News roundup - Thursday, 29 February

Think tank downgrades GDP growth forecast for 2024 to 2.4%

LJUBLJANA - The Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD) downgraded Slovenia's economic growth forecast for this year by 0.4 points to 2.4%. The government think tank kept the projection for 2025 unchanged at 2.5%, while forecasting 2.6% growth in 2026. Inflation is expected to subside for most of this year before increasing a bit again. IMAD expects growth to be positively affected by a further increase in investment, an easing of inflationary pressure and a recovery in foreign demand, although the latter has been a bit slower than forecast last September.

Annual inflation rate slightly up to 3.4% in February

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation rate stood at 3.4% in February, up from 3.3% in January, as prices increased by 0.8% at the monthly level. The annual rate is considerably below that from a year ago when inflation hit 9.3%, Statistics Office figures show. Compared to last February, services were 5.1% and goods 2.6% more expensive. The two biggest contributors to the annual rate in February were higher prices in healthcare (+10.9%) and in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+4.7%). The harmonised index of consumer prices remained the same as in January, at 3.4%.

Govt adopts measures to help patients during doctors' strike

LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a decree listing the additional medical services that doctors have to provide during their strike, especially in regard to vulnerable groups. Due to take effect on Friday, the relevant decree was labelled as unlawful by the trade union of doctors and dentists, Fides, while Health Minister Valentina Prevolnik Rupel said the measures had been green-lit by the government's legal experts. Under existing strike rules, doctors are obliged to treat urgent cases and provide services to patients over 65 or under 18, pregnant women and cancer patients.

Speaker underlines Slovenia's commitment to UN process in Cyprus issue

NICOSIA, Cyprus - National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič stressed during a meeting with Cypriot counterpart Annita Demetriou in Nicosia that Slovenia supports the UN-led negotiation process for resolving the Cyprus issue. Slovenia is committed to a fair and comprehensive solution that will protect the fundamental rights of all Cypriots. Klakočar Zupančič, who is on an official visit, said Slovenia supports progress towards a bizonal and bicommunal federation in line with the UN Security Council resolutions on the issue. She also expressed Slovenia's support for extending the mandate of UN peacekeeping forces in Cyprus, where a contingent of the Slovenian Armed Forces will be redeployed.

Slovenia welcomes withdrawal of EU pesticide bill

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia supports the withdrawal of the proposed EU legislation on sustainable use of pesticides, said the Agriculture Ministry, adding that Slovenia expects the European Commission will soon draft a new proposal, taking into account specific characteristics of member states. When the proposal was first presented Slovenia expressed its support in principle but highlighted the specific characteristics of Slovenia, which would be negatively affected by the regulation, the ministry wrote in a press release.

Majority of SAF exercises to be held abroad

VRHNIKA - The Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) presented their training programme for 2024 in Vrhnika, not too far from their largest exercise grounds, the target of criticism by locals. To limit the noise, nearly two-thirds of exercises planned will be carried out abroad and air exercises will take place during artillery exercises. Nevertheless, the exercise grounds near Postojna, some 30 kilometres southwest of Vrhnika, remain of strategic importance for the SAF, allowing them to take part in missions, said deputy Armed Forces Commander Igor Šepec.

Asylum centres to be set up at two fmr border crossings

LJUBLJANA - The government decided to set up asylum centres in the state-owned buildings at former border crossings of Obrežje and Središče ob Dravi, on the border with Croatia. The cabinet also extended two projects allowing the accommodation and protection of Ukrainian refugees. The asylum centres will be set up for the duration of force majeure, or a period of a maximum of three years.

RTV Slovenija management board pick not endorsed

LJUBLJANA - The council of RTV Slovenija did not endorse chairman Zvezdan Martič's pick for a new management board member at Wednesday's session. Martič had nominated Tina Gruden Marucelj, the head of the HR department, as a person who knows the broadcaster inside and out. Councillors voted 10:1 against her appointment, with four abstentions, arguing that staffing is a major problem at the broadcaster and it is difficult to appoint someone who has played a major role in staffing policy. The council meanwhile did confirm the annual report for 2023, when the public broadcaster posted a EUR 7 million loss.

SDS calls for emergency session on pension indexation

LJUBLJANA - The Democrats (SDS) have demanded an emergency session of the parliamentary Committee of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and the Disabled, proposing a 4.5% indexation of pensions. The party believes that the financial and social situation of pensioners have deteriorated drastically because the government has not kept its promises.

Weather caused almost EUR 90m in damage in agriculture last year

LJUBLJANA - The government confirmed the amount of damage caused in agriculture by bad weather last year. Frost caused EUR 25.1 million in damage, storms another EUR 44.53 million in damage and August floods EUR 18.74 million. The cabinet also confirmed the final assessment of direct damage to property caused by storms and floods between 28 and 30 August last year in the Notranjska region and the coast, which stands at EUR 5.56 million. In both cases the damage exceeds the threshold for state aid.

Brussels to decide on Mercator's takeover of Engrotuš

LJUBLJANA - Mercator will have to ask the European Commission to approve its takeover of Engrotuš, another Slovenian retailer, after the Slovenian regulator, the Competition Protection Agency (AVK), rejected its concentration application, according to a report by business news portal Forbes Slovenija. The reason for the AVK's decision is the fact that "the concentration reaches the EU proportions", AVK director Andrej Matvoz explained.

Unior revenue slightly up, profit considerably down in 2023

ZREČE - The toolmaker Unior group generated EUR 293.54 million in net sales revenue last year, which was 2% more than in 2022, while net profit dropped by 63% to EUR 3.77 million, according to the group's unaudited results. The group said that any decision by the auditor about changes in positions that concern sales procedures of its subsidiaries Unitur and Unior Components, as well as a share in Štore Steel, may impact the audited results significantly.

Survey unemployment rate decreases to 3.3% in January

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's survey unemployment rate stood at 3.3% in January, down by 0.1 percentage points from the month before and 0.3 points year-on-year, shows data released by the Statistics Office. It is the lowest rate since January 2010, when the office started recording survey unemployment. Some 34,000 people aged 15 to 74 were jobless in January, 53% of whom were men and 47% women. The unemployment rate was at 3.1% for men and at 3.4% for women.

Exhibition on Vienna social-housing model opens in Celje

CELJE - An exhibition on Vienna's unique approach to social housing is opening at the Celje Museum of Recent History, to run until 14 April. The Vienna Model of Social Flats exhibition has been set up in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forum Ljubljana and the Wiener Wohnen organisation, which is run by the city of Vienna. It is dedicated to 100 years of the successful model that guarantees affordable flats, with some 60% of the Viennese living in city-owned or subsidised flats.

Tina Vrščaj's novel nominated for EU literature award

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Na Klancu (On the Hill), a family and love novel by Tina Vrščaj, is one of the 13 nominated books for the European Union Prize for Literature, the award for the best emerging authors of fiction in the EU and beyond. The award will be conferred in Brussels on 4 April. The novel interweaves the intimate and social themes of ecology, social media, gender roles and motherhood, while its structure is dynamic and dramatic, Cankarjeva Založba said when it published the book in 2022.

Yet another unexploded WWII bomb unearthed in Nova Gorica

NOVA GORICA - Following Monday's reports about the discovery of an aerial bomb from World War II during excavation work for an upgrade of the Nova Gorica train station, a second bomb was discovered at the same site. The plan is to deactivate both bombs next week, presumably on Sunday. This comes after a 250-kilogram aerial bomb was found and diffused near the Nova Gorica train station on the Slovenian-Italian border last July.