The government adopted at its session on Thursday a draft declaration outlining Slovenian activities in the EU for the period between January 2007 and June 2008. According to the document, the main priority in 2007 will be preparations for the EU presidency. The declaration, and the report on Slovenia's activities in the EU for the previous year, are amongst the most important documents the government adopts every year. According to the document, the key issues facing Slovenia's presidency include the strengthening of the European area of freedom, security and justice and the debates on the future of the EU, the European constitution, enlargement and the Schengen zone.
President Janez Drnovsek and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed in New Delhi on Monday that the world is unbalanced and lacks global leadership, the president's office has said. In their opinion this is increasing the tensions between the rich and the poor. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said in Ljubljana on Wednesday that the situation in Kosovo was "relatively stable, yet fragile" and added that the province needed a clear political situation to facilitate investment. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said in Brussels on Friday that Slovenia would "continue with its military contribution in Afghanistan and also consider other aspects of support, including non-military aid, as stability cannot be attained merely through the use of military means". More »
Kosovo is experiencing "the beginning of a key period, when a solution to its status is almost in sight", Slovenia's Dimitrij Rupel said after meeting fellow foreign ministers from NATO member states in Brussels on Friday. According to Rupel, the solution for Kosovo needs to be adopted as soon as possible. More »
The Croatian Foreign Ministry criticised on Monday a recent Slovenian diplomatic note in which Slovenia protested Croatia granting concession to the country's INA energy company to explore oil and gas sites in the Northern Adriatic. More »
The government of Cyprus decided on Wednesday to open an embassy in Slovenia, the Cypriot press agency CNA reported citing government spokesperson Christodoulos Pashiardes. More »
The EU presidency in the first half of 2008 is the biggest project of independent Slovenia to date and the country is actively preparing for the occasion, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said on Wednesday at a traditional reception for ambassadors accredited to Slovenia. More »
The government adopted at its session on Thursday a draft declaration outlining Slovenian activities in the EU for the period between January 2007 and June 2008. According to the document, the main priority in 2007 will be preparations for the EU presidency. More »
Oil refinery Nafta Lendava and its Austrian partner CMB Maschinenbau & Handels announced on Thursday they would build the biggest biodiesel refinery in Slovenia and one of the biggest refineries of the kind in Europe. More »
The government confirmed on Thursday an agreement on Russia's clearing debt to Slovenia, under which Russia is to settle the US$ 129m debt in goods and services over three years. The deal is now in the hands of the finance and economy ministries. More »
Iskra Avtoelektrika, the Sempeter pri Gorici-based maker of electronic components for the car industry, opened on Thursday a new factory in Rzhev, Russia. The Pramo Iskra venture company has a share capital of US$ 200,000 and will manufacture starters for cars, mainly for the Russian market. More »
Home appliance group Gorenje is to open a factory in Stara Pazova in northern Serbia in the beginning of February to produce electric water heaters. The new factory will contribute to bolstering the company's foothold in Southeast European markets, the company told STA on Friday. More »
The Public Administration Ministry concluded a EUR 6.8m deal with US software giant Microsoft at the end of 2006. The three-year contract involves licenses for Microsoft software, the ministry has told STA. More »
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) estimates that Slovenia's economy expanded by 5.1% in 2006, up from its original forecast of 4.5%, on the back of strong investment and growth. More »
The European Commission said on Tuesday that Slovenia's programme for keeping public finances stable in the period 2006-2009 was plausible but lacked ambition. Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk did not agree with the part about not being ambitious enough. More »
Less than half of Slovenians (48%) believe that people of different ethnic origin enrich the culture of the country, while the EU 25 average stands at 65%, revealed Eurobarometer survey presented by the European Commission on Tuesday. More »
Slovenian literature will be in the spotlight at the Leipzig Book Fair, the oldest book fair in Europe, which will be open between 21 and 25 March, fair director Oliver Zille told the press in Ljubljana on Tuesday. More »
The home theatre ensemble will lift the curtain on the annual festival of comedy at the Celje theatre house tonight. Running until 18 February, Days of Comedy will feature eight productions in the competition programme. More »
Slovenian ultra-marathon swimmer Martin Strel is embarking on his latest venture, making an attempt at setting a new long distance world record by swimming 5,430 kilometres of the world's greatest river, the Amazon. Strel will begin his adventure in Peru on 1 February and hopefully conclude it in Belem, Brazil on 11 April. More »
Some 60 politicians, diplomats and company executives met on Saturday at the Pokljuka plateau for the 15th cross-country race. The track was completed the quickest by former labour minister and an MP of the ruling coalition New Slovenia (NSi) Janez Drobnic. More »
A remembrance ceremony was held in Ljubljana on Sunday to mark the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, with the key-note speakers pointing out that the memory of the horrors of this camp, which is estimated to have caused the deaths of more than 1.5 million people, is fading away all too quickly. More »
Slovenia woke up on Thursday morning to discover that the entire country was finally covered in snow, the first time this winter. Ski lift operators sighed with relief as snow finally coated Slovenia. According to a website providing information on snow at Slovenian ski resorts the layer of snow is 15-170-cm thick. More »
Slovenia attracted 2.5 million tourists last year, a 4% increase year-on-year, which means that the Tourism Board (STO) can be pleased with its activities, STO chairman Dimitrij Piciga told the press in Ljubljana on Friday. More »
The first vegetarian hotel in Slovenia opened last week in Rogaska Slatina, a town in northeastern Slovenia known for hot springs. Hotel Manzato will offer its visitors vegetarian food as well as complementary medicine and spirituality services, according to the hotel's website. More »
Schedule of Events from 30 January to 4 February More »
Slovenia News 23 January 2007
Editorial
The cabinet confirmed on Thursday a measure with which it intends to speed up the construction of border checkpoints ahead of Slovenia's entry into the Schengen zone. In line with the plan, the Ministry for Public Administration must complete the construction of 16 border checkpoints on the border with Croatia by the end of this year.
The State Secretary for European Affairs Janez Lenarcic on Monday called on the European Commission to draft by the end of the year a report on the implementation of the first three-year cycle of the overhauled Lisbon Strategy.
President Janez Drnovsek sent a letter on Monday to participants of the 7th World Social Forum in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, saying that making the world better was no small task, although it could be achieved with faith in success. More »
Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek is critical of the United States for its lack of leadership on climate change in his latest post on the website of his Movement for Justice and Development. "It is clear to almost anyone how misguided the policy of the greatest superpower is, but the country is still stubbornly clinging on to it." More »
President Janez Drnovsek addressed a letter on Friday to Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Health Minister Andrej Brucan calling for the government to go further with its proposed law aimed at banning smoking in public places. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel presented on Monday the Caucasian-Caspian Commission which would draft a plan for future relations between the Caucasian-Caspian region and Europe. It will focus on European neighbourhood policy and related aspects of the EU energy issues, Rupel said at the sidelines of EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel labelled on Monday the victory of the hardline Radical Party (SRS) the general election in Serbia a Pyrrhic victory. The party cannot form a cabinet on its own, so conditions exist for a pro-European government, Rupel said at the sidelines of EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. More »
The Ljubljana-based International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) does not think the outcome of Sunday's general election augurs well for Serbia's future because it retains the status quo, which means a slow down in the country's progress towards the EU. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel assured officials in Skopje on Friday that Slovenia had made it one of the priorities of its EU presidency in the first half of 2008 to launch negotiations with Macedonia. This means Macedonia has a lot of work ahead, Rupel said. More »
The cabinet confirmed on Thursday a measure with which it intends to speed up the construction of border checkpoints ahead of Slovenia's entry into the Schengen zone. More »
Slovenia does not expect Bulgarian and Romanian nationals to flood the country in search for jobs after it opened its labour market to the pair of new EU entrants on 1 January. Slovenia has so far attracted only a few Bulgarian and Romanian workers; last year their numbers stood at 109 and 466, respectively. More »
Labour, the Family and Social Affairs Minister Marjeta Cotman stressed the importance of flexibility of employers and employees while adding that basic work conditions should also be respected as she met her EU counterparts in Berlin on Friday. More »
Pharmaceutical company Lek, a subsidiary of Novartis's generic arm Sandoz, posted sales of EUR 721m for 2006, an increase of 33% over the year before. Lek said profits grew significantly, but it did not disclose the figures in Friday's press release. More »
The European paradox is that "we are strong in creating knowledge, but weak in using it", European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik told the panel of leading Slovenian managers that took place in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) on Friday. More »
Slovenian boat maker Elan has captured the award for the best European sail yacht in the category of up to 10 metres for its 340 model at the Dusseldorf Boat Show. Another Slovenian company, Seaway, was awarded for the Salona 37 model, adjudged the best in the category of 10-12 metre sail yachts. More »
The State Secretary for European Affairs Janez Lenarcic on Monday called on the European Commission to draft by the end of the year a report on the implementation of the first three-year cycle of the overhauled Lisbon Strategy. More »
The exhibition "16th and 17th Century Italian Graphic Art", based on artworks from the collection of old masters of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU), is to open at the Cankarjev dom gallery on Tuesday. More »
January has been unusually warm in Slovenia so far. The average temperature until Wednesday was 5.6 degrees Celsius, 7 degrees above the long-term average, according to data by the Agency for the Environment. More »
Belgian Ambassador Jean Louis Mignot was declared the foreign diplomat of the year on Thursday as the largest two Slovenian media outlets oriented at foreigners pronounced the winners of Guest Star 2006 awards. More »
The Economy Ministry and the Slovenian Tourist Board (STO) presented on Monday in Ljubljana the recently launched central tourist booking system, which brings together everything that Slovenia has to offer to tourists in terms of accommodation at www.slovenia.info. More »
The Ministry of Health has drafted new drug price regulations aimed at reducing costs for the health purse. The ministry hopes to save some EUR 24m of the EUR 524.5m currently spent on prescription drugs at hospitals each year with the regulations that are to take effect on Wednesday. More »
Slovenia ushered in the euro with a high-profile ceremony befitting of the keynote speakers' words about a historic event for the country as well as the whole of the EU. Dozens of senior European officials were on hand for the event in Ljubljana on Monday, which took place as Slovenia bid a final farewell to the tolar, its currency of 15 years.
The troika of countries that will successively chair the EU in six month stints in 2007 and the first half of 2008 - Germany, Portugal and Slovenia -on Wednesday unveiled a joint presidency programme which the three heads of government labelled as ambitious yet realistic.
Also on the foreign policy front last week brought up the visit of Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, which yielded an agreement on organised cooperation between Slovenia and Italy on energy, transport and environmental issues.
The small Slovenian nation fought the battle of Drazgose and destroyed the myth about the invincible army of the Third Reich long before the Allies did, Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said at Sunday's ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the battle. More »
Slovenia ushered in the euro with a high-profile ceremony befitting of the keynote speakers' words about a historic event for the country as well as the whole of the EU. Dozens of senior European officials were on hand for the event in Ljubljana on Monday, which took place as Slovenia bid a final farewell to the tolar, its currency of 15 years. More »
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema and his Slovenian opposite number Dimtrij Rupel agreed on Wednesday that the two countries would set up a working group for common energy, transport and environmental issues. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told officials in Belgrade on Friday that the aim of his official visit was for him, as a representative of the EU, to express support to pro-European forces in Serbia ahead of the upcoming general election in the country. More »
The troika of countries that will successively chair the EU in six month stints in 2007 and the first half of 2008 - Germany, Portugal and Slovenia - on Wednesday unveiled a joint presidency programme which the three heads of government labelled as ambitious yet realistic. More »
President Janez Drnovsek has appointed Sanja Stiglic Slovenia's new ambassador to the UN, a decision that took effect with the publication in the Official Gazette on Friday. Meanwhile, Franc But was named ambassador to the Czech Republic, while Avgustin Vivod became a non-residential ambassador to Brazil. More »
The government decided at a correspondence session on 27 December 2006 to pay the Roman Catholic Church EUR 8.1m for the damages it suffered when it was unable to use a building on the outskirts of Maribor, which was nationalised after WWII. More »
The cabinet adopted on Thursday amendments to a 2005 regulation on the organisation, equipment and training of protection, rescue and aid services. In line with the changes, the provider of air ambulance service would be selected through an international public tender, Health Minister Andrej Brucan told the press after the session. More »
The cabinet adopted on Thursday changes to the act on the return of investments in the public telecommunications network, tasking the state-run Restitution Fund (SOD) with making the payments. More »
Interior Minister State Secretary Zvonko Zinrajh said on Tuesday that the government was convinced a constitutional act would be the best solution for regulating the status of the erased, some 18,000 Slovenian citizens who were removed from the country's permanent residence registry in 1992. More »
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker on Monday joined the appeal by the President of the European Central Bank, Jean Claude Trichet, for a lifting of restrictions on the movement of Slovenian workers in the EU. More »
Mitja Gaspari, the governor of Slovenia's central bank, Banka Slovenije, has noted that the adoption of the euro does not signal the journey's end for Slovenia, pointing above all to the need for a prudent debate among social partners and for a flexible fiscal policy. More »
The Steklarna Rogaska glassworks has received an important boost to its image abroad by being accepted into the prestigious American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS). More »
Slovenian carmaker Revoz produced a total of 153,103 Renault's sub compact Clio cars last year, 19% more than planned, the company said in Monday's press release. This was due to high demand on the market for the model, the company added. More »
Abanka Vipa, Slovenia's third largest bank by assets, made a successful international roadshow which netted it EUR 120m from various European investors, the bank said in Ljubljana on Wednesday. More »
The share of children in Slovenia who have tried smoking or drinking alcohol has fallen in 2006 in comparison with 2002, Health Minister Andrej Brucan said as he presented on Monday the results for Slovenia of an international study Health Behaviour in School-aged Children. More »
Slovenia's registered unemployment rate for November 2006 was 8.6%, down 0.3 percentage point on October, according to Monday's report from the National Statistics Office. More »
A survey by the European Commission shows that Slovenia's energy consumption is growing, but energy efficiency is well below the EU average. Slovenia used 301 tonnes of crude oil equivalent per unit of GDP (one million euros) in 2004, whereas the EU average was 185 tonnes. More »
A survey has shown that search engine najdi.si is the most frequently visited Slovenian website, with 710,106 hits between 2 and 29 October 2006, some 5,000 less than it recorded in the April survey. More »
Slovenia's poor energy efficiency, highlighted in the 10 January report by the European Commission, is the consequence of the structure of manufacturing in Slovenia. The country also has a lot of reserves for increasing efficiency, the Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry said on Tuesday. More »
The European Commission on Friday labelled Slovenia's changeover to the euro as successful: as the period of dual circulation of euros and tolars draws to a close, virtually all cash payments in Slovenia are being made in euros. Consumers and shops have been coping well and everything is back to normal. More »
European Union justice ministers believe e-judiciary could greatly reduce court backlogs and enable electronic hearings of witnesses. The European Union has allocated EUR 14m for the development of such a system, Slovenian Justice Minister Lovro Sturm told STA on Tuesday. More »
The Motorway Company (DARS) constructed EUR 477.8m worth of motorways and other roads in Slovenia in 2006, meeting 99% of the national motorway programme for 2006, DARS chairman Rajko Sirocic told the press on Wednesday. More »
Film and theatre actor Marko Mandic will represent Slovenia in the Shooting Stars initiative at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival in February. Mandic said he was looking forward to the opportunity to meet fellow actors and make contacts with producers and other important players in film industry. More »
Slovenian entrepreneurship is picking up, press reports say on Thursday, quoting results of the yearly Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. The survey, which was released in London on Wednesday, shows 4.6% of Slovenians started a business or had been running one for less than three years and a half in 2006. More »
The majority of EU interior ministers, including Slovenia's Dragutin Mate, agreed at an informal three-day meeting in Dresden on Monday that police cooperation in the EU should be strengthened and supported the German proposal that the Pruem Treaty on cross-border police cooperation should be transposed into the EU legal order. More »
Slovenians welcomed the arrival of the single European currency as they gathered in the streets across the country to usher in the New Year. Slovenian diplomats held an annual consultation whose agenda was dominated by the EU presidency, which the country is set to assume one year from now. One of its priorities will be inter-cultural dialogue, something that officials had the chance to discuss with Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, who was here for a working visit.
Slovenia adopted the euro in a "big bang" scenario on Monday, becoming the 13th member of the eurozone, which has now expanded to a population of over 316 million. The historic switch to the single European currency went smoothly and people and businesses are gradually adapting to a life without the tolar. More »
European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia congratulated Slovenia on Monday for successfully adopting the euro and urged consumers to be diligent during the changeover to the new currency. More »
The annual meeting of Slovenian diplomats opened at the Brdo Mansion on Thursday with Prime Minister Janez Jansa underscoring their main job this year would be preparations for EU presidency in the first half of 2008 and business diplomacy. More »
Two prominent Slovenian economists have expressed their belief that a successful euro changeover does not mean the job is done and that Slovenian economic policy makers can relax. Instead, they claim, serious work has only begun. More »
This year will see celebrations of the 115th anniversary of the birth of Herman Potocnik Noordung (1892-1929), a space flight pioneer and a visionary who conceived the idea of a geostationary satellite. A series of events commemorating the Slovenian scientist have been held recently and will continue until the anniversary in December. More »
The programme of Germany's EU presidency topped the agenda of German Ambassador to Slovenia Hanz-Joachim Goetz on Monday, as he unveiled the priorities to Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel and the press before he presents them to the parliament on Wednesday and ambassadors accredited to Slovenia on Thursday. More »
The Slovenian embassy in the Macedonian capital of Skopje took over on 1 January as NATO contact point embassy in Macedonia for a period of two years, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry said in Wednesday's press release. More »
The year 2007, the 50th anniversary of the death of architect Joze Plecnik, was designated Plecnik year in Slovenia. The main exhibition on Slovenia's greatest architect opened on Sunday in the Narodna galerija arts gallery, with Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti saying Plecnik is now known throughout the world. More »
Tens of thousands flocked to the streets and squares of major cities and towns across Slovenia on New Year's eve as traditional outdoor celebrations were held to greet 2007. The festivities were given an extra dimension this year as Slovenians also welcomed the euro. More »