News roundup - Thursday, 21 March

Slovenia declares Russian diplomat persona non grata

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Foreign Ministry notified the Russian Embassy in Ljubljana that one of its diplomats has been declared persona non grata over activities incompatible with his status as a diplomat. The news portal Siol reported that the diplomat in question, who must leave Slovenia by 28 March 2024, is Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Lemeshev, deputy defence attaché. Vojko Volk, a state secretary at the prime minister's office, said that Slovenia had opted for the step due to a significant increase in Russian propaganda activities against Slovenian national interests.

PM Golob calls for recognition of Palestinian state

BRUSSELS, Belgium - PM Robert Golob expressed his support for the recognition of a Palestinian state as he spoke to the press on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels. While offering no timeline, he said that Slovenia is likely to recognise Palestine together with a group of other EU member states in order to maximise the international impact. Golob, who also argued the EU is doing far too little to mitigate the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, said that "there can be only one political solution, and this is a two-state solution".

Janša calls for early election to end rule of the incompetent

LJUBLJANA - Opposition Democrat (SDS) leader Janez Janša called for an early election as he addressed a massive rally his party held in downtown Ljubljana. He said that the country was hit by two catastrophes in recent years, by the floods in August 2023, and by the Robert Golob government in June 2022. "The political catastrophe we witnessed in June 2022 brought to the surface the rule of the incompetent," he told a big crowd that carried Slovenian flags and banners with anti-government slogans in a packed Congress Square. Police was present at the rally, as is custom under the law, but incidents have been reported.

Golob says N-energy is future as he attends first nuclear energy summit

BRUSSELS, Belgium - PM Robert Golob stressed that nuclear energy is the future as he attended the first ever Nuclear Energy Summit, at which 36 countries that use nuclear energy or plan to do so adopted a declaration committing to nuclear energy as a key component of the global strategy to address the climate crisis. Golob took part in the introductory part of the summit where leaders presented their national statements, and adopted the declaration, his office said. He also said that Slovenia plans to decarbonise its power production by 2040, also with the help of nuclear.

NATO sec-gen welcomes Slovenia's efforts to increase defence spending

BRUSSELS, Belgium - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Slovenia has played an important role in stabilising the Western Balkans in its 20 years as a NATO member, as he met Prime Minister Golob for what was Golob's first bilateral meeting at NATO HQ. Stoltenberg welcomed Slovenia's efforts to increase its defence spending to 2% by 2030 and strengthen its presence in Kosovo. The pair also spoke about the continued support to Ukraine. "We believe staying united is our major strength," said Golob.

Slovenia seriously considering both candidates for NATO sec-gen

BRUSSELS, Belgium - After Slovenia expressed support to the candidacy of outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for the next NATO secretary general, when he was the only candidate, Prime Minister Robert Golob said the candidacy of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis would also be seriously examined. Slovenia is taking Iohannis's candidacy "very seriously", especially due to the regional balance, he said.

Katarina Bergant endorsed as state prosecutor general candidate

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Privileges and Credentials Commission endorsed Katarina Bergant, the head of the Ljubljana District Prosecutor's Office, as a suitable candidate for the state prosecutor general, and proposed that the National Assembly appoint her for a six-year term. Bergant, who was put forward by the State Prosecutorial Council, was was backed in a 10:5 vote, with one abstention. If appointed, she will succeed Drago Šketa, who stepped down in early October 2023.

Ministers agree on Slovenian-Croatian-Italian police patrols

BRDO PRI KRANJU - The Slovenian, Croatian and Italian interior ministers called for a prompt formation of trilateral mixed police patrols. They will examine whether this could be an alternative to the temporary internal Schengen border controls that are for now meant to be in place until June. Discussing the situation after internal border check were reintroduced by Schengen zone members in the region last October due to a deteriorated global security situation, the ministers praised the mixed Italian-Slovenian and Slovenian-Croatian patrols in the face of the still active Western Balkan migration route.

Media: Župevc to become ambassador to Vienna-based organisations, Šešum headed for Belgrade

LJUBLJANA - The government nominated Melita Župevc, a state secretary in the PM's office, ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the newspaper Delo reported on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the news portal N1 reported that economic diplomacy head Slobodan Šešum is to become ambassador to Serbia. Župevc's inexperience has raised doubts about her being the right choice for what is one of the most demanding diplomatic posts.

Golob says Slovenia to insist on start of EU accession talks for Bosnia

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Arriving at the EU summit in Brussels, PM Robert Golob expressed his firm expectation that EU leaders will give the green light to the start of accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina. Anything else would be unacceptable for Slovenia, he said ahead of the decision on the matter. "I see no serious reason to further delay the start of negotiations for full membership," Golob said in a statement to Brussels correspondents, adding that anything short of this would be completely unacceptable for Slovenia.

Gen-I says demand for parliamentary inquiry illegal and unconstitutional

LJUBLJANA - Gen-I, an energy company previously led by PM Robert Golob, said on Wednesday evening that the demand for an inquiry into its operations requested by the National Council was illegal and unconstitutional, and could set a dangerous precedence. The goal of the proponents is to obtain as much data about the company as possible so as to be used to undermine it at will. Urška Klakočar Zupančič, the president of National Assembly, who comes from Golob's party, underscored today that a parliamentary inquiry, endorsed by the upper chamber on Wednesday, should not be abused for political score-settling.

Slovenian-Polish forum focuses on opportunities in new technologies

PLANICA - Slovenia and Poland cooperate in many fields and their relations are excellent, while businesses could further intensify cooperation in cybersecurity and digital technologies, heard a Slovenian-Polish business forum that was held in the Planica Nordic Centre. Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar praised bilateral economic relations, stressing that the countries cooperated well in infrastructure, transport, auto industry, energy security, smart technologies, AI and cybersecurity, and her Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda said Slovenia is a close partner in politics and business.

Constitutional Court annuls Supreme Court's decision over Janša tweet

LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court announced it had annulled a Supreme Court decision that quashed an earlier first-instance ruling ordering Democrat (SDS) leader and former PM Janez Janša to pay EUR 6,000 in damages to former journalist and now MP Mojca Šetinc Pašek over an insulting tweet. The Supreme Court misevaluated the meaning of the insulting statement and created a starting point for the ruling which was too restrictive for the complainant's right to reputation and good name, the decision of the Constitutional Court reads. The Supreme Court will have to decide on the case again.

SDS-sponsored changes to general election legislation rejected

LJUBLJANA - The proposal by the opposition Democrats (SDS) to expand the pool of candidates for the heads of electoral commissions to include other legal experts than just judges, was first voted down by the Home Affairs Committee yesterday, and the National Assembly only took note of the proposal today, ending the legislative procedure. The coalition said the existing election processes are transparent, safe and well established, and warned there could be conflict of interest.

New Slovenian trains connecting Ljubljana to Graz and Villach

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian Railways are strengthening connections with Austria in cooperation with the Austrian national railways operator ÖBB. Six new pairs of direct trains linking Ljubljana to Graz and Villach have been introduced. The dozen new connections featuring modern Flirt trains raise the number of rail routes between Slovenia and Austria to 38.

Consumer confidence unchanged over February, up 3 points y/y

LJUBLJANA - The consumer confidence indicator did not change in March compared to February but rose by three points compared to March 2023, shows data by the Statistics Office. It was still six points below the long-term average. At the monthly level, consumers were more confident about the financial situation in the household as both the assessment of the current situation and expectations for the future improved by one point.

Group of Turkish workers building Koper-Divača track end strike

LJUBLJANA - The group of Turkish Koper-Divača rail track construction workers that was reported on Monday as being on a trade union-disavowed strike has ended its strike activities, 2TDK, the state-owned company in charge of the EUR 1.1 billion-plus project, said. Yapi Merkezi, one of the Turkish contractors, which said that work proceeded without disruptions during the strike, reportedly explained that after a meeting with workers' and trade union representatives on Wednesday, the strike initiators "realised the inappropriateness of their initiative and called off the strike".

Nika Prevc confirms overall win with third place at Planica

PLANICA - Slovenia's Nika Prevc finished third in the last women's Ski Jumping World Cup event of the season at the Planica Nordic Centre to round off an excellent season in which she secured the overall win and the large crystal globe. Eva Pinkelnig of Austria won the event ahead of Alexandria Loutitt of Canada. "I'm hardly able to carry the big crystal globe around, but I'm really happy that I now have one of my own. I don't care if it's that heavy, it matches the effort I've invested in this season," she told the public television after the event.

Ski jumper Anže Lanišek honoured by Poland

PLANICA - Slovenian ski jumper Anže Lanišek was honoured by Poland with the Gold Cross of Merit following his tribute to Polish jumper Dawid Kubacki during last year's World Cup final in Planica. Surrounded by Slovenian and Polish jumpers, Lanišek received the decoration from Polish President Andrzej Duda in Planica, following the qualifying round for Friday's World Cup event. He was honoured for his "outstanding sportsmanship, noble action and promotion of the spirit of fair play in sport, for fostering very good relations between Poles and Slovenians, and between the two countries".