News roundup - Monday, 29 May

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. The top court's decision was published in the Official Gazette, which means that the council has to be constituted in no more than seven days.

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.

Erdogan to consolidate his power in next five years, analyst says

LJUBLJANA - For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, success in the general and presidential elections means that he could complete in the next five-year term the process of consolidation of his power he started in 2016, analyst Faris Kočan from the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences has told the STA. He believes that the opposition has done all it could, but it was just not enough to win.

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.

Govt's proposal on public sector pay changes does not meet unions' expectations

LJUBLJANA - The government presented its proposal on tackling pay disparities in the public sector worth EUR 267 million. Trade unions have not received an official proposal yet, so they did not wish to comment but the head of the negotiating group, Jakob Počivavšek, said the figure was lower than expected. Public Administration Minister Sanja Ajanović Hovnik told the press after the talks that eliminating pay disparities did not mean a pay raise.

Koroška expressway to be built half a year early

LJUBLJANA - The 30-kilometre expressway linking Slovenj Gradec to the A1 motorway between Maribor and Ljubljana will be built six months ahead of schedule, in June 2028, Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek announced. Valentin Hajdinjak, the CEO of motorway company DARS, said administrative delays could not be made up for in construction time. Bratušek and Hajdinjak spoke to the press after a meeting with the mayors of communities living along the course of the road.

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%.

Slovenia records low share of youth neither employed nor in education

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Slovenia ranks among EU countries with the lowest share of young people aged 15-29 who were neither employed nor in education or training in 2022, Eurostat data shows. Standing below the EU average, the country's share was 8.5%, while the EU figures ranged from 4.2% in the Netherlands to 19.8% in Romania. Slovenia's share was seventh lowest in the EU, reads a report Eurostat released last week.

New commercial zone opens in Kidričevo

KIDRIČEVO - A new commercial zone was inaugurated in Kidričevo near Ptuj by Mayor Anton Leskovar and Economy Minister Matjaž Han. The municipality in eastern Slovenia has received more than EUR 2 million in EU grants for the EUR 4 million project, while the Economy Ministry chipped in almost EUR 700,000. The new 25-hectare commercial zone is expected to expand to degraded areas quickly, as 20 hectares of the land have already been taken by various businesses.

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.