News roundup - Friday, 6 January, until 3pm

Patients queueing from midnight to get GP

LJUBLJANA - A long line of patients hoping to be able to sign up for a GP formed for the fourth day running in front of the Bežigrad unit of the Ljubljana Community Health Centre, which opened two doctor's offices for patients without a named GP. Media reported that the queue was nearly one kilometre long as first patients arrived at midnight to make sure to get a place with one of the two GPs as each only takes up to 70 daily. They will be able to take up to 2,500 patients. Health Minister Danijel Bešič Loredan will meet the Ljubljana mayor and the health insurance fund manager next week to find a solution so patients would not have to sign up in person.

SDS indignant at Zemljarič's state funeral

LJUBLJANA - The opposition Democratic Party (SDS) expressed indignation and protest at the government's decision to have the former head of the National Security Service and one of the most influential Slovenian politicians Janez Zemljarič buried with military honours. On the day of his funeral, the SDS spoke of "a gross attack on the right to human dignity". Among pther things, Zemljarič served in 1975-1976 as the director of the UDBA intelligence agency that notoriously doubled as a political secret police.

Janša's lawyer to be replaced as Luka Koper supervisor

KOPER - The manager of the majority state stake in the port operator Luka Koper called a shareholders' meeting for 6 February to decide on the replacement of the supervisory board members who were appointed under the previous government, including Franci Matoz, the lawyer of former PM Janez Janša. The meeting will also take note of the resignation of Tamara Kozlovič, who stepped down as a supervisor in May 2022 after she was elected an MP for the Freedom Movement, the party of Prime Minister Rober Golob.

Many Slovenian ski slopes closed due to warm weather

LJUBLJANA - Unseasonably warm weather has forced many Slovenian ski slopes to close due to lack of snow. Not only is there no snowfall, but the temperatures are also too high to make artificial snow. The ski slopes that are open struggle to create the minimum skiing conditions for their visitors. "The warm winter ... has eaten up the snow that the ski resorts managed to make before the holidays," said Manuela Božič Badalič, the head of the Slovenian Ski Lift Association. The country's highest-altitude ski resort Kanin is the only resort currently operating normally, while the Cerkno, Soriška Planina, Stari Vrh and Gače ski resorts are closed.

Equality ombudsman speaks out as Roma denied service in bar

LJUBLJANA/MURSKA SOBOTA - The Advocate of the Principle of Equality has found that a group of Roma men were discriminated against based on their ethnicity in a bar on the outskirts of Murska Sobota (NE), near the Roma village of Pušča. According to a complaint that the advocate received about the incident, they were refused service, with the waitress outright telling them that she would not serve them because they were Roma. She told them that prior to their visit, a group of Roma had started a fight at the bar.

Čeferin only candidate for UEFA president

NYON, France - Aleksander Čeferin, the Slovenian lawyer who has led the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2016, is now officially the only candidate for the post for the coming four-year term. UEFA confirmed that they did not receive any other bids. The new president will be elected on 5 April at UEFA's congress in Lisbon.