Slovenia News 25 April 2006

Reform was the word of the week last week, but in two quite different contexts: it was focal point of the six parties (four coalition and two opposition groupings) which signed the Development Pact, but also a rallying call for an estimated 10,000 students who gathered a day afterwards to decry some of the government's efforts to introduce reform measures in education. In response, Higher Education Minister Jure Zupan said that he needs a clear list of demands by the students so that the ministry can discuss and evaluate them. It would be good if the students met and discussed their demands, Zupan added. An estimated 10,000 students gathered in the centre of Ljubljana on Wednesday, to highlight their belief that a comprehensive set of government-sponsored economic and social reforms would worsen their social situation. They also pointed to the need for a better higher education system. More » In its two years of membership, Slovenia has firmly anchored itself in the EU, with several objective criteria proving it to be the undisputed front-runner among new member states, PM Janez Jansa told the press today. More » A French-Slovenian twinning project for the establishment of a Centre for Education in Judiciary was officially launched on Monday. "The project is also important for dealing with the hefty backlog of pending cases," Justice Minister Lovro Sturm told the press. More » Speaking at a conference on subsidiarity on Tuesday, Slovenian FM Dimitrij Rupel highlighted the importance of regional cooperation in overcoming the disagreements that plagued the region of the Alps and the Adriatic in the past. More » Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel met ambassadors to Slovenia in Ljubljana on Friday in order to ask their countries to endorse Slovenia's bid for a seat in the newly-established UN Council of Human Rights. More » The government discussed the restructuring possibilities for the Lipica Stud Farm on its session on Thursday, and tasked the Culture Ministry with managing the transformation of Lipica's status as a public institution. More » The government has adopted a new mergers and acquisitions bill, which will completely overhaul and upgrade the existing legislation in this field, and fully transpose the EU directive on takeover bids. More » "Slovenians are not a threat to EU labour markets," Minister for Labour, Family and Social Affairs Janez Drobnic said at a press conference in Ljubljana on Monday at which the results of a survey into workers' mobility in the EU were presented. More » The government has endorsed Slovenia's joining of the voluntary code of conduct of the European Defence Agency, which enters into force on 1 July and is designed to open up defence procurement in the EU to more cross-border competition. More » A central bank official has told a meeting of business officials that the costs to the state of the anticipated changeover to the euro will stand at around SIT 1bn (EUR 4.2m). More » Slovenia's economy will expand by 4% annually in 2006 and 2007, according to the World Economic Outlook, a report released on Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). IMF believes Slovenian inflation will stand at 2.5% this year and 2.4% in 2007. More » US mobile operator Western Wireless International (WWI) has decided to sell the network of its Slovenian subsidiary, Vega, to the two leading mobile operators in the country, Mobitel and Simobil for EUR 5m. The move marks the end of WWI's rocky five-year adventure in Slovenia. More » Luka Koper, the operator of Slovenia's sole seaport of Koper, plans long-term investments in the amount of EUR 450m for the extension of two piers and the construction of a third pier, chief executive Robert Casar told Finance on Wednesday. More » Economics Minister Andrej Vizjak expects the first procedures in the privatisation of telco Telekom Slovenija to get underway at the beginning of 2007. More » The Environment Ministry launched the "Slovenia Lowers CO2" project on Friday as part of celebrations of World Earth Day. More » Slovenia is meeting the inflation criterion for eurozone entry, according to the latest figures of Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. Slovenia's harmonised index of consumer prices was at an annual rate of 2.4%, which is well below the reference rate of 2.6% for March. More » The Slovenian Motorway Company (DARS) has signed four contracts worth SIT 31.8bn (EUR 132.7m) with construction companies working on the Prekmurje (NE) and Gorenjsko (N) motorway stretches. More » The 11th annual book festival Slovenian Book Days began in Ljubljana's Zvezda Park on Tuesday with a series of speeches aimed at reminding the Slovenian public of the bright but also the dark sides of Slovenian book culture. More » An anthology of Slovenian poetry of the second half of the 20th century, dubbed "U jantaru vremena" (In the Amber of Time), has been published in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in what is one of the largest anthologies of Slovenian poems published abroad. More » A standing ovation crowned a four-day guest appearance of Slovenia's Drama National Theatre on Saturday evening, as the ensemble played the last of its four productions at Macedonia's National Theatre in Skopje. More » Guest appearance of the Ljubljana-based Slovensko mladinsko gledalisce (SMG) at this year's 10th Ibero-American Theatre Festival in Colombia's Bogota between 31 March and 16 April was a success despite the poor working conditions and the crowded theatres, actress Romana Salehar told the press on Monday. More » Concerts and other festivities in the Slovenian city of Nova Gorica and its Italian neighbour Gorizia will mark the 2nd anniversary of Slovenia's EU entry. The central celebration of the entry took place on 1 May 2004 on the joint square between the two towns. More » Slovenian readers are showing a lot of interest in the Slovenian version of National Geographic, the first issue of which was published on 14 April, Uros Leban of National Geographic Slovenija told STA. More » Slovenian natural health resorts posted sales revenues of SIT 34.6bn (EUR 144.4m) for 2005, with profit at SIT 3bn (EUR 12.5m). The number of overnight stays topped 2.5 million, the association of natural health resorts told the press on Thursday. More » Schedule of Events from 25 to 30 April More »

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