News roundup - Monday, 15 May

Coalition wants to dismiss nine members of RTV programme council

LJUBLJANA - Coalition parties tabled a proposal to dismiss nine members of the 29-strong programme council at public broadcaster RTV Slovenija for their unlawful activities in voting to appoint Andrej Grah Whatmough as the broadcaster's director general and for failing to act over his dismissal of the TV Slovenija director. Coalition MPs believe these court rulings are a solid basis to dismiss the councillors, saying this is the only sensible thing to do to save the public media outlet. The programme council's chairman Peter Gregorčič said there were no legal grounds for the dismissal, while the opposition accused the government of trying to control the broadcaster.

Talks start in Ljubljana to finalise key atrocities prosecution document

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian foreign and justice ministers Tanja Fajon and Dominika Švarc Pipan opened the diplomatic conference on prosecution of atrocities, confident that a convention on international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes will be adopted. If agreed, the document is to be the first key international treaty in prosecution of atrocities since the 1998 Rome Statute. The biggest conference ever hosted by Slovenia will run until 26 May, bringing together some 300 experts in international public law and international criminal law from around 70 countries.

Strike in higher education to resume on 30 May

LJUBLJANA - The Higher Education Union has announced it would resume strike activities as the talks on addressing its demands, presented last year, have not progressed since mid-March. Reproaching the government for ignoring demands for "pay injustices" to be eliminated, it said the strike would be held on 30 May, and continued in mid-June. The strike demands include regular indexation of wages in the public sector with inflation and the comparability of wages of teachers in higher education with medical specialists, which is based on past agreements.

Pirc Musar meets minority ahead of visit to Italy

LJUBLJANA - President Nataša Pirc Musar met with representatives of the Slovenian minority in Italy to discuss the current challenges they face, before she heads to Italy to meet with her counterpart Sergio Mattarella. The talks revolved around efforts to guarantee seats to minority representatives in the Italian parliament, the return of National Hall in Trieste, and the European Capital of Culture project.

Arčon discussed cross-border cooperation in Budapest

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Minister for Slovenians Abroad Matej Arčon met with government officials, MPs, and Slovenians living in the Hungarian capital including Ferenc Kalmar, an official in charge of Hungary's neighbourhood policy at the Foreign Ministry, and Miklos Soltesz, a state secretary for churches and minorities at the Hungarian prime minister's office. He highlighted boosting cooperation of municipalities on both sides of the border populated by the Slovenian and Hungarian minorities as one of the goals to be pursued.

Govt support drops, Freedom Movement stable, poll shows

LJUBLJANA - The latest Vox Populi poll conducted for the newspaper Dnevnik shows that the support to the government continued to drop in May. The share of respondents who assess the government's work as unsuccessful stands at 48.2% while 45.8% see it as successful. The gap between the two groups rose from 0.4 percentage points in April to 2.4 points in May. , while the support to the senior coalition party, the Freedom Movement, remains stable. The opposition Democrats (SDS) are losing ground.

Registered lobbyists want regulation of lobbying

LJUBLJANA - With only 83 lobbyists currently listed in Slovenia's lobbying registry, the Slovenian Association for Legal Lobbying is pushing for the creation of a lobbying chamber. It would oversee licensing and trainings for lobbyists and sanction "rotten apples," the association's head Mihael Cigler said. He said there were probably 1,000-3,000 lobbyists in Slovenia and the vast majority of lobbying is illegal.

EU Commission upgrades Slovenia's growth forecast for 2023 and 2024

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission upgraded its forecast for Slovenia's GDP growth from 1% to 1.2% for this year and from 2% to 2.2% for 2024. For next year, Slovenia's outlook is better than the forecasts for the euro area and the EU, which stand at 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, the inflation outlook in the Commission's spring economic forecast looks a bit grimmer than in the winter interim forecast, but inflation is projected to recede somewhat in 2024.

SSH managers will not get higher pay

LJUBLJANA - The two-member management board of Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) will not get 50% higher pay as proposed by the supervisory board after the move triggered harsh criticism by some politicians and commentators. The supervisory board had proposed that the monthly pay package of chairman Žiga Debeljak be raised from EUR 12,800 to EUR 18,500, and the pay of board member Janez Tomšič from EUR 11,500 to EUR 16,500. The supervisors reversed their decision at the urging of the management board.

Slovenia's energy self-sufficiency down last year

LJUBLJANA - In the face of the Russian attack on Ukraine and a number of domestic issues, Slovenia's energy dependency increased notably in 2022. Own sources covered only 47% of the country's energy needs, which is six percentage points less than the year before. Apart from the regional and global challenges, caused by the Russian aggression in Ukraine, Slovenia was faced with long-term drought, comprehensive maintenance works on its nuclear plant in Krško and disruptions in the supply of lignite from the Velenje mine.

Wolf attack triggers protest, ministry reserved

BLED - About 50 locals held a protest near Bled after a much publicised killing of what varying accounts say were up to seven sheep by a wolf on Sunday. The protesters claim that the sheep were killed despite proper fence protection and that the size of the wolf population and its behaviour have gotten completely out of hand. The Ministry for Natural Resources said the incident remained to be investigated and indicated that calls for tougher measurers against the wolf population were unrealistic.

Slovenia-wide public transport pass coming in June

LJUBLJANA - A new public transport pass will allow passengers to use all public transport in Slovenia except for city transport starting on 1 June. The pass will allow seamless travel across the country with different modes of transport and providers. Public transport in cities will be integrated in the next phase. Annual, monthly, weekly, three-day and daily passes will be available.

Vzajemna files suit to stay cap on top-up health insurance premium

LJUBLJANA - Insurer Vzajemna has filed an action with the Administrative Court seeking the staying of a government decision to cap the monthly top-up health insurance premium. Vzajemna chairman Aleš Mikeln sees the cap as a much bigger problem than the potential abolition of supplementary health insurance. He expects the legislator to compensate Vzajemna for the loss of income that will result from this.

Restrictions on appointment of receivers found unconstitutional

LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court has declared as unconstitutional the part of insolvency legislation stipulating that the official receiver may not conduct proceedings if a final indictment has been filed or a main hearing scheduled against them. Parliament has one year to address the unconstitutionality, until when the provisions will nevertheless apply. Having been found to be unconstitutional is part of Article 112 of the Financial Operations, Insolvency Proceedings, and Compulsory Dissolution Act.

Salus's net profit down 32% to EUR 2.8m in first quarter

LJUBLJANA - The Salus group, a wholesaler of medications and medical devices, posted EUR 140.95 million in operating revenue in the first quarter of the year, which is 12% more than in the same period a year ago. The group's net profit, meanwhile, dropped by 32% to EUR 2.8 million. The operating profit amounted to EUR 3.45 million euros, and gross operating profit stood at EUR 4.68 million. "This is less than in the same period last year, but in line with plans", Salus said, noting that this was mostly due to one-off events last year.

Jan Polanc ends cycling career due to heart issues

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian cyclist Jan Polanc is retiring from pro cycling due to heart issues, his team UAE Team Emirates announced on Monday. The difficult decision to retire came after routine cardiac scans in the winter of 2022 showed irregularities. Having been with UAE Team Emirates since the very start of his career, he is hopeful he could continue "in this family in some capacity on the road ahead".

Slovenian physicist who was NASA's leading scientist dies

LOS ANGELES, US - Slovenian physicist Dušan Petrač, who was a leading NASA scientist, has died aged 91. The news of the death of the long-term member of the opposition Democrats (SDS) was announced by SDS head Janez Janša on Sunday. Petrač was a world-renowned physicist and the first Slovenian candidate for a flight into space. Since 1973 he was directly involved in experiments in the zero-gravity laboratory, and in experiments with rockets, space taxis and artificial satellites.