Joc Pečečnik.
Under the Admiral Slovenija brand the Austrian group also operates casinos and hotels in Kozina (Admiral Casino Mediteran), Škofije (Casino Carnevale) and Ptuj (Casino Poetovio) and gaming parlours in Maribor (Casino Joker) and Lesce (Casino Tivoli).
Novomatic Group is one of the largest gaming technology companies in the world. It is owned by Johann F. Graf, who places 181st on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest billionaires with EUR 10 billion.
The group employs around 30,000 people in more than 50 countries. Last year it posted around EUR 5 billion in sales revenue, Dnevnik writes.
Novo Investicije, which employs more than 300 people, last year generated EUR 32 million in consolidated sales revenue, up 60% on the year before, as net loss rose by 171% to EUR 2.17 million.
The sales growth came as the companies acquired from Pečečnik's Elektronček had been folded into the Novo Investicije group.
STA, 14 October 2019 - Austria delivered what could be a fatal blow to Slovenia's chances to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2020, beating the home team in Stožice Stadium 1:0 on Sunday evening. Slovenia now have only a very slim theoretical chance of making it to the final tournament.
After scoring three wins in a row in Group G, the men's national football team suffered two straight defeats in the September schedule, first losing to North Macedonia in Skopje on Thursday and then to Austria at home yesterday.
Slovenia are now tied with North Macedonia at eleven points, trailing Poland, who have already qualified for the Euro 2020 (19 points) and Austria (16). The latter need only one point from the remaining two matches to qualify.
It was a do-or-die match for Slovenia last evening in the sold-out Stožice Stadium, with more than 15,000 spectators watching, but the guests proved to be a tough opponent right from the start, attacking the Slovenian goal left and right.
It was in the 21st minute when defender Stefan Posch scored a header assisted from a corner kick for the 1:0 lead for Austria, which turned to be the final score of the match.
Slovenia struggled to pose any threat to the Austrian goal for the entire match, and the frustration escalated in the 89th minute, when Denis Popović elbowed an Austrian player in the face to be sent off with a red card.
Slovenia's head coach Matjaž Kek said it was a "hurtful defeat" and congratulated Austria for being "a better team today". He said that it was not that his players lacked aggressiveness and willpower, but the problem was organisation.
Midfielder Miha Zajc said that the team should not look at the standings and should continue to want to win. "We have proved that we can beat everybody ... and we must analyse our game and make improvements, start to win."
Slovenia will have a one-month break in the qualifiers before playing the last-placed Latvia (0 points) at home on 16 November and wrap up the campaign three days later in Warsaw against the group-leading Poland.
Slovenia would have to win both matches and Austria lose to North Macedonia at home and to Latvia on the road for the former to leapfrog the Austrians on the standings and qualify for the final tournament.
While a number of airlines have announced new or increased services to fill the gaps created by the collapse of Adria Airways, no company has yet stepped in to serve the Ljubljana to Vienna route, with Austrian Airlines announcing that it has no intentions to do so, only serving the Slovene market via Klagenfurt. In an official statement, the company said: “Austrian Airlines will offer its passengers up to three daily connections from Vienna to Klagenfurt as an alternative to the termination of Adria Airways flight operations to Ljubljana.”
All our stories on Adria are here
STA, 1 October 2019 - Lek, the Slovenian subsidiary of Swiss multinational Novartis, has announced phasing out the production of antibiotics in Slovenia's Prevalje in two years' time and moving it to neighbouring Austria. In the meantime, Prevalje will become one of the two locations of Novartis's emerging global centre for technical operations.
The news comes a month after the company said it would not expand production in the northern town of Prevalje despite having just built a new facility there.
Along with Hyderabad in India, Prevalje will become one of the two locations of Novartis's new global centre which will support the multinational's entire production network, Lek's new director general Robert Ljoljo said on Tuesday.
"The centre will be a hub for logistics, the supply chain, purchases, quality control, production science and technology, and engineering," he told the press after today's meeting with employees.
The new centre in Slovenia will employ "several hundred people", mostly experts in logistics, quality control and production science and technology, he explained.
He said that by assuming an additional role within Novartis, Lek was consolidating its presence in Slovenia and "pledges to remain in Koroška".
All Prevalje workers will be given a chance to retrain for new jobs, explained Roman Burja, director of Antiinfektivi Prevalje, the name of Lek's Prevalje company.
As production is being phased out in the coming two years, new jobs will be created gradually and the production will be gradually moved to Austria's Kundl, he added.
Lek has 250 employees and another 70 agency workers at Antiinfektivi Prevalje.
Production has already been suspended and the employees are on a paid leave, coming to meetings with their bosses to discuss the company's future plans for Prevalje.
Lek managers also met the local authorities, with Prevalje Mayor Matic Tasič hoping "they realise in Ljubljana that Prevalje could well be the seat of the new centre".
Ljolja meanwhile also said that TAB Mežica, a local maker of starter batteries for cars and industrial batteries, was interested in buying the recently-built Lek production facility.
A letter of intent has already been signed, he said, but would not disclose any other details.
Lek also expects some of its Antiinfektivi Prevalje employees to get jobs at TAB, which is planning to branch out into production of lithium-ion batteries.
STA, 13 September 2019 - Slovenian Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar proposed that Slovenia and Austria form joint police patrols to police the Slovenian-Austrian border, as he hosted his counterpart Wolfgang Peschorn for a visit in Ljubljana on Friday.
Peschorn, saying it was a good proposal, announced the Austrian government would examine it to see if it could fully contain the migration pressure.
Slovenia has recently introduced similar police patrols with Italy.
Poklukar reiterated Slovenia's stance that Austria's border checks with Slovenia had a negative impact on local population on both sides of the border, causing economic damage and long lines of vehicles on the shared border.
He said this was the reason why he had suggested Austria eliminated border checks and set up mixed police patrols with Slovenia.
The Austrian minister said the government planned to take a new decision on the border checks in mid-October.
Austria introduced checks on the border with Slovenia, which is an internal EU border, at the peak of the 2015 refugee crisis, and has been extending them ever since.
Poklukar also announced Slovenia would soon send its police attache to the Austrian capital of Vienna.
Both ministers said they supported effective control of the EU's external borders and a comprehensive solution to the migration issue at the EU level.
The Salzburg Forum, meeting in Vienna in November, will thus discuss initiatives for a more efficient asylum and migration policy.
A message needs to be sent out that illegal migrations and human smuggling do not pay off, the Austrian minister stressed, adding that this applied to the Balkan route as well as other routes in the Mediterranean.
Poklukar acknowledged that illegal migrations have been increasing for four years, but he said there was "no cause for concern". "Slovenia is a safe country and Slovenian police are managing the situation."
As Poklukar noted, Slovenian police had apprehended roughly 9,800 illegal migrants so far this year, with the majority returned to Croatia; Austria, meanwhile returned only 62 persons to Slovenia.
"This data shows that Slovenia conducts effective control of its southern border."
Both officials also commented on the threat by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he will open Turkey's borders and let Syrian refugees into Europe.
Peschorn said "announcements are commonplace in polit
On the sidelines of the visit, he decorated two Slovenian police officers wiics, but it is always important what happens," but stressed that the situation on the Turkish-Greek border would inform Austria's decision on whether to extent police checks.
Poklukar said that the 2016 deal the EU struck with Turkey in 2016 helped significantly reduce migrations from Syria and the Middle East. Slovenia's position is that the deal is very important.
