Slovenia News - March 2006

Slovenia News 28 March 2006

Development Minister Joze P. Damijan resigned for personal reasons on Tuesday, 21 March after heading the government's newly-established Development Office for less than three months. Also last week, Archbishop Franc Rode was elevated to cardinal and PM Janez Jansa was busy at the EU summit, which was low-key but nevertheless set goals that Jansa said Slovenia would have to work hard to achieve. Development Minister Joze P. Damijan resigned for personal reasons on Tuesday, 21 March after heading the government's newly-established Development Office for less than three months. This gave rise to speculations that the reforms he authored, in particular the beleaguered flat tax, will be shelved. Prime Minister Janez Jansa said he "regrets, but respects" the decision. However, he was also quick to point out that the reforms will proceed as planned, also thanks to Damijan. More » Slovenian Archbishop Franc Rode was elevated to cardinal at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square on Friday, 24 March, in which Pope Benedict XVI formally installed 15 new "princes of the church." The new cardinals were elevated at a consistory, in which newly-appointed cardinals receive the typical crimson robes and red hats symbolising their willingness to shed their blood for the Church. More » The resolutions of the EU summit regarding economic growth, employment and energy policy pose several new challenges to Slovenia, PM Janez Jansa told journalists after the talks, but indicated that only energy policy would require adaptations. "We will not have to change anything at the national level regarding growth and employment, as some of the national goals are already more ambitious...However certain adaptations will be required in energy policy, and this is a challenge," Jansa said on Friday. More » Slovenia is to run for one of the six seats reserved for countries of the East European group in the newly-established United Nations Council of Human Rights. Eight countries from the group have already announced their candidacy. More » The cabinet already has the proposals of expert groups on the privatisation of all strategic sectors - companies and banking institutions - and is therefore "on track with the privatisation roadmap", PM Janez Jansa told the parliament on Monday. More » Slovenian companies expect that a total of 7,328 workers would lose their jobs either because of sacking or because companies would go bankrupt in 2006, 60.1% of which will be made redundant in manufacturing, shows a survey of the Slovenian Employment Service. More » Italian Minister of Labour and Welfare Roberto Maroni has told a Trieste daily that Italy was willing to enact an exemption to the ban from workers from EU newcomers, to allow Slovenians to work in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Slovenia has welcomed the news. More » Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Jure Zupan, Development Minister Joze P. Damijan and Jozef Stefan research institute director Jadran Lenarcic, who met on Tuesday as part of the 14th Days of Jozef Stefan, labelled to closer cooperation between researchers and industry as vital for expanding the Slovenian development potential. More » Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Jure Zupan and the vice-chairman of the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Jean-Pierre Le Roux, signed on Monday an agreement on cooperation between the Slovenian ministry and the CEA. More » The uniform driver's license for cars and motorcycles directive which was backed by the EU transport ministers on Monday will confront Slovenian citizens with a number of changes, the most prominent being the limitation of the license's validity to a maximum of 15 years. More » Some 40 international and 30 Slovenian writers are expected at the lakeside resort of Bled between 29 March and 2 April for a meeting organised by the Slovenian PEN. The authors are to focus on the role of PEN and literature in an increasingly globalised world. More » Slovenian theatres sold around 1,052,000 tickets in Slovenia in the 2003-2004 season, shows data from the National Statistical Office released on Friday ahead of the World Theatre Day, which was celebrated on Monday. More » Representatives of the Student Organisation of Slovenia (SOS) and the Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (ZSSS) held a rally in front of the French Embassy in Ljubljana on Friday in a show of support for French unions and students protesting a new labour law. More » "Slovenian UNICEF is among the first five national UNICEF's in the world in terms of funds raised for humanitarian aid per Slovenian citizen," Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has told a meeting of Lions Club International council of directors. More » Labour, Family and Social Affairs Minister Janez Drobnic has presented the ministry's strategy for increasing the birth rate in Slovenia. More » Slovenia's gymnast Mitja Petkovsek is continuing with excellent performances on parallel bars in 2006. After winning World Cup meets in Iran's Tehran and France's Lyon, he took another gold on Sunday at the Gymnastics World Cup meet in Germany's Cottbus. More » Schedule of Events from 28 March to 2 April More »

Slovenia News 21 March 2006

Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his host and counterpart Angela Merkel made a joint call in Berlin on Wednesday, 15 March, for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy which is to enhance the development of Europe. Jansa, paying a one-day official visit to Germany, stressed that Slovenia was already trying "to implement a key part of the Lisbon Strategy" with the government-sponsored economic and social reforms. Meanwhile, Slovenia's plans to adopt the euro next year got a big boost as the European Commission granted the country's request for an early report on readiness for eurozone membership. Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his host and counterpart Angela Merkel made a joint call in Berlin on Wednesday for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy which is to enhance the development of Europe. More » Guenter Verheugen, the European commissioner for enterprise and industry, has expressed satisfaction with Slovenia's reform programme after talks with Development Minister Joze P. Damijan. "I am very pleased with the information I got, the country is on track," he said in Brussels on Thursday. More » Italy must follow Slovenia's example and open its archives on WWII fascist terror, the mayors of the Slovenian border town of Nova Gorica (W) and Italy's Gorizia, Mirko Brulc and Vittorio Brancati said in Nova Gorica on Wednesday. More » The Slovenian Foreign Ministry has announced plans to establish a strategic forum in cooperation with NGO's in the coming summer. An international conference titled "Southern Caucasus 2008" to take place on 27 and 28 August will be the first event organised by the forum. More » The parliamentary foreign policy and EU affairs committees endorsed on Friday the amended government proposal on Slovenia's activities in EU institutions in 2006. More » A meeting of labour and social affairs ministers from Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia on Friday yielded an announcement by Italian Labour Minister Roberto Maroni that he is to sign bilateral agreements with Slovenia and Hungary on free flow of labour. More » Slovenia will continue to participate in international peacekeeping missions, said Defence Minister Karl Erjavec, and added that it intended to take part in the EU mission to support peace in DR Congo and Sudan's Dafur. More » Economics Minister Andrej Vizjak said that he wants Slovenia to become an entry point for Swedish companies in their expansion to the Balkans, after holding talks with Swedish Industry Minister Thomas Ostros in Stockholm on Tuesday. More » European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Joaquin Almunia has announced that the European Commission will publish the euro convergence report for Slovenia on 16 May, which would give the country enough time to carry out all the preparations for eurozone entry on 1 January 2007. More » Slovenian PM Janez Jansa has said that the views of the Belgian banking and insurance group KBC and the government on the privatisation of Slovenia's largest bank, NLB, are gradually converging. More » Slovenian Development Minister Joze P. Damijan has reiterated his position that the state should downsize its stake in Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB) to roughly 25% and offer the rest to strategic partners and portfolio investors. More » European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik said on Friday that Slovenia is on track for the planned 2007 euro changeover, but should pay attention to the long-term sustainability of public finances. More » The bird flu outbreak means every ninth inhabitant of Slovenia is eating less poultry meat, according to a survey conducted by the polling firm CATI between 9 and 13 March. More » The University of Ljubljana signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Slovenia's premier research institution, the Jozef Stefan Institute, in Ljubljana on Thursday. More » Slovenia expressed its interest in the planned implementation of the EU's framework qualification recognition programme, which would also include the Western Balkans and other states in the region, Education Minister Milan Zver said in Vienna on Friday. More » The Slovenian official attending the meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels on Tuesday said that Slovenia supports all key facets of the proposed European energy policy. More » According to a recent agreement reached by EU nations, the three EU members to chair the bloc successively beginning with 2007, among them Slovenia, are to present a joint 18-month plan by December at the latest to have it finally approved by EU foreign ministers. More » Slovenia is one of the EU members which has shown the most pluck in carrying out the Lisbon Strategy by drafting the government-sponsored economic and social reforms, Development Minister Joze P. Damijan said in Brussels on Thursday. More » Slovenian PM Janez Jansa expressed his scepticism towards a Wednesday's European Parliament proposal to establish a new category of states in the EU accession process, as he gave an interview for Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), published on Thursday. More » As part of the promotion of Slovenian literature at the Leipzig Book Fair, which was opening on Thursday, Slovenia was presenting a Bibliography of Translations of Slovenian Literature into German. More » Meeting his Slovenian counterpart Lovro Sturm in Ljubljana on Friday, Luxembourg Justice Minister Luc Frieden said Slovenia's measures targeting the court backlog were a step in the right direction. More » The long-term director of the Slovenian Alpine Skiing Fund, Tone Vogrinec, received the Viktor for lifetime achievement at a gala ceremony at arts centre Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana on Saturday evening. More » Slovenia's Mitja Petkovsek won gold on parallel bars at the Gymnastics World Cup meet in Lyon on Sunday. More » Finnish ski-jumper Janne Happonen took the win at the last World Cup meet of the season on the the giant ski-flying hill at Planica on Sunday. More » The number of tourists visiting Ljubljana last year was 313,493, which is an increase of 50% over the last three years. The number of overnight stays was 565,649 an increase of 38% over the same period. More » Schedule of Events from 21 to 26 March More »

Slovenia News 14 March 2006

Uneasy relations between Slovenia and Croatia have heated up again after the Slovenian Foreign Ministry published a comprehensive document outlining Slovenia's position on the issue, in which it says that the resolution of the dispute with Croatia over guarantees of successors to the former Yugoslavia for foreign currency deposits (the debt of Slovenian bank Ljubljanska banka (LB) to Croatian account holders) would be set as a precondition for Croatia's accession to the EU. At the same time, President Janez Drnovsek was in the Middle East, urging Israeli and Palestinian officials to engage in dialogue. Uneasy relations between Slovenia and Croatia have heated up again after the Slovenian Foreign Ministry published a comprehensive document outlining Slovenia's position on the issue, in which it says that the resolution of the dispute with Croatia over guarantees of successors to the former Yugoslavia for foreign currency deposits (the debt of Slovenian bank Ljubljanska banka (LB) to Croatian account holders) would be set as a precondition for Croatia's accession to the EU. More » President Janez Drnovsek paid an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories between 6 and 9 March, holding talks with senior Israeli officials as well Palestinian leaders. He did not meet officials of Hamas, the radical movement that has won the Palestinian election, but he did say in an interview for TV Slovenija that "Hamas should not be completely neglected as a possible partner in searching for peace." More » The Trieste Municipal Council has laid renewed claim on works of art that the Fascists took from churches and monasteries in Istria during the Second World War and which Slovenia now wants returned. More » EU foreign ministers on Saturday adopted a joint statement which says that EU membership was the "ultimate goal" for the Western Balkans, a step that Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has labelled as the true start of talks on the interim phase of the enlargement process. More » Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has labelled the death of former Serbian and Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic a "symbolic end to the Yugoslav and Balkans disasters," and the onset of EU accession prospects for the Balkans. More » Slovenian military instructors have their hands full training Iraqi security forces, the Slovenian Armed Forces said in a press release on Wednesday. More » Slovenia remains firmly in the top spot in Eastern Europe alongside Slovakia, according to the March report of the international rating firm Dun&Bradstreet (D&B). Both have a DB2c rating, whereby Slovenia's trend is still pointing upwards. More » The US State Department delivers an overall positive opinion of Slovenia in its annual human rights report, but mentions recurrent cases of media self-censorship, violence against women, trafficking in women and discrimination against minorities and homosexuals. More » Slovenia is ahead of the EU average in terms of the number of mobile phones users, the latest statistics from Eurostat show. According to data from 2004, 93.7 out of 100 Slovenians used a mobile phone, which was above the 89.6 per 100 average in the EU. More » "Fotonika 21" was established in Ljubljana on Friday in what is the first technology platform in the country intended for the development of alternative technologies and products in photonics industry. More » Slovenia will launch a campaign to vie for the seat of the European Institute for Gender Equality next week in Strasbourg, the Labour, Family and Social Affairs Ministry told on Wednesday. More » The Slovenian government wants to draw all EU funds allocated to Slovenia in the 2004-2006 period, Local Government and Regional Policy Minister Ivan Zagar told the parliamentary EU affairs committee on Friday. More » The Slovenian maritime economy is successfully entering the global market, headed by Slovenia's only port Luka Koper and other maritime-related activities, Transport Minister Janez Bozic said in Koper on Tuesday. More » The members of the National Council for Culture assessed reforms proposed by the government as necessary, and as an opportunity to thoroughly reorganise the approach to culture in Slovenia, as they met at the Culture Ministry on Wednesday. More » A panel on the role of women in international relations has heard that the potential and knowledge of women is crucial in decision making. More » Slovenian fishermen strongly oppose a planned liquefied natural gas terminal in the gulf of Trieste, insisting that it would cause unacceptably high pollution levels, a subcommittee for sea fisheries at the Agriculture and Forestry Chamber (KGZ) said on Friday. More » Schedule of Events from 14 to 19 March More »

Slovenia News 7 March 2006

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso visited Slovenia on Wednesday and Thursday, 1 and 2 March, for talks with Slovenian officials on the country's reform plans, preparations for the EU presidency in 2008, eurozone membership efforts, Schengen standards and the situation in the Balkans. Barroso was accompanied by the Communication Strategy Commissioner Margot Wallstroem and Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik, the Slovenian member of the Commission. The main goal of his first visit to Slovenia was to promote dialogue on the future of Europe, and bring European policies closer to the people. It is clear that Slovenia knows the Western Balkans best, so it is expected to give its input to the EU's "collective thinking" in shaping a policy on this region, Barroso said after meeting PM Janez Jansa on Thursday. Barroso appeared on a live television interview on Thursday and addressed Slovenian lawmakers on Thursday. The supervisory board of Slovenia's leading daily Delo has endorsed the appointment of daily Vecer's interior affairs editor Peter Jancic as Delo's new editor-in-chief. More » European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso has urged the national parliaments of the EU member states to take the initiative in implementing the EU's commitments. The EU is not a foreign policy project, it is the domestic policy of all 25 member states, he said in his address to the National Assembly on Thursday. More » President Janez Drnovsek received the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso in Ljubljana on Thursday. The pair focused on the future of the EU, with Barroso stressing that bringing Europe closer to its citizens was one of the main challenges of the bloc. More » President Janez Drnovsek called on state, regional and international institutions to become more efficient in solving global issues, as he addressed the participants of the Forum on Europe in Bled on Friday. More » The majority of the officials I spoke to in Abuja value the fact that the issue of Darfur has stirred interest in the world and that even countries not involved in the Abuja peace process are willing to help in solving the problem, an envoy of Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek has said. More » President Janez Drnovsek said the door for Middle East dialogue must be kept open regardless of who is in power in the Palestinian territories as he launched a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday. More » The government confirmed Slovenia's candidacy for the chairmanship of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the 2006-2007 term, as the cabinet held its session on Thursday. More » The government has defended its spending on humanitarian aid and peace-keeping efforts, saying that the amount spent for the two purposes last year was appropriate given the circumstances. More » The government has urged all parties involved in denationalisation proceedings, including all government agencies, to speed up the procedures that have been dragging on for 14 years. More » Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk has said that a decision on the ownership structure of Slovenia's largest bank, NLB, is expected to be made by the end of the month. More » The National Veterinary Institute has confirmed that a dead duck found last week in the village of Markovci near the town of Ptuj (NE) is infected with the avian flu, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday. More » The four Slovenian military instructors who are serving in Iraq are not exposed to the latest bout of violence to rock the country, the Slovenian Armed Forces said on Tuesday. More » Transport ministers from Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia signed a joint statement on speeding up future activities on the 5th trans-European transport network. More » Road traffic in most parts of Slovenia has been slowed down by heavy snows which hit Slovenia on Sunday morning, the Slovenian Automobile Association (AMZS) has said. More » A third of Slovenians has made online purchases, with the majority of them buying online on a regular basis, a survey has found. More » Schedule of Events from 7 to 12 March More »

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