Slovenia News - November 2007

Slovenia News 27 November 2007

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip payed a two-day official visit to Slovenia on 26 and 27 November, where he met his host the Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk and the Governor of the Bank of Slovenia Marko Kranjec. The two Prime Ministers assessed that Slovenia and Estonia were the best-performing EU newcomers, while they also noted that they shared views on all major EU issues, such as enlargement and the ratification of the reform treaty. Asked to comment on Estonia's plans for the changeover to the euro, Ansip said his government was keen to adopt the euro as soon as possible. According to him, Estonia meets all Maastricht criteria, except for inflation. The Estonian Prime Minister also discussed Slovenia's experiences in adopting the European single currency with central bank governor Marko Kranjec and Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk. Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel and Austrian Ambassador to Slovenia Valentin Inzko signed in Ljubljana on Friday a new agreement on mutual representation, adding ten new locations to the list of embassies and consulates which represent both countries in visa issuance, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. More » The parliament passed on Thursday an agreement with Macedonia regulating the adoption of children, the first such bilateral accord for Slovenia. More » Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his Estonian counterpart Andrus Ansip praised each other's countries as they addressed the press following talks in Ljubljana on Tuesday. While Jansa quoted Estonia as a role model in reducing administrative barriers, tax reform and investment in R&D, Ansip hailed Slovenia as the most successful newcomer to the EU. More » Public Administration Minister Gregor Virant announced in Brussels on Thursday that Slovenia would cut the administrative burden by 25% with a programme that the government is expected to adopt next week. More » Well paid workers are motivated workers, Labour, the Family and Social Affairs Minister Marjeta Cotman said on Wednesday. "Productivity can not be based on low wages, just the opposite," she said at the sidelines of a two-day working visit to Brussels. She reiterated that workers' demands expressed at the 17 November protest were legitimate. More » The government decided on Thursday that the Slovenian army would send a single soldier to take part in the EU-led mission in Chad and the Central African Republic tasked with the protection of refugees from Darfur. Separately, the government decided to donate 60 mortars and ammunition worth around EUR 800,000 to the Afghan army. More » The chairs of the Slovenian and Austrian parliamentary defence committees, Anton Anderlic and Peter Fichtenbauer, met in Ljubljana on Monday to exchange opinions on the planning and implementation of the two countries' joint projects. More » Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip met Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk on Monday for talks that focused on Slovenia's experience with the euro and also broached Slovenia's plans for the EU presidency in the first half of 2008. More » The government has adopted a decree introducing regional tax breaks for companies investing in research and development. The tax breaks will apply to companies in the least developed regions and will be available for the 2007 fiscal year, Finance Ministry State Secretary Andrej Sircelj told the press after Thursday's session of the cabinet. More » The Surveying and Mapping Authority has launched a real estate market database that will enable public access to real estate deals in Slovenia. The registry will include details of real estate transactions provided by the Tax Administration, notaries, real estate agencies and local administrations. More » Proposed changes to the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) that would raise the current 0.3 hectare minimum area eligible for direct payments could present a problem to Slovenia, Agriculture Minister Iztok Jarc said in Brussels on Monday. More » EU ministers responsible for science reached a political agreement on the European Institute of Technology (EIT) in Brussels on Friday in what Slovenia's Mojca Kucler Dolinar sees as an opportunity for Slovenian partners working in research, development and business. The only issue that remains open is funding. More » Slovenia as the next EU presiding country will give its full attention to cooperation with Russia in all areas that are of priority for both sides, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate said after an EU-Russia ministerial in Brussels on Friday, quoting safety of documents, illegal migrations and trafficking in drugs and people. More » The European Commission on Wednesday tabled a proposal for the funding of priority projects on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in the 2007-2013 period which includes EUR 50.7m for studies for the rail link between the Italian port city of Trieste and the Slovenian railway hub Divaca. More » "Windows on Monday" by German director Ulrich Koehler is the winner of the Kingfisher Award, the top award handed out at the 18th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe), which ended on Wednesday after two weeks featuring 100 films. More » The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Slovenia Peran Boskovic presented to the press on Thursday plans for the construction of an Orthodox metropolitan see in Ljubljana, which is also to serve as a cultural and pastoral centre of the Serbian community. More » Education Minister Milan Zver underscored the value of patriotism as he addressed tonight's high-profile ceremony upon Rudolf Maister Day, honouring the day in 1918 when General Rudolf Maister took control of Maribor and in effect secured what later became Slovenia's northern border. More » The Maribor Faculty of Arts has joined forces with the Faculty of Humanities at the Budapest ELTE University, the Polish University of Bielsko-Biala and the American University of Kansas to establish an international publishing house. More » Slovenia will encounter San Marino, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic in Group 3 in qualifying for the 2010 football World Cup, according to the FIFA qualifying draw in Durban on Sunday. More » Slovenian Health Minister Zofija Mazej Kukovic attended on Thursday the Food Safety Summit of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), stressing in her closing speech that the way people treat the environment affects the quality of food. More » Calendar of Events for for 27 Nov - 2 Dec More »

Slovenia News 20 November 2007

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, made on 14 November an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where he was received by HM the Queen and his host, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. After the meeting with HM the Queen, Prime Minister Jansa was very surprised how well she knows the situation in Slovenia and in the region, and the history of numerous issues faced by the EU and the world. In addition to the reception with the Queen, Jansa met Gordon Brown at Downing Street, where the two PMs discussed on bilateral relations and common European issues, particularly in the light of Slovenia's Presidency of the Council of the EU. During his official visit to London, Prime Minister Jansa also met the Government Chief Whip, Geoff Hoon, and the Lord Mayor of the City of London, David Lewis. Prime Minister Janez Jansa, made an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where he was received on 14 November by HM the Queen - the first Slovenian Prime Minister to do so. In addition to the reception with the Queen and a meeting with his host, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the PM met the Government Chief Whip, Geoff Hoon, and the Lord Mayor of the City of London, David Lewis. More » Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel and his Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg discussed international topics, especially those related to Slovenia and the Czech Republic's stints as EU presiding countries, as Rupel paid an official visit to Prague on Friday. More » Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said statements allowing for no alternative to the independence of Kosovo were unproductive. "We must not pressure any of the sides by claiming there is no alternative," Lavrov said during his official visit to Slovenia on Wednesday. He added that a solution must be acceptable for Belgrade and Pristina. More » The Slovenian minority in Italy is set to get the first rise in funds from the Italian national budget in 16 years after the upper chamber of the Italian parliament endorsed on Thursday evening an amendment that increases the minority's annual budget by EUR 500,000 to EUR 5,250,000. More » The government of PM Janez Jansa won a vote of confidence in the parliament on Monday with the support of a united coalition in 51-to-33 vote, ending speculation about whether the cabinet would be ousted only weeks before Slovenia assumes the EU presidency. More » The government on Thursday confirmed the final estimation of the damages caused by the torrential rain and floods on 18 September and got acquainted with the country's application for assistance from the European Solidarity Fund, the cabinet's spokesman Valentin Hajdinjak told the press. More » The government adopted on Thursday a new bill which introduces restrictions for public office holders and transfers the powers of the current anti-corruption commission to the Court of Audits and other bodies. More » A mass rally staged by the trade unions has begun with a march towards the centre of Slovenia's capital. The organisers say up to 70,000 people are taking part in the protest calling for higher wages in Slovenia. More » Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak has announced a campaign against what he says is the murky and misleading price setting mechanisms that have led to unnecessary price increases. "Until now we have fought a battle, now we're making it a war on inflation," Vizjak told the press in Ljubljana on Wednesday. More » Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways has confirmed an US$ 123m order of three Bombardier regional aircraft. Bombardier announced on Wednesday that Adria had ordered two CRJ 900 86-seat and one CRJ1000 100-seat jet, which are among the larger models in its range of CRJ regional jets. More » The chairman of the Maribor-based NKBM bank was confident about the future of this second biggest Slovenian bank as he subscribed for shares in Maribor on Monday a few minutes after the subscription started for 49% state stake in the initial public offering. More » Slovenia's central bank, commercial and savings banks, and the Central Securities Clearing Corporation joined on Monday the new TARGET2 (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer) payment system. More » Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel took part in a seminar of foreign ministers of the current and next EU presiding troika hosted by the French government in Paris on Saturday. Rupel said after the meeting that those who had already presided over the EU shared their experience with countries which are to preside over the bloc for the first time. More » Education Minister Milan Zver attended a EU Education, Youth and Culture Council in Brussels on Friday, which focused on the young and their role in the Lisbon strategy. The implementation of the strategy is a key to improving the social status of young people, stressed the minister. More » The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Kres publishing house have published the sixth and final volume of the Latin-Slovenian dictionary, which is the last chapter in a 113-year old crime story, as the publisher's director Selina Ambroz labelled project on Monday. More » Marjan Marinsek, Slovenian author and friend of children's author Astrid Lindgren, wrote a book about the famous Swedish author entitled "Zvezda Astrid" (Astrid the Star) to mark the centennial of her birth. More » "Estrellita", a film directed by Metod Pevec, has been awarded at 17th Film Festival of East European Cinema in Cottbus with the prize of the Dialogue Jury. The five-day festival featured 80 films from 25 countries of Central and East Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus, and was visited by 17,000 people. More » The government appointed Olympian Miroslav Cerar a Slovenian ambassador of sports, tolerance and fair play at its session on Thursday. Professor of sports Stanislav Pinter and former Slovenian tennis player Mima Jausovec were made his deputies. More » An event concluding with a march through the streets of Ljubljana was one in the number of the activities mark this year's World Diabetes Day, which is observed on 14 November. Health Minister Zofija Mazej Kukovic highlighted the importance of taking care of one's own health. More » Calendar of Events for 20 - 25 November More »

Slovenia News 13 November 2007

Unofficial results of what is the fourth presidential election in independent Slovenia give Danilo Tuerk 68.23% of the vote against Lojze Peterle's 31.77%. Tuerk, who is currently a professor of international law at the Ljubljana Faculty of Law, will be sworn in on 22 December, taking over from Janez Drnovsek, who decided not to contest a second term. Among the other news we also write about PM Jansa's visit to China. The Prime Minister told Slovenian reporters in Shanghai on Saturday that he gathered from discussions with the business executives accompanying him that they had made concrete agreements and contacts in China. Slovenian voters have overwhelmingly elected former senior UN diplomat Danilo Tuerk the new president of Slovenia. In his acceptance speech on Sunday, Tuerk thanked the voters for the confidence in him and said he would work to be a uniter. More » Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel met the envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, Tony Blair, in London on Monday to discuss the role that Slovenia could play in the Middle East peace process when it takes over the presidency of the EU next year. More » Prime Minister Janez Jansa inaugurated an office of the Public Agency for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investment (JAPTI) in China's financial capital on Saturday as part of his official trip to the country. Jansa and his entourage also visited the subsidiary of Slovenian electrical components maker Iskra Avtoelektrika near Shanghai. More » On the second leg of his visit to China, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, accompanied by a strong business delegation, travelled to Shanghai; a city regarded as the cradle and driving force of economic development in China. Its level of development, geographical position and outward openness are among the advantages recognised by the Slovenian business sector. More » European Affairs State Secretary Janez Lenarcic received on Thursday his Hungarian colleague Gabor Ivan, discussing Slovenia's EU presidency priorities and the bloc's new reform treaty, the Government Office for European Affairs said. More » Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who is continuing his official visit to China, addressed a Chinese-Slovenian business conference in Beijing on Friday, inviting Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Slovenia. "I am sure that Chinese investors will also be among those who find interesting opportunities in the 46 companies in which the state is currently selling its stake," Jansa said. More » Slovenia will continue to strive for an efficient regulatory framework for the financial sector at the national and EU levels, Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk said as he addressed the Days of Slovenian Bankers at Brdo pri Kranju on Friday. The Finance Ministry is aware of its role in providing a stimulative legislative framework, he said. More » Slovenia's economy will expand to a ten-year high watermark of 6% of GDP this year and then gradually slow down to 4.6% in 2008 and 4% of GDP in 2009, the European Commission projects in the Autumn Forecast released in Brussels on Friday. More » Mercator, Slovenia's leading retail group, increased net sales by 19.3% in the first nine months of the year to EUR 1.75bn. Net profit grew nearly 70% year-on-year to EUR 36.1m on strong growth in Slovenia and abroad, the company said after a session of the supervisory board on Tuesday. More » European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed full confidence in Slovenia's ability to lead the EU as he met Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa in Brussels on Tuesday. Barroso told Jansa he was confident that the Slovenian presidency in the first half of 2008 would be a success. More » The priorities of Slovenian EU presidency in education, sport and youth topped the interview that European Education, Training, Culture and Youth Commissioner Jan Figel gave for the press. Figel also touched on an issue that has been the subject of heated debates in Slovenia - the public funding of private schools. More » EU justice and home ministers on Thursday endorsed the expansion of the Schengen passport-free zone to nine new member states on 21 December, a landmark decision that was greeted by Slovenian Interior Minister Dragutin Mate as a "new value in travel within Europe's no-border zone." More » Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the euro group, has defended Slovenia's economic performance in the face of criticism from European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. More » The European association of chambers of commerce, Eurochambers, believes that preserving and boosting competitiveness should be at the core of Slovenia's EU presidency. "The main goals are education, innovation and R&D. I believe that Slovenia's EU presidency can do a lot," Eurochambers president Pierre Simon told the press in Ljubljana on Monday. More » Biographies of 129 women who made important contributions to Slovenian arts, science or some other aspect of public life in the 19th and 20th centuries, but failed to make their mark just because they were women are now available in a book. More » A memorial plaque was unveiled last week in the Egyptian city of Alexandria to honour the Alexandrians, Slovenian women who worked in Egypt, mostly Alexandria, from the end of the 19th until the middle of 20th centuries. More » reigning World Champion on the parallel bars, Slovenian Mitja Petkovsek, won the last major Gymnastics World Cup meet this season in Britain's Glasgow on Saturday. More » Slovenia's new tourist slogan "I Feel Slovenia", the presentation of Ljubljana as the EU's capital in the first half of 2008 and the national tourism strategy are the highlights of Slovenia's stall at the 28th World Travel Market, which kicked off in London on Monday, the Slovenian Tourist Board said. More » An operation to connect a heart with a ventricular assist device (VAD) was performed on Saturday by cardiac surgeon Borut Gersak at Slovenia's main hospital, the University and Clinical Centre of Ljubljana, in what is the first such operation ever in Slovenia. More » Calendar of Events for 13 - 18 November More »

Slovenia News 6 November 2007

Ministers Mate and Platter signed a memorandum on enhanced cooperation before and after the abolition of the border as well as an agreement on close cooperation during the 2008 European Football Championship to be hosted by Austria and Switzerland. "Slovenia is very well prepared to join the Schengen free circulation area. With the inclusion into the Schengen information system we have received the final tool for the monitoring of passengers in the joint database," Minister Mate said. According to the Portuguese presidency of the EU, the Schengen expansion is expected at 00.01 on 21 December, while celebrations are planned for 21 and 22 December. One of the ceremonies is to be held on the Slovenian-Italian border on 22 December. A meeting of the EU troika with Palestinians and Israelis on Monday heard statements from the Palestinian side that the upcoming peace conference in Annapolis was a turning point and that "failure is unacceptable," according to Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, who took part in the meeting as the representative of the next EU presiding country. More » Government adopted on Tuesday amendments designed to regulate the status of persons from the former Yugoslavia who had permanent residence in Slovenia on 23 December 1990 and have lived here since. More » The government adopted on Tuesday a decree on the promotion of the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels in motor vehicle transport, which define new biofuels targets for distributors and introduce new responsibilities for public transport companies. More » One of the best known Slovenian brands, pasteurised milk make Alpsko mleko, celebrates its 40th birthday this year. Since launching its production in 1967, the Ljubljana-based dairy Ljubljanske mlekarne put out 1.648 billion litres of "Alpine milk" as the brand would translate. More » Traditionally careful with money, Slovenians prefer classical over alternative ways of saving their money, statistics show, as the International Savings Day is observed on 31 October. More » British European Affairs Minister Jim Murphy met European Affairs State Secretary Janez Lenarcic in Ljubljana on Monday for talks that focused on Slovenia's plans for its term at the helm of the EU in the first half of 2008. More » Passport control on Slovenia's land and sea borders with other EU countries is expected to be phased out one minute past midnight on 21 December. This follows from what the Portuguese presidency of the EU said in Brussels on Tuesday. More » At the recent 11th Slovenian Conference on Public Relations, which took place between 17 and 19 October 2007 in Terme Olimia, the Government Communication Office and the Bank of Slovenia were awarded the PRIZMA 2007 award for communication excellence in the national campaign supporting the introduction of the euro – “The Euro – for All of Us”. More » Slovenia is getting ready to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Protestant priest Primoz Trubar (1508-1586), who is considered the pioneer of the Slovenian language. The life and work of the author of the first printed books in Slovenian are to be celebrated throughout 2008 at a host of ceremonies, symposiums as well as through an extensive exhibition. More » Mitja Gustin will receive this year's award for life-time achievement in archaeology. The award, given out by the Slovenian Archaeology Society, will be conferred on the laureate on 8 November at the Tolmin Museum. More » Slovenia observed All Saints's Day, a bank holiday, on Thursday, with most Slovenians lighting candles and laying flowers on the graves of their family members and friends, and officials and dignitaries visiting memorials to victims of WWII and of the 1991 war for independence. More » The government on Tuesday amended the chemicals act, bringing it in line with the EU regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemical substances (REACH), which entered into force in June this year. More » Interior Minister Dragutin Mate and his Austrian counterpart Guenther Platter met at the Sentilj border crossing on Monday to discuss police cooperation between the two countries after Slovenia's accession to the Schengen zone later this year. More » Calendar of Events for 6 - 11 November More »

Archive

year month 2008 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2007 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2006 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2005 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2004 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12

© Government Communication Office