News roundup - Wednesday, 4 September

Žbogar expects Middle East debates to dominate Security Council presidency

NEW YORK, US - Ambassador Samuel Žbogar expressed his expectation at the opening press conference of Slovenia's one-month presidency of the UN Security Council this September that the Middle East would most likely dominate the agenda. He also pointed to the issue of lack of trust among the Council. Žbogar told the press on Tuesday that six meetings would be dedicated to the Middle East, from the West Bank, Yemen, Syria and other issues, and an extraordinary meeting on Gaza is certainly on the cards.

Slovenia's exports and imports much higher in July after two moderate months

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia exported goods worth EUR 5.46 billion in July, up 24.8% from July last year, with imports increasing by 34.5% to EUR 5.1 billion, largely on account of higher trade with non-EU members, chiefly Switzerland, involving operations with processing. The export-import ratio was 106.2% with Slovenia's surplus at EUR 0.3 billion, the Statistics Office said.

Court of Audit confirms findings on controversial court building purchase

LJUBLJANA - The Court of Audit has issued the final report on the controversial acquisition of a dilapidated building in Ljubljana meant to house a number of courts, in which it confirms the findings made public in June, including that the purchase had not been planned and that the Justice Ministry purchased the building virtually without preparation. Commenting on the findings of the final report, Justice Minister Katič said that the system of management of such large investments should be changed and that she expected explanations from employees at the ministry.

Auditors find laptop purchase inefficient, uneconomical

LJUBLJANA - The Digital Transformation Ministry did not act in line with the principle of efficiency and economy in the purchase of 13,000 laptops for students, the Court of Audit says in a report released today as part of a broader audit report of the national budget for 2023. The findings are broadly the same as in the draft report that was leaked in July and serves as the basis for an ouster motion against Digital Transformation Minister Emilija Stojmenova Duh.

Jobless total in August down by 6.2% year-on-year to 44,468

LJUBLJANA - A total of 44,468 persons were registered as unemployed at the national Employment Service at the end of August, which is 0.2% more than in July and 6.2% less year-on-year. Despite the slight growth on a monthly basis, the jobless total remains close to the record lows. After a monthly increase in July, which was the result of the expiration of many fixed-term contracts, the number of registered unemployed increased for the second month in a row in August, the Employment Service noted.

Gorščak appointed RTV Slovenija head with full powers

LJUBLJANA - The council of public broadcaster RTV Slovenija appointed Natalija Gorščak chairwoman after she has served in acting capacity for the past three months. She won against Radio Slovenija director Mirko Štular and director of the TV station Nova24TV Boris Tomašič. Gorščak got 16 votes and Štular four, while Tomašič did not get a single vote. She was appointed for a period of four years and will start her term tomorrow. She said that she will put forward jurists Nevenka Črnko and Aljoša Pečan Gruden for board members, while the fourth board member is elected by the employees.

MPs happy with pension insurer performance, note slow pension growth compared to wages

LJUBLJANA - Positive trends in terms of a record number of the active population paying pension insurance and a balance budget of the public pension insurer ZPIZ were hailed as the Parliamentary Labour Committee discussed ZPIZ's annual report. Also noted was the less encouraging lagging of pension growth behind wage increases. There was a significant increase in the number of pension insurance payers, which averaged over 999,000 last year, the highest to date. Thus, despite the increase in the number of pensioners, the ratio of pensioners to insured persons remained at the 2022 level of 1.57.

Opposition critical of new draft National Energy and Climate Plan

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning Committee discussed the draft National Energy and Climate Plan at the proposal of the opposition Democrats (SDS). The opposition believes the draft plan relies too much on solar power plants and does not introduce measures to improve public transport. It relies too much on solar power plants, given that renewables are an unstable energy source, said SDS MP Franc Rosec. He added that without storage solutions for excess energy produced there could be disruptions in the energy system.

Agriculture chamber urges action on wolf attacks

LJUBLJANA - The country's Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry (KGZS) has urged the Ministry of Natural Resources to take decisive action on wolf population management. Frequent wolf attacks are causing significant damage to farmers, with the spread of wolves in the Alps being particularly problematic. According to the KGZS, wolves have already spread across half of Slovenia. "If immediate measures are not taken, they will spread throughout the entire country," the KGZS warned.

Ex Economy Faculty dean found innocent in stand-by bonuses trial

LJUBLJANA - Following a final guilty verdict in 2022 in one of the multiple court cases concerning unlawfully paid stand-by bonuses at the University of Ljubljana several years ago, one of the senior defendants, former Faculty of Economics dean Metka Tekavčič, has now been found innocent by the Ljubljana district court. Gabi Čačinovič Vogrinčič, former dean of the Faculty of Social Work, who received a suspended sentence of six months in prison and a fine of EUR 2,000, thus remains the only senior official to be found guilty of abuse of office in a scandal that erupted late in 2015 and also involved Tekavčič's predecessor Dušan Mramor, a former finance minister.