News roundup - Tuesday, 28 February, until 3pm

Slovenia's annual inflation rate drops to 9.3% in February

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation rate declined to 9.3% in February from 10% the month before as prices of food continued to rise at a rapid rate, whereas energy price growth eased slightly, shows the latest Statistics Office data. Food and non-alcoholic beverages were 18.3% more expensive than in the year before, contributing 2.8 percentage points to the headline rate.

Energy challenges and nuclear energy discussed by ministers in Stockholm

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Environment Ministry State Secretary Tina Seršen noted after an informal EU ministerial in Stockholm the finding that the EU had managed to cut greenhouse emissions last year despite developments related to the Ukraine war. Seršen also elaborated on Slovenia's participation in a group of like-minded countries using nuclear energy.

EBRD board of directors visiting Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - A delegation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) board of directors is in Slovenia for a two-day visit meeting representatives of the government, the private sector and the diplomatic community. Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič met the EBRD representatives on Monday. "In Slovenia the bank is focusing on energy security, including strengthening renewable energy sources and transfer, storage and distribution networks, and on ensuring liquidity of companies that were affected as a consequence of war," the Finance Ministry said on Twitter.

Volume of production up nearly 10% in 2022

LJUBLJANA - The annual volume of production in Slovenia increased by 8.7% in 2022 compared to the year before, with the biggest rise recorded in construction, that of 33.9%, shows the latest data released by the Statistics Office. The volume of production meanwhile decreased by 0.8% compared to November.

Advocates call for progress in rare diseases treatment

LJUBLJANA - Rare diseases associations called on the government to set up a palliative care system for children, provide better assistance to families and expand treatment funding ahead of Rare Disease Day, observed today.

Supreme Court rejects appeal in Taiwan call centre case

LJUBLJANA - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal on a point of law in a case concerning five members of a Slovenian-Taiwanese criminal gang that operated illegal call centres in Slovenia, Delo reported. The Slovenians Allen and Tomislav Cvek and Taiwanese nationals Chen Wei Chung, Tzu Hsiang Hsu and Peng Syuan Hong were found guilty in April 2020 of unlawfully detaining at least 63 people, mostly citizens of Taiwan, in several underground call centres in Slovenia and Croatia between 2015 and 2018 when they were arrested.

+MSUM opens exhibition on art collections

LJUBLJANA - The Museum of Contemporary Art (+MSUM) will open this evening Exercises in a Collection, an exhibition that reflects on art collections and their exhibitions from a historical perspective to show that ways in which works of art are acquired and put on display are neither static nor permanent but depend on ideology. The museum says on its website that collecting works of art is always tied to various cultural policies, which largely reflect the ideologies of a certain time.

Alpine Association celebrating 130th anniversary

LJUBLJANA - The Alpine Association of Slovenia is marking 130 years of organised mountaineering in Slovenian lands as its predecessor, the Slovenian Mountaineering Society, was established on 27 February 1893 in Ljubljana. Slovenians being known to be avid mountain climbers and being proud of Triglav, the country's highest peak in the Julian Alps, it is no surprise that the association has more than 60,700 members through a number of clubs around the country, making the voluntary umbrella sport association one of the biggest NGOs in Slovenia.