News roundup - Thursday, 18 January, until 3pm

Slovenia calls for dialogue ahead of EU Parliament Hungary vote

LJUBLJANA - As the European Parliament takes a vote today on whether to call on the European Council to take further steps against Hungary, Slovenia called for dialogue both on this issue and aid for Ukraine. The office of the Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob sees the escalation as a bad scenario for both the EU and Hungary. "The best option is to talk and reach an agreement, but this is not the only option," it added. It believes radical moves are not necessary in the search for a solution to help Ukraine.

State prosecutors announce strike for 31 January

LJUBLJANA - The Association of State Prosecutors announced that they would go on strike on 31 January because of the government's failure to implement a Constitutional Court ruling on judges' salaries. If an agreement does not avert the strike, only urgent and priority matters or cases that are soon to become statute-barred will be dealt with on that day, the association's head Boštjan Valenčič told the STA. State prosecutors' pay is tied to judges' pay.

Minister Švarc Pipan not considering resignation for now

LJUBLJANA - Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan, who has come under fire over an allegedly severely overpaid acquisition of a building meant to house several courts, said that she was not thinking of resigning for the moment and that she enjoyed the support of Prime Minister Robert Golob for now. She said that, after a first review of the documentation, the State Attorney's Office had expressed the preliminary opinion that the purchase was not uneconomical from the point of view of the price of the premises.

SDS wants consultative referendum on new nuclear plant

LJUBLJANA - The deputy group of Democrats (SDS) filed a proposal to call a consultative referendum on whether to construct a new reactor at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) and smaller modular reactors. The largest opposition party supports the project, but it believes that Krško 2 is not a "project of one company, but of the whole of Slovenia, which urgently needs a strong and stable source of energy".

Govt and unions sign annex to collective bargaining agreement for education

LJUBLJANA - The government and five education trade unions signed an annex to the collective bargaining agreement for education. Among the main changes are the right to a sabbatical for higher education staff, and systemic pay for primary and secondary school teachers who accompany kids on multi-day school trips. The annex partly implements the strike agreements the government concluded with SVIZ last March and with the Higher Education Trade Union last July to avert strikes.

Janša says migration is social, economic and security problem

KOPER - Opposition Democrats (SDS) head Janez Janša discussed migration at a public debate yesterday to underscore that this will be the main topic ahead of the European election. He noted the difference between refugees and economic migrants, labelling those who are neither of the two as the biggest problem. Janša said that migration was a social, economic and security problem.

Ex-state secretary Leben found guilty of integrity breach

LJUBLJANA - The Administrative Court has upheld the decision by the anti-graft commission that Jure Leben violated integrity rules in June 2018 when the government was looking for the operator of Maribor airport in a public-private partnership after he appealed the commission's decision. At the time, Leben served as state secretary at the Infrastructure Ministry in the Miro Cerar government.

Two dozen cattle returning to home farm after contentious seizure

LJUBLJANA - The authorities have started returning the two dozen cattle that had been seized from a farm near Krško in a highly-publicised case as the second instance authority upheld the appeal by the farmer, Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry head Roman Žveglič told the press, adding that the farmer had informed him of the relevant decision of the authorities. The farmer's son claims that the animals are in a worse condition now than at the time of the seizure.