News roundup - Monday, 29 May, until 3pm

RTV Slovenija case goes to Strasbourg court

LJUBLJANA - After the Slovenian Constitutional Court reversed its decision to stay the amended RTV Slovenija Act, the group challenging the law has taken its case to the European Court of Human Rights. By lifting the stay, the court denied the petitioners the only remedy available to them in Slovenia, opening "our path to the European Court of Human Rights", Peter Gregorčič, the lead petitioner, and Matej Avbelj, the author of the petition, announced. They allege violation of the right to a fair trial.

RTV Slovenija staff say repairing damage will not be easy

LJUBLJANA - Employees at public broadcaster RTV Slovenija welcomed the Constitutional Court's rescinding of its earlier decision to stay changes to the RTV Slovenija act. This is the start of depoliticising the broadcaster, but repairing the damage will not be easy, representatives of employees, who have been on strike for over a year, said. Union head Helena Milinković expects the new council, which will replace the two existing governing bodies, to meet as soon as possible and start the hard work.

Pirc Musar congratulates Erdogan on re-election

LJUBLJANA - President Nataša Pirc Musar congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his re-election as the president of Turkey. She is looking forward to the continued strategic dialogue between Slovenia and Turkey, Pirc Musar wrote in a tweet. "We look forward to continuing the strategic dialogue between Slovenia and Turkey, to strengthening our partnership in #Nato and to promoting peace and security in the world," Pirc Musar wrote.

EU doubles aerial firefighting fleet, Commissioner says

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The EU is entering the new wildfire season with a much stronger aerial firefighting fleet, European Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič told the European Newsroom in an interview, welcoming Slovenia's decision to buy its own firefighting aircraft. Last year, the hottest year on record in Europe, the RescEU reserve included 13 aircraft, but this year it includes ten Canadairs, 14 light planes and four choppers for a total of 28 aircraft. The increase roughly doubled the water caption capacity of the fleet.

Govt improves rating, president climbs on top in POP TV poll

LJUBLJANA - The Robert Golob government's voter approval rating appears to have stabilised with the poll released by the commercial broadcaster POP TV on Sunday showing its rating going up for the second month after four months of decline. The government's job won the approval of 46.4% of those questioned in the poll, up 0.9 percentage points on the month before. The share of those who disapprove fell by 1.9 points to 40%. Meanwhile, President Nataša Pirc Musar replaced SDS MP Anže Logar as the best rated politician.

Ministry pledges support for municipal housing funds

LJUBLJANA - The Ministry of Solidarity-Based Future committed to adequate funding for the construction of much needed public rental housing as its officials met with representatives of municipal housing funds. "Starting this year, EUR 50 million will be available from the Recovery and Resilience Plan, along with an additional EUR 25.5 million from the budget," Minister Simon Maljevac told reporters on the sidelines of a joint meeting held after visits to individual municipal funds in recent months.

Unemployment decreases further in Q1 y/y

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's unemployment rate dropped 0.5 percentage points year-on-year in the first quarter of the year to 3.8%, but it was 0.3 points higher than the quarter before, according to the Statistics Office. The number of those out of a job was 8% higher than in the final quarter of 2022, but their number and the unemployment rate remained very low nonetheless, the office said. Men accounted for 53% of the unemployed and women for 47%. Among men, unemployment rate was 3.7% and among women the rate was 3.9%.

Photography project approaches death from both sides

LJUBLJANA - Photographer Matija Tomc and his team are working to de-taboo death through an art project dubbed Facing Death, depicting individuals before and after death. Tomc and his partner Špela Jambrek, who have a background in fashion photography and have worked with the Italian edition of Vogue magazine, decided to create the post-mortem portraits as diptychs. On the first photo the person faces death, while on the second they are turned back towards life.