News roundup - Friday, 21 July, until 3pm

Employers quit main industrial relations forum

LJUBLJANA - Organisations representing businesses announced they were quitting the Economic and Social Council over their opinion on laws such as those on long-term care and labour relationships being ignored and due to ever more burdens imposed on the economy. "Some ministries don't understand social dialogue, turning it into social monologue and we cannot and will not participate in such a difficult environment because we've been reduced to the role of observers," Marjan Trobiš, the head of the Employers' Association, said, calling for a tripartite dialogue to be established on an equal basis.

President scolds government over opinion on migration laws

LJUBLJANA - President Nataša Pirc Musar is negatively surprised by the government issuing an opinion that its considered the changes to immigration and asylum laws adopted by the previous government constitutional. Some of the ministers unwittingly endorsed the position even if the challenged the laws before the Constitutional Court in the previous term. The president said decision-makers must be well-acquainted beforehand with the content they are deciding on.

Extensive damage reported as stormy weather persists

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia will not get a respite from extreme weather conditions yet. The Environment Agency issued a red alert for the central and western parts of the country for this afternoon due to the high likelihood of severe storms with hail, strong gusts of wind and lightning. Storms raged for the third day running on Thursday, with strong winds, hail and heavy rain causing more damage to crops, buildings, infrastructure and forest in particular in the northern, central and southeastern parts of the country.

Deactivation of WWII bomb in Nova Gorica to go ahead on Sunday

NOVA GORICA - The 250-kilogram aerial bomb from World War II that was discovered near the Slovenian-Italian border in Nova Gorica on Monday will be deactivated and removed on Sunday. Nearby residents, including in Gorizia on the Italian side, will be evacuated for the duration of the operation. The deactivation is scheduled from 10am to 2pm, with the evacuation to start at 7am. About 1,100 residents will be evacuated in Slovenia and 2,200 on the Italian side.

Traffic flow improved at former border crossing Dragonja

DRAGONJA - The authorities have removed a few small facilities at Dragonja and secured new road markings to improve traffic flow at the former border crossing with Croatia. Similar measures are also planned at other former border crossings with the southern neighbour. The new design of the border crossing was presented by representatives of the interior and infrastructure ministries, which cooperate in the project to revamp all border crossings with Croatia after the country joined the Schengen Area in January.

Consumer confidence boosted

LJUBLJANA - The consumer confidence index improved by one percentage point on the monthly level in July after deteriorating in June. In the yearly comparison it rose by seven percentage points, according to the Statistics Office. The rise on the monthly level is a result of more optimistic consumer expectations about household finances. Consumers were less optimistic about their expectations regarding the country's state of economy.

Social workers under scrutiny after six-year-old tests positive for cocaine

PIRAN - A six-year-old boy has been found with cocaine in his system after staying with his father in Piran. The father is now in custody while the social work centre in charge is under scrutiny for not heeding the mother's warnings that the father, who is a drug addict, is unfit to be a carer, TV Slovenija reported on Thursday. The boy was also diagnosed with a heart murmur. The mother told TV Slovenija that her son had severe nose bleeds and frequent bouts of angina over the past six moths.

E-scooter accidents surge, riders mostly at fault

LJUBLJANA - The number of traffic accidents involving e-scooters is climbing at an alarming rate, with the Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency recording 101 such cases by mid-June alone. Most often, the riders themselves cause the accidents and are not aware of how fast they are going with their e-scooters, the agency said. 65.3% of the riders were to blame for the accidents this year, up half a percentage point on last year, when two riders died. This year, 12 people were severely injured and 69 sustained minor injuries.