News roundup - Thursday, 15 February

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.

Slovenia must do its homework in defence, minister says

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia must do its homework in defence and be ready to protect its territory regardless of statements abroad, Defence Minister Marjan Šarec said after a NATO defence ministerial in a reference to statements made by Donald Trump, the most likely Republican candidate in the US presidential elections, who said at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO members that do not meet their financial obligations. Šarec believes it is too early to talk about reintroduction of compulsory military service in Slovenia, as some European countries decided to reintroduce it in recent years.

Fajon and Dutch FM discuss Gaza, Ukraine and EU enlargement

LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon met with her Dutch counterpart Hanke Bruins Slot in The Hague. The pair confirmed the excellent relations between the countries and exchanged views on current European and international topics. They advocated for the aid for civilians in Gaza and for ensuring Russia's responsibility for crimes in Ukraine. Fajon reiterated Slovenia's support for the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans before 2030 and called on Bruins Slot to have the Netherlands endorse the opening of negotiations of Bosnia-Herzegovina with the EU in March.

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.

ESA official pays a visit to discuss Slovenia's membership

LJUBLJANA - European Space Agency (ESA) official Eric Morel de Westgaver visited Slovenia to discuss with Economy Ministry State Secretary Matevž Frangež the next steps Slovenia is to take towards full ESA membership and its progress in space technology. Slovenia became an associate member of ESA in 2016, and officially submitted its bid for full membership in November 2023.

Govt adopts ambitious healthcare plan for 2024

LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a legal framework meant to facilitate access to compulsory health insurance services. Key measures include easier access to outpatient specialist examinations and to GPs, as well as expanded funding for a selection of services. The regulation on the programme of compulsory health insurance services for 2024, which hopes the address continuing issues with long waiting lines and lack of GPs, was drawn up by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the ZZZS health insurance fund and the Association of Health Care Institutions of Slovenia.

Ombudsman points to loopholes in environmental legislation

LJUBLJANA - Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina warned the parliamentary inquiry into suspected abuse of office in the construction of the C0 sewerage pipeline 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 is 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.

Another EUR 195m for flood damage for businesses

LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a programme to repair the damage the August 2023 floods caused to businesses, based on which it will provide EUR 195 million in state aid from the national budget this year. The programme to repair the damage to businesses in the floods and landslides last August is worth a total of EUR 230 million and is the legal basis for the payment of the remaining part of the aid the Ministry of the Economy has not yet distributed in the form of advance payments.

Slovenia-Hungary agreement on minorities development gains momentum

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenia-Hungary agreement on cooperation in the development of ethnically mixed areas on both sides of the countries' border has been given a fresh impetus after two years of stagnation. The relevant commission urged the government to speed up the agreement's implementation and consider the possibility of a similar agreement with Italy. The agreement was adopted two years ago, under the Janez Janša government, but without any technical arrangements on its implementation, Humar said.

Committee okays bill on cultural rights of ex-Yugoslavian communities

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Culture Committee endorsed on Thursday the government bill on Slovenia's implementation of cultural rights of national communities from the former Yugoslavia. One of the additional amendments to the bill would enable children from these communities to learn their mother tongue in school. The Democrats' (SDS) deputy group proposed the withdrawal of this item from the agenda, as the largest opposition party considers that there is no need for this law.

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.