News roundup - Tuesday, 25 April

Fajon calls for restoration of Schengen after meeting with Austrian, Croatian FMs

RIJEKA, Croatia - The foreign ministers of Slovenia, Austria and Croatia stressed the importance of cooperation in energy, providing of aid to Ukraine and migration as they met in Rijeka, Croatia. In the face of Austria's border controls with Slovenia, Minister Tanja Fajon called for restoration of the Schengen Area, pointing put that solutions on illegal migration must be adopted at the EU level. The numbers of illegal border crossings do not currently justify Austria's decision to extend border controls, she said, noting that Slovenia was ready to help protect Schengen's external borders. Meanwhile, her Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg said that Schengen did not work anymore, arguing that proof of that was also a high number of asylum applications in Austria.

Farmers stage another mass rally against restrictive policies

LJUBLJANA - Farmers from around the country gathered in Ljubljana for their second rally in a month to protest against environmental and other restrictions they say are making farming nearly impossible. "We've had enough," Anton Medved, head of the Trade Union of Slovenian Farmers, said on behalf of several thousand farmers who took part in the rally. He was critical of environmental restrictions, tax burdens and unreasonable legislation. Many protesters arrived in Ljubljana by tractor, which caused major traffic disruptions. Agriculture Minister Irena Šinko feels it will be possible to come to an agreement during talks expected after the May Day holidays on the basis of a new ministry proposal, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning is also hopeful agreement could be reached.

Finance Ministry says VAT rise not announced in stability programme

LJUBLJANA - The Finance Ministry rejected reports that this year's stability programme, to be shortly sent to the European Commission, includes plans to raise the value-added tax rate. As some media reported that the draft document also contained calculations of budget revenue in case of a higher VAT rate, the ministry said that it was standard procedure to include the analysis of various factors pertaining to GDP and that this must not be equated with the announcement of its future decisions.

Ministry presents strategy to improve access, quality of healthcare

BRDO PRI KRANJU - The Health Ministry unveiled a national strategy of quality and safety in healthcare for 2023-2031, which it adopted at the start of April as one of the steps towards equal access to medical services of comparable quality across Slovenia. The strategy is based on the principles of quality, safety, accessibility, efficiency, equality, and focus on patients, Aleš Šabeder, head of the ministry's office for control, quality and investment in healthcare, said. The document pursues four goals: outcomes for individuals and the population, costs per individual and the population, patient experience, and staff satisfaction.

Municipalities need 10,800 public rental flats, survey shows

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian municipalities need just over 15,000 housing units, of which around 10,800 rental flats, shows a survey the national Housing Fund carried out this year. The fund has provided the municipalities with EUR 46.7 million in funds through several programmes for 928 public rental flats, of which 551 will be completed in 2023-2024. The 163 municipalities that provided their answers would need 15,041 housing units, Sanja Burnazović, investment sector head, told the press.

Ventilation systems maker Lunos bought by Britain's Volution Group

LJUBLJANA - Lunos, the Ljubljana-based developer of home ventilation systems which recently changed its name to I-Vent, has been acquired by the British company Volution Group, for up to EUR 40 million. Volution Group said I-Vent would continue to be led by its founder Milan Kuster. Regulatory approval is still pending. I-Vent was founded as Lunos in 2010 and has achieved rapid growth in recent years. It presently has 20 full-time employees. In 2022, it generated revenue of EUR 10 million and a net profit of EUR 3.4 million.

Visiting Styria, Han points to benefits of cross-border links

GRAZ, Austria - Economy Minister Matjaž Han visited the Austrian province of Styria for talks with Governor Christopher Drexler and visits to Cargo Center Graz and Talent Center. He said that the benefits of cross-border movement of goods, service and workforce were evident there, and that both sides of the border had merged into a single economic region. "Apart from Austria being our third most important trading partner, Slovenia is also exceptionally important for Austria's export economy, placing first in terms of imports of goods and services from Austria globally at roughly 2,800 euros per capita," Han said.

Calls for ceasefire do not support aggressor, Kučan says about Ukraine war

ŠENTJUR - Milan Kučan, Slovenia's first president, repeated his appeal for peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, telling a ceremony ahead of Day of Uprising Against Occupation that peace talks could not negate Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and that calls for a ceasefire should not be seen as support for the aggressor. He said unity in support of the attacked country should be followed up by unity in the efforts to stop the fighting and create the conditions for peace talks to begin.

Klakočar Zupančič urges more women in international politics

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A long-term goal of Slovenian foreign policy is to empower women in international politics, National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič said on Sunday as she addressed a meeting of women speakers of EU parliaments in Prague before the start of the Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments (EUSC). Slovenia has made great progress in this area, as it marks the first time that women hold the posts of Slovenian president, speaker and foreign minister, she added.

SocDems launch think-tank in pursuit of broad consensus

LJUBLJANA - The Social Democrats (SD) launched the think-tank 1 May Institute, whose aim will be to seek broad social consensus, the party's leader Tanja Fajon said at a joint press conference with Martin Schulz, chairman of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is associated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Schulz, former president of the European Parliament and former leader of the SPD, highlighted the important role of cooperation between political parties or organisations and civil society representatives.

Lenarčič gathers alarming data on air pollution over Indian subcontinent

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian pilot and researcher Matevž Lenarčič has gathered data on air pollution as part of the GreenLight World Flight project over a dozen Middle East countries and the Indian subcontinent, which show the conditions in the atmosphere are rather worrying. Lenarčič conducted measurements on more than 20,000 kilometres in 20 days aboard the Advantic WT10 Research plane, exploring how polluted air masses moving north are warming up the atmosphere and travelling over the Himalayas, where they land on glaciers, creating dark zones, which absorb even more sunlight and thus speed up their melting, the GreenLight World Flight team said.

New ballet festival coming to Ljubljana in June

LJUBLJANA - The cultural centre Cankarjev Dom and the Ljubljana Opera and Ballet House will host in late June the first edition of what they hope will become an annual international ballet festival. This year, Plesne Noči (Dance Nights) will be dedicated to Rudolf Nureyev, who died 30 years ago. Running between 22 and 26 June, the festival will feature dancers from the ballet ensembles in Ljubljana and Maribor, as well as guest dancers from Sofia and Belgrade.