News roundup - Thursday, 15 February, until 3pm

Brussels's 2024 GDP forecast for Slovenia broadly unchanged

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission expects in its winter 2024 economic forecast that Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP) will expand by 1.9% this year and by 2.7% in 2025, broadly unchanged compared to the autumn forecast. The Commission expects the weak business sentiment and low exports demand to constrain growth at the beginning of 2024. With continued strong investment, and recovery of demand in exports markets, growth is projected to improve. In its previous projection, in November 2023, the Commission forecast that Slovenia's economy is to expand by 2% this year and by 2.7% in 2025.

Top Justice Ministry official fired over court building purchase

LJUBLJANA - Igor Šoltes, a state secretary at the Justice Ministry, has been dismissed at the proposal of outgoing Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan due to his role in the controversial purchase of a building in Ljubljana meant to house several courts. The minister initially defended the EUR 7.7 million building purchase but then changed tack, saying that she had grounds to suspect the purchase was orchestrated by several senior ministry officials and members of her Social Democrats (SD), also pointing the finger at Šoltes as one of the ministry officials who suspiciously changed phones at roughly the same time as the scandal was unfolding.

PM Golob notifies parliament of justice minister's resignation

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Robert Golob notified the National Assembly of the resignation tendered to him last week by Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan in the wake of a dodgy EUR 7.7 million real estate acquisition. According to some sources, parliament could terminate her mandate on Friday. Coalition said the move was expected and needed, also expressing the wish that a successor be found soon. In the mean time, Golob will be in charge of the justice department.

Judge Škoberne had rights to fair trial and privacy violated, ECHR finds

STRASBOURG, France - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has unanimously ruled that Slovenia breached judge Milko Škoberne's rights to a fair trial and to privacy in a corruption trial in 2013. He was found guilty of taking bribes in his capacity as Celje District Court judge in exchange for revoking an international arrest warrant. He was the first Slovenian judge to be found guilty of corruption and disbarred. He started serving a five-year prison sentence in January 2015.

Ombudsman points to loopholes in environmental legislation

LJUBLJANA - Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina appeared in front of the parliamentary inquiry into suspected abuse of office in the construction of the C0 sewerage pipeline to warn about what he sees as loopholes in environmental legislation that enable "cheating". He said his relevant recommendations to the authorities had "fallen on deaf ears". In terms of C0, the main issue lies in the 2004 decree on the water protection zone for the Ljubljansko Polje aquifer, situated under the Slovenian capital, which did not require the investor produce an analysis of the risk of pollution of the body of water, or an environmental impact assessment, so the investor has obtained the water consent without any major problems.

Average pay in 2023 up by a tenth over 2022

LJUBLJANA - Average gross pay amounted to EUR 2,221 a month last year, up 9.7% in nominal terms and 2.1% in real terms compared to 2022, the Statistics Office said. Average net pay reached EUR 1,445, up 9.6% nominally and 2% in real terms. In the public sector, average gross pay increased by 10.3% and in the private sector it grew by 9.4%. In December, average gross wage was at EUR 2,348, a drop of 3.2% nominally and 2.7% in real terms compared to November. Average net pay in December was EUR 1,530, a drop of 4% nominally over November and 3.5% in real terms.

Value of construction work up by a fifth in 2023

LJUBLJANA - The value of construction completed in 2023 was 19.2% higher than the value of construction completed in 2022. In December, the value was up 3.9% compared to November and 9.8% in yearly comparison, data by the Statistics Office shows. In 2023 the sector of specialised construction activities reported a 30.8% increase compared to 2022, while the value of civil engineering work rose by 19.8% and the value of building construction increased by 10.6%.

Public transport recovery continued in 2023

LJUBLJANA - The number of passengers transported by public bus and rail services increased again last year, although the growth was markedly lower than in 2022. After the number of passengers on trains grew by a quarter and on buses by more than half in 2022, the figures were up by another 6% and 8% respectively in 2023. Public regular transport operators transported just under 25.89 million passengers last year, up 7.8% compared to 2022, while passenger kilometres travelled grew by the same amount, reaching 487.1 million, according to figures released by the Statistics Office.

Job vacancies down by 4% in Q4

LJUBLJANA - The number of job vacancies in Slovenia continued to decrease in the fourth quarter of 2023, data from the Statistics Office showed. A total of 21,300 jobs were available, a 4% drop compared to the third quarter. The number of occupied jobs has been increasing throughout 2023 and surpassed 810,000 in the fourth quarter. Personnel demand remains high, said the Statistics Office, adding that 4,100 more jobs were available in the fourth quarter in 2023 than in the same period of 2019.

Selection of veterinary school contractor annulled

LJUBLJANA - The National Review Commission has annulled the selection of contractor for the construction of a new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Ljubljana after upholding an appeal by one of the non-selected bidders concerning how the procedure was conducted. Austrian builder Strabag was announced as the pick in December after having conducted negotiations. The project was to be completed for almost EUR 46.6 million without VAT. The National Review Commission however said on Thursday the procedure was not in line with the law.

Burger's Observing at Berlinale film market

BERLIN, Germany - Slovenian film Observing by Janez Burger will be shown on Saturday at the European Film Market (EFM) at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, the first major marketplace for films this year. Several Slovenian films currently in post-production will also be promoted, including six features and three films for children and youth. The film's agent Slingshot Films will organise the screening at Parliament Studio mostly for film buyers, the Slovenian Film Centre said.