Slovenia experienced rapid development in the past year, it is in good shape and has strengthened its international position, PM Janez Jansa said at Sunday's central ceremony marking 16 years of Slovenian independence.
PM Janez Jansa has also welcomed the compromise on a reform treaty EU leaders reached early on Saturday, saying it is good for Slovenia in particular because it in a way clears the ground for its presidency next year. "Agreement has been reached on a reform treaty and thereby a decision for an intergovernmental conference. This will be called by the Portuguese presidency as foreseen on 23 and 24 July and the work on the text will start at once," Jansa said after two days of tough talks in Brussels.
Prime Minister Janez Jansa has welcomed the compromise on a reform treaty EU leaders reached early on Saturday, saying it is good for Slovenia in particular because it in a way clears the ground for its presidency next year. More »
Precisely at 10 AM on Saturday, the valley of Soca was shaken by the sounds of sirens and then submerged back into silence to mark the 90th anniversary of the ceasefire at the Isonzo front. The battles in this mountainous region were among the fiercest in WWI, and have, according to some historians, claimed more than 300,000 lives. More »
Slovenia experienced rapid development in the past year, it is in good shape and has strengthened its international position, PM Janez Jansa said at Sunday's central ceremony marking 16 years of Slovenian independence. More »
European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Monday that the appointment of Marko Kranjec to the post of Slovenia's central bank governor was very good news. He warmly welcomed Kranjec as an ECB Council member. More »
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer proposes that 163 bilingual settlements in the province of Carinthia be equipped with Slovenian-German signs, Austrian media reported on Monday, just days before the expiry of a deadline that the chancellor has set for the resolution of the issue. More »
The government adopted on Wednesday a bill on cooperation with EU members in criminal matters, Justice Ministry State Secretary Robert Marolt told the press. The bill says that a plea for international legal assistance in criminal matters issued by an EU member is automatically recognised and executed throughout the bloc. More »
A government task force investigating suspected wrongdoing at the intelligence agency SOVA has found that a device for eavesdropping on mobile phone conversations might have been used unlawfully. It is suspected that the device was being used unlawfully in Slovenia between 1999 and 2005, government spokesman Valentin Hajdinjak told the press on Wednesday as he presented the fourth interim report of the task force. More »
Smokers in Slovenia are facing tighter restrictions this summer as the National Assembly on Friday passed amendments to the anti-smoking act in a 45:13 vote. The law means Slovenia is joining a growing number of EU countries with tough anti-smoking laws. More »
Logistics group Intereuropa opened on Friday in Dobanovci near Belgrade a new logistics centre worth EUR 4.3m, as part of its subsidiary A.D. Intereuropa Beograd, the company said in a press release. More »
Some 71% of Slovenians included in a Foreign Ministry survey believe that relations with Croatia are poor, while almost 60% said Slovenia and Croatia should enter a strategic partnership. Over 16% of those interviewed in the survey published by the Slovenian Foreign Ministry on Friday, believe Slovenia's relations with Croatia are normal, and more than 9% said that relations were good. More »
Energy security is to be among the key priorities of Slovenia's EU presidency, Development Minister Ziga Turk stressed as he addressed on Sunday in Zagreb, Croatia an energy conference of countries from SE Europe. More »
The EU's Competitiveness Council did not discuss on Monday sources for the financing of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) although it had agreed that the issue should be resolved until June, however the ministers reached compromises on some other issues, according to diplomatic sources. More »
The European Commission approved in Brussels on Tuesday the Slovenian National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), which defines the country's priorities in the area of regional development in the 2007-2013 period that will see Slovenia receiving EUR 4.1bn from the bloc's cohesion funds. More »
A contingent of twelve Slovenian soldiers joined the UN peace keeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on 25 June, replacing the Slovenian unit which has been stationed there since December. More »
Colonel Dobran Bozic, the head of the 600-strong Slovenian contingent in Kosovo, said on Wednesday that the Slovenian armed forces had been commended for their activities by the NATO-led KFOR mission, the UN Kosovo mission (UNMIK), the local authorities as well as the locals, both Albanians and Serbians. More »
The 11th annual Brezice Festival of classical music, featuring 50 concerts by top artists from all over the world, is to be held at several Slovenian castles and churches between 6 July and 18 August, festival director Klemen Ramovs said. More »
Over 100 concerts will bring fresh life to old city centres as the festival Imago Sloveniae (Images of Slovenia) does its rounds in more than 25 cities across Slovenia starting in the medieval city of Ptuj on Saturday. More »
The Lent Festival, the largest music and theatre festival in Slovenia, kicked off on Friday evening with a concert by Dalmatian crooner Oliver Dragojevic on the main stage on the banks of the river Drava. This was the overture to 16 days packed with 400 music, theatre and sports events. More »
Feri Lainscek is the winner of the most prestigious Slovenian book award. Lainscek received the Kresnik Award for best novel of the year for "Maurisa" at the ceremony at Roznik, a hill above Ljubljana. More »
The western Slovenian town of Idrija will host this weekend the 26th lace festival, one of the largest heritage events in the country, featuring a number of workshops, exhibitions and demonstration of the art of lacemaking. More »
On 25 June 1991, the Slovenian Assembly passed the Basic Constitutional Charter and the Declaration of Independence, thereby declaring Slovenia an independent country. To mark the 16th anniversary of independence, Republic Square in Ljubljana on Sunday hosted a central ceremony with Prime Minister Janez Jansa as the keynote speaker. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel concluded on Friday, 15 June, with a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a three-day visit to the US, devoted to Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008 as well as international issues, foremost Kosovo.
PM Janez Jansa established on Wednesday, 13 June, as part of a cabinet trip to Dolenjsko and Bela krajina that Slovenia's southeastern region had developed since the government's last visit there in January 2006, quoting statistical data which show an increase in employment and the number of newly-founded companies.
The annual US State Department report on trafficking in persons places Slovenia in the first tier of countries, which fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. More »
EU justice ministers, including Slovenia's Lovro Sturm, agreed in Brussels on Wednesday on procedures to prepare and exchange criminal records in what the minister termed an important step forward. Opposition by six countries meanwhile prevented an agreement on common minimum rights of suspects. More »
Officials in charge of succession to the former Yugoslavia on Monday adopted rules of procedure which Slovenia's representative said would allow them to work more effectively and to proceed to substantive issues. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel concluded on Friday, 15 June, with a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a three-day visit to the US, devoted to Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008 as well as international issues, foremost Kosovo. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel will pay an official visit to Luxembourg on Tuesday to learn about its experience in presiding over the EU. While Slovenia will serve as EU president for the first time at the beginning of 2008, Luxembourg has held the rotating presidency 11 times, the last time in 2005. More »
US Ambassador to Slovenia Thomas B. Robertson said on Tuesday that Slovenia was able to successfully preside over the EU. However, the main question, according to him, was whether Slovenia would be remembered for its stint as EU president. More »
The cabinet adopted on Thursday the changes to the organisation and financing of education act and the elementary school act, Education and Sport Minister Milan Zver told the press. More »
PM Janez Jansa established as part of a cabinet trip to Dolenjsko and Bela krajina that Slovenia's southeastern region had developed since the government's last visit there in January 2006, quoting statistical data which show an increase in employment and the number of newly-founded companies. More »
Switzerland has filed an official request to join the Schengen passport-free zone as part of the "SIS I for All" project, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate said on Tuesday. This means that as EU president in the first half of 2008, Slovenia will oversee the evaluation of Switzerland's readiness to enter the Schengen zone. More »
Slovenian companies have invested EUR 900m in Serbia so far, Slovenian Ambassador to Serbia Miroslav Luci said in Belgrade on Thursday. Slovenian companies want to continue investing in Serbia but also expect Serbian companies to invest in Slovenia, he said at a meeting of small- and medium-sized companies from the two countries. More »
Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk said on Friday that Slovenia's economic growth was based on healthy foundations and was not a consequence of artificially created demand. According to him, the record 7.2% Q1 growth can be attributed to increased exports and foreign investment. More »
Europe must increase investment into research and development (R&D) as well as facilitate creativity if it wants to remain competitive in the global world, EU Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik and Slovenian Development Minister Ziga Turk agreed in Kranjska gora on Thursday. More »
The European Commission approved in Brussels on Tuesday the Slovenian National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), which defines the country's priorities in the area of regional development in the 2007-2013 period that will see Slovenia receiving EUR 4.1bn from the bloc's cohesion funds. More »
Slovenia is pondering the option of joining Active Endeavour, a NATO operation monitoring shipping in the Mediterranean to prevent smuggling and terrorist activity. Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said Slovenia would make this announcement at the NATO session in Brussels on Thursday. More »
Transport Minister Janez Bozic took part on Friday in a Eurasian conference on road transport, which focused on cutting costs and increasing the effectiveness and profitability of Eurasian transport corridors. Bozic said that the conference in Warsaw closed with a joint statement, which saw the participants committing themselves to observing WTO rules on free transit, to cut red tape and rationalise costs and taxes. More »
This year's Sovre Prize for translation was presented on Tuesday to Andrej E. Skubic for translations of works by American writer Gertrude Stein and Scottish novelist James Kelman, and Vasja Bratina for his translation of two novels by Italian author Umberto Eco. More »
Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti said on Tuesday that the Culture Ministry would not push its agenda during Slovenia's approaching spell as EU president, but would rather focus on carrying out the plans outlined by the EU. Its priority task will be intercultural dialogue, the minister told the press in Ljubljana. More »
Franciscan Edvard Kovac received in Toulouse on Wednesday a French National Order of Merit (Ordre du Merite) for his contribution to intellectual and cultural ties and exchange between Slovenia and France, especially in philosophy, theology and sociology, and for promotion of Francophonie. More »
Slovenia's second largest city will this year again play host to the Lent festival, the largest music and theatre festival in Slovenia. This year, the 15th edition of Lent is to feature 400 musical, theatrical and literary events in 22 venues throughout Maribor. More »
Precisely 100 years have passed since the birth of acclaimed Slovenian painter and graphic artist Lojze Spacal. One of the most visible Slovenian post-war artist was honoured with an exhibition showcasing of prints in his hometown of Stanjel in the western region of Kras on Friday. To mark the centenary of the artist's birth, a book of memoirs by the artist's son Borut Spacal was presented together with a special edition of a postage stamp and a host of other events all across the region. More »
The centennial of birth of the first internationally acclaimed Slovenian film star, Ita Rina, is to be marked in the western town of Divaca, where she was born as Ida Kravanja. More »
A natural reservation was opened on Thursday in the Ljubljansko Barje wetlands, encompassing 65 hectares between the villages of Ig and Podpecje on the outskirts of Ljubljana, the Birdlife Slovenia (DOPPS) association said in press release. More »
The renowned Lipica Stud Farm handed over to the Lipizzan International Federation (LIF) a newly developed global register of Lipizzaner horses at the federation's general assembly in Serbia this weekend, Kobilarna Lipica, which runs the stud farm, said on Monday. More »
The number of overnight stays and of visitors to Slovenia exceeded all expectations in the first quarter of 2007, Slovenian Tourist Board (STO) chairman Dimitrij Piciga told the press in Portoroz on Friday on the first day of the Slovenian Incoming Workshop 2007. More »
Gaming company Hit and US casino operator Harrah's Entertainment signed a deal on Tuesday, 5 June, on the construction of a EUR 750m casino resort in western Slovenia. The project is conditional on changes to provisions restricting foreigners' ownerships of casinos and a reduction of the gaming tax.
Fuelled by flourishing exports, domestic spending and investment, Slovenia's economy expanded at an annual rate of 7.2% in the first quarter of this year. This is the fastest rate of economic growth in Slovenia since the second quarter of 1999, when a spending rush ahead of the introduction of value added tax provided a one-time boost to growth.
Slovenia will help shape Europe's global role in the future, drafting key documents of the Lisbon Strategy and paying attention to people and environment, Development Minister Ziga Turk said on Tuesday after his first visit to Brussels as the national coordinator for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy. Slovenia has a unique opportunity to contribute its own thinking to the vision of future Europe, said Turk, adding that its vision during the EU presidency in 2008 would stress care for people and the environment. More »
Slovenian gaming company Hit and US casino operator Harrah's Entertainment have signed a deal on the construction of a EUR 750m entertainment and casino centre in the Gorisko region in western Slovenia, the two companies told the press in Ljubljana on Tuesday. More »
Slovenia has an opportunity to choose the way in which it will tackle climate change - it can wait for other countries' initiatives or frame its own strategy, National Council President Janez Susnik told Tuesday's panel on "Plan B for Slovenia". More »
President Janez Drnovsek on Friday officially proposed to parliament to appoint economist Marko Kranjec governor of the central bank. According to Drnovsek, Kranjec, a former vice-governor of Banka Slovenije, is a top expert and an authority on finance and banking. More »
Delegations from the countries whose nationals built the Ljubelj/Loiblpass tunnel as German prisoners of war during World War II gathered below the Slovenian-Austrian border pass on Saturday to remember the victims of the branch of the Mauthausen concentration camp there. The ceremony commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp attracted internees and their relatives from France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia as well as many Slovenians. More »
Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki and his counterpart Dimitrij Rupel praised bilateral relations and voiced common interest in the EU's expansion to the Western Balkans as they addressed a joint press conference following Wednesday's talks in Ljubljana. Rupel pointed to Macedonia as the first in the line after Croatia, saying it could get a date for EU talks during Slovenia's presidency. "Macedonia's prospect depends on the EU and NATO. We believe the time of accession is getting irrepressibly closer. Slovenia would like to be among those friends who support and advance this," Rupel said, reminding reporters of Slovenia's support for Macedonia in its aspirations so far. More »
Chair of the Finnish parliament's Grand Committee Erkki Tuomioja met Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel in Ljubljana on Thursday to share Finland's experience of presiding over the EU. Tuomioja said he was sure Slovenia would continue the tradition of small countries performing better than their bigger counterparts. More »
Foreign Minister Dinmitrij Rupel and his Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik on Saturday voiced confidence about the resolution of the issue of bilingual city limits in the Austrian province of Carinthia, which is home to a Slovenian minority. More »
The government adopted on Thursday amendments to the bar exam act to align the test with the Bologna study programmes. The proposal sets a unified framework for the basic legal knowledge provided by the Bologna programmes, Justice Minister Lovro Sturm told the press on Thursday. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa has told a Belgrade-based daily that Slovenia supports a relaunch of talks between the EU and Serbia because a democratic and pro-European Serbia is a key factor of stability in the region. "The democratic and pro-European government will obviously have to manifest clear political will and make substantive steps in securing Serbia's full cooperation with the Hague tribunal," Jansa said in an interview for Saturday's edition of Danas. More »
The government will continue its second round of visits to Slovenian regions on Wednesday, focusing on the SE regions of Bela krajina and Dolenjsko. While the official part of the visit will start on Wednesday, Prime Minister Janez Jansa and a part of the cabinet will launch the visit already on Tuesday. During the government's last visit to the SE statistical region in January last year Jansa said its economy depended mostly on a few successful companies which generated two thirds of the region's revenues. He also pointed to the gap in economic development among the two regions, with Bela krajina lagging behind Dolenjsko. More »
Financial experts debated the need for a reform of the pension system at Bled on Thursday, agreeing that the retirement age should be raised to tackle the ageing of the population. Furthermore, extensive reforms of state expenditures for pensions and health care are needed to prevent public finances from collapsing. More »
Minister of Labour, the Family and Social Affairs Marjeta Cotman is attending the annual conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), where she has underscored the importance of industrial relations. In a statement for STA, Cotman said that the importance of industrial relations in tackling challenges of globalisation would be the underlying theme of her address to the conference later on Monday. More »
Defence is one of those sectors where Slovenian companies can find opportunities for growth, development and creation of new jobs, Defence Minister Karl Erjavec told a conference on Wednesday. The conference, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, focuses on public procurement in defence. According to NATO's defence policy, Slovenia is bound to allocate 2% of its GDP for defence. This year, the defence budget amounted to EUR 560m, while next year it is to stand at EUR 680m, explained Erjavec, adding that Slovenia would reach the 2% goal in 2015. More »
Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk presented Slovenia's economy to some 40 potential investors from France in Paris on Wednesday, saying that the country had achieved the level of "normality of the old EU members", and most importantly, was no longer unknown and was subject to the same rules as other euro area EU countries. More »
Fuelled by flourishing exports, domestic spending and investment, Slovenia's economy expanded at an annual rate of 7.2% in the first quarter of this year. This is the fastest rate of economic growth in Slovenia since the second quarter of 1999, when a spending rush ahead of the introduction of value added tax provided a one-time boost to growth, Karmen Hren of the Statistics Office told the press on Friday, 8 June. It is also the fifth consecutive quarter that the economy has expanded at near or above 5%. More »
Pharma company Krka presented on Tuesday its EUR 80m plant for the manufacture of active ingredients. The Sinteza 4 plant will enable Slovenia's largest drug maker to produce most of active ingredients by itself, which its CEO Joze Colaric said would increase value added, cut costs and improve its competitive ability. More »
Several big Slovenian companies announced their plans for expansion in Croatia and courted Croatian investors as they held on Tuesday a Day of Slovenian Capital Market in Zagreb. More »
European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik said on Monday in Brussels that the investment in research and development in the EU was stagnant, while the bloc's share in global R&D had dropped in recent years from 29% to 25%. More »
Slovenia's biggest mobile operators said they expected no problems with the implementation of an EU regulation that cuts charges for cross-border mobile calls and received the final stamp of approval by the member states on Thursday. More »
Slovenia on Thursday called on the European Commission to extend the new rules that cut the costs of cross-border mobile calls to candidate countries, including Croatia and Turkey. More »
Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak pledged on Thursday his support for radio-frequency identification (RFID), provided the system can be made to meet health and privacy standards. More »
Transport Ministry State Secretary Peter Verlic stressed on Friday the need for equality in managing the Galileo satellite navigation system as he attended a meeting of the EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in Luxembourg aimed at discussing the future of the project. More »
The parliamentary EU Affairs Committee discussed on Friday a report on progress in the preparations for EU presidency, with EU Affairs State Secretary Janez Lenarcic assuring that Slovenia is well on track to being completely ready for the task. More »
Slovenia is training over 1,300 civil servants for its spell as EU president in the first half of 2008, one of the biggest undertakings for the country since it became EU member in May 2004. More »
Education and Sports Minister Milan Zver and Jorge Pedreira, state secretary at the Portuguese Education Ministry, discussed on Monday cooperation between the two countries during their succeeding turns at the helm of the EU. More »
The heads of Slovenian and Croatian national railway operators agreed on simplifying customs procedures and the introduction of interoperable railway engines to speed up transport as they met in the south-eastern town of Podcetrtek on Tuesday. More »
Maribor airport welcomed on Thursday the first jet of Irish budget carrier Ryanair, which brought over 170 passengers from London's Stansted airport to Slovenia's second largest city. More »
Selected jazz music from all over the world will get the capital into the swing once again as Ljubljana's 48th annual Jazz Festival gets under way between 28 and 30 June at the Cankarjev dom arts centre and the Krizanke open-air theatre. More »
An international spectacle "Fiery Carthusian Monastery" is to take place in the Zice Monastery in northeastern Slovenia on 21 and 22 July, to mark the events of 13 March 1531, when Turks broke into the monastery "with fire" and killed twelve monks. More »
Polish literary historian Bozena Tokarz and her husband, linguist Emil Tokarz, will be awarded for promoting Slovenian literature and culture among students in Poland as part of the 6th annual Herberstein meeting of authors, which began in the mid north-eastern town of Velenje on Thursday. More »
Mosaics, tapestries and ship decorations by Lojze Spacal (1907-2000) have been displayed at the Koper-based Loza gallery in what is the first such show on this foremost graphic artist of world renown. More »
An exhibition of Anatolian kilim pile carpets from the 17th and 18th century is to get underway on Tuesday at the Narodna galerija arts gallery in Ljubljana. More »
The Ljubljana city administration has unveiled plans to renovate the capital's main street, Slovenska cesta, for the upcoming EU presidency. Although the attempt to strike a co-financing deal with the government failed, the city is planning to invest EUR 2.5m in the facelift. More »
Slovenia's capital got its fist golf course on Tuesday, as a nine-hole facility opened in just off the Ljubljana ring road. The Trnovo golf course, worth EUR 1.7m, stretches over 20 hectares of what used to be one of Ljubljana's landfills. More »
This weekend, the fortified medieval town of Dobrovo and its neighbouring villages are honouring their gracious queen - the cherry fruit. The festival, which attracts more than 20,000 visitors to the western pocket of Slovenian, offers a rich cultural programme with highlights such as a giant cherry pie and a cherry blossom pageant. More »
Four Slovenian cyclers arrived at Place Jourdan in Brussels on Saturday, completing a 1,400 kilometre-long trip which they embarked on in the Slovenian town of Rogaska Slatina on 2 June. More »
The 14th Tour of Slovenia, the biggest cycling event in the country, is to kick-off on Tuesday at 12:30 PM at Ljubljana's Preseren Square. The 835 km race, which will end on 16 June, will feature four Slovenian and 11 foreign teams, including some of the world-class ProTour teams such as Lampre and Liquigas. More »
Slovenia's capital is attracting a growing number of visitors from the country and abroad. According to statistics released by the Ljubljana Tourist Board on Wednesday, tourist info points in Ljubljana recorded 69,079 visitors in the first five months of the year, up 33% year-on-year. More »
Kanin, Slovenia's highest-lying ski resort, kicked-off last weekend its summer season by starting its cable car to transport mountaineers and other nature enthusiasts. More »
Maribor, Slovenia's second largest city, promises an explosion of culture as it takes the title of European Capital of Culture in 2012 along with five partner cities. Apart from that Prime Minister Janez Jansa told an euro conference in Bratislava on Monday that broad consensus was a key element in the successful adoption of the euro in Slovenia and pointed out that he believed Slovakia was capable of meeting the Maastricht criteria to join the eurozone, in part also because of the favourable economic situation in the EU.
The 19th anniversary of a trial before a military court against three journalists of weekly Mladina and a non-commissioned officer was marked on Thursday with a meeting of the four main players, including Prime Minister Janez Jansa. The event was an important catalyst for the democratic movement in the then socialist republic. More »
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, the chair of the Caucasus-Caspian Commission, said on Friday that the commission wanted to contribute towards improving the economic and political situation in the resource-rich region. More »
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is to arrive for a one-day working visit to Slovenia on Tuesday to discuss with Prime Minister Janez Jansa the EU constitution, further enlargement of the EU, and European prospects of the west Balkans, prime minister's office said in a press release. More »
Prime Minister Janez Jansa told the press in Bratislava on Monday that he believed Slovakia was capable of meeting the Maastricht criteria to join the eurozone, in part also because of the favourable economic situation in the EU. More »
The government adopted on Thursday amendments to the act regulating the recognition of qualifications of EU citizens for regulated professions. The amendments are designed to cut red tape and shorten the issuance procedure. More »
The work permit quota for non-EU workers was exceeded for the first time in a decade, since many citizens of former Yugoslavian republics are looking for work in Slovenia, a senior Slovenian official said after a meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council in Brussels. More »
People will not have to work beyond the current full retirement age, according to the blueprint of a new pension bill, but they will be penalised for retiring early and awarded for working beyond the mandatory retirement age. More »
The Economic and Social Council, the industrial relations forum, has reached an agreement on Monday to increase the quota for work permits for foreign workers from 18,500 to 24,500. More »
The visiting undersecretary of the US Air Force, Ronald M. Sega, on Friday expressed the appreciation for the "sacrifice and hard work" of the Slovenian Armed Forces in peacekeeping operations and other activities in various parts of world, while his host, Defence Minister Karl Erjavec, thanked the US for its assistance in defence reforms. More »
E.Leclerc, a leading European retailer, will open its second outlet in Slovenia in Maribor on 7 November in an investment worth EUR 26m. The shopping centre will create 200 new jobs and is expected to attract two million shoppers and turn over EUR 50m a year, its owner, Alain Gomez, told reporters in Maribor on Wednesday. More »
Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak told the press on Monday that the bill on venture capital firms, adopted by the government last Thursday, was aimed at providing better conditions for rather risky business ventures in order to boost competitiveness. More »
Heads of four Slovenia's trade offices abroad presented their activities on Monday, giving Slovenian businessmen the first chance to learn about the markets where the offices operate, and the services that they offer. Boosting the penetration of foreign markets and attracting incoming foreign direct investment are the Economy Ministry's priorities and the main tasks of the trade offices abroad, said Sabina Kolesa, the head of the Directorate for Foreign Economic Relations. More »
Two-thirds of Slovenians are satisfied with the switch to the euro, but the majority believe that the changeover caused price hikes, according to a Eurobarometer survey on the euro changeover in Slovenia, which was published in Brussels on Thursday. More »
One out of five Slovenian young adults believes that the EU will cease to exist ten years from now, according to the results of the latest Eurobarometer survey presented on Friday, prior to the European Youth Week (3-10 June). More »
The opposition Social Democrats (SD) are gaining in popularity, a poll commissioned by daily Vecer has found. MEP and SD leader Borut Pahor topped the poll on the presidential race front, while the SD holds the lead among parliamentary parties. More »
EU environment ministers said on Saturday that the 27-member bloc would promote ecological innovation and technologies, a cornerstone of the European economy. "The EU must promote ecological innovation as a key strategy for the achievement of environmental objectives and creation of economic opportunities," according to Slovenian Environment Minister Janez Podobnik. More »
European Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Huebner says Slovenia has been very successful in drawing money from EU structural funds, leading the field among the newcomers, while she also thinks the country "cannot afford being just mediocre". More »
European Commissioner for Consumers Meglena Kuneva believes that consumer protection policies need to penetrate all policies that influence the EU's single market. Consumers are not merely passive observers who need to be protected but they also co-shape the market, she said at a panel in Ljubljana on Monday. More »
Long-term investment in rail infrastructure and redirecting cargo transport to railroads topped the agenda as Austrian Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology Werner Faymann held talks on Monday with Slovenian counterpart Janez Bozic. More »
The Ljubljana National Gallery is gearing up for an exhibition of a famous early Italian Renaissance artist. Numerous works by Giotto and six of his contemporaries will be showcased from 1 June, Barbara Jaki, the director of the arts gallery, told the press on Wednesday. More »
The Slovenian government on Thursday nominated Maribor for European Capital of Culture in 2012. The Culture Ministry will refer the nomination to the relevant EU institutions. More »
British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden, started its European summer tour at the Lubljana Bezigrad stadium on Saturday. The tour will mark the 25th anniversary of the release of their seminal album "The Number of the Beast" and the tremendous international success of their recent album "A Matter of Life and Death". More »