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 Toš. 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 »
Ljubljana, 23 November
Slovenia News 23 November 2004
Editorial
The signing of the coalition agreement has concluded lengthy and difficult negotiations, said incoming Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who expects all coalition partners to truly make an effort to implement the objectives set forth in the agreement, and to work for the common good of all citizens.
The coalition agreement provides a foundation for a faster rate of economic growth and greater prosperity in Slovenia, Jansa told the press after the four parties forming the coalition signed the document today.
The representative bodies of the four coalition parties have passed the content and procedural parts of the Coalition Agreement, while negotiations over personnel are still continuing, stated Prime Minister-elect Janez Janša. Janša hopes that he will be able to sign the Coalition Agreement within one day, or by the end of the time limit on Wednesday. More »
Ministerial candidates in the Janez Jansa-led government will be given a special ethical code to sign before becoming ministers in a move that the senior coalition party of Slovenian Democrats (SDS) hopes will raise the trust of Slovenian citizens in the government and state institutions. More »
Despite hesitations over financial costs and staff requirements for such a major project, deputy groups were unanimous in their support for the proposal for Slovenia to be part of the troika making up the EU presidency between 2007 and mid 2008. Moreover, all 71 MPs present at the session voted for the proposal. More »
The coalition agreement provides a foundation for a faster rate of economic growth and greater prosperity in Slovenia, incoming Prime Minister Janez Jansa told the press after the four parties forming the coalition signed the document on Tuesday. More »
Incoming Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the leader of the Slovenian Democrats (SDS), presented his 16 ministerial nominees to the public on Tuesday. More »
On Wednesday, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry launched a publication on Slovenian-Austrian relations in the 20th century. The book was written by Slovenian historians, though it was initially meant to be a joint project between the two countries. More »
The Slovenian government agrees with the conclusions of the Kok commission which said in a recent report that the Lisbon Strategy needs to focus on two main objectives - achieving greater economic growth and higher employment, according to head of the government Institute for Macroeconomic Analyses and Development (IMAD) Janez Sustersic. Social cohesion and environment objectives should also be given priority. More »
Alpina, the Slovenia footwear maker, has launched a world first in ski footwear, unveiling a revolutionary ski boot for children that allows for greater movement of the foot than the current hard-shelled boots. More »
State aid in Slovenia amounted to 0.69 percent of the GDP in the years between 2000 and 2003, which amounts to 139 million euros annually, a report issues by the European Commission says. More »
The transition in Slovenia may well have been the most smooth and painless of all in Central and Eastern Europe, but it had its downsides as well, a leading economist has said. More »
It is very important for a small-sized Slovenian nation that its language has become one of the EU official languages. However, while this is a great chance for Slovenian to gain ground, it depends primarily on Slovenians whether they will be able to take this opportunity. This is what a law expert told the 2nd European Law Conference, as he discussed the use of Slovenian in EU institutions. More »
Slovenia's European Commissioner Janez Potocnik is pleased that all major factions in the European Parliament have confirmed the new European Commission. "We have a lot of work to do now," Potocnik, the commissioner for science and research, said on Thursday. More »
Slovenia, which has been taking part in the LIFE project since 1993, has proved to be a good student according to the number of projects, Bruno Julien, the head of the LIFE unit at the European Commission Environment DG, told the press in Ljubljana on Tuesday. More »
The Week of Slovenian Avant-garde Art was launched in Seattle, US, on Friday, with the opening of the exhibition called "State of Time" by the art collective Irwin and a film "Sweet Dreams" by director Saso Podgorsek. More »
More than 100 wine makers from Slovenia and abroad will present over 350 wine samples at the 7th Slovenian Festival of Wine, due to open at Ljubljana's Hotel Slon on Thursday afternoon. More »
It is today that LDS (Liberal Democracy of Slovenia) and DeSUS (Democratic Party of Retired Persons of Slovenia) will make known their formal decisions on their entry into negotiations to form the government. The Council of LDS is expected to reject the Prime Minister's offer for the beginning of negotiations to form a coalition, while the Executive Committee of DeSUS is expected to give green light for entry into negotiations to form a center-right government. Negotiations on coalition contract and staff issues between SDS (Social Democratic Party) and SLS (Slovenia People's Party) are continuing; based on the result of these negotiations, SDS and DeSUS representatives will »brush up« a final version of the contract before DeSUS Executive Committee meeting.
At an informal meeting with the Dutch Presidency of the EU on 11 November, Slovenia agreed to a proposal by which Slovenia would be a part of the first troika, together with Germany and Portugal, as part of the team presidency of the Council of the EU for the period from the beginning of 2007 to the middle of 2008, with Slovenia taking the last term during the first six months of 2008. Slovenia's Ambassador to the EU Ciril Stokelj answered on some of our questions regarding the presidency. More »
The parliament amended three laws to enable Janez Jansa, the PM-designate, to form a government cabinet to his liking. The new cabinet will have one ministry more, a total of 15, plus no more than two ministers without portfolio. More »
Interior Minister Rado Bohnic said Slovenia expects to enter the Schengen group by 2007, as he met with his counterparts from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, countries that make up the Salzburg Forum. More »
Small companies record the highest growth in Slovenia and play a key role in reaching the country's economic goals, Miroslav Klun, president of the Chamber of Trade, said in an interview ahead of the chamber celebrating its 35th anniversary. More »
Terme Catez, the leading Slovenian spa, is planning to build a EUR 45m tourist complex in Serbia in what will be the biggest Slovenian direct investment in this former Yugoslav republic, a paper writes on Friday. More »
The Directorate General for Energy and Transport has chosen a Slovenian project of power and gas transmission as a recipient of funds from the EU's trans-European energy network (TEN-E) programme. More »
Sales of computers in Slovenia were up 33.6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, according to IT and telecommunications analyst IDC. In terms of units and sales volumes, desktop computers still have the largest market share, but notebooks are catching up fast. More »
Slovenia's largest mobile operators, Mobitel and Simobil, have signed a new agreement on asymmetrical prices of inter-network calls which puts Simobil, the smaller of the two, in a more favourable market position. More »
Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, the most frequently performed work of the 20th century, will visit Ljubljana on 10 December as part of an international tour of the show by German composer, conductor and director Walter Haupt. More »
The film "Bad Education" (La mala education) by the Spanish cult director Pedro Almodovar will lift the curtain on the 15th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe). Running for two weeks, the festival will feature 114 films. More »
After the project of building a mosque in Ljubljana survived a looming referendum and it seemed that the Muslim community would finally get a place of worship, new problems have emerged. More »
With the arrival of the no-frills carrier Easyjet on the Ljubljana airport, Slovenia has become one of the favourite European destinations for the British tourists this year, the airline has suggested. More »
St. Martin’s Saturday in Ljubljana’s old town core features the ‘Wine Trail in Old Ljubljana’. Visitors can stroll from Knafel’s crossing, over the Pločnik pedestrian area, over the Three Bridges, along Cankar’s Embankment all the way to Shoemaker’s Bridge, tasting the young wine at stalls along the way. The wine-tasting is hosted by 12 restaurants from the centre of Ljubljana in cooperation with more than 25 vineyards from all of the Slovene wine-growing regions. More »
Schedule of events in the week from 16 to 21 November More »
16-21 November
Slovenia News 10 November 2004
Editorial
Janez Jansa, the leader of the centre-right Slovenian Democrats (SDS), has been given the mandate by parliament to form a new government. He won the nomination with 57 votes for and 27 against. "The real work is only just beginning," he told the press.
Jansa expects that the government, which he must nominate in two weeks, will be elected by the end of November, after the coalition agreement is signed. Talks about the content of the coalition agreement "have come quite far", he noted.
The Employment Service of Slovenia has adopted development guidelines for the next five years. For more information in connection with this we spoke with Managing Director Jože Glazer.
The Employment Service of Slovenia has adopted development guidelines for the next five years. For more information in connection with this we spoke with Managing Director Jože Glazer. More »
Janez Jansa, the leader of the centre-right Slovenian Democrats (SDS), has been given the mandate by parliament to form a new government. He won the nomination with 57 votes for and 27 against. "The real work is only just beginning," he told the press. Jansa expects that the government, which he must nominate in two weeks, will be elected by the end of November, after the coalition agreement is signed. Talks about the content of the coalition agreement "have come quite far", he noted. More »
The new government of Janez Jansa is likely to have the same number of ministries, but several changes are expected in the cabinet. Most notably, one ministry is to be abolished while several other portfolios will be thoroughly reshuffled. More »
The government approved on Thursday a US proposal on distributing the funds deposited by the former Yugoslav authorities with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). In line with the succession agreement, Slovenia is entitled to 16 percent of the total sum of US$ 2.46 million plus interests. More »
The Slovenian Quality Association began its annual conference on Thursday, to examine ways of improving the country's macroeconomic figures by boosting quality standards. More »
Companies from the EU and Switzerland are the biggest foreign investors in Slovenia, according to a report on foreign direct investment (FDI) between 1994 and 2003 that the Bank of Slovenia confirmed Thursday. Slovenian firms, on the other hand, invest mostly in countries of the former Yugoslavia. More »
Slovenia firmly retains the top place in the region in the November report of the rating firm Dun&Bradstreet. The report suggests the country's outlook is unlikely to change with the new government. More »
European inspectors that scrutinised veterinary control on Slovenia's southern border last week found that the country effectively set up controls for the import of animals and animal products to the EU. The country's leading grocer Mercator last week became almost a 100 percent owner of the top Ljubljana department store Maximarket, while the fate of its takeover attempts on the Serbian market remains uncertain. The Slovenian telco Telekom Slovenije meanwhile expressed interest in a 51-percent share of the Montenegrin telecoms utility put out to tender. More »
The Southeastern Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM) wrapped up its session in Ljubljana on Friday with a conclusion that this cooperation mechanism is a very welcome initiative, yet improvements are necessary in military cooperation. " More »
The Slovenian Philharmonics paid a tribute to Carlos Kleiber, the acclaimed conductor who was buried in Slovenia earlier this year, with a concert featuring the great Italian conductor Riccardo Muti on Thursday evening. Kleiber was posthumously awarded the title of honorary member of the Slovenian Philharmonic Society. More »
After his top-spot finish in Glasgow last Sunday, top Slovenian gymnast Mitja Petkovsek again reigned victorious at the Gent Grand Prix. Petkovsek was awarded 9.812 points for his parallel bar performance, which was enough for a second straight World Cup victory. More »
"Slovenia - Closer than Ever" is the slogan under which Slovenian tourist companies hope to attract business partners at World Travel Market in London between 8 and 11 November. A total of 28 Slovenian companies are presenting their offer at the international travel industry's premier business-to-business forum. More »
The number of overnight stays in Ljubljana increased by 42.4 percent between 1997 and 2003. This puts the Slovenian capital on top of a list of 35 major European cities surveyed by the European Cities Tourism network. More »
After consulting with five deputy faction leaders last week, President Janez Drnovsek will undertake the last round of meetings with heads of deputy groups today to establish whom to nominate a prime minister-designate. On 29 October, the country presidents or heads of governments and the ministers of foreign affairs of the EU Member States met in Rome and signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.
Outgoing Slovenian Prime Minister Anton Rop and Foreign Minister Ivo Vajgl signed the European constitutional treaty in Rome on Friday, while Janez Potocnik was said to stay the European commissioner designate as the new Commission president was due to propose a different line-up.
After consulting with five deputy faction leaders last week, President Janez Drnovsek will undertake the last round of meetings with heads of deputy groups today to establish whom to nominate a prime minister-designate. More »
The latest Politbarometer survey reflects the outcome of the 3 October general election: support for the Liberal Democrats (LDS) dropped from 21 percent in September to 15 now, while the election winners, the Slovenian Democrats (SDS), saw their backing improve from 17 to 24 percent. More »
The new Archbishop of Ljubljana Alojz Uran has told the Catholic weekly Druzina that he sees his priority as a leader of the Roman-Catholic Church in pastoral work as he has been greatly involved in pastoral care and catechism so far. More »
On 29 October, the country presidents or heads of governments and the ministers of foreign affairs of the EU Member States met in Rome and signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. More »
The only way to achieve long-term stability and security of the Western Balkans and the whole of Europe is to include all countries of SE Europe into the EU, European Minister Milan M. Cvikl said at the Regional Business Meeting Point. More »
The Slovenian corporate world was in turmoil last week as two big lawsuits threaten to dent the state budget: Belgian brewer Interbrew started legal proceedings against Slovenia at the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes over its so far unsuccessful bid to acquire brewer Pivovarna Union, while mobile operator Vega demands EUR 174m state, alleging that the state and its regulators failed to ensure market competition. More »
The 18th annual show of foreign literature "Frankfurt after Frankfurt" is to be held at the Ljubljana arts and congress centre Cankarjev dom from 4 through 9 November. More »
"Remembrance of Things Past", a play written by Marcel Proust and adapted by Harold Pinter and Di Trevis, was conferred the award for overall best theatre production of the 39th Borstnik Festival. The play was directed by prominent Slovenian director Dusan Jovanovic and produced by the Ljubljana National Theatre Drama, Slovenia's leading theatre company. More »
In Laško, as part of a campaign entitled ‘My Country - Beautiful and Welcoming’, the Tourist Association of Slovenia (TAS) presented awards to health spas. Among the large spas first place went to Terme Zreče, with Terme Čatež and the Radenci Health Resort in second and third. More »