Ljubljana related
STA, 6 May 2019 - The newspaper Delo noted in Monday's editorial that it is commendable that Slovenia is the third most popular destination for workers from the Balkans, but also warns against overpopulating the country with foreigners, wondering "whether Slovenia should leave the door fully open for all".
Young people are leaving Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo as they are demoralised, they do not see any future at home, the paper says under the headline Our Own Ground Under Our Feet.
People are also leaving Croatia en masse, although the country is doing much better than its neighbours. What contributes to this is also the overall globalisation, with young people emigrating all over the world.
Slovenia is the third most popular destination for people from the Balkans for life and work, after Switzerland and Germany, which is actually commendable for the country. It means that life is good in Slovenia, the paper notes.
If Slovenia needs foreign labour force, citizens of the former Yugoslav republics are certainly the most favourable immigrants. Slovenians have many things in common with them, but there are also differences, because of which the former state disintegrated in the first place.
Delo says that the current increase in immigration should be analysed. "If it continues, in ten years a quarter of Slovenia's population will be foreigners," it says, adding that mechanisms for the integration of every foreigner individually should be established.
This documentary, from 2011, tells the story of the first black African leader in (as the producers put it) “Eastern Europe” – the then recently elected Mayor of Piran, Peter Bossman. An inspirational story for anyone who’s moved to Slovenia, and especially for anyone struggling to learn the Language – in Slovene with English subtitles.
STA, 27 April 2019 - Some 400 locals living along the border near the Jelšane border crossing with Croatia staged a rally on Saturday demanding better border protection and rejecting the idea of their community hosting a processing centre for migrants.
Those living in border areas are faced with illegal migrations on a daily basis, and migrations involve pollution of the environment, break-ins and damage to property, said Ivan Cegnar, who heads a local civil initiative that has spearheaded the protests.
"What's particularly worrying is the fear, being unable to freely move in our back yards," said Cegnar, the head of the local government council in Jelšane.
He said the locals demanded that the state protect the Schengen border in line with the law and commitments Slovenia made when it joined the Schengen zone.
Emil Rojc, the mayor of Ilirska Bistrica, said that migrations had led to a deterioration in the quality of living for the locals.
They demand that police beef up security and reject what Rojc said were "excuses" by the police that there are not enough officers to protect the border. He said Slovenia could seek assistance from the EU border agency Frontex.
If needed the army should be called up as well, said Rojc, who hails from the ranks of the Social Democrats (SD) and has raised eyebrows in his party's ranks with his hard stance on migrations.
The protest is the apex of months of mounting opposition in Ilirska Bistrica area, where many migrants chose to cross the border.
In the first three months of this year police in the western Koper District, which includes Ilirska Bistrica, registered 388 illegal border crossings, up from 266 in the same period in 2018.
The area is not the main entry point for migrants, as the vast majority cross further east covered by the Ljubljana and Novo Mesto police.
In the entire country they registered 1,639 attempts at illegal border crossing, an increase of almost 150% on the year before.
But what has further aggravated local woes around Jelšane are contingency plans that involve using buildings near the Jelšane border crossing for a processing centre for migrants in the event of a surge in migrant numbers.
The government has tried to assuage fears by emphasising that this would be a measure of last resort, but it has refused to specify at what point it may be activated.
The municipal council has even tried to stage a referendum on the registration centre, but their attempt has been thwarted by courts with the argument that such issues cannot be subject to referenda. The motion has been put to the Supreme Court.
While driven by local concerns, the protest attracted the interest of rightist parties that have made opposition to migrations a core part of their agendas.
Among the participants were senior Democrat (SDS) MP Branko Grims, the president of the far-right Homeland League (DOM) Bernard Brščič and representatives of the extremist Identitarian movement, which had in previous days urged people to attend the protest.
SDS leader Janez Janša wrote on Twitter that the protest was "the only genuine manifestation on Resistance Day," in that it was targeted "against potential conquerors and their helpers."
Meanwhile, the SD said they did not support the protest, adding in reference to the mayor coming from their ranks that "the party's competent bodies will evaluate the conduct of individual members."
STA, 23 April 2019 - A total of 111 foreigners were apprehended illegally crossing the Slovenian-Croatian border the past weekend, according to reports from the Novo Mesto, Celje and Koper police departments. Slovenian police have already handed over 30 of them to Croatia, while 12 have asked for asylum in Slovenia.
Since Friday, the Novo Mesto police has apprehended 67 foreigners, of whom 25 were Moroccans, 20 Algerians, 11 came from Bangladesh, four were Turks, three Libyans and one each came from Palestine, Cuba, Nigeria and Iran.
They are all yet to be processed by police.
In Novo Mesto, a man was caught illegally transporting four Egyptians in his car with Slovenian register plates yesterday. The 37-year-old driver, who is a resident of the UK, was detained.
The Egyptian citizens have already been handed over to Croatia.
The Koper police registered 37 illegal migrants between Friday and this morning. So far, 23 of them have been returned to Croatia and one is to be returned today. A dozen people have requested international protection.
The foreigners came from Turkey (19), Syria (6), Iraq (4), Kosovo (2), Bangladesh (2), and one each from Iran, India, Albania and Libya.
In Bistrica ob Sotli, three citizens of Kosovo were apprehended on Saturday and returned to Croatia.
The number of illegal crossings of the border in the first three months of this year rose by almost 150% compared to the same period last year, to 1,639.
Most foreigners came from Algeria, Morocco and Pakistan.
The most illegal crossings of the border were recorded by the Novo Mesto police department. The Ljubljana police department follows closely with its share rising. Koper comes in third.
Between January and March, a total of 699 foreigners have indicated they would ask for international protection. Most of them were Algerians.
In the same period last year, 559 migrants applied for asylum.
According to police, this year the number of illegal crossings of the border is rising faster than last year.
All our stories on immigration in Slovenia can be found here
STA, 30 March 2019 - Damir Črnčec, the state secretary in the prime minister's office for national security, has told the Siol web portal that all types of radicalisms or extremisms are present in Slovenia, but noted that Slovenia is a safe country.
Črnčec, whose appointment as Marjan Šarec's aide has raised some controversy, said that "all three types of radicalisms and extremisms are present in Slovenia - the right and left, as well as Islamic fundamentalism."
While noting that Slovenia was a safe country, he said that the biggest potential threats were those of the information and cyber type and the issue of illegal migrations, terrorism and a rise of extremism and violent extremism.
Črnčec finds that terrorism is very well defined in the Slovenian legislation, "while there are legal voids when it comes to extremism and violent extremism."
He said that Slovenia lagged behind other countries in terms of information and cyber security, but added that the government had earmarked additional funds for this field in 2019.
"We count on an administration for information security to be established within the Public Administration Ministry, which would deal with the preventive aspect of the forming of a serious information security backbone in Slovenia."
According to Črnčec, the EU is under the "threat represented by so-called fake news and disinformation". "We are talking primarily about the influence of external players, countries, on the political process in the EU."
"The same is true for the influence of these players on individual countries," he said. Asked whether Russia represented the biggest threat in this respect, he said he could hardly say something like that when it came to Slovenia.
Črnčec insists that illegal migrations were primarily a security issue and that it was a criminal act, with the structure of illegal migrants representing the biggest risk.
He assured the public that the migration issue is being managed. "Maintaining a balance between security and solidarity is and will remain the key imperative of our actions in the future."
Commenting on the attempts of the local authorities in Ilirska Bistrica (SW) to prevent a migrant centre from being established there, Črnčec said that the government's position was that a local referendum on the issue was inappropriate.
There is no legal basis for it either, he said, adding that "the government will simply not allow that."
Regarding hate speech, of which he personally had been accused of in the past, Črnčec said that hate speech was present in Slovenia and that a challenge for the future remained to find a balance between its regulation and freedom of speech.
All our stories on Slovenian politics are here
STA, 25 March 2019 - The Koper and Novo Mesto police caught 51 foreigners illegally crossing the border the past weekend. Seven migrants requested international protection.
According to the Koper police department, 23 foreigners were caught crossing the border from Croatia in the western region from Friday morning until today.
Two of them were Croatians, while the rest were citizens of Kosovo (five), Pakistan (four), Algeria (three), Somalia (three), and Afghanistan, and Iraq and Iran (two each).
The Koper police also apprehended a Slovenian citizen who transported four foreigners who had illegally crossed the border.
Seven people were already returned to Croatia and just as many are expected to be handed over today. Seven migrants requested international protection.
The Novo Mesto police, meanwhile, found an Algerian citizen hiding in the undercarriage of a train, trying to avoid border control. The man was handed over to Croatian authorities.
In the Novo Mesto area, a total of 27 foreigners were apprehended, with six of them coming from Afghanistan, just as many from Algeria and Morocco, four from Yemen, two from Iraq and just as many from Egypt, and one from Syria.
A total of 611 illegal crossings of the border were recorded in Slovenia in January and February, which is a 35% increase compared to the same period last year. Most of the foreigners came from Algeria and Morocco.
All our stories on illegal migration in Slovenia are here
STA, 18 March 2019 - Police apprehended 102 foreigners who entered Slovenia from Croatia unlawfully at the weekend. Five of them have already asked for international protection, with the rest of them are still being processed. At the same time, two vehicles transporting illegal migrants were intercepted.
Metlika police apprehended 10 Afghani citizens and one Iranian crossing into Slovenia illegally in the night to Saturday in the south-east of the country.
The group was brought to the border by a 22-year-old Croatian driver from Velika Kladuša, one of the Bosnian towns closest to Slovenia.
The driver was handled by Croatian police.
Another group in the south-east was apprehended around the town of Semič on Saturday morning when a car with Italian licence places, driven by two Pakistani citizens, was stopped carrying three Indians, three Pakistani citizens and one citizen of Myanmar.
The drivers had tried to take the group to Italy, where the two reside legally. Slovenian police seized their car and filed a criminal complaint against them.
A total of 57 citizens, the majority from Pakistan (27) and Iran (12), were also caught by Novo Mesto police between Friday and Monday.
The Ljubljana Police Department apprehended twelve illegal migrants over the past 24 hours; three Algerians and a Tunisian citizen asked for asylum, while processing is still ongoing for the others.
The Koper Police Department, which covers south-western Slovenia, apprehended 15 illegal migrants from Friday to Monday morning.
One Afghani citizen asked for international protection, and the rest are being still processed.
Illegal migrations slowed down during the winter months, with 325 crossings registered in January and 334 in December compared to 1,000-plus in the summer months, according to police data.
In March last year, a total of 206 illegal crossings of the border were recorded, a figure that is likely to be exceeded this year.
All our stories on immigration can be found here
STA, 6 March 2019 - Transparency International Slovenija (TI) has reported the director of the Agency for Commodity Reserves Anton Zakrajšek to the state prosecution over suspected abuse of office in the procurement of what is currently a 179-km fence on the border with Croatia.
Following allegations that the procurement of the fencing favoured a specific contractor, TI obtained part of the documentation after almost three years of efforts, receiving a nod from the Information Commissioner and engaging in a tug-of-war with the agency in courts.
Screenshot from YouTube
TI believes Zakrajšek abused his powers when signing a razor wire contract with Minis in 2015 which included the provision of an advance payment of EUR 860,832 or 70% of the contract's total value.
Minis has been the main supplier of "technical obstacles" that Slovenia started erecting on the Croatian border during the migration crisis. It has received more than EUR 9.3m from the agency, while the remaining suppliers have been paid a total of EUR 6m, the newspaper Dnevnik reported today.
TI says the agency would have required special consent from the finance minister for the advance payment, which it does not appear to have received, while Zakrajšek is arguing the payment had never been executed.
The official, who is adamant that Minis was always picked as the cheapest bidder, argues the advance payment had been conditional on the supplier securing a bank guarantee in the full amount of the payment, which it failed to do.
What is more, the Finance Ministry said this provision only applied to direct budget users, while the agency is not defined as a budget user at all.
TI responded by saying "the alleged advance payment is only one of the suspicions elements, while confirming or rejecting the suspicion is in the domain of the relevant authorities". The NGO told the STA it saw no reason to withdraw its report.
TI only asked for a portion of the documents, as much of the fence procurement documentation remained classified as internal. The STA has not yet received an answer from the government about whether it planned to declassify them.
The agency said in a press release in the afternoon that the documents were classified because their contents could put in jeopardy the government's objectives to regulate migration flow.
Moreover, Zakrajšek said in the press release that the agency had asked Minis for a bid because the company had already been cooperating with the Interior Ministry at that point and the department had no complaints. The Interior Ministry also provided the specifications for the fence, the press release said.
The fencing contracts, signed under special provisions governing procurement in cases labelled classified, have been raising eyebrows for some time.
Alenka Bratušek, the head of the SAB party who was an MP at the time, caused waves after a 2017 session of the parliamentary Commission for Public Finance Oversight, when she claimed the documents studied had been manipulated with and that the chosen bidder had not been the cheapest.
SAB secretary general Jernej Pavlič said today that Bratušek had forwarded her findings at the time to the prosecution.
Zakrajšek insists the chosen bidder had been the cheapest and fastest and claims Bratušek is misleading with her accusation, which he says is based on a mistake that occurred in one of the minutes.
Media have also been wondering about the choice of Minis, with POP TV reporting on Tuesday that the company and a local office of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), the senior coalition party between 2014 and 2018, shared the same address for a while.
SMC leader Miro Cerar responded to the reports by saying the intensive migration pressure in 2015 required the decision to protect people and property.
"This was the task I put to the ministers," he said, expressing his belief the decisions followed professional criteria and legal obligations. "I believe Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek acted in due fashion."
All our stories on corruption and Slovenia are here
STA, 7 February 2019 - There are currently 646 people with refugee status in Slovenia. They are housed in integration houses or private accommodations, 99 of them are living abroad. A total of 109 are enrolled in schools, while around 100 refugees have already found a job.
According to the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants (Urad Vlade Republike Slovenije za oskrbo in integracijo migrantov), the majority of refugees are citizens of Syria, Eritrea, and Iran, followed by the citizens of the former Yugoslav republics. They are entitled to financial compensation for private accommodation, integration assistance, employment, health and social care, and education.
Integration assistance is available for three years after gaining an international protection status and is provided by integration consultants at the office and non-governmental organizations.
The refugees attend integration assistance courses, such as the one conducted by Odnos association that supports them in finding employment, opening a bank account or submitting applications.
The refugees are also included in 300-hour Slovenian language courses, which can be extended. The office covers the costs of a one-time language proficiency test as well.
Related: Meet the People - Zana Fabjan Blažič, Organiser & DJ, Ambasada Rog
When it comes to employment, refugees are equal to Slovenian citizens, therefore having free access to the labour market. The Employment Service also conducts a course on integration into the labour market. According to the Office, there is no accurate data on the number of refugee employees, but they estimate that approximately 100 of them have jobs.
Among the refugees there are 184 children or minors, 12 are unaccompanied minors who are housed in boarding schools. Of the 109 enrolled in educational institutions, most are in primary school and 17 attend university.
STA, 31 January 2019 - The National Assembly passed legislative amendments on Thursday which transpose the EU directive setting down the conditions of entry and residence of third-country citizens for the purposes of research, studies and training.
The directive, which entered into force in May 2016, should have been translated into national law by member countries by 23 May 2018. Missing the deadline, Slovenia has already received a reprimand from Brussels.
The directive also deals with the entry of third-country nationals for the purposes of voluntary service, pupil exchange schemes or educational projects and au pairing.
Education Ministry State Secretary Jernej Štromajer said that the amendments to the research and development activity act entailed only minor changes.
The amendments were passed by unanimous vote, but many MPs said they expected much more from a bill reforming the act more thoroughly which is already in the pipeline.
However, the Left abstained from the vote, airing misgivings about the elimination of certain proofs in acquiring residence permits for third-country citizens hosted by research agencies.
The EU standards can be found in many languages and formats here
