Weekly review of events involving Slovenia, 22-28 September

FRIDAY, 22 September

NEW YORK, US - President Nataša Pirc Musar met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly and urged a comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council.

NEW YORK, US - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon hosted what the Foreign Ministry said was the first meeting of successors to the former Yugoslavia at the ministerial level. Serbia did not attend.

LJUBLJANA - The government's appointment of Samuel Žbogar as head of a special mission for Slovenia's upcoming non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council received mixed reactions with President Nataša Pirc Musar describing the decision as "unusual".

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly rejected the changes to the Local Elections Act that would limit mayorship to two consecutive terms with 69 votes against. Most deputy groups, except the coalition Left, were opposed to the changes.

LJUBLJANA - It was revealed that a trip of Public Administration Minister Sanja Ajanović Hovnik and four of the ministry's employees to a forum in New York in July cost over EUR 33,000. Facing criticism, the minister said the price was reasonable given the circumstances. She found herself in the spotlight again later this week, having granted funds to an NGO led by her former business partner, but her ministry said she had done nothing wrong.

TRIESTE, Italy - Senator Tatjana Rojc addressed a question to Italian education and finance ministers after the ministries passed a decree that would close three schools with Slovenian as teaching language in Friuli Venezia Giulia between 2024 and 2027. Rojc told the ministers that the closure of schools is against the law.

SATURDAY, 23 September

LJUBLJANA - President Nataša Pirc Musar and other Slovenian high officials expressed their condolences to Italy after the death of former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

LJUBLJANA - A total of 289 employers applied for reimbursement of wages paid to 7,036 employees who were ordered to do other work than their own after the early August floods, such as cleaning production facilities, official data showed.

SUNDAY, 24 September

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia strongly condemned the attack on Kosovo police that killed one police officer, urging a cessation of violence and expressing condolences to the family and friends of the victim.

PORTOROŽ - Ex-internees and political prisoners from Nazi and Fascist camps gathered for their 62nd annual get-together, held under the auspices of President Nataša Pirc Musar.

MONDAY, 25 September

LJUBLJANA - The final investment decision for a potential new unit at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) is expected to be made in 2027 or 2028, noted the task force coordinating the preparations at its maiden session. In this case the new facility could be completed by 2038.

LJUBLJANA - Municipalities reported over EUR 2.7 billion in damage caused by the August floods, not including the damage to businesses. The data has been sent in by 173 out of the country's 212 municipalities in more than 23,500 individual forms.

LJUBLJANA - Steel group SIJ has initiated legal proceedings against the investment promotion agency SPIRIT after the government halted the payment of energy price subsidies due to the company's decision to pay dividends for 2022 and confirm a general management remuneration policy.

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian and Macedonian interior ministers signed a memorandum on development aid cooperation, as Oliver Spasovski started a two-day visit to Slovenia. Slovenia's Boštjan Poklukar reiterated Slovenia's support for North Macedonia's efforts to join the EU.

LJUBLJANA - A preliminary estimate by the Geological Survey of Slovenia shows that some 10,000 landslides were triggered around the country after the early August storms and floods, with the cost of landslide mitigation work estimated at around EUR 2 billion.

LJUBLJANA - Daren Tang, director general of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, visited Ljubljana and offered to help Slovenia with drafting a national strategy for the protection of intellectual property, which is expected to be adopted next year.

TUESDAY, 26 September

LJUBLJANA - The office of Prime Minister Robert Golob dismissed reports by several media outlets implying that Golob might have been using private jets for purposes other than official business. It said private jets were used only for official business and only when absolutely necessary.

SKOPJE, North Macedonia - Defence Minister Marjan Šarec and his Macedonian counterpart Slavjanka Petrovska signed a defence cooperation agreement which replaces an existing cooperation agreement from 1994.

DRAŽENCI - After almost ten hours of negotiations, the police apprehended a man who shot at police officers from a balcony in Draženci, south-east of Ptuj, and barricaded himself in the house. No one was injured.

WEDNESDAY, 27 September

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian police stepped up activities along the border with Croatia by deploying additional officers along the main corridors where migrants enter the country. Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said these were not internal border checks, but "compensatory measures".

PREVALJE/SLOVENJ GRADEC/MEŽICA/ČRNA NA KOROŠKEM - The government made a number of promises to expedite post-flood reconstruction efforts as it visited the northern region of Koroška, including assistance services, more heavy machinery, accommodation and free legal aid. Authorities continue to deal with the issue of hazardous silt.

LJUBLJANA - Economy Minister Matjaž Han hosted Faisal bin Fadhil Alibrahim, the minister of economy and planning of Saudi Arabia, for talks on cooperation. Han noted that trade in goods was unbalanced and opportunities to increase exports to Saudi Arabia were needed.

LJUBLJANA - The devastating floods in August caused EUR 380.81 million of damage to 1,172 businesses that reported the damage to the Economy Ministry. Some EUR 31.77 million of aid will be disbursed in October in the form of advanced payments.

LJUBLJANA - The National Council vetoed changes to the Animal Protection Act, changes to the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry Act, and a bill granting amnesty for fines issued during the Covid-19 pandemic, which are all likely to be passed in a re-vote by the lower chamber.

LJUBLJANA - The Administrative Court dismissed a lawsuit by an environmental NGO against the decision of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning to cull 230 brown bears in 2023. Suspended by a temporary injunction, the culling may now continue, the ministry announced.

BRNIK - Hungarian budget airline WizzAir launched a regular route between Ljubljana and Skopje. It will be flying between the two capitals throughout the year twice a week, on Wednesday and Sundays.

THURSDAY, 28 September

LJUBLJANA - The government adopted the draft national budgets for the next two years, focusing on reconstruction after the August floods. This will raise the planned expenditure by EUR 1 billion next year. Slovenia will try to justify the higher public deficit in Brussels.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar and his Croatian counterpart Davor Božinović discussed joint activities for the prevention of illegal migration. They agreed to strengthen joint patrols and compensatory measures, including specially trained police officers and the use of technical surveillance.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar disagreed with the European Commission's recent statement that there has been improvement on the Austrian-Slovenian border. Austria's internal border controls continue to be a disproportionate and unlawful measure, he said.

LJUBLJANA - Andrej Benedejčič has not yet assumed his new job as the head of the Slovenian diplomatic mission to NATO, although his new posting was published in the Official Gazette as early as July. "He is expected to do so soon, as soon as he completes his outstanding duties at the prime minister's office," the Foreign Ministry explained for the STA.

LJUBLJANA - The government appointed long-standing diplomat Sanja Štiglic as state secretary at the Foreign Ministry as a replacement for Samuel Žbogar, who held the position until now but had to step down so that he can take over on 1 October as head of a special mission for Slovenia's upcoming non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

LJUBLJANA - The teachers' trade union SVIZ announced a rally for 25 October since it believes that the government's latest proposal to tackle pay disparities in the public sector does not eliminate those in education, culture and science, but rather maintains or even increases them.

LJUBLJANA - Marta Kelvišar, the director of the Črnomelj-based maker of mobile homes and glamping tents Adria Dom, has been named Manager of the Year by the Manager Association, which described her as a charismatic leader who prioritises action over promises.