News roundup - Monday, 22 July

Slovenia will put forward only one commissioner candidate

LJUBLJANA - Tomaž Vesel, the former president of the Court of Audit, will be the only candidate for EU commissioner that Slovenia plans to put forward, Prime Minister Robert Golob announced. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said she will call on member states to nominate one man and one woman each, but Golob said that "we have no other candidate at the moment, neither male nor female."

PM thanks Biden for efforts to strengthen transatlantic ties

LJUBLJANA, BRUSSELS, Belgium - Prime Minister Robert Golob thanked US President Joe Biden for his continuous efforts to strengthen transatlantic relations after Biden announced he was withdrawing from the presidential race. Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said she respected his decision. Both Golob and Fajon said Slovenia would cooperate with whoever the next US president would be.

Slovenian ministers planning to attend Hungary's EU presidency meetings

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Commenting on the consternation in the EU over Victor Orban's recent "peacemaking" visit to Russia, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon announced that Slovenian ministers intend to participate in informal meetings organised by the Hungarian EU presidency in Budapest. She added that this will be the case unless there is a different collective decision at the EU level.

Slovenia insists return of migrants must be "effective and permanent"

BUDAPEST, Hungary - The way EU returns migrants must be "effective and permanent," Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar told an informal meeting of EU interior ministers. He urged the European Commission to become more actively involved and offer assistance in returns, not just to member states but also to countries in the Western Balkans. At the same time, deadlock must overcome regarding the EU directive on returns, he said.

Ex ambassador to US assesses Biden dropped out too late

LJUBLJANA - US President Joe Biden's withdrawal from his re-election campaign is the right move, but it has come too late, retired diplomat Božo Cerar, who served as Slovenia's ambassador to the US, told the STA. Cerar believes Donald Trump will win the November presidential election. He added that Biden's decision deserved praise because of how difficult it is to give up power. Nevertheless, Biden should have made this decision weeks or months ago.

Govt, coalition party ratings up in latest Vox Populi poll

LJUBLJANA - Coalition parties gained some ground, while the government's rating continued to improve, shows the latest Vox Populi poll released by Dnevnik. The Freedom Movement registered the biggest gains, adding 1.5 percentage point to 16.1%. The Social Democrats (SD) added 1.1 points to 6.3% and the Left edged 0.2 points higher to 5.1%. The government's approval rating improved by 1.3 points to 35.1%.

Golob confirms new Renault EV will be produced in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Robert Golob confirmed media reports that Revoz, Renault's assembly plant in Novo Mesto, has been picked as the production site for the French car maker's new electric Twingo model. "We've worked on this project for a long time," he said. The project was almost a year in the making and has come to fruition thanks to France's decision to manufacture electric vehicles in Europe. Because of this, Revoz was able to compete, according to Golob.

Minority protests as bilingual signs in Carinthia vandalised

VÖLKERMARKT, Austria - The Slovenian minority has issued protests after two bilingual signs in the municipality of Škocjan/Kanzianiberg in the Austrian state of Carinthia were vandalised last week, one of them blacked out and another taped over. The National Council of Carinthian Slovenians (NSKS), a minority organisation, condemned the acts and urged the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Healthcare workers want assault against them to become crime

LJUBLJANA - The Medical Chamber, the Chamber of Pharmacy and the Nurses' and Midwives' Association has submitted signatures in support of legislative changes that would establish a new criminal act of assault on a healthcare worker. The existing legislation does not allow healthcare employees who experienced physical violence but were not seriously injured to prosecute the perpetrators with the help of the state prosecution, they are left with litigation.

Average gross pay up 6% y/y in May, slightly down over April

LJUBLJANA - Average gross pay in Slovenia was at EUR 2,343.28 in May, while net pay was at EUR 1,486.88, both slightly down from April, according to data released by the Statistics Office. Both gross and net pay were 0.1% lower in nominal terms and 0.6% lower in real terms compared to April. Year-on-year, average gross pay increased by 6% and net pay was up by 3.5%.

Pogačar will not compete in the Olympics

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar will not compete in the Paris Olympics. Fresh from winning his third Tour de France title, he is too tired, the Slovenian Olympic Committee announced. He will be replaced by Domen Novak, his team mate in the UAE Team Emirates. Pogačar was supposed to enter the road race.