News roundup - Wednesday, 24 April, until 3pm

Slovenia summons Serbian chargé d'affaires over Vučić's statements

LJUBLJANA - The Foreign Ministry has summoned the Serbian chargé d'affaires in Ljubljana for talks over Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić's recent offensive statements about Slovenia after a UN Security Council session dedicated to Kosovo, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said. The minister, speaking on the sidelines of a session of the Slovenian-Carinthian joint committee, described Vučić's statements as offensive, unacceptable and false.

Amnesty International report notes discrimination against erased

LJUBLJANA - Amnesty International's (AI) report for 2023 reiterates concerns about the situation of "the erased", people who were deleted from Slovenia's permanent resident rolls after the country's declaration of independence. It also points to a shortage of GPs and institutional discrimination against asylum seekers and trans people.

Fides head says union still enjoys trust after 100 days of strike

LJUBLJANA - A hundred days after the Fides trade union of doctors and dentists went on strike, union head Damjan Polh told the STA that the union and its leadership still enjoy the trust and support of doctors. He said that the strike could be escalated, including by doctors quitting en masse.

Signature collection starts for EU safe abortion initiative

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian NGO 8 March Institute launched a campaign to collect a million signatures across the EU to support My Voice, My Choice, an initiative for safe and accessible abortion in Europe. It aims to collect 100,000 signatures in seven weeks in Slovenia.

Business sentiment improves in April

LJUBLJANA - Business sentiment in Slovenia improved in April, with the relevant indicator standing at -2.1, up by 2.1 percentage points on a monthly basis and by 0.7 points on an annual basis, the Statistics Office said. The monthly growth was the result of the higher values of the indicators measuring confidence in manufacturing, retail and services and consumer confidence, while the indicator measuring confidence in construction had a negative impact.

Koper port shifting away from fossil fuels

KOPER - The port of Koper has launched a new 3.3 MW solar power plant with 15,000 square metres of panels, the tenth such installation on port infrastructure and a part of a long-term strategy to shift away from fossil fuels. The EUR 2.8 million investment is part of a massive investment cycle valued at more than EUR 100 million that will expand the use of renewables.

German fund Katera bidding to take over Nama department store

LJUBLJANA - The German private equity fund Katera has published a takeover bid for Nama, the real estate operator that owns the eponymous department store in the centre of Ljubljana, Nama said. Its stock is listed on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, with its price on 6 March, when the last deal with it was made, standing at EUR 15. This puts the price of its outright stake at EUR 14.3 million.

SES Slovenija shopping centres post revenue and visitor growth

LJUBLJANA - Five shopping centres in Slovenia that are run by the Austrian company Spar European Shopping Centers (SES) generated EUR 705 million in sales revenue in 2023, up 6.5% from 2022. The malls were visited by more than 24 million people, or 5.8% more than the year before, said SES Slovenija, which operates Aleja Ljubljana, Citypark Ljubljana, Center Vič Ljubljana, Citycenter Celje, and Europark Maribor, and employs 4,000 workers.

Melamin returns to profit in 2023

KOČEVJE - The chemical company Melamin returned to profit in 2023 after it was hit with a deadly explosion in 2022 and subsequently recorded its first annual loss in decades. By the end of 2023, the company has restored 70% of its production capacities. The Kočevje-based company said in a press release on Tuesday that it ended 2023 with nearly EUR 1.1 million in profit, after it recorded a EUR 1.8 million loss in 2022. Sales revenue reached EUR 45.4 million in 2023, down 24% year-on-year.

Eight kilos of ecstasy seized in eastern Slovenia

DOBRNA - Police seized just under eight kilograms of ecstasy in a house search near Celje in the east in March after the suspect in the case was arrested at a different location where they also found illicit drugs. The ecstasy seized has a retail value of some EUR 75,000, the Celje Police Department said.