The relevant parliamentary committees approved the first eight of
the 16 ministerial nominees put forward by the incoming Prime Minister Janez Jansa. The most successful in persuading the MPs that they were fit for the job were the foreign minister nominee Dimitrij Rupel, the nominee for higher education, science and technology minister Jure Zupan and interior minister nominee Dragutin Mate. The support of the relevant committees was less enthusiastic, albeit sufficient in the case of the candidate for public administration minister Gregor Virant, justice minister candidate Lovro Sturm, nominee for minister in charge of regional development Darinka Mravljak, health minister nominee Andrej Brucan and labour minister nominee Janez Drobnic. The decision of the committees is not binding on the National Assembly, which is due to vote on the ministerial line-up on Friday.
Dominating the events on the foreign policy scene was the Central European Initiative Summit (CEI) hosted by Slovenia in Portoroz. On the side of the summit, the new Slovenian PM held talks with his Croatian counterpart Ivo Sanader.
According to a research project entitled Slovene Public Opinion (SPO), which was carried out over the last few years, Slovenes rank among the European average in terms of valuation of the family, work, religion and other areas. This was stated on the presentation of a new book entitled Values in Transition III – Slovene Public Opinion 1999-2004, by the book’s editor and representative of the Centre for Public Opinion and Mass Communications Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Niko To¹. The book contains data from all 17 surveys performed in the period in question, including all the questions related to the SPO project and data on the course of the research. Two books have already been published in this field, the first for the period 1968-1990, and the second for research conducted from 1990 to 1998. More »
Parliament is expected to take a vote on the ministerial line-up put forward by the incoming PM Janez Jansa on Friday. However, MPs will convene for an emergency session already on Thursday, so as to pass amendments to tax legislation in an emergency procedure. More »
The leaders of the 17 member states of the Central European Initiative (CEI) have confirmed a declaration calling for the need to include all CEI members in European integration processes. More »
The Slovenian and Croatian prime ministers have agreed in their meeting to launch bilateral dialogue on all levels as soon as the new Slovenian government takes office. More »
The economics ministers of the 17 members of the Central European Initiative (CEI) have underscored the importance of structural reforms for the acceleration of economic growth in Europe. More »
The latest monthly Politbarometer opinion poll has shown high approval ratings for the incoming Prime Minister Janez Jansa (72%) and the new government coalition (58%). More »
Slovenia will have to continue to invest abroad, particularly in the Balkans, EBRD president Jean Lemierre told the press on Thursday on the sidelines of the CEI summit in Portoroz. More »
Easyjet, Europe's second-largest low-cost airline, said it had already sold 10,000 tickets in Slovenia for its newly-launched route from Ljubljana to Berlin. More »
The 100km motorway connecting Ljubljana and the Slovenian coast was officially completed on Thursday, when a new 6.9km section from Crni Kal to Srmin in the southwest of the country opened to traffic. More »
A coming-of-age drama "Somersault", the debut feature by Australian Cate Shortland, has won the Kingfisher Award, the top prize of the 15th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe). The two-week festival wrapped up with an award-winning ceremony on Wednesday. More »
The German capital is hosting an exhibition on Slovenia's contemporary architecture. The show entitled "The Building Site Slovenia" opened last Friday. More »
Around 2,09 million foreign and domestic tourists visited attractions in Slovenia in the January-to-October period, a rise of 4 percent over the same period in 2003, early data from the national statistical office show. More »