Weekly review of events involving Slovenia, 30 Aug to 5 Sept

FRIDAY, 30 August

LJUBLJANA - The government adopted tax changes to improve competitiveness and create a favourable environment for R&D. The new legislation will make it more attractive to hire foreign skilled staff and incentivise stock options, but it also brings higher taxes on sugary drinks, higher excise on beer and spirits, and less favourable tax treatment of sole proprietors.

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian and Turkish foreign ministers, Tanja Fajon and Hakan Fidan, signed a strategic partnership agreement during Fidan's visit. The document confirms the very good relations between the countries and sets the course for their future development, Fajon said.

LJUBLJANA - Algeria opened its embassy in Ljubljana as the country's Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf visited Slovenia meeting his counterpart Tanja Fajon. The pair labelled the embassy's opening as proof of a joint commitment to bilateral cooperation.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 2.1% in real terms in 2023 on an annual basis, the Statistics Office said. After the annual revision of the estimate, the country's 2023 GDP amounted to EUR 63.951 billion, up 12.4% in nominal terms and 2.1% in real terms from 2022.

LJUBLJANA - The annual inflation rate in Slovenia continued to decrease, dropping to 0.9% in August, in what is the first time since March 2021 that the rate dropped below 1%, according to the Statistics Office. A deflation of 0.2% was recorded on a monthly basis, mostly due to summer sales.

SATURDAY, 31 August

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - President Nataša Pirc Musar discussed bilateral relations and topical issues in meetings with her Czech and Finnish counterparts, Petr Pavel and Alexander Stubb, on the sidelines of the Globasec Forum security conference.

SUNDAY, 1 September

NEW YORK, US - Slovenia assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council in September, the most eventful month for the organisation as most world leaders gather in New York for the General Assembly's general debate. Presenting Slovenia's presidency to the press on 3 September, Ambassador Samuel Žbogar said the Middle East would most likely dominate the agenda.

LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon expressed shock over the killing of six Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, reiterating Slovenia's call for immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and an urgent deal on a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

MONDAY, 2 September

BLED - The annual Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), Slovenia's main foreign policy event, got under way with discussions centring on EU enlargement, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and the situation in Russia. Bringing together more than 180 speakers from 48 countries, the forum also honoured Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

BLED - In separate talks at the BSF, Amal Jadou, senior foreign policy advisor to the Palestinian prime minister, and Tzipi Livni, former Israeli foreign minister, presented opposing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but shared the view that a "divorce" is the only viable alternative.

ČRNA NA KOROŠKEM - Accompanied by PM Robert Golob, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Črna na Koroškem over a year after the municipality was hit by devastating floods. She described the visit as very emotional for her but said she could see hope had returned to the town.

BRDO PRI KRANJU - Prime Minister Robert Golob held a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss the priorities of the new Commission, EU enlargement, and the situation in the Western Balkans, Gaza and Ukraine.

LJUBLJANA - The government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Biotech Hills institute, a newly-established business accelerator in biotechnology, by which they committed to work together to develop a comprehensive ecosystem in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

TUESDAY, 3 September

ŠOŠTANJ - The Šoštanj thermal power station (TEŠ), which is part of the state-owned power utility HSE, announced a EUR 45.9 million net loss in 2023, with the government saying it would step in to prevent receivership. TEŠ produces more than a quarter of electricity in Slovenia, but has been struggling for a while now.

LJUBLJANA - The mobile and telecommunications provider A1 said it had taken telecoms incumbent Telekom Slovenije to court over what it believes is abuse of dominant market position in landline wholesale telecommunication services. A1 filed the lawsuit in late July, demanding EUR 33.7 million in damages.

CELJE - A trial began at the District Court in Celje with opposition leader Janez Janša and two businessmen standing accused of shady deals involving a piece of land in the Trenta Valley and Janša's 2005 purchase of a flat in Ljubljana. The prosecution claims that former Imos director Branko Kastelic, the main defendant, caused around EUR 110,000 in damage to Imos in the plot-flat deal involving Janša. Janša and another individual are charged with complicity.

WEDNESDAY, 4 September

NEW YORK, US - The first UN Security Council session chaired by Slovenia was dedicated to the situation in Gaza, with Slovenian Ambassador Samuel Žbogar and other speakers reiterating calls for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. The session again ended without any decisions on the issue.

LJUBLJANA - The Court of Audit issued a report on the controversial government acquisition of a dilapidated building in Ljubljana meant to house a number of courts and a report about a 2023 government purchase of laptops, both very critical of the purchases, as suggested in the versions leaked during the summer.

LJUBLJANA - The council of public broadcaster RTV Slovenija appointed Natalija Gorščak chair of the management board 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.

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.

THURSDAY, 5 September

NEW YORK, US - Slovenia called on Syria at a meeting of the UN Security Council to comply with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and provide credible explanations to outstanding issues. Slovenian Ambassador Samuel Žbogar urged the country to cooperate with the OPCW in good faith and to comply fully with all relevant Security Council resolutions.

NEW YORK, US - Web portal N1 reported that the Foreign Ministry published an internal call for applications for the new diplomatic and consular posts, including for the permanent representative of Slovenia to the UN. Samuel Žbogar, Slovenia's special representative on the Security Council, is slated to succeed Boštjan Malovrh on the post. Žbogar temporarily assumed Malovrh's role after the latter's term expired in August.

LJUBLJANA - All three coalition parties came out to defend National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič against the criticism the opposition SDS levelled at her for refusing to call a session at which a parliamentary inquiry into state-owned electricity companies would be founded. This came after the STA reported on 4 September that the opposition would make a criminal report against Klakočar Zupančič.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly adopted a set of opposition-sponsored recommendations urging the government to introduce systemic measures regarding the Roma community, changes to the financing of municipalities, and create legal basis for securing the funding of continuous projects for the integration of the Roma.

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly appointed Andrej Poglajen and Franc Francisco Estanislao Medic as substitute MPs to replace Branko Grims of the Democrats (SDS) and Matej Tonin of New Slovenia (NSi), respectively, who were elected members of the European Parliament in the EU election in June.