Weekly review of events involving Slovenia, 5-11 July

FRIDAY, 5 July

LJUBLJANA - The government and trade unions signed an agreement ending a strike that started at most administrative units in mid-March. The deal brings higher pay for increased workload where there are backlogs, but no wage raises.

BRASILIA, Brazil - FM Tanja Fajon met her Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira as part of a three-day official visit to the country to sign an air transport agreement and a memorandum on cooperation in tourism. She said there is still potential to strengthen cooperation in renewables, AI, digitalisation, space and water management.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's exports in May stood at EUR 5.04 billion, up 2.4% year-on-year, while imports rose by 5.1% to EUR 5.57 billion, the Statistics Office said. Germany accounted for the largest share of Slovenia's exports and imports of goods, 24.2% and 23.4%, respectively.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission approved a Slovenian-Croatian initiative to include honey produced on the Istrian peninsula in the register of Protected Designation of Origin, Istarski Med in Croatia and Istrski Med in Slovenia.

AGADIR, Morocco - Slovenia and Italy succeeded with their joint bid with UNESCO for the establishment of a Transboundary Biosphere Reserve in the Julian Alps, bringing together two existing biospheres: the Slovenian Julian Alps Biosphere Reserve and the Italian Julian Prealps Biosphere Reserve.

SATURDAY, 6 July

LJUBLJANA - Borut Pahor, Slovenia's former president, told the news portal N1 that remains ready to become the EU's next representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue even after the EU's outgoing foreign policy chief Josep Borrell left it up to his successor to make the nomination.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - FM Tanja Fajon wrapped up her official visit to Brazil by visiting Slovenian organisations and attending a meeting of the Slovenian-Brazilian and Slovenian-Argentine chambers of commerce. She highlighted Slovenians in Brazil as a bridge of cooperation and integration between the two countries.

LJUBLJANA - The opposition SDS accused the Court of Audit of double standards in reviewing finances of parties for 2022 after it received a qualified opinion even though it took remedial measures while the audit was still under way. The SDS argued that other parties received positive opinions despite similar shortcomings.

SUNDAY, 7 July

PORTOROŽ - Three persons, two Montenegrin citizens and one Slovenian, were apprehended in what media said was a raid related to an assassination connected with the Slovenian cell of the Kavač Clan, a Montenegrin drug trafficking cartel. They were released from detention on Tuesday due to lack of evidence that they planned a murder in Slovenia in connection to a 2019 drug theft.

MONDAY, 8 July

LJUBLJANA - The opposition SDS filed their second ouster motion this year against Digital Transformation Minister Emilija Stojmenova Duh, focussing yet again on the purchase of 13,000 laptops, this time after the Court of Audit found flaws in the deal. PM Robert Golob meanwhile defended the minister in questions time in parliament.

LJUBLJANA - The December 2023 purchase of a dilapidated building in Ljubljana meant to house several courts was problematic in many ways and it already had political ramifications for the government and the coalition, PM Robert Golob said in parliament after the Court of Audit said the purchase went through without preparation. Its report is still a draft.

LJUBLJANA - The benchmark index SBI TOP passed the 1,600-point mark to hit the highest value since August 2008, as the Ljubljana Stock Exchange has been seeing a sustained bullish trend, gaining nearly 20% in 2023 and another 26% in the first half of 2024.

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Olympic Committee (OKS) unveiled the list of Slovenian participants in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, fielding a record 90 athletes from 17 sports and disciplines, eleven more than in the previous largest national team of 79 athletes, who competed in Athens in 2004.

TUESDAY, 9 July

WASHINGTON, US - Defence Minister Marjan Šarec rejected suggestions that Slovenia is not meeting its defence spending commitments, saying ahead of the NATO summit that the target of 2% of GDP per year will be reached by 2030 as planned. PM Robert Golob said Slovenia will express solidarity with Ukraine and contribute its share to the country's defence against Russia at the summit, but could not talk about specific numbers.

PODGORICA, Montenegro - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar started a two-day visit to Montenegro discussing with his counterpart Danilo Šaranović a number of topics, including cooperation among partners in the Western Balkans in fighting illegal migration and migrant smuggling.

CELJE - A trial in which opposition leader Janez Janša and two co-defendants stand accused of abuse of office concerning a property deal in the Trenta Valley was supposed to start, but was deferred by a request for the exclusion of lay judges. The case revolves around a series of transactions regarding a piece of land.

LJUBLJANA - The latest Amnesty International report on the right to protest said the Slovenian authorities discriminated against protesters in 2020-2022, a period during the Covid-19 pandemic, while the NGO also identified severe threats to the right to peaceful assembly across Europe.

MARIBOR - The Štajerska Chamber of Commerce and Industry warned that new rules on posted workers which took effect at the start of 2024 are causing companies losses due to higher labour costs. The legislative changes have directly affected 2,500 companies in the Podravje region which employ 27,000 workers.

LJUBLJANA - Urban Purgar, who rose to public prominence in 2021 with social media posts glorifying Hitler, was found guilty of public incitement of hatred, violence and intolerance, Dnevnik reported. He was handed a 16-month suspended sentence with a five-year probation period for threatening FM Tanja Fajon, then MEP, and an activist.

WEDNESDAY, 10 July

WASHINGTON, US - Slovenia will buy APC from the Finnish defence company Patria, PM Robert Golob announced after meeting his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubbs on the sidelines of the NATO summit, but disclosed no details. The announcement comes after Slovenia withdrew from a contract to purchase 45 German-made Boxer APCs in 2022.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed a new state asset management strategy, which changes the status of certain companies. The real estate investment firm DSU will assume the assets of the former bad bank, and Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) will be in charge of construction of public flats. The strategy deals with 84 companies, including 34 strategic ones.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - The international community has a duty to stop genocidal acts, Slovenia's President Nataša Pirc Musar said at a conference titled From the Balkans to Gaza: A Critical Examination of Genocide ahead of the 29th anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre. The war in Gaza is a defeat of humanity, she said.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed changes to the Housing Act introducing state compensation in case of existing non-profit rentals of denationalised flats. The changes also aim to boost public housing loans and overhaul the national Housing Fund.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed a bill to streamline procedures for infrastructure projects within the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). The bill defines projects that must be treated as a priority, shortens procedures for their construction, upgrade, adjustment or change, and covers public procurement.

LJUBLJANA - Jelena Virant Burnik was appointed information commissioner, with 57 MPs voting for and seven opposition SDS MPs against. Virant Burnik, who has worked for the Office of the Information Commissioner since 2008, will take over for five years on 18 July.

LJUBLJANA - Economy Minister Matjaž Han met Maroš Šefčovič, the executive vice-president of the European Commission for the European Green Deal. The pair agreed the green transition should be implemented in a way that does not limit the competitiveness of the economy.

TRIESTE, Italy - National Hall at St John's, a community centre in Trieste, will formally pass into ownership of the Slovenian ethnic minority in Trieste under a decision by Furiuli Venezia Giulia, the region that is home to the minority, to return it free of charge. The renovated centre reopened last October.

THURSDAY, 11 July

LJUBLJANA - The opposition responded to the announcement that Slovenia will buy APCs from Patria, with SDS leader Janez Janša, who was imprisoned for 145 days over the Patria defence procurement deal his government made in 2006, calling it "the irony of history". The coalition Social Democrats (SD) was reserved and the fellow coalition Left said the government should better to spend this money on improving people's lives.

WASHINGTON, US - Slovenia will keep providing financial aid to Ukraine but will not increase its contribution, said PM Golob at the NATO summit, stressing the importance of diplomatic efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. He added that Slovenia will provide funds that will mostly be used for humanitarian aid.

LJUBLJANA - The deputy groups of all three coalition parties filed to parliament a bill explicitly banning the glorification of Nazism and fascism, proposing a fine of between EUR 1,000 and EUR 2,500 for what would be a misdemeanour offence.

NOVO MESTO - Drug maker Krka said it had posted a group net profit of EUR 222 million for the first six months of 2024, up 30% on the same period last year, as revenue grew by 7% to EUR 985 million. Operating profit (EBIT) rose by 1% to EUR 238 million, whereas profit before income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by 2% to EUR 284 million.

LJUBLJANA - Businessman Otmar Zorn and the companies Zorn Plus and GIC Gradnje announced a takeover bid for Hranilnica Lon, a small savings bank. Currently, Zorn holds a 21.03% share in Lon and the construction company GIC Gradnje a 20.28% share, the newspaper Delo said.