Slovenia News 26 September 2006

As he addressed the plenary session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel underlined the role of small countries. "The smaller countries rarely threaten or endanger other countries. They have knowledge of small systems and minorities in large systems. They can perform special tasks that demand special qualities and particular capabilities," he told the delegates. Despite the announced delay in the implementation of the Schengen Information System II (SIS II), Slovenia could potentially still enter the Schengen border-free zone in October 2007 as originally planned, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate stressed on the sidelines of Friday's informal meeting of EU justice and home ministers. The central region of Slovenia (which includes the capital Ljubljana) is, according to various criteria, statistically far above the Slovenian and also European average, PM Janez Jansa said at a meeting with mayors, business leaders, MPs and councillors following the cabinet's tour of the region on Wednesday. More » British parliamentarian has expressed regret over the British decision after WWII to repatriate 12,000 Slovenian domobranci (Home Guard), who then became the victims of summary killings by the Partisans. More » Foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel, who is attending the UN General Assembly in New York met the foreign ministers of Georgia, Iraq and Peru on Wednesday. He will also attend the ministers' NATO meeting which takes place on Thursday. More » Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has taken part in a meeting of EU foreign ministers with their Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov which focused on relations between the EU and Russia as well as on international topics. More » Speaking for Saturday's edition of the Austrian daily Kleine Zeitung, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has expressed his expectation that Austria will "put in to practice the rulings of its Constitutional Court" on bilingual sings. More » Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has conferred a special award to a Slovenian church in New York for its work in promoting Slovenian culture and language. More » Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel underlined the role of small countries as he addressed the 61th session of the UN General Assembly on Monday. "The smaller countries rarely threaten or endanger other countries. They have knowledge of small systems and minorities in large systems. They can perform special tasks that demand special qualities and particular capabilities," he told the delegates. More » New German Ambassador to Slovenia Hans-Joachim Goetz presented his credentials to President Janez Drnovsek on Tuesday. Drnovsek also received the outgoing Greek Ambassador John N. Boucaouris, the president's office said. More » The cabinet has adopted changes to the electronic communications act in a bid to deal with the European Commission's concerns regarding the independence of the national telecommunications regulatory authority. More » The government adopted on Thursday a bill on the Slovenian Engineering Academy (IAS) in a bid to promote technological development and a deficit in trained workers in Slovenia. More » The government wants to create conditions for the active involvement of the elderly in employment, Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs Janez Drobnic said after the government's session on Thursday, at which the cabinet adopted a strategy for the security of the elderly until 2010. More » The cabinet adopted at its regular session on Thursday changes to the judicial service act in a bid to tackle court backlogs, State Secretary at the Justice Ministry Robert Marolt said. The government also adopted changes to the courts act. More » The Slovenian cabinet has appointed a special project group to lay the groundwork for the creation of a University of the Mediterranean in Slovenia. Officials believe such a university can promote dialogue between the cultures. More » The parliamentary committees for the economy, EU affairs and labour voiced satisfaction with the progress Slovenia has made in implementing reforms for the Lisbon Strategy at Thursday's joint session. More » The Ministry of Defence is aware of the increasing importance of scientific research and technological development for Slovenia's defence capabilities, State Secretary at the Defence Ministry Franci Znidarsic told a meeting entitled The Defence Industry in the EU - Challenges and Opportunities for Slovenia at the Pomurski sejem fair in Gornja Radgona on Thursday. More » The Slovenia Times publication and the Public Agency for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investments conferred on Thursday awards for this year's best foreign investors. The awards were presented to TCG Unitech LTH-ol, Ydria Motors, Sun Roller Adriatica and Epas, while the special reward went to Revoz, the organisers said. More » Executives of vehicle producers Tovarna vozil Maribor (TVM) and Austria's Magna Steyr signed on Thursday a contract on transferring production of frames for the Mercedes G off-road vehicle's chassis to the Slovenian company. More » The changes to the 2007 and the draft budget for 2008 that the government is to discuss in the coming days, will keep the budget deficit at around 1% (SIT 73bn/EUR 305.26m) of Slovenia's GDP, Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk told the press on Thursday. More » Slovenia's largest retailer Mercator signed last Friday a long-term EUR 40m loan agreement with the International Financial Corporation (IFC) for financing its ongoing investments in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the company said on Thursday. More » The amount of state aid in Slovenia has substantially decreased in 2005 in comparison v previous years, falling for the first time under 1.0% of GDP, according to a report on state aid published on the government website. More » A total of 844,949 tonnes of municipal waste piled up in Slovenia last year, 797,721 tonnes of which was collected by public refuse companies. This translates to 1.16 kilograms of garbage per Slovenian per day, data from the Statistics Office shows. More » Members of the Slovenian cabinet paid a visit to Slovenia's leading research institution, the Jozef Stefan Institute (IJS), as part of their tour of the central Osrednjoslovensko region on Wednesday. The IJS sees its future in working with the economy, Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak said after the visit. More » A three-day conference of university rectors from the Central European region got underway on Thursday at the University of Maribor, focusing on the role of universities in promoting economic competitiveness. More » European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik called for cooperation between universities and business as he addressed a three-day conference of university rectors from Central Europe at the University of Maribor on Friday. More » Mobile operator Simobil and telecommunications company T-2 have been awarded licences for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third-generation mobile communications system, the telecommunications watchdog revealed on Wednesday. More » "Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008 will bring about a thorough reorganisation of public administration", Public Administration Minister Gregor Virant said Wednesday at Slovenian Administration Days conference in Portoroz (SW). More » While the EU has done a lot through its environment legislation in the past 30 years, it still faces the problems of balancing various policies in the field, especially among environmentalists and businesses, Nicholas Hanley of the European Commission's Directorate General for the Environment has said. More » There are many debates going on in the EU about the use of nuclear power. The latest enlargement of the EU has brought about a more positive view of this energy type, said Giles Chichester, MEP and president of the committee for Industry, Research and Energy in the European Parliament at the end of the European Energy Forum's visit to Slovenia. More » The 46th general assembly of the Union of EU Capitals started on Friday in Ljubljana, the current chair of the organisation. The participants at the two-day event will focus on "creative capitals", since creativity is essential for the development of economy and society, municipality Ljubljana said. More » Innovation policies are expected to be of great importance during Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of 2008, Economy Ministry State Secretary Andrijana Starina Kosem said at Monday's meeting of EU ministers responsible for competition. More » Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said that twelve members of the Slovenian Armed Forces will leave for Lebanon to join the UN peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL) in the end of October or in early November. More » Two contingents of Slovenian soldiers bid farewell in Celje on Friday before heading to Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina respectively in the coming days to relieve their colleagues of their duties. More » Slovenia assumed the chairmanship of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday. Ernest Petric, the Slovenian ambassador to the IAEA, who will chair the board in the coming term, said that the chairman must make sure the board takes the necessary decisions and ensures that the IAEA works normally. More » The main goal of this year's European Mobility Week, which took place in 25 Slovenian municipalities between 16 and 22 September, was to reduce the amount of road traffic in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Radovan Tavzes of the Environment Ministry said. More » The Motorway Company (DARS) concluded on Wednesday a SIT 7.34bn (EUR 30.51m) contract on constructing two tunnels on the Razdrto-Vipava dual carriageway. More » Slovenian Transport Minister Janez Bozic has continued his four-day visit to Russia on Wednesday by participating in the Bajkalsk Economic Forum and meeting Russian counterpart Igor Levitin. Bozic and Levitin focused on possible cooperation between Slovenia and Russia in the areas of road, sea, rail and air transport. More » The Slovenian Motorway Company (DARS) signed on Thursday a SIT 21bn (EUR 87.81m) contract on the construction of a motorway section between Beltinci and Lendava in NE Slovenia. More » Terminal00, international "balkanart" festival, organised by the Association for the Promotion of Visual Culture, will take place on various locations throughout the city of Ljubljana between 27 and 30 September. More » The Maribor Metropolitan Archdiocese was officially inaugurated at a mass at the Maribor Cathedral on Sunday. At the ceremony Franc Kramberger was officially installed the first archbishop and metropolitan of Maribor. More » The mass grave located in the Konfin pothole in Kocevski rog (SE) differs from other mass graves which resulted from post Second World War killings, in that experts have already identified the remains of the 88 murdered people. More » An open house day at the Lipica Stud Farm, the home of the famous Lipizzaner white horses, has attracted several thousand visitors. Sunday's event marked the end of the Days of the Lipica Stud Farm, a three-day festival aimed at promoting this jewel of the Karst. More » Interior Minister Dragutin Mate has expressed concern over the recently announced delay in the expansion of the Schengen border-free zone, as he met the interior ministers of the Salzburg Forum in Finland's Tampere on Thursday. More » Slovenian Interior Minister Dragutin Mate and Bosnia-Herzegovina's Minister of Security Barisa Colak signed an agreement on the return of illegal immigrants and a protocol on its implementation as they met in Ljubljana on Monday. More » Schedule of Events from 26 September to 1 October More »

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