News roundup - Monday, 30 September, until 3pm

Annual inflation rate down to 0.6% in September

LJUBLJANA - The annual inflation rate in Slovenia continued to drop, reaching 0.6% in September in what is the second consecutive month with the inflation rate below 1%, the Statistics Office said. The annual growth rate was pushed up the most (by 0.4 percentage points) by 3.9% higher prices in the recreation and culture category. Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, the annual growth of consumer prices in September was 0.7%, while it was at 7.1% a year ago. The monthly price growth stood at 0.2%.

Twenty years on, anti-graft watchdog still seen as toothless tiger

LJUBLJANA - As Slovenia's anti-corruption watchdog is turning 20, its head Robert Šumi expressed regret that it continues to lack sufficient mechanisms for enforcement and that politicians often fail to take responsibility in a timely manner. While he stressed the wish for the commission to be taken more seriously, relevant legislative changes do not yet seem a priority. He added that the commission lacks proper enforcement mechanisms and that responses to its recommendations should be made obligatory.

Private sector workers want general collective agreement too

LJUBLJANA - Following a new pay deal and collective agreement for the public sector, the Craft and Entrepreneurship Trade Union urged the government and employer organisations to negotiate a general collective agreement for the private sector that would provide for the same basic conditions as those in the public sector. It said that "workers in the private sector, who are the actual net taxpayers, are questioning why they are valued less than public sector workers." The private sector has been without a collective bargaining agreement since 2008.

Prison sentences for four tobacco smugglers

CELJE - The Celje District Court sentenced four men from Celje to between three and five years in prison each for smuggling millions of packs of cigarettes from Belarus to the UK via ports in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2019 and 2020, Slovenian media reported. The four colluded with individuals inside and outside the EU to smuggle Belarusian cigarettes to avoid paying taxes and duties on cigarettes worth an estimated EUR 1.5 million. They set up companies, organised cargo handling and doctored cargo manifest to conceal the true source of the goods. The ruling will be appealed.

Motocross racer Gajser finishes second in elite MXGP class

COZAR, Spain - Slovenian racer Tim Gajser finished second in the elite MXGP class of the Motocross World Championship this season, improving on the 11th place from the previous season, which was marred by an injury. The four-time MXGP champion finished behind Jorge Prado of Spain, who defended his 2023 title by winning the last race of the season in Cozar, Spain. "Of course it's difficult when you're second in the standings with such small margins, but I can't be too critical," the 28-year-old Slovenian said in a statement on the website of his HRC Honda team.

Two Italians killed in Saturday's car crash

KOPER - Two Italians, a 55-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman, were killed in a traffic accident that happened on Saturday afternoon on the road between Rižana and Kubed in SW Slovenia, as a 19-year-old novice driver from Slovenia veered off onto their lane and crashed into their car after losing control of his vehicle in a slight downhill turn. The police will press criminal charges against him over negligence.