News roundup - Sunday, 7 May

Interior minister visiting North Macedonia

SKOPJE, North Macedonia - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar started a two-day official visit to North Macedonia to meet his counterpart Oliver Spasovski and visit Slovenian police officers working at the country's southern border as part of Frontex. Since April, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has been helping the Macedonian police patrol the EU's external border and fight illegal migration and cross-border crime with over one hundred police officers. Slovenia has contributed five men in blue to the mission.

Slovenia's first human rights ombudsman dies

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's first Human Rights Ombudsman Ivan Bizjak has died, aged 67, media have reported. Bizjak served as interior minister in the Janez Drnovšek government between 1992 and 1994. In September 1994 he was appointed Slovenia's first human rights ombudsman and held the post until 2000. He was justice minister between 200 and 2004, and held several managerial posts before he entered politics.

Boxmark Leather in the green again

KIDRIČEVO - Boxmark Leather, the Kidričevo-based car upholstery maker, saw its sales revenue rise in 2022 by some EUR 8 million to just under EUR 60.5 million, despite global supply problems in the car industry. For the second year in a row, the company operated with profit, which reached EUR 2.2 million. The company, which has around 530 employees, will continue production in programmes with a higher added value to meet its goals in 2023.

Mojca Kumerdej wins Cankar Prize for short stories about violence

VRHNIKA - Author Mojca Kumerdej has won the Cankar Prize for best original literature published over the past year for her collection of eight short stories about different types of violence in different social environments titled Gluha Soba (Deaf Room). "Paradoxically, the eight stories in the Deaf Room brim with voices. Rather then being built on images, they are made out of dialogues or monologues of human or non-human entities such a banknote, plants, objects in an apartment or a car," the jury said, praising the author's fabulative skills.

Public transport in Slovenia not affordable, research shows

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia ranked 14th out of 30 European countries, scoring 18 points out of 100 in an analysis of price accessibility of public transport by Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe. It earned points for a simple ticketing system, free travel for seniors over 65 and a moderate VAT rate at 9.5%. Among the capitals Ljubljana earned 14th place, scoring almost 80 points. The NGO called on the countries to implement affordable long-term tickets, termed climate tickets.