News roundup - Wednesday, 26 July

Storms damage 10,000 hectares of farmland in two weeks

LJUBLJANA - Storms bringing hail, strong winds and heavy rainfall raging across Slovenia for the past two weeks have damaged crops, orchards and vineyards in an area of 10,000 hectares, according to first estimates by the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry. The chamber urged adoption of an emergency bill to help farmers. Greenhouses and forests were also hit hard, with the first estimate by the Forest Service saying that more than 540,000 m3 of timber has been damaged in the July storms, or 10% of the annual felling of tress in Slovenia.

North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project gets final approval

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's power holding HSE signed last week a contract on EU funding with the Clean Hydrogen Partnership for the project North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley, which in effect means the six-year project has received the green light. It will be launched in September, HSE said in a press release. As the lead partner, HSE signed the contract on behalf of all participating countries or regions - Slovenia, Croatia and Italy's Friuli Venezia Giulia, but did not provide any other details.

Govt adopts regulation to improve healthcare accessibility

LJUBLJANA - The government adopted on Tuesday a regulation setting down additional medical services which will be paid based on realisation. The regulation applies to those specialist services where at least 1,500 people were waiting beyond the maximum allowable waiting time on 1 June, and to hip and knee replacement surgery and hernia surgery in hospital.

Unicredit Slovenija's net profit doubles to EUR 28m in H1

LJUBLJANA - Net profit of UniCredit Banka Slovenija, the Slovenian subsidiary of the Italian banking group UniCredit, stood at around EUR 28 million in the first half of 2023, up by some 15 million year-on-year, and the subsidiary's revenue in the first six months of 2023 grew by 37.4% to EUR 52 million, UniCredit said. Net profit in the second quarter of the year was at around EUR 13 million compared to the EUR 4 million in the same period last year.

State consolidating ownership of Terme Olimia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) decided on behalf of the state as the sole shareholder of Slovenske Železnice that almost the entire distributable profit of the railway operator, amounting to EUR 9.9 million, be paid out to the state in the form of a 24% stake in the spa operator Terme Olimia. The rest(around EUR 117,000) is to remain undistributed. The transaction, which will be carried out in 60 days, will increase the stake held by the state in Terme Olimia to some 67%. The remaining stake is also indirectly owned by the state.

Hydrogen association founded in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - The National Hydrogen Association of Slovenia was established this month to bring together companies, research centres, universities and other stakeholders involved in development and use of hydrogen technologies. Its president Mihael Cigler, who is also president of the Slovenian Association for Legal Lobbying, said that the association would like Slovenia and its business to be more ambitious when it comes to hydrogen technologies, so it will promote and encourage their development. They see the trapping of nutrias as approved by the ministry as poaching or illegal hunting.

Violent wind causes incidents at sea

KOPER - Strong tramontane winds caused disruption at sea, unmooring a container ship at the Koper port. The Koper municipality said the Cosco cargo ship was detached from its berth and drifted to just a few metres away from the passenger terminal near the city's beach. Three tugboats fastened the ship back to the quay with the information so far indicating that damage has been prevented. A passenger boat running between Piran and Ankaran which had 25 passengers on board meanwhile had to be rescued by the coastguard and two other boats.

NGO turns to Constitutional Court on behalf on nutrias

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia Helsinki Monitor, a human rights organisation, has petitioned the Constitutional Court to stay and review the Agriculture Ministry's decision to allow the removal of nutrias from the Ljubljana Marshes. It argues the decision runs afoul with the constitution, laws and bylaws, including the regulations on the landscape park south of the capital.

Chinese smoker brings train to Jesenice to stop

NOVA GORICA - A 43-year-old Chinese citizen decided to have a smoke during the ride on a train from Nova Gorica to Jesenice on Tuesday evening, triggering a fire alarm system and automatically bringing the train to a stop and causing a delay. The train came to a halt near the Kanal railway station, some 20 kilometres north of Nova Gorica, the local police department said. The Chinese has been reported to the relevant inspection services for violating the ban on smoking and causing the train to be delayed.