Weekly review of events involving Slovenia, 12-18 July

FRIDAY, 12 July

WASHINGTON, US - PM Robert Golob announced at the end of the NATO summit in Washington that Slovenia will double its presence in the NATO mission in Kosovo next year. He said the presence of NATO in the Western Balkans is being boosted at the initiative of US President Joe Biden, who knows the region well.

NEW YORK, US - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon announced EUR 1 million in additional aid by Slovenia for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) at a donor conference held at UN headquarters.

KOPER - The operator of Slovenia's only sea port, Luka Koper, picked the construction company Makro 5 to build a new passenger terminal. One of five bidders, Makro 5 offered to build the passenger terminal for EUR 3.65 million including VAT.

SATURDAY, 13 July

LJUBLJANA - No decision on the planned purchase of military vehicles from Finland's Patria has been made yet, Prime Minister Robert Golob told the newspaper Delo after previously announcing that Patria was the selected provider. He said that this would primarily be a decision for the next defence minister and military experts.

SLOVENSKA BISTRICA - Heavy T-storms hit the north-eastern regions of Štajerska and Prekmurje. Hail the size of eggs hit the Slovenska Bistrica municipality, with more than 350 homes damaged alongside many cars, electricity infrastructure, including solar plants, as well as a shopping mall and other buildings. The damage is estimated at several million euros.

SUNDAY, 14 July

LJUBLJANA - President Nataša Pirc Musar, Prime Minister Robert Golob and the Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump, saying they are deeply shocked at the political violence.

LJUBLJANA - Health Minister Valentina Prevolnik Rupel, who has been in office since October, told the STA in an interview her ministry is working on around a dozen bills, including to ban dual practice and reform the health insurance contribution to make it more fair by pegging it to income.

PAU, France - Slovenia's star rider Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won a second consecutive stage at the Tour de France, to tighten his grip on the yellow jersey for what would be his third Tour de France victory.

PORTOROŽ - A major fire destroyed a building with several shops and bars on the main city beach in Portorož, with the damage estimated by its owner at at least EUR 3 million. It took some 100 firefighters hours to put out the fire.

MONDAY, 15 July

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed legislative changes that will provide legal aid to fishermen fined by Croatia and compensation to those who report loss of income due to their inability to fish beyond the middle of the Piran Bay because Croatia does not recognise the 2017 border arbitration award. The largest opposition party, the Democrats (SDS) abstained.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed changes to the law on emergency measures regarding the August 2023 floods under which the state-owned company DSU will be partly in charge of tearing down unsafe buildings and providing substitute construction.

LJUBLJANA - MPs passed an emergency bill that looks to optimise certain procedures at the administrative units to address some of the issues raised during a months-long strike that recently ended. The legislation is designed to help the administrative units faced with the biggest backlog of cases.

LJUBLJANA - MPs passed an emergency bill with which the government is addressing the shortage of staff and improving working conditions at care facilities for the elderly. The bill brings eight measures worth nearly EUR 10 million which will be in place in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The opposition stressed the need for higher wages.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed changes to parliamentary inquiry legislation under which a request for an inquiry must be reviewed by the Constitutional Court if there are objections regarding its constitutionality.
        
TUESDAY, 16 July

TIRANA, Albania - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar met his Albanian counterpart Taulant Balla. The pair agreed to step up police cooperation further by appointing a Slovenian police attaché to Albania and expanding and updating the existing agreement on such cooperation in fighting organised crime and terrorism.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Hungarian EU presidency must put Europe first, deputy Prime Minister Luka Mesec said as he commented on Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's recent visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing. Mesec said the government is yet to discuss a potential boycott of informal ministerial meetings hosted by Budapest.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's President Nataša Pirc Musar, Prime Minister Robert Golob and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon congratulated Roberta Metsola on her re-election for European Parliament president, all saying they were looking forward to future cooperation to build a stronger and better EU. Fajon added the EU needed strong women.

LJUBLJANA - President Nataša Pirc Musar has signed off on the appointments of new ambassadors to the UK and China. Ambassador Sanja Štiglic, a career diplomat, has been sent to London and Ambassador Boštjan Malovrh, who is currently serving as Slovenia's permanent representative to the UN, to Beijing.

ŠENTJUR - The Croatian retailer Studenac reported signing a contract to purchase the Šentjur-based grocery chain Kea as it seeks to enter the Slovenian retail market. Kea, which has own stores but also runs a number of Tuš franchises, employs around 250 across 31 stores in Celje, Maribor and in the Prekmurje and Primorska regions.

WEDNESDAY, 17 July

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Bojan Kumer and a delegation from the country's largest gas supplier Geoplin met top Azerbaijani energy officials, with Geoplin and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan - SOCAR signing a memorandum of understanding on gas supply that is seen as the first step in efforts to increase supplies from Azerbaijan.

LJUBLJANA - The government and public sector trade unions signed a document laying down the points on which agreement has been reached in the public sector pay reform negotiations. The finance and public administration ministers, and trade union representatives, said this was an important step for future negotiations. The talks will resume in September.

NEW YORK, US - Slovenia's Ambassador to the UN Security Council Samuel Žbogar proposed a three-step approach to addressing the war in Gaza as he talked at open session of the Security Council dedicated to the situation in the Middle East. The steps he proposed are immediate ceasefire, a relaunch of a political process to find a solution, and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

METLIKA/ŠKOCJAN - Senior Interior Ministry officials visited Škocjan and Metlika after the municipalities reported an increase of crimes allegedly perpetrated by members of the Roma community and locals had floated ideas of organising militias. Minister Boštjan Poklukar said that the police force would be more active throughout the summer and autumn.

LJUBLJANA - The government decided that the new military C-27J Spartan will serve as a replacement government aircraft when the only government jet, a Dessault Falcon 2000EX, is out of service. It will only be used if it is not needed by the Slovenian Armed Forces.
        
THURSDAY, 18 July

KOMEN - A large wildfire broke on Mount Trstelj, a 643-metre peak some ten kilometres southeast of Nova Gorica in western Slovenia to engulf some 150 hectares of forest, and is still not under control. There are some 350 firefighters on the ground, who are being assisted by two Air Tractor aircraft for the first time and army and police helicopters.

OXFORD, UK - Slovenian PM Robert Golob and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bilateral security agreement as they met on the sidelines of a meeting of the European Political Community. With the agreement Slovenia commits that it will examine all options to continue providing security and defence support for Ukraine.

LJUBLJANA/STRASBOURG, France - While President Nataša Pirc Musar, PM Robert Golob and FM Tanja Fajon congratulated Ursula von der Leyen for getting elected for her second term as the European Commission, Slovenian MEPs were reserved or even harsh in their responses. They expect her to fulfil her commitments and say the European Parliament will keep a watchful eye on the work of the Commission.

OXFORD, UK - PM Robert Golob and his British counterpart Keir Starmer met on the sidelines of a meeting of the European Political Community where the pair advocated for the strengthening of cooperation in the fight against organised crime. Slovenia and United Kingdom agreed to improve the exchange of knowledge and information.