News roundup - Wednesday, 27 September, until 3pm

Police beef up checks on border with Croatia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian police stepped up activities along the border with Croatia by deploying additional officers along the main corridors where migrants enter the country. "These are not internal [border] checks, these are compensatory measures," Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar told the press. He said the focus was on detecting people smugglers and cracking down on cross-border, stressing that there is "an important difference" between internal border checks and compensatory measures of the kind deployed now.

Home Affairs Committee suspends marathon migration session

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Home Affairs Committee spent five hours discussing migrations yesterday evening before suspending the session to complete the discussion at a later time. The session was called at the request of the Democrats (SDS), with the opposition party demanding better protection of the southern border, especially in the Brežice area, due to a surge in the number of migrants crossing there. The SDS demanded the government not only stop removing the border fence but to erect new sections, and called for stronger police presence.

Statistics Office director faces dismissal

LJUBLJANA - The head of the Statistics Office, Tomaž Smrekar, likely faces dismissal over an unexpected revision of GDP growth figures for last year after the government yesterday decided to "inform [him] of alleged violations and possible grounds for dismissal" and urged him to respond. The move comes after the Statistics Office surprisingly revised GDP growth figures for 2022 from 5.4% to just 2.5%. It said the wide gap was the result of missing aggregate data at the time that quarterly figures were being prepared.

Judicial Council picks three candidates for ECHR

LJUBLJANA - The Judicial Council has narrowed down the list of candidates who applied for the post of the Slovenian judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to law professors Aleš Galič, Vasilka Sancin and Jure Vidmar. The Judicial Council made the selection at a session on Monday among the eight candidates, all of whom meet the conditions of the call. The term of the current Slovenian judge at the ECHR, Marko Bošnjak, ends in June 2025.

SDS requests committee session due to "staffing tsunami" at RTV Slovenija

LJUBLJANA - The Democrats (SDS) requested a session of the parliamentary Culture Committee to debate recent staffing changes at public broadcaster RTV Slovenija that they claim are "unwarranted purges" that constitute a "staffing tsunami". The party claims the new management unlawfully dismissed two directors, whereas chief news editor Jadranka Rebernik and a series of editors "resigned under tremendous pressure".

GZS urges government to adopt mini business tax reform

LJUBLJANA - The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), which has been warning for months about the decline in economic activity, has come up with a "mini business tax reform" proposal to help companies. It includes a cap on social security contributions, abolition of the highest personal income tax bracket and a lower corporate income tax rate.

New interest expressed in MLM, buyer reportedly wants state aid

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) announced that new interest had been expressed in the state-owned foundry MLM, which hangs in the balance after the latest attempt to find a strategic partner failed. A Chinese investor is interested in MLM, according to unofficial information obtained by the. However, it is reportedly also seeking state aid, which is impossible since the company is no longer entitled to state aid under EU rules.

EBRD sticks with its economic forecast for Slovenia

LONDON, UK - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) retained its economic forecast for Slovenia in its latest forecast. GDP is to grow by 1.5% this year 2.3% next year%, which is in line with the spring forecast. But the forecast for this year is still quite uncertain, given that the early August devastating floods caused a billion euro damage and forced the government to change public financial priorities.