Weekly review of events involving Slovenia, 30 December - 5 January

FRIDAY, 30 December
        LJUBLJANA - The government imposed a cap on electricity prices for micro, small and medium-sized companies for six months starting on 1 January. Maximum retail electricity prices are capped at EUR 217 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the peak rate, EUR 155.5 for the off-peak rate, and EUR 195, excluding VAT, for the flat rate.
        LJUBLJANA - Following an appeal by several business and farming associations, the opposition SDS and NSi petitioned the Constitutional Court to review changes to the income tax act that reverse key parts of a tax reform adopted under the previous government.
        MURSKA SOBOTA - Slovenia donated two ambulances to Ukraine, handed over to Ukrainian Ambassador to Slovenia Andriy Taran by Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, who pledged that Slovenia will continue providing humanitarian assistance. The Foreign Ministry has provided EUR 580,000 for the ambulances.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation rate hit 10.3% in December, driven mainly by high prices of food, as well as of electricity, gas and other fuels, fresh data from the Statistics Office shows. Compared with the month before, consumer prices went up by 0.2%.
        LJUBLJANA - Janez Zemljarič, a politician who held several top posts during communist times and was believed to have retained significant power after independence, died aged 93. Zemljarič was the prime minister of Slovenia's state government between 1980 and 1984, whereupon he spent five years as deputy prime minister of the federal Yugoslav government.
        ROSTOCK, Germany - Ljubljana will host next year's European Youth Meeting, a major event organised by the ecumenical Taizé community. The Ljubljana meeting will be held between 28 December and 1 January, it was revealed at the current European Youth Meeting.

SATURDAY, 31 December
        LJUBLJANA - Business associations welcomed a government decree that caps electricity prices for small businesses. The Chamber of Trade Crafts and Small Business (OZS), which has long been calling for a price cap, said this was the only solution to keep small businesses competitive since the market "simply has not worked" so far.
        LJUBLJANA - Olympic gold medallist and world champion Tina Trstenjak, Slovenia's most successful judoka, has announced she is ending her career. "Having achieved tremendous success, which I am extremely proud of, I've come to the conclusion that it is time to stop at a certain point," the 32-year-old said.
        
SUNDAY, 1 January
        OBREŽJE - Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in Obrežje to celebrate Croatia's entry into the Schengen zone and its introduction of the Euro. They agreed that this was a historic day, with Plenković and Pirc Musar underlining the importance of EU enlargement onto the Western Balkans.
        GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - Ski jumper Anže Lanišek won second place at one of the key event of the season, the Garmisch-Partenkirchen competition of the Four Hills Tournament. Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud won first place and Polish Dawid Kubacki was third.

MONDAY, 2 January
        LJUBNO OB SAVINJI - Ski jumper Urša Bogataj, who suffered a fall at the women's ski jumping Silvester Tour in Ljubno ob Savinji, tore her cruciate ligament, which means she will not be able to compete any more this season, the Slovenian Ski Association said.

TUESDAY, 3 January
        LJUBLJANA - The association of small shareholders VZMD announced it had filed a class action lawsuit against Telekom Slovenije, the telecommunications incumbent, over what it sees as unjustified unilateral price hikes over the past five years. The lawsuit against Telekom Slovenije is worth EUR 122.69 million.
        LJUBLJANA - Salus, the Ljubljana-based pharmaceutical and medical equipment wholesaler, acquired Slovenian medical equipment wholesaler Meditrade. The value of the deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, is EUR 7.16 million.
        LJUBLJANA - The Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy has decided to help those who have health insurance but are unable to get a named GP, arguing this is in breach of patient rights. It thinks patients can file lawsuits at the Social Court.
        LJUBLJANA - The Zoran Janković List and the Freedom Movement, the two largest parties in Ljubljana's city council, signed a coalition agreement focusing on six major projects, including the construction of a new bus and railway terminal, a new hospital, the national library extension, and renovation of the SNG Drama theatre.

WEDNESDAY, 4 January
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia issued an EUR 1.25 billion ten-year sustainability bond plus expanded the outstanding 3.125% bonds due in August 2045 by an additional EUR 250 million. This is the second time that Slovenia issued sustainability bonds, which can be used exclusively to finance sustainability-oriented projects.
        LJUBLJANA - Finding herself under media scrutiny, parliamentary Speaker Urška Klakočar Zupančič defended at a press conference her use of the government jet for a 1 January trip to Vienna. She said her attendance at the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's concert had been part of a state visit conducted upon the invitation of counterpart Wolfgang Sobotka.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia exported EUR 4.8 billion worth of goods in November, a rise of 29.7% from the same month a year ago, as imports of goods rose by 21.1% to EUR 4.8 billion, fresh figures from the Statistics Office showed. The export-import ratio hit 99.9%
        INNSBRUCK, Austria - Slovenia's ski jumper Anže Lanišek placed third in the third event of the Four Hills Tournament in Austria's Innsbruck to advance to third spot in the tournament's overall rankings.

THURSDAY, 29 December
        VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - President Nataša Pirc Musar and Archbishop of Ljubljana Stanislav Zore attended the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Pirc Musar said Slovenia appreciated Pope Benedict's commitment to promoting dignity for fellow human beings, solidarity and compassion for the poor and vulnerable
        LJUBLJANA - Following a temporary injunction issued in 2019, the Constitutional Court has put a final stop to the use of IMSI catchers by law enforcement. The court said legal provisions governing the use of these devices, which mimic mobile phone towers to intercept mobile traffic, breached the right to personal data protection.
        LJUBLJANA - The government decided to draft a national zoning plan for a wind farm with eleven 6 MW wind turbines in Dolenja Vas in the windy Kras region, some 70 km southwest of Ljubljana. Each turbine will be 100 to 150 metres high, and the diameter of the blades will be 115 to 180 metres.
        LJUBLJANA - The government green-lighted an upgrade of a 30-kilometre high-voltage overhead transmission line between Divača and Koper. The doubling of capacity of the 110kV power line is needed above all due to an expected increase in demand at the port of Koper.
        LJUBLJANA - A total of 53,181 people were registered as unemployed at the end of last December, which is up 1.2% compared to last November and down 19.4% compared to December 2021, the Employment Service said.
        LJUBLJANA - A total of 46,339 cars were registered for the first time in Slovenia last year, which is 14.2% less than in 2020. Sales of electrified vehicles increased by almost 12% to 9,170, Chamber of Commerce data show.
        MARIBOR - Pharmaceutical and medical equipment wholesaler Salus has taken over its Maribor-based rival Farmadent for EUR 8.46 million. The deal, which is subject to suspensive conditions, comes two days after Salus took over Meditrade, another wholesaler.
        SOFIA, Bulgaria - Allterco, a Bulgarian developer of internet of things (IoT) solutions, has acquired a 60% stake in GOAP, a Slovenian IoT provider, in a transaction worth EUR 2 million. The agreement includes an option for the purchase of the remaining 40% stake.
        LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana District Court partially accepted a proposal from the defence and excluded some of the evidence in the Balkan Warrior trial. It is not yet known how much of the evidence the court has excluded and to what extent the excluded evidence was incriminating for the accused.
        NOVA GORICA - Two of six defendants pleaded guilty in a case from 2015 involving a faulty gas supply installation job that caused the deaths of at least two patients at the general hospital in Šempeter pri Gorici. The pair were handed a year and 10 months in prison each, however with the option of serving it with 1,330 hours of community service.