Weekly review of events involving Slovenia, 29 March-4 April

FRIDAY, 29 March

LJUBLJANA - FM Tanja Fajon said Slovenia, in agreement with at least three other EU member states, is ready to recognise Palestine in a relatively short time if it is not possible to reach the first objective, which is a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, a normalisation of the situation and the start of talks on a two-state solution.

LJUBLJANA - The Russian cybercriminal group Cyber Army Russia Reborn claimed responsibility for a recent spate of cyberattacks on the websites of several government bodies and the public broadcaster. In a video message, the group implicitly acknowledged that the attacks were motivated by Slovenia's support of Ukraine.

LJUBLJANA - The opposition Democrats (SDS), whose members have given interviews for the Voice of Europe, a website that has been shut down as a Russian-backed propaganda tool, said that their officials had advocated pro-Ukrainian views and received no pay for the interviews.

LJUBLJANA - The shareholders of Slovenia's largest gas supplier Geoplin dismissed chief executive Matija Bitenc. While the company did not explain the reasons behind the dismissal, Finance reported earlier this week that this would happen because the management of the energy company Petrol had demanded that Bitenc be replaced.

LJUBLJANA - Annual inflation rate in Slovenia increased slightly in March, reaching 3.6%. Compared to February, prices were up by 0.2%, mostly due to changes in seasonal collections of apparel and shoes, which added 0.5 percentage points to the headline inflation rate, the Statistics Office said.

SATURDAY, 30 March

LJUBLJANA - The national motorway company DARS said it generated sales revenues of EUR 525.3 million last year, an increase of 6% compared to 2022. The largest share of revenues was accounted for by tolls, which brought in EUR 509.2. Net profit rose by 4% to EUR 140.5 million. DARS sold 8.6 million motorway vignettes last year, 15% more than in 2022.

SUNDAY, 31 March

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Robert Golob noted the powerful symbolism of Easter in his festive message to the nation, saying its powerful symbolism speaks about the individual's relationship to the community and about the need to peacefully overcome differences.

LJUBLJANA - Resnica, the party that evolved from an anti-vaxxer movement during the Covid pandemic, announced some well-known figures as its candidates in EU election, including actress Tanja Ribič, author Branko Gradišnik and gynaecologist Sabina Senčar, who picked up nearly 6% of the vote in the 2022 presidential election.

MONDAY, 1 April March

KRŠKO - Krško, Slovenia's only nuclear power station, was shut down for a scheduled maintenance for a month. The work, including refuelling, will cost EUR 100 million. The shutdown will mark the completion of the 33rd fuel cycle since the launch and this will be the first scheduled maintenance since the plant's operating permit was recently extended by 20 years.

IRUN, Spain - Slovenian cycling star and Bora-Hansgrohe rider Primož Roglič started the Tour of the Basque Country with a victory in time trial to take the first leader's jersey in pursuit of his third title at the Spanish stage race. Roglič, an Olympic time trial champion, won the 10-kilometre event in Irun despite going briefly off course.

TUESDAY, 2 April

NEW YORK, US - Slovenia's Ambassador to the UN Samuel Žbogar said at an emergency session of the UN Security Council held after an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that Slovenia condemned all attacks on diplomatic missions. He called for respect of the Council's resolution that demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza to reduce tensions in the region.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly unanimously endorsed a bill that will make operating systems in the Slovenian language mandatory for manufacturers selling their electronic consumer devices in the country. The bill is in part a response to some tech giants, most notably Apple, failing to include Slovenian among the languages it offers on its devices.

LJUBLJANA - The Democrats (SDS) presented EU Commission documents they claim prove that Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova exerted pressure on Slovenia's Constitutional Court over a case involving RTV Slovenija when she paid a visit last year. They base their claim on redacted portions of documents that allegedly proves that she influenced the process.

LJUBLJANA - The Foreign Ministry condemned yet "another deadly attack on humanitarian workers in Gaza" after seven aid workers from the US-based humanitarian NGO World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli air strike while delivering aid. The ministry added that the UN Security Council resolution 2728 on Gaza "must be implemented immediately".

LJUBLJANA - The Natural Resources Ministry rejected an application for a building permit for 35 wind turbines in the Pohorje Massif, while the investor withdrew a separate application for a further 21 wind turbines, Radio Slovenija reported.

WEDNESDAY, 3 April

NEW YORK, US - Addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council, Slovenia's deputy permanent representative Ondina Drobnič Blokar expressed outrage over the fact that children are being denied access to humanitarian aid in conflict zones worldwide. Slovenia finds this to be cruel and inhumane, she said.

CELJE - The Slovenian Judicial Association staged another one-hour work stoppage to note that 90 days have passed since the deadline for the Constitutional Court's ruling on judges' salaries to be implemented. A protest gathering was held at the Celje District Court, also to raise public awareness about the work of judges.

LJUBLJANA - The Government Communication Office told the STA that access to some of the websites managed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation had been occasionally disturbed over the extended Easter weekend. However, no data was stolen during the cyberattacks.

LJUBLJANA - The junior coalition Social Democrats (SD) indicated they have no plans of replacing their current government ministers even though FM Tanja Fajon will not be standing for another term as the party's head at the 13 April congress.

LJUBLJANA - Despite the ongoing strike in healthcare, practitioners in family medicine clinics performed 6.4% more treatments in January and February compared to the same period last year. More treatments were also performed in dental and specialist outpatient services, while slightly fewer treatments were performed in acute hospital services, the ZZZS health fund said.

KRANJ - A 53-year-old man has recently been sentenced to 30 years in prison, the second-longest sentence in Slovenia after life imprisonment, for having physically and sexually abused his two stepdaughters over a period of eight years, while also recording the abuse and keeping the recordings, the newspaper Gorenjski Glas reported.

THURSDAY, 4 April

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said that the NATO foreign ministers had endorsed the idea of long-term sustainable aid to Ukraine, the details of which are to be sorted out by the July summit in Washington. Fajon also met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with the pair discussing the Middle East and Ukraine.

LJUBLJANA - The newspaper Delo and news portal 24ur reported that two members of Resnica, a non-parliamentary party gearing up for the EU elections in June, have contacts with Lt-Col Sergei Lemeshev, the Russian diplomat that Slovenia has recently declared persona non grata and expelled. The party has denied being pro-Russian but confirmed contacts with Lemeshev.

LJUBLJANA - Necenzurirano released a list of best-paid doctors in UKC Ljubljana in December 2020, a peak of the Covid epidemic. The list, whose release was ordered by the court, shows that some doctors earned more than EUR 20,000 that month, among them a top member of the Fides union, which has been on strike since mid-January.

LJUBLJANA - After mediation between the government and doctors was launched under the auspices of the Bar Association last week, eleven weeks into the longest strike in Slovenian history, the government okayed the extension of the mediation procedures by another week. The Fides trade union responded by agreeing to one more meeting.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's exports of goods dropped by 0.1% to 4.5 billion in February over February 2023 while imports increased by 28.4% to EUR 5.5 billion, in what is the highest growth of imports since September 2022, the Statistics Office said.

NOVO MESTO - The management and supervisory boards of the drug maker Krka proposed that shareholders get dividends of EUR 7.5 gross per share, a 13.6% increase on last year. This means the company would allocate just over EUR 231 million for dividends, or 60% of its accumulated profit. The shareholder vote is scheduled for 11 July.