News roundup - Wednesday, 13 March

Staff at administrative units on strike again

LJUBLJANA - Staff at most Slovenian administrative units are on another one-day strike over pay and working conditions, and their plan is to repeat the industrial action every Wednesday until their demands are met. While on strike, clerks at 54 out of the country's 58 administrative units are performing only urgent tasks and local offices are closed. Their demands include an increase in pay for all administrative unit employees by seven brackets and elevating their titles to be on a par with those at government ministries. They also demand a cashier's allowance.

Economy Minister Han and Irish counterpart outline cooperation opportunities

LJUBLJANA - Minister for Economy, Tourism and Sport Matjaž Han and Irish Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Neale Richmond discussed bilateral cooperation. There is potential for strengthening business cooperation in the areas of high, modern and green technologies, such as renewable energy sources and energy-efficient technologies. The ministers also talked about current European topics related to competitiveness, the future of European industry, and the EU's internal market.

Work starts to set up asylum units at border crossings

LJUBLJANA - The government confirmed on Tuesday that the work had started to establish asylum centre units near the Obrežje and Središče ob Dravi border crossings with Croatia. Faced with opposition from locals, the government said asylum seekers would only be accommodated there once the existing facilities in Ljubljana and Logatec are full. The head of the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants, Katarina Štrukelj, said works include setting up infrastructure, from siting of the buildings, connecting them to the electricity network and checking possible issues related to sewarage.

Slovenian MEPs welcome AI Act

STRASBOURG, France - Slovenian MEPs Milan Brglez (S&D/SD) and Klemen Grošelj (Renew/Freedom Movement) welcomed today's passage of the AI Act in the European Parliament. Brglez said it was the first and urgently needed step. We cannot avoid artificial intelligence, but we must regulate it in such a way that it serves humans and not the other way around," Brglez told the STA. Grošelj said finding balance between the benefits of innovation and the constraints necessary for the safety of Europeans was difficult, but the legislation adopted today does just that.

Slovenia planning new bond issue

LJUBLJANA - The Finance Ministry announced an additional issue of the ten-year eurobond with a 3% coupon rate and due on 10 March 2034 after an earlier issue of such a bond reached EUR 1.5 billion in January. Three banks were mandated to manage the issue, which is expected in the near future, depending on the situation in financial markets.

Intereuropa more profitable in 2023

KOPER - Logistics group Intereuropa saw net profit soar by 42% last year to EUR 7.3 million on sales that declined 6% to EUR 188.5 million, while reducing its overall liabilities by 38% to EUR 27.5 million. Revenue declined due to lower prices of maritime shipping and air transport, and lower demand for land transport, according to a preliminary annual report.

SKB group's net profit last year up 25% to EUR 76.5m

LJUBLJANA - SKB, the Ljubljana-based banking group owned by the Hungarian OTP Group, generated EUR 76.5 million in net profit last year, 25.3% more year-on-year. The growth is largely a result of high interest revenue due to a favourable trend in market interest rates, said the bank, which is in the process of merging with NKBM. Operating profit of the SKB group, which employs almost 1,000 people, was up by 23.5% to EUR 93.4 million in 2023.

Revenue and profit for electricity trader Gen-I down quite a bit in 2023

LJUBLJANA - Gen-I, Slovenia's largest electricity trader, saw a 29.3% drop in revenue to EUR 2.9 billion in 2023, while net profit decreased by 16.5% to EUR 24.8 million, according to unaudited results. The company is mulling a new loan to the tune of EUR 50 million. Gen- attributes the decline in revenue mainly to lower energy prices and partly to lower trading volumes as a result of temporary regulatory restrictions on wholesale energy markets.

Journalists' Association pleased with EU Media Freedom Act

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Journalists' Association welcomed the new EU Media Act, which was passed by the European Parliament today and was drafted partially in response to the Slovenian Press Agency's long fight for financial independence in 2021. The legislation is a necessary reaction to the deteriorating conditions for journalists and media across the EU that would defend journalists from pressure, the association said, labelling it as "a win for all defenders of media freedom and democracy."

Klakočar Zupančič tells minority in Italy Slovenia vigilant about their rights

TRIESTE, Italy - National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič held talks with representatives of the Slovenian minority in Italy, providing assurances that the government remained vigilant about how their rights are being protected. She said Slovenia would continue reminding the Italian side about the implementation of a 2001 law on the protection of the Slovenian minority, and it would keep an eye on the return of the National Hall in Trieste to the community, the National Assembly said.

Driving licence health checks for disabled being resumed

LJUBLJANA - The doctors' trade union announced that examinations needed for persons with disabilities to extend their driving licenses will be resumed despite the continuing general strike in the sector. The decision ends an impasse with the government in a topic that garnered much public attention. Prime Minister Robert Golob said the Health Ministry had "worked very actively on the case".

Locals resist relocation of radwaste agency

LJUBLJANA - The Krško municipality, where Slovenia's sole nuclear installation is located, objects to the relocation of the Agency for Radioactive Waste Management from Krško to Ljubljana, a move it says constitutes a "silent reorganisation" of the institution. The change of headquarters is based on changes to the agency's articles of association that the government adopted last week.

Illegally dumped gypsum finally slated for removal

SLOVENJ GRADEC/ROGAŠKA SLATINA - Gypsum waste that was dumped on agricultural land in Koroška in 2021 by farmers who thought it was lime will finally be removed. The Environment Inspectorate identified the glassworks Steklarna Rogaške as the source of the material, but even though the company has appealed the decision, it said it would remove the gypsum nonetheless.

Man apprehended in Ljubljana after threatening people with two knives

LJUBLJANA - A 23-year-old from the Ljubljana area was threatening people with two knives in Ljubljana city centre for about an hour before police apprehended him. Special forces were involved and one officer sustained light injuries as the man was constrained. The man, who was taken away from the scene in an ambulance, was involved in a similar incident in 2020, said inspector Željko Car from the Uniformed Police Division.

NGO seeking closure of compost plant on river Mura

CERŠAK - NGO My Mura has taken the company Kogal to court seeking closure of its composting plant on an island on the Mura in Ceršak, some 20km north of Maribor. The NGO also expects the Maribor District Court to order the owner of the facility to clean up the degraded area. My Mura decided to go to court after their warnings and protests over nearly 20 years since the plant was launched have brought no progress, its president Samo Tuš told the press. He labelled the facility the biggest ecological bomb in this part of Europe, which poses a serious threat to the health of people and to the natural environment.

Slovenian researchers discover four new spider species in Africa

LJUBLJANA - Researchers from the National Institute of Biology (NIB) and the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) have discovered four new spider species while doing research in a tropical forest in Madagascar, an island with an incredible biodiversity. All four raft spiders belong to the Dolomedes genus.

Exhibition on ex-Yugoslavia's anti-fascist monuments opens in Maribor

MARIBOR - An exhibition tracing some of the anti-fascist monuments erected in the former Yugoslavia opened at the National Liberation Museum in Maribor. Places of Memory, the Power and Powerlessness of Partisan Monuments focuses on the fate of these monuments after the former federation broke up in the early 1990s. Former Yugoslav republics, now independent states, have different attitudes towards these monuments, ranging from exemplary maintenance to neglect and even destruction.

Nika Prevc extends World Cup lead with win in Trondheim

TRONDHEIM, Norway - Overall Ski Jumping World Cup leader Nika Prevc has an almost unassailable lead just three events before the end of the season after winning the Raw Air event on the medium hill in Trondheim. Prevc tallied 260.2 points, a point and a half ahead of the home crowd favourite Eirin Maria Kvandal.