Slovenia News 28 February 2006

Pope Benedict XVI announced during a general audience on Wednesday, 22 Feb, that Slovenian Archbishop Franc Rode will be one of the 15 dignitaries to be made cardinal at a consistory on 24 March. Last week also saw Slovenian soldiers leaving for Iraq, and the recent bird flu scare calming down despite a second case of deadly H5N1 virus confirmed in a wild bird. President Janez Drnovsek proposes in a public letter to Defence Minister Karel Erjavec that members of the Slovenian Armed Forces should take part in planning new peace operations, instead of participating in a military parade. More » The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said it was unable to comment the new Italian citizenship legislation because it was not yet signed into a law. The amendments passed earlier this month by Italian parliament enable Slovenians and Croatians whose ancestors were Italian citizens or belonged to the Italian minority in Slovenia or Croatia, to ask for dual citizenship. More » French PM Dominique de Villepin stressed France's diplomatic engagement in resolving the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, as he responded to the recent initiative by Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek. More » The government approved on Thursday the signing of the Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings, a document which complements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. More » The parliamentary committee for local government and regional policy endorsed the government's decision to divide Slovenia to two regions for the purposes of EU cohesion funds, as it met in Ljubljana on Tuesday. More » The parliamentary finance and monetary policy committee unanimously passed the government-sponsored amendments to the bill on succession and the high representative for succession as it met in Ljubljana on Thursday. More » Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk has said that Slovenia's leap from 45th to 38th of 157 countries on the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom is very encouraging for the country. His comments came after Tuesday's meeting with Marc Miles, an editor of the survey. More » A survey published on Saturday by the daily Delo shows that bird flu has not caused any major alarm among Slovenians. The people moreover trust anti-bird flu measures, and believe to be relatively well informed about bird flu developments. More » The National Centre for Disease Control expanded on Wednesday a three-kilometre quarantine zone near Maribor, linking the quarantine zones of Maribor and the nearby village of Spodnji Duplek. More » Poultry breeder Perutnina Ptuj expects the state and the EU to act in a determined manner regarding bird flu, chairman Roman Glaser told Agriculture Minister Marija Lukacic on Wednesday. More » A working group composed of vets and food-processing industry representatives must make a risk analysis of poultry vaccination against bird flu by next week, the head of the group Milan Pogacnik of the Veterinary Faculty said on Monday. More » "I hope Slovenia will be a good example of Europe's big ambitions," said the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso as he summed up his expectations about Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008 and in general. More » European Parliament President Josep Borrell met President Janez Drnovsek, Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk and members of the parliamentary committees for EU affairs and foreign policy on the final day of his two-day visit to Slovenia on Tuesday. More » Slovenian Environment Minister Janez Podobnik has assured his counterparts from the two federations of Bosnia-Herzegovina that his ministry stands ready to assist the former Yugoslav republic in its bid to join the EU. More » Officials from Slovenia, Germany and Portugal, the countries scheduled to chair the EU in 2007 and the first half of 2008, met in Berlin on Wednesday to discuss cooperation on the procedural level, Katja Rejec Longar of the Government Office for European Affairs has said. More » Slovenia would like to see the tripartite talks between the European Parliament, European Commission and the EU Council on the 2007-2013 EU budget result in a speedy finalisation of the document, a Slovenian official has said. More » Flag carrier Adria Airway has announced it would add three new routes - Rome, Barcelona and Tirana - to its scheduled flights at the end of March. That way Adria expects to profit from the increasing interest of Spanish and Italian tourists for Slovenia, and cater to business travellers on the Tirana route. More » Mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art in Vienna on Tuesday. The singer, who was born in Buenos Aires of Slovenian parents, was presented with the award by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel. More » Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti and his Hungarian counterpart Andras Bozoki met in Budapest to sign an agreement regarding cooperation in education, science and culture for the 2006-2008 period, the Slovenian Culture Ministry said Friday. More » Pope Benedict XVI announced during a general audience that Slovenian Archbishop Franc Rode will be one of the 15 dignitaries to be made cardinal at a consistory on 24 March. Rode headed the Slovenian Roman Catholic Church for seven years as archbishop of Ljubljana and Slovenian metropolitan before he was summoned to the Vatican in the spring of 2004 to become prefect of the congregation for religious orders. More » Some 55,000 visitors gathered in Ptuj (NE) on Sunday to watch the central carnival procession at Slovenia's largest Shrovetide festival. More » Schedule of Events from 28 February to 5 March More »

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