Last week Slovenians were simply overwhelmed with the success of cross-country skier Petra Majdič, who claimed silver in the World Championship in Japan. Just a day later Andrej Jerman won first downhill race for Slovenia ever and marked the season of winter sports with excellence.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, visited Sarajevo today at the invitation by Nikola Špirić, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The official visit, the first one of its kind since 1997, was aimed at strengthening political dialogue between the countries and bilateral relations, particularly in the economic sector. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel met on Monday Mikhail Svidkoy, the head of the Russian Federal Agency for Culture and Cinema, to discuss cultural exchange between the countries and the work of the Forum of Slavic Cultures, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. More »
With a morning working meeting in Moravske Toplice, the Prime Minster of Slovenia, Janez Janša, and members of the cabinet began the second day of their visit to Pomurje. As promised at the first meeting on 2 March 2005, the government team revisited the region to see what had been done and which problems had been solved, and to see how the agreements they made with the local authorities are working. More »
Today, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, received the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Finland, Paavo Lipponen, who is on an official visit to Slovenia. More »
The state-run Pension Fund Management (KAD) is selling premises in one of Ljubljana's landmarks. The first skyscraper ever built in Slovenia, the Neboticnik, has been waiting for a while to be restored to its former splendour. More »
Slovenian agriculture product to be listed in the EU register of agricultural products and foodstuffs with protected geographical indications and designations of origin. More »
Millions of film lovers around the world will get a glimpse of the magic beauty of river Soca, often called the emerald river, as parts of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" are to be filmed in Slovenia, daily Delo reports on Thursday. More »
Petra Majdič won Slovenia's first medal at the World Nordic Ski Championships in Japan. The Slovenian came in second in the women's classic sprint on 22 February, lagging only behind Astrid Jacobsen of Norway. Finland's Virpi Kuitunen was third. More »
Slovenian Andrej Jerman surprisingly won Friday's World Cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, giving Slovenia the first downhill win in history. This is also the first ski World Cup victory for men since 2000. More »
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 23-24 February
Slovenia News 20 February 2007
Editorial
Slovenian president Janez Drnovsek addressed a letter to his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano over the recent spat between Italy and Croatia. The exchange was prompted by Napolitano's recent speech in which he attributed the post-WWII killings of Italians and the disposal of the bodies in Karst pits - the foibe - as "Slavic bloodthirstiness". Member of European Parliament Mojca Drcar Murko (ALDE/LDS) also joined the line of critics, writing in Wednesday's press release that an anti-Slovenian and anti-Croatian political and media campaign is being carried out in Italy. Misrepresenting the facts regarding the Second World War has so far been a semi-official doctrine of the Italian right, but Napolitano's speech on Sunday turned it into an official position, Murko wrote.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and the presiding member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina council of ministers Nikola Spiric agreed on Monday that the two countries should continue pursuing a solution to the issue of unpaid foreign currency deposits held by Bosnian savers in a defunct Slovenian bank. More »
Criticism of Slovenia in the latest report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is in no way "negative or unpleasant for Slovenia. It is realistic and could serve as a good guideline for those dealing with the issue", FM Dimitrij Rupel said in Brussels on Tuesday. More »
Slovenia president Janez Drnovsek addresses a letter to his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano over the recent spat between Italy and Croatia. The exchange was prompted by Napolitano's recent speech in which he attributed the post-WWII killings of Italians and the disposal of the bodies in Karst pits - the foibe - as "Slavic bloodthirstiness". More »
Slovenia's ambassador to the United States will run in a bid to raise money for the Slovenian-run International Trust Fund for Demining (ITF). The US State Department has already promised to match the funds Samuel Zbogar will raise with its own donation. More »
Austrian media company Styria Media International AG said on Tuesday it had signed up Goran Novkovic, deputy editor-in-chief of the business daily Finance, who will be put in charge of a new tabloid daily in Slovenia. More »
Responding to reignited debates about post-war history, which has pitted Italy against Croatia, the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAZU) called on Italian authorities to thoroughly study the history of bilateral relations and heed the 2001 report of the Slovenian-Italian historical and cultural commission. More »
The cabinet adopted on Thursday a decree that prohibits ministers and state secretaries from serving in management and supervisory boards of companies or institutions in direct or indirect majority state ownership, Public Administration Minister Gregor Virant told the press. More »
Govt Limits Participation of Civil Servants in Company Boards
The cabinet endorsed on Friday key documents that allow Slovenia to draw EUR 4.2bn from EU cohesion funds in the 2007-2013 period. It also authorised the Government Office for Local Government and Regional Policy to finalise talks with the European Commission on the issue, government PR and Media Office said. More »
Deputy Parliament Speaker Marko Pavliha on Tuesday called on the government to appoint a special group that would prepare a draft resolution on Slovenia's policy regarding the settlement of the border issue with Croatia. A similar proposal was made by Borut Suklje, Slovenia's former ambassador to Belgrade. More »
Interior Minister Dragutin Mate told a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels on Thursday that the EU cannot implement a system of circular migration for foreign workers before all the internal labour restrictions in the bloc are lifted. More »
Airport operator Aerodrom Ljubljana, exhaust system maker Akrapovic and Litostroj E.I., a maker of water turbines, won on Tuesday the Rating of the Year award by the rating agency Dun & Bradstreet and its Slovenian partner I. More »
Aerodrom, Akrapovic and Litostroj E.I. Best Rated Firms in 2006
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) on Wednesday unveiled a white paper on competitiveness, which calls for greater value added, a more flexible labour market, better phasing of EU funds and more dispersed exports as ways of boosting the country's competitive ability. More »
Mariborska livarna Maribor (MLM) foundry and the civil engineering company Riko unveiled on Wednesday a long-term strategic partnership under which Riko will acquire a 10% stake in the foundry. More »
Power producer Dravske elektrarne posted EUR 19.55m in operating profit in 2006, slightly down on EUR 20.9m in 2005, according to unconsolidated data presented to the press on Thursday by director Damijan Koletnik. More »
The state-run funds KAD and SOD on Friday published an invitation for bids for their shares in ten companies, among them Iskra Avtoelektrika, a maker of electronic components for the car industry, Domel, a maker of electromotors and household apliances, and shipping company Splosna Plovba. More »
Conglomerate Istrabenz on Friday announced a bid to acquire the 40% of food company Droga Kolinska that it does not own already. The offer stands at EUR 16 per share - well below the EUR 17.53 that Droga Kolinska fetched on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange yesterday - and values the outstanding share at EUR 91m. More »
Slovenia's gross domestic product per capita reached 83.3% of the average for the 268 NUTS-2 regions in all 27 members of the EU in 2004, according to the data released by the Eurostat on Monday. More »
While only 30.7% of older people were employed in Slovenia in 2005, the share stood at a mere 18.7% for women, says a document on employment published by the European Commission on Monday. More »
The LJUCosinusBRX art gallery opened its doors in Brussels on Wednesday. Located in front of the office of European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik, the gallery will showcase Slovenian projects that encompass art and science, Jurij Krpan of the Galerija Kapelica gallery told the press in Ljubljana. More »
The Slovenian, British and Spanish environment ministries have urged decisive action to deal with climate change. The call was made ahead of Tuesday's session of the EU Environment Council and two years after the Kyoto Protocol came into effect. More »
Two years to the day since the Kyoto Protocol came into effect, Environment Minister Janez Podobnik is confident that Slovenia has met all its commitments under the treaty. What is more, Slovenia, along with other EU members, is looking beyond 2012, when the current protocol runs out, Podobnik said Friday. More »
The lone Slovenian sugar plant is entitled to funds from the EU restructuring fund when it stops producing sugar under the 2005 EU sugar reform, the Agriculture Ministry told STA on Wednesday. More »
Slovenia is expected to send to the European Commission on Thursday key documents for securing billions in EU funds, Minister for Local Government and Regional Policy Ivan Zagar said in Brussels on Wednesday. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa on Tuesday defended the decision to lift restrictions on the deployment of a 600-strong battalion to the NATO-led mission in Kosovo, where Slovenian troops will have fewer "national caveats" and may be asked to use force in case of civil unrest. More »
The Slovenian and Portuguese defence ministers called for an enhancement of ties between the EU and NATO on Friday as they identified the defence priorities of theirs countries' successive presidencies over the Union. More »
A special task force tackling the issue of Slovenian road connections near the border with Croatia concluded at Thursday's meeting that the construction of alternative routes that would save Slovenians the need to pass through Croatia to reach their destination in Slovenia is a priority. More »
The Cankarjev dom arts and congress centre will host a festival of Turkish art between 24 February and 24 June, bringing a blend of traditional and modern Turkey in the arts ranging from literature and cinema to music and dance. More »
A private military museum, located in an old fort in Lokev in SW Slovenia, boasts just under 160,000 items, mainly linked to military history and Slovenia. Among its most treasured items are military uniforms, some of which are unique in the world. More »
Jozek Horvat Muc, the head of the Slovenian Roma Association, believes that the biggest problems for the Roma in Slovenia are housing and infrastructure. It cannot make Slovenia proud that some Roma settlements are still without electricity or water, he told Friday a visiting delegation of the International Romani Union (IRU). More »
Thousands of masks and tens of thousands of spectators converged on Ptuj, Cerknica and Cerkno, three Slovenian cities that have the longest history of carnivals in the country. While there was not much work to do in chasing away the mild winter, the revelers nevertheless made sure that it got banished for this year. More »
The Forestry Service said Wednesday that Slovenia was home to between 500 and 700 brown bears, while their numbers increase by between 100 and 150 bears a year. The bear population is stable, the service wrote in a press release. The World Wildlife Fund challenged the estimate. More »
A group fighting for the preservation of the Lipica stud farm in its present form will try to get this home to the famed Lipizzaner horse listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site. This would prevent the planned expansion of a golf course in the area, the head of the International Association for Lipica told the press on Thursday. More »
Interior Minister Dragutin Mate said on Thursday that Slovenia would place a helicopter at the disposal of Frontex - the EU external border control agency. More »
EU interior ministers on Thursday agreed landmark plans to give member states access to each other's police databases in a bid to combat terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal immigration. Slovenia fully supports the solution, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate said after the session. More »
Brussels, 15 February
Slovenia News 13 February 2007
Editorial
Dialogue between nations, religions and cultures was the topic of a series of events hosted by the Slovenian Centre for European Perspective (CEP) as part of preparations for Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008; intercultural dialogue will be on the list of its priorities then.
Also last week composer and pianist Janez Maticic and actor Radko Polic-Rac received the coveted Preseren Prize for lifetime achievement in the arts at a ceremony on 7 February, the eve of Culture Day, a national holiday that pays tribute to Slovenia's greatest man of letters, France Preseren (1800-1849).
The Interior Ministry will focus this year on preparations for Slovenia's entry into the Schengen no-border zone, scheduled for 31 December, and on cooperation with Germany and Portugal prior to Slovenia's stint as EU president in the first half of 2008, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate told the press on Tuesday. More »
Participants of Wednesday's round table in Ljubljana examining intercultural dialogue and the spread of democracy concluded that people must learn to live with diversity instead of trying to do away with differences. More »
Dialogue between nations, religions and cultures is crucial at this time when the world is at a crossroads, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel suggested as he opened the maiden session of the Group for Intercultural Dialogue on Tuesday. More »
President Janez Drnovsek believes the governments of Slovenia and Croatia must start serious dialogue. "It is a must that the governments should sit down and start tackling outstanding issues seriously, or else tensions can only escalate," Drnovsek is quoted as saying on the website of his office on Saturday. More »
The Slovenian-sponsored taskforce on intercultural dialogue held its first meeting on the sidelines of an international conference at Jable Castle near Ljubljana on Thursday in what Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said was part of preparations for Slovenia's stint at the helm of the EU. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel believes the EU has reached a "quite sensitive chapter in relations with Serbia". "There are certain differences within the EU", while some countries advocate a "pedagogical" approach, others favour a more "intimate, cordial" attitude towards Serbia, Rupel said in Brussels on Monday. More »
Slovenia's incoming ambassador to the United Nations presented her credentials to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Wednesday. The fourth Slovenian ambassador to the World Organisation, Sanja Stiglic is taking over as Slovenia is getting ready to assume the EU's rotating presidency at the beginning of 2008. More »
The government on Wednesday adopted a bill to endorse the Pruem Treaty, a document signed by seven EU member states in a bid to enhance cross-border cooperation in the combat against terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration. More »
The euro changeover in Slovenia was carried out without problems and according to plans, the government agreed at Wednesday's session. This proves that the preparations for the adoption of the euro were thorough, says the report on the euro switch adopted by the cabinet. More »
The government on Wednesday endorsed the new tourist slogan for Slovenia, "I Feel Slovenia", but rejected the new logo, which had come under fire from graphic designers. More »
Ziga Turk, the candidate for development minister without portfolio, says he will focus on increasing awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship and creativity among Slovenians. After all, it is people, not the state, who will drive development with their ideas, work and money, he told STA on Friday. More »
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec is convinced that the 10th Motorised Battalion would perform well in Kosovo. "I am sure that you will complete your mission with flying colours," the minister said in Ljubljana on Tuesday prior to the 600-strong battalion's departure for the province. More »
Hermes Softlab, a leading Slovenian software company, has established its second development unit in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The company based in Banjaluka will develop software and provide e-solutions, the company said in Wednesday's press release. More »
The European Central Bank (EIB) provided EUR 393m in loans to Slovenia in 2006, which is up 0.3% over last year and represents 1% of all loans to EU member states that year. The data was released by the bank in Brussels on Thursday. More »
The average Slovenian wage buys only 51% of an average German wage and 59% of an average Italian wage, a publication by researchers of the Institute for Economic Diagnostics at the Maribor Faculty of Business and Economics says. More »
Slovenia had a poverty rate of 12.15% in 2004, with women and single-member households being the most vulnerable categories, Stanka Intihar from the Level of Living Statistics Department of the National Statistics Office told the press on Friday. More »
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec told STA on Thursday that NATO supported the plan for Kosovo, which was recently put forward by special UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari. Speaking on the margins of an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Seville, Erjavec said all members supported the alliance's continued presence in the province. More »
Composer and pianist Janez Maticic and actor Radko Polic-Rac received the coveted Preseren Prize for life-time achievement in the arts at a ceremony on Wednesday, the eve of Culture Day, a national holiday that pays tribute to Slovenia's greatest man of letters, France Preseren (1800-1849). More »
Festivities are being held around Slovenia on Thursday to mark Culture Day, a national holiday dedicated to the country's greatest poet France Preseren. While Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti hosted a traditional reception for the Preseren laureates in Ljubljana, the first Slovenian theatre gateway was launched at the website www.sigledal.org. More »
A radio adaptation of the play "Tristo milijonov metrov na sekundo" (Three Million Metres Per Second) by Slovenian director Irena Glonar has won an award at the International Radio Play Festival "Prix ex Aequo 2007" in Bratislava. More »
Slovenians are inclined to the principle of organ and tissue donation, while the number of registered donors in Slovenia is rather low and the the waiting lists are considerably shorter compared to developed European countries, said Danica Avsec Letonja, the director of the Institute for Organ and Tissue Transplantation. More »
Slovenian adventure swimmer Martin Strel, who is attempting to swim the world's greatest river, the Amazon, encountered the first difficulties on Monday, his website says. More »
Leading European Lipizzaner stud farms agree that breeding programmes should be harmonised and that the classical type of the Lipizzaner should be preserved, director of the Lipica Stud Farm Matjaz Pust said on Wednesday after a two-day meeting of Lipizzaner stud farms directors. More »
Shrovetide festivities got underway on Saturday in the northeastern city of Ptuj, home to Slovenia's biggest carnival, famous for its distinctive figures - the kurenti. The festival will culminate with an international carnival procession on Sunday, 18 February. More »
Interior Minister Dragutin Mate and his Austrian counterpart Guenther Platter stressed the importance of implementing Schengen standards in Western Balkan countries following talks with in Brdo pri Kranju on Monday. More »
According to plans, provinces will be up and running in 2009, after first elections in provincial bodies are held along with the general election in 2008, local representatives were told on Wednesday as government officials unveiled a package of legislation necessary to establish provinces in Slovenia. Local Self-Government and Regional Development Minister Ivan Zagar told mayors and other local representatives that the main goals in establishing provinces were decentralization and a boost to development.
Other than that the Economy Ministry presented its future plans on Monday, highlighting the next stage in the privatisation process and the drawing of funds from the new EU financial perspective as its key priorities. Looking back at the achievements of the past two years, Economy Minister Andrej Vizak said that the ministry had managed to modernise its policies and turned from restructuring projects to development measures.
Two exhibitions highlighting Nazi crimes opened at the Ljubljana-based Museum of Contemporary History on Wednesday, in what is to serve as a reminder of the danger of totalitarian policies. More »
According to plans, provinces will be up and running in 2009, after first elections in provincial bodies are held along with the general election in 2008, local representatives were told on Wednesday as government officials unveiled a package of legislation necessary to establish provinces in Slovenia. More »
Climate change cannot be stopped, which means that people have to adapt to new conditions as soon as possible, environmentalist Anton Komat told STA as he commented on the report on global warming consequences, presented by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Paris on Friday. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel and Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia Premier Riccardo Illy agreed in Trieste on Tuesday that the 5th pan-European transport corridor should be completed as soon as possible. This would require speeding up the preparations, Rupel said. More »
The status of Kosovo was at the forefront of talks on Wednesday between Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel and Belgian counterpart Karl de Gucht, with both officials praising the efforts of Martti Ahtisaari, the special UN envoy for Kosovo status talks. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said on Friday that Mediterranean countries wanted the EU to tackle illegal migrations in partnership with third countries. The issue was discussed at an informal two-day ministerial in Malta, which brought together foreign ministers from EU members along the Mediterranean. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel believes that UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's proposal for the future status of Kosovo will enable the province to seek membership in international organisations. Rupel highlighted the support from the World Bank and IMF as essential for Kosovo's future. More »
The Faculty of Foreign Languages from Udine and the Faculty of Slovenian Studies from Nova Gorica signed on Monday an agreement on cooperation in language teaching and student and teacher exchange, the institutions' officials told the press in Dobrovo. More »
The establishment of provinces would secure faster and more equal development, Prime Minister Janez Jansa told on Wednesday local representatives gathered for a briefing on a proposed package of legislation dealing with the formation of provinces. More »
The cabinet decided on Thursday to allocate EUR 23.88m in budget funds for sports in 2007. The money will go for investments in infrastructure (EUR 14m) and for sports activities (EUR 9.8m), the government wrote in a press release. More »
The government adopted a new decree on financial incentives for foreign direct investment on Thursday in what Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak said was an attempt to attract investment that would bring new jobs. According to him, EUR 8m is allocated in the budget for that purpose for the next two years. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa on Monday nominated Ziga Turk, the chairman of the Telekom Slovenije supervisory board, for development minister without portfolio pending approval in parliament. More »
Central bank Governor Mitja Gaspari did not secure a second term at the helm of Banka Slovenije in parliament on Friday, as he failed to win the endorsement of the two biggest coalition parties and the opposition National Party (SNS). The 43:41 vote, with three invalid ballots, means he was three votes short of the required majority. More »
Poteza BPD d.d. in cooperation with partners from 13 countries and the Danish Saxo Bank presents the World TopInvestor competition, where investors from the whole world will compete in reaching profit on developed financial markets. More »
The Economy Ministry presented its future plans on Monday, highlighting the next stage in the privatisation process and the drawing of funds from the new EU financial perspective as its key priorities. More »
There were 2,011,614 people living in Slovenia at the end of September 2006, a 0.2% (3,098 persons) rise compared to June 2006, according to the national Statistics Office. More »
Women earned an average of EUR 1,069.07 a month in 2004, while the average monthly salary paid to men was EUR 1,149.33. This means that women got an average EUR 80 less than men or 93% of what men earned, according a report from the National Statistics Office. More »
A study by the National Institute for Vocational Education and Training has shown that companies face a lack of information technology experts. According to the study, the companies are mainly in need of computer programmers/engineers. More »
The European Commission on Monday approved Slovenia's proposed quota for CO2 emission allowances, endorsing the country's plan to allocate 8.3 million tonnes per year to industry in the 2008-2012 period. More »
There are 17 directives dealing with the EU's internal market that Slovenia still needs to transpose, the equivalent of 1% of all directives that should have been implemented in national legislation by the end of 2006, according to a report by the European Commission. More »
Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Janez Podobnik has said Slovenia supports the strengthening of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), echoing the position taken by an environment conference in Paris on Friday. More »
The Economy Ministry has endorsed the European Commission's package of energy strategy, which was unveiled on 10 January and calls for a more coordinated approach to Europe's common energy policy. More »
The recently drafted national literacy strategy, which should become operational in 2007, aims to put Slovenia on par with the EU's most developed states by improving all types of functional literacy by 2012, author Sonja Pecjak has told STA. The document is a part of the national literacy year, declared by the government for 2007. More »
The Slovenian Embassy in Vienna passed on Tuesday the role of the NATO contact point embassy in Austria to the Canadian Embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. More »
The Motorway Company DARS signed on Friday a EUR 6.1m deal for the construction of a 560-metre motorway section between the Slovenia-Croatia border crossing of Gruskovje and the Croatian border. DARS also signed a EUR 33m deal on the construction of the final section of the motorway between the SE town of Novo mesto and the Croatian border. More »
A book on Maks Fabiani (1865-1962), a pioneer of modernism in Slovenian architecture, was launched in Ljubljana on Wednesday. According to the editor, Janez Kozelj, Fabiani was a people's architect who "left behind the international stage" to return to the tradition of the villages and towns of his youth. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa has won the Spade of the Year award given out by the Maribor-based daily Vecer for the most succinct statement of the year. More »
Alenka Gotar is the name and "Cvet z juga" (Flower from the South) is the title of the song that will represent Slovenia at this year's Eurovision contest. The opera singer convinced 44,636 of the Slovenians who took part in a televoting session on Saturday. More »
Tina Maze and Andrej Jerman are Slovenia's biggest hopes at this year's Alpine World Ski Championships in Aare, Sweden, between 2 and 18 February. More »