Slovenia News - October 2004

Slovenia News 26 October 2004

Preparations for the maiden session of the parliament and informal talks on the new government coalition dominated the political scene last week. After Andrej Bajuk of New Slovenia (NSi) decided against standing for the office of the parliament speaker, France Cukjati of Slovenian Democrats (SDS) was elected to the post by a convincing majority. The European Commission, meanwhile, released a convergence report that said Slovenia meets only two out of five criteria for the introduction of the single European currency. Recently Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Agricultural Markets and Rural Development gained the accreditation for payment of the EU funds. We talked about it with Sonja Bukovec, the director of the agency. More » The new Slovenian parliament has been inaugurated whereby the outgoing parliament and government have been dissolved. More » Jansa, the man tipped to be the new prime minister, last week continued informal coalition talks. More » Slovenia's position in the EU must be strengthened and the country must ensure that it takes advantage of all the possibilities on offer in the bloc, Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek has told the opening session of the Slovenian parliament. More » The Pope appointed Ljubljana Auxiliary Bishop Alojz Uran the new Ljubljana archbishop and Slovenian metropolitan. Uran will officially succeed his predecessor Franc Rode at an inauguration ceremony due on 5 December at the Ljubljana Cathedral. More » Foreign Minister Ivo Vajgl called for a reform of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) as he addressed a conference in Vienna on Friday. According to him, the organisation is now in an unenviable situation so a joint effort should be made for the countries east of Vienna to again accept the organisation as their own. More » At the session the Government discussed information about Slovenia’s preparations for candidacy for locating the headquarters of the European Agency for the Management of Operative Cooperation at the External Borders in the Republic of Slovenia, and adopted a starting point for negotiations. More » The national motorway network is to be completed by 2013 according to the national motorway construction plan as part of transport policy resolution, which now needs confirmation in parliament. More » Slovenia only meets two of the four convergence criteria that a country must fulfil to introduce the euro, according to a report released Wednesday by the European Commission. Inflation is still too high and the country has been in the ERM II exchange rate mechanism less than the required two years. More » The European Commission convergence report is completely realistic and in line with expectations, Finance Minister Dusan Mramor commented on the document published on Wednesday. Central bank vice-governor Andrej Rant meanwhile said the document highlighted some incompatibilities which the bank knows must be dealt with. More » The Slovene National Culinary Team took the bronze medal in the team competition, and took two more bronzes and a silver in the individual competitions. More » Visitors to the Slovenian capital have a new choice for their accommodation, as a new four-star hotel opened its doors recently. Unlike the other Ljubljana hotels, which are mostly centrally-located, the Hotel Mons is located in the northwest of the city, close to the ring road. More » Schedule of events in the week from 27 to 31 October: More »

Slovenia News 19 October 2004

Two weeks after the elections the composition of the future governing coalition is not yet certain. This week the legislative branch began to constitute the new National Assembly and its working bodies, and to set up the new leadership. The official results of the elections are in, and now there is a lot of talk and speculation about what the future governing coalition will look like. We spoke with Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Science Dr. Jernej Pikalo about the reasons for the changes which the voters have chosen. More » President Janez Drnovsek has called the maiden session of the newly elected parliament for Friday, 22 October, after he received the official results of the 3 October general election. More » The speaker of the outgoing parliament met representatives of factions in the newly-elected National Assembly behind closed doors to prepare the maiden session of the new legislature. More » 10 October marked the passing of 84 years since the Carinthian Plebiscite, which determined the country affiliations of the inhabitants of Carinthia and the northern Slovene border. More » The Government of RS discussed the Autumn Forecast of Economic Trends as one of the professional bases of economic policy, and adopted the Programme of Information and Communication with the Slovene Public in the field of European Matters in 2005. More » The Slovenian Armed Forces have launched what are the biggest war games this year at the Pocek training grounds in the southwest of the country. The "Skok 2004" (Jump 2004) military exercises are aimed at testing the army's combat efficiency and operational capabilities in deployment in integrated military structures of NATO. More » In negotiations on the 2007-2013 EU budget, Slovenia should make efforts to secure sufficient money from structural and cohesion funds. Another crucial task for the new government will be to ensure that the country is capable of phasing the funds, believes Slovenia's European Commissioner Janez Potocnik. More » Janez Potocnik, the incoming European commissioner for science and research, was unanimously given a nod of approval by the European Parliament committee on industry, research and energy, according to the committee's evaluation. More » The government gave its approval to a compromise deal on euro spelling reached Tuesday by the committee of permanent representatives in the EU (COREPER). More » Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, the NATO Supreme Allied Command Transformation commander, praised Slovenia's progress during his first official visit to Ljubljana on Friday, saying it was impressive. More » Despite the fact that this year the weather was not favourable for wine-growers in the Stajerska region, NE Slovenia, the oldest vine in the world offered rich harvest this year, said its keeper Anton Zafosnik at the grape harvest of the 400-year-old vine. More » Theatre lovers will be focusing their attention this week on Maribor, where the 39th annual Borstnik Meeting, Slovenia’s largest theatre festival, opened on 15 October. More » The largest youth educational fair in Slovenia – the Student Arena – was organized by the Association of Students’ Clubs of Slovenia and the Student Organization of the University of Ljubljana. More » Marathon athlete Helena Javornik won the international marathon in Amsterdam on Sunday, where she beat her own Slovenian record and won a glittering prize. The time of 2:27,32 brought her over two minutes ahead of Kenya's Emily Kimuria, as well as EUR 10,000 and a EUR 5,000 worth diamond. More » TUESDAY, 19 October LJUBLJANA - Visiting Slovenia will be Hessen Premier Roland Koch, who is touring the new EU states and promoting German state of Hessen and Frankfurt on Main as business and financial centres. His delegation will include vice-chair of the German Federal Bank management Hans Reckers. Koch will meet Foreign Minister Ivo Vajgl and participate at a presentation of Slovenian-Hessen cooperation at the Chamber of Commerce. President of the Hessen Parliament Norbert Kartmann will meet Speaker of the Parliament Feri Horvat. More »

Slovenia News 12 October 2004

The Slovenian Democrats (SDS) overturned the majority of the Liberal Democrats (LDS) in the Sunday general election as the country's electorate shifted towards the right. After 12 years in power the LDS is set to join the opposition, while SDS leader Janez Jansa is tipped as Slovenia's new prime minister albeit with a difficult task of forming a government with an insufficient majority. The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (it's Chairman is Drago Kos) began operating on 1 October. They will monitor the assets of all functionaries on the state and local level, and will also include prosecutors, which amounts to a total of around 6500 people. More » The Electoral Commission (RVK) has given a clean bill of health to the unofficial election results of the 3 October general election showing that seven parties passed the election threshold of 4 percent. More » The electorate cast their votes at the general elections the 3rd of October. The formal election results will be published on the 13th of October and after that the formation of new government is to take place. More » A central monument to the victims of post-Second World War summary executions of suspected Nazi collaborators by the partisans was unveiled at the village of Teharje in eastern Slovenia on Sunday. More » At its session on Thursday the Government adopted the Report on Structural Reforms for 2004 and a bill on general valuation of real estate, and supported a healthier diet with the Resolution on National Food Policy Programme. More » The Austrian and Slovenian defence ministers have put forward a joint initiative to the members of the Central European Nations Cooperation in Peace Support (CENCOOP) for the creation of a CENCOOP military academy. More » Slovenia has retained its lead in the Eastern European region in the latest Dun&Bradstreet report with its risk rating continuing to bear a growth sign. Although the report was prepared before the 3 October election, the world's leading rating firm anticipated the win of the outgoing opposition as one of the possible scenarios. More » The Prague-based Leo Burnett advertising agency was crowned agency of the year as the 11th Golden Drum advertising festival drew to a close Friday evening. Apart from winning the Golden Rose, the agency also claimed the Golden Net for best international advertising chain. More » Matjaž Vipotnik, a Slovene design icon, celebrated his 60th birthday at the end of September. In the 1970s he broke new ground in the area of modern design of the theatre poster and made an impression on the minds of generations of people. More » The general strike by Slovene journalists, which started on the day of parliamentary elections, had considerable impact on developments last week. Major daily newspapers did not go to print and even on election day, electronic media broadcast only the most essential information, as prescribed by law. More » Heavy rain over the weekend has caused flooding in parts of Slovenia as a number of rivers and creeks have swelled to dangerous levels. More » Slovenia's Peter Mankoc won gold in 100 metre individual medley at the Short Course World Championships in Indianapolis, successfully defending his World Champion title from the last championships in Moscow. More » On Wednesday, 13 October the National Electoral Commission is scheduled to present the final official results of voting for the 3 October general election. More »

Slovenia News - 5 October 2004

The top story of the week is definitely the parliamentary elections, which have caused a considerable amount of change in Slovene politics, as the ruling Liberal Democraticy of Slovenia has been pushed out of the top spot by the opposition Slovene Democratic Party. In addition to the unofficial election results we summarize the hearing of candidate for Commissioner Dr. Janez Potočnik by the European Parliament, and in the area of culture the City of Women International Festival of Contemporary Arts is being held this month. Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on Sunday, 3 October. According to unofficial partial returns the Republic Electoral Commission reports that the most votes were gained by the Slovene Democratic Party (SDS). According to the first returns, seven parties have made it across the four-percent threshold. 60% of registered voters participated in the elections. We asked the chairmen of the first and second-ranked parties, Janez Janša and Anton Rop, for their opinions on the outcome of the elections. More » Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on Sunday, in which according to unofficial returns a relative majority was gained by the opposition Slovene Democratic Party (SDS). More » Foreign Minister Ivo Vajgl said at a press conference that the Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs will propose to the Croats that Slovenia and Croatia conclude an agreement for avoiding incidents between the two countries More » Slovenia, which lies at the crossroads of migration currents, would advocate a comprehensive and balanced migration policy and would support measures aimed at preventing illegal migration. Asylum and migration policy are Slovenia's priorities within the Tampere II programme, the second phase of the development of an area of freedom, security and justice in the EU. More » Before Friday’s meeting of finance ministers and governors of central banks of IMF and World Bank member states in Washington, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the World Economic Outlook, the most recent report on world economic trends. More » The Slovene candidate for the Commissioner responsible for Science and Research in the future Jose Manuel Barroso's European Commission, Janez Potočnik, has got a positive evaluation from all three of the largest political groups in the European Parliament, after being examined by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. More » Slovene Railways have made a new step in the expansion of the international transport network known as Network Europe which connects Europe by direct train. As of today, Ljubljana is also connected to Istanbul with this system. More » The City of Women (Mesto žensk), a festival of contemporary arts, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. With its topic "Past Transition – Welcome to the Future?" this year's festival relates the past achievements of Slovenia and its entry to the European Union. More » Minister Cvikl at informal meeting of Ministers of European Affairs in Amsterdam on Tuesday, Minister of Culture at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair this week. More »

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