Former President and former prime minister Janez Drnovsek died on 23 February, at the age of 57. Dr. Janez Drnovsek was a seminal figure in Slovenia's transition to a market economy and its membership of the EU and NATO, leading Slovenia as prime minister for most of the 1990s and in the last five years as the president. He battled cancer for most of his last ten years in office. Condolences over the death of Former President Janez Drnovsek were sent on Saturday by all Slovenian politicians and religious officials. Numerous high-ranking foreign officials paid tribute to deceased Former President Janez Drnovsek, including the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and presidents of Croatia and Italy, Stipe Mesic and Giorgio Napolitano. Hundreds of people signed the book of condolences for Former President Janez Drnovsek. The government meanwhile declared Monday a day of mourning and decreed that flags on state institutions fly at half-mast from Saturday until the end of the day of the funeral. Slovenian embassies will meanwhile open their doors to people who want to sign books of condolences on 26 and 27 February.
Former President and Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek died on 23 February at his home in Zaplana, at the age of 57. Having led four governments between 1992 and 2002 with a brief intermission in 2000, Former President Janez Drnovsek was the longest-serving Slovenian prime minister. He steered Slovenia through the transition to a market economy and towards the EU and NATO. More »
The Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitrij Rupel and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Rangin Dadfar Spanta focused in their talks on Slovenia's contribution to the stability and reconstruction of Afghanistan. They concentrated on developments in the region, analysing the situation in Afghanistan and the influence exerted by Pakistan and Iran. Minister Rupel showed great interest in the democratisation of Afghanistan and assessed some developments, especially in education, as positive. More »
Slovenian Defence Minister Karl Erjavec and his Finnish counterpart Jyri Hakamies signed on Friday a letter of intent on cooperation in defence, which Hakamies labelled as a good basis for future cooperation in defence industry. More »
The government adopted on Thursday several laws from the area of judiciary, including the amendments to the attorneys act, the criminal procedure act and the bill on mediation in civil and business cases. More »
Belgium plans to open its labour market for Slovenians in May, the Belgian Interior Ministry confirmed for STA on Friday. This would make Belgium the 11th EU country to open its labour market to Slovenians. More »
Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk highlighted progress in European Commission legislative proposals and financial stability as he presented the priorities of Slovenia's EU presidency to the executive committee of the European Banking Federation (EFB) in Ljubljana on Friday. More »
Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak welcomed on Thursday the passing of a key legislative package on the internal market in goods which the European Parliament adopted in first reading earlier today. Vizjak told the press in Ljubljana that the package mainly benefited small and medium companies (SMEs). More »
The hardware retail chain Merkur had a very successful 2007, according to preliminary business results. The Naklo-based group managed to increase revenues by over 15% to EUR 1.15bn, while operating profit stood at EUR 24.1m. More »
The Anglo-German private equity consortium of Bain Capital & Axos Capital & BT notified the commission overseeing the privatisation of Telekom Slovenije that it was withdrawing its bid to acquire a 49.13% state-owned stake in the telco. More »
Analysts at banking group Raiffeisen Bank expect Slovenia's economy to expand by 5% and inflation to stand at 3.5% this year, according to its Strategy Slovenia 2008 publication. More »
EU ministers responsible for research reached an agreement in Brussels on Monday on the establishment of a fuel cells and hydrogen joint undertaking. Slovenian Minister Mojca Kucler Dolinar and Science and Research Commissioner meanwhile noted that the EU would need more funds for energy research. More »
President of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, headed a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the EU Troika and Afghanistan held at Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia. Apart from Minister Rupel, the EU was represented by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations, Francesc Vendrell from the EU Council General Secretariat, and Rama Yade, French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights. The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was headed by Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta. More »
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said on Monday he hoped Bosnia-Herzegovina would sign the already initialled Accession and Stabilisation Agreement (SAA) with the EU in late March or early April. The precondition for the agreement, the police reform, could be adopted in March, said the Bosnian Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj. More »
The EU is upbeat about the situation in Kosovo and the broader Balkans despite the fallout from Kosovo's declaration of independence. "The situation as a whole is much calmer...I think it will evolve in this direction," the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after Thursday's informal meeting of EU defence ministers. More »
The EU mission to Chad and the Central African Republic is getting back on track after delays caused by a rebel attack earlier this month. "We will be deployed with full operational capabilities before the rainy season, mid to late March," the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after a meeting of EU defence ministers on Thursday. More »
Speaking on the occasion of International Mother Language Day (21 February), Marko Stabej from the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts said that Slovenian was far from being an endangered language and that in case it dies out within a few generations, it will do so along with most other Europe's languages. More »
A festival of Slavonic literatures dubbed "Slavonic Bridge" will kick off on Thursday. The event, running until 8 May, will host a number of established Slavonic authors, including Russian Vladimir Sorokin and Polish Ewa Schilling. More »
The government adopted on Thursday amendments to the medicinal products act. The amendments are needed to align the rules on setting the prices of drugs, Health Minister Zofija Mazej Kukovic told the press after the government's session. More »