News roundup - Tuesday, 13 February

Slovenia posts current account surplus in 2023

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia recorded a current account surplus of EUR 2.8 billion in 2023, which is a substantial improvement on 2022 when it posted a deficit of EUR 600 million. Contributing the most of the balance of payments surplus was trade in goods, which moved from a deficit in 2022 to a surplus last year, the central bank said. Trade in goods posted a EUR 460 million in surplus last year, while it had a deficit of EUR 2.2 billion in 2022, the Bank of Slovenia says in its latest publication on Slovenia's economic relations with the world.

Foreign tourist-generated revenue at record EUR 3.24bn last year

LJUBLJANA - Revenue generated by foreign tourists in Slovenia last year exceeded EUR 3 billion for the first time ever, reaching EUR 3.24 billion, or 9% more than in 2022, shows data from the central bank. Before plummeting in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the figure reached EUR 2.84 billion in 2019, which means that last year the figure exceeded the numbers from the last pre-Covid year by 14%.

Left calls for action over Israel's genocide against Palestinians

LJUBLJANA - There is no more doubt that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians, said MPs of the junior coalition Left party, Matej Tašner Vatovec and Nataša Sukič. The party believes that it is imperative that both Slovenia and the international community become more involved in preventing genocide in Gaza, so the MPs called on authorities to summon the Israeli ambassador for talks, join South Africa's lawsuit against Israel and impose sanctions against it.

Too little funds in budget for EU election, staff issues emerging in Ljubljana

LJUBLJANA - The National Electoral Commission (DVK) met for its first session after Igor Zorčič took over as its head this month. Discussing the June EU elections, the DVK said the national budget is EUR 920,000 short of the funds needed for the elections. What is more, secretaries of 16 electoral commission in Ljubljana have resigned. "If part of the [Ljubljana] electoral unit, the one under the Ljubljana Administrative Unit, does not provide the staff we need, the elections in Ljubljana could be at stake."

Slovenia expresses willingness to address climate change, food supply issues

NEW YORK, US - Slovenia expressed willingness to help mitigate the consequences of climate change and unreliable food supply in the UN Security Council open debate. Food and water scarcity increase the risk of conflicts that often destroy entire food systems, Foreign Ministry state secretary Sanja Štiglic said. While in New York, she met Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris, Deputy Executive Director of Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations at UNICEF Ted Chaiban and Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat Simon Stiell.

Justice minister leaves SocDems

LJUBLJANA - Outgoing Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan, who has been in conflict with her party, the Social Democrats (SD), over the controversial purchase of a building in Ljubljana that was to house several courts, decided to quit the party on Monday after it turned out she was not invited to the SD's conference and meeting of its presidency. "The party leadership has not been communicating with me for two weeks," she wrote, adding she believed in social democracy but she no longer believed that the SD and its leadership did.

Analyst says the worst yet to come for SocDems

LJUBLJANA - Political analyst Andraž Zorko believes the Social Democrats (SD) are not yet out of the deep crisis after they closed ranks on Monday in the wake of a court building scandal and subsequent plummeting ratings. He says that the coming two months before the electoral congress and the outcome of the congress will be key for the SD. Zorko, director of pollster Valicon, says he expected the public opinion to react to the developments in the SD, especially to how the party dealt with its Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan.

No rise in number of waiting patients amid strike, NIJZ says

LJUBLJANA - Even though a number of medical checks and procedures have been cancelled due to the doctors' strike, which was on its 30th day on Tuesday, statistics so far show no increase in the number of people waiting for health services. On the contrary, there has even been a slight drop in the number of waiting patients, as fewer appointments were cancelled during the strike than in the same period last year, National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) data shows.

Dentists critical of ZZZS funding of dental services abroad

LJUBLJANA - Dentists warned of the rising number of patients receiving treatment abroad for which they are reimbursed by the ZZZS health fund because there are too few providers in the Slovenian public network.. Thus, Slovenia is losing money and patients going out of pocket to private providers in Slovenia are being discriminated against.

Cinkarna shareholders approve EUR 25m dividend payout

CELJE - The shareholders of Cinkarna Celje approved a dividend payout of EUR 3.20 gross per share, to be allocated from the 2022 distributable profit, which had remained undistributed so that the chemical company could keep energy crisis state aid. Under the approved proposal for the dividend payout, coming from Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH), Cinkarna Celje will allocate EUR 25.01 million for dividends, with the remaining EUR 6,000 from the distributable profit to stay undistributed.

Committee okays primary education changes

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Education Committee passed at second reading changes to the Primary School Act on Tuesday, introducing mandatory second language in first grade and nation-wide tests in third grade, among other things. The committee endorsed an amendment, under which children, who do not speak Italian as mother tongue but are enrolled in schools where Italian is the teaching language, start attending classes gradually, depending on their language skills. The changes will be voted on at the plenary on Friday.

More family law cases remain unsolved, report finds

BLED - The Council of Europe, the European Commission and the Justice Ministry presented the first report of a project working to ensure the best interests of children in civil court proceedings. A key challenge are the delays in family proceedings due to a lack of court expert witnesses. There were 6,749 new family civil cases in 2022 and 3,447 cases remained unsolved at the end of the year. At the end of 2022 there were 1,301 unsolved custody, contact and domestic violence cases, which is 13% higher than at the end of 2020 and 2.5% more than at the end of 2021.

Forum looks for ways improve Slovenian-German defence cooperation

LJUBLJANA - A Slovenian-German defence industry forum hosted by the public agency SPIRIT Slovenija heard that there are many opportunities for the two countries to strengthen what is already successful cooperation in defence and security, which is particularly important given the current tense geopolitical situation. Defence Ministry State Secretary Damir Črnčec said Slovenia would like to achieve in a level of cooperation similar to that in automotive industry.

Former head of Association of Slovenians in Hungary dies

SZENTGOTTHARD, Hungary - Jože Hirnök, the founder and long-serving former head of the Association of Slovenians in Hungary, has died aged 66, the umbrella organisation of the Slovenian minority said on Facebook. Hirnök, who led the organisation from its founding in 1990 until 2019, is credited with significantly contributing to Slovenians in Hungary taking the first and crucial step towards creating their own organisation.

Three high-tech fairs open in Ljubljana

LJUBLJANA - Three specialised high-tech fairs opened at Ljubljana's main fairgrounds to run until Thursday. Ifam, Intronika and Robotics cover the areas of automation, electronics, communication and digitalisation. More than 70 exhibitors from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Italy, Poland, Serbia and Slovenia will present their products and services, according to the company ICM, which organises the fairs.

Slovenian jazz festival starts at Cankarjev Dom

LJUBLJANA - The tenth festival celebrating Slovenian jazz creativity started at Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana. Named after one of the best known Slovenian jazz songs from 1958 celebrating spring, Zvončki in Trobentice (Snowdrops and Primroses) will this year be extended to two days, and feature eight jazz bands, including one from Austria as part of cooperation with the Music Export Austria and the Austrian Cultural Forum.