Weekly review of events involving Slovenia, 11-17 October

FRIDAY, 11 October
        
PAPHOS, Cyprus - Slovenia welcomed a peace plan for the Middle East presented to MED9 leaders by Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, PM Robert Golob said in a joint statement following the group's annual meeting. Slovenia also supports France's initiative to halt the sale of arms to the region.

LJUBLJANA/ŠEMPETER PRI GORICI - PM Robert Golob expressed concern after Mahle's Slovenian subsidiary, Mahle Electric Drives Slovenija, said it planned to lay off more than 600 workers, calling on Economy Minister Matjaž Han to draft measures to prevent further job losses in the company. Han met the company's management and trade unions on 14 October. He said it was not the Slovenian business environment but issues faced by Europe's car industry that were to blame for the layoffs. Business representatives disagreed.

KRAKOW, Poland - The partnership between the EU and the US is the most important bilateral relationship for the EU, President Nataša Pirc Musar said at the meeting of the Arraiolos group, urging the EU to continue supporting Ukraine and protecting human rights in other conflicts. She also stressed the importance of Europe's defence autonomy in the context of current geopolitical challenges.

NEW YORK, US - Warning that the Middle East is on the brink of all-out war, Slovenia's Ambassador Samuel Žbogar told a UN Security Council session on 10 October that Hezbollah must stop its attacks on Israel, whereas Israel must end its military operation in Lebanon.

LJUBLJANA - Rating agencies Fitch and Moody's affirmed Slovenia's long-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings. Fitch affirmed Slovenia at A with a stable outlook, while Moody's affirmed it at A3, upgrading the outlook from stable to positive.

SATURDAY, 12 October

LJUBLJANA - Joining the international community in condemning Israel's attacks that hit the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and wounded four members of the force, the Foreign Ministry said that these incidents were a serious violation of international humanitarian law and reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire. On 14 October, FM Tanja Fajon strongly condemned the recent Israeli attack on UNIFIL, describing it as a "grave violation of international law, an appalling atrocity".

COMO, Italy - Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wrapped up a stellar season by winning the Giro di Lombardia for the fourth time in a row in a record-equalling feat and after another long-range solo attack. He racked up as many as 25 wins this season, including the triple crown, and was instrumental in Slovenia becoming the first country to have won all the three Grand Tours and the World Championships in one season.

SUNDAY, 13 October

LJUBLJANA - Ten wounded children from the Gaza Strip and their assistants arrived in Slovenia for treatment and psychosocial rehabilitation at the URI Soča institute in Ljubljana. Four of them have had their legs amputated and two have had their arms amputated, and the youngest of them is four years old.

MONDAY, 14 October

BERLIN, Germany - President Nataša Pirc Musar stressed the importance of full EU integration of candidate countries from the Western Balkans as she spoke to the press after attending the 10th Berlin Process summit in the German capital. She also pointed to the important role of cooperation of EU member states.

ZAGREB, Croatia - The situation in the Middle East is now worse than it was last year when the interior ministers of Slovenia, Croatia and Italy first met to discuss it post-Hamas's attack, Slovenia's Boštjan Poklukar said at the trio's meeting. The ministers expressed support for an upcoming agreement between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Frontex to better manage migration.

LJUBLJANA - The Zois Prizes for lifetime achievement in science went to chemistry engineer Željko Knez and developmental psychologist Ljubica Marjanovič Umek. Igor Akrapovič, the owner of the eponymous exhaust maker, was honoured with the Puh Prize for lifetime achievement in innovation.

LJUBLJANA - A number of human rights NGOs and pro-Palestinian groups addressed a petition to the government urging it to impose military, economic, political and diplomatic sanctions on Israel to stop genocide in Palestine.

LJUBLJANA - As the situation in the Middle East is escalating, Slovenian MEP Matjaž Nemec called on PM Robert Golob to demand that the EU freeze its association agreement with Israel and to push for a ban on arms exports to Israel. In response, Golob's office said that Golob supported both proposals.
        
TUESDAY, 15 October

LJUBLJANA - Police initiated a criminal complaint against PM Robert Golob in an unprecedented move. Golob rejected the next day the allegations by former Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar that he interfered in the work of the police. The two junior coalition partners reacted cautiously, saying they would demand explanations. The opposition New Slovenia (NSi) said that Golob's reaction raised even more questions than it answered. Golob's Freedom Movement expressed support for the PM.

LJUBLJANA - Serbia is happy that the EU commissioner for enlargement is to come from Slovenia, Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Đurić said as he visited Ljubljana. Slovenia knows the region very well and has been supporting Serbia on its EU path for a long time, he said.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia is a tiny donor of development aid and emergency humanitarian aid in global terms, yet its contribution, which is an expression of solidarity and responsibility, is invaluable, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said in her address at the opening of the Slovenian Development Days. The country currently spends 0.24% of GNI for this purpose.

LJUBLJANA - Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), checked out prices at Ljubljana central market, visiting Slovenia on a courtesy visit ahead of the ECB governing council meeting at Brdo estate. She said the market "shows the fabrics of a country, it shows the local production".

LJUBLJANA - The Economy Ministry will have EUR 279 million available next year and EUR 209 million in 2026. The figures are lower, but that is largely because of significant one-off outlays in 2023 and 2024, State Secretary Matevž Frangež said as the parliamentary Economy Committee examined the budget bills.

LJUBLJANA - The Interior Ministry will have EUR 570 million available in 2025, EUR 30 million more than originally planned in the two-year budget framework, rising to EUR 612 million in 2026. This is mostly a result of deferred investments, the parliamentary Interior Affairs Committee heard as it examined the budget documents.

WEDNESDAY, 16 October

LJUBLJANA - The green party Vesna submitted a petition for a constitutional review of the decision to hold a referendum on a second reactor at the Krško nuclear power station. Arguing that the referendum question is misleading, it also asked the court to stay the referendum procedures pending final decision. The junior coalition Left supports the campaign.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - PM Robert Golob said as he arrived for the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit that Slovenia actively supported an export ban on arms to Israel. This in itself is not a solution to the situation in the Middle East, but it is one of the measures that are being discussed, he said.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia is one of the most proactive EU countries in the search for peace in the Middle East, and it is very consistent in addressing crises around the world as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, FM Tanja Fajon told the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee. She rejected the criticism by two opposition SDS MPs who accused PM Robert Golob of putting Slovenia on the side of Hamas in his address to the UN General Assembly last month when he urged Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the war in Gaza.

LJUBLJANA - Luxembourg promised to assist Slovenia in its activities concerning EU enlargement as Claude Wiseler, president of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, held talks with National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič.

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Defence Committee welcomed the funding increases for the Defence Ministry envisaged in the budget proposals for 2025 and 2026. The 2025 proposal allocates over EUR 1.2 billion to the ministry, up EUR 191.2 million from the estimated budget for this year, and more than EUR 1.3 billion is proposed for 2026.

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee discussed the government budget proposals for the next two years with Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon saying the budgeted funds were sufficient to support the work of the ministry and the diplomatic network. The supplementary budget for 2025 allocates EUR 161.7 million to the ministry.
        
THURSDAY, 17 October

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Certain measures from the EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will apply from summer 2026, should be implemented immediately, PM Robert Golob said on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels. Touching on the idea of return hubs for rejected asylum seekers located outside the EU, he said they would not solve all the problems.

LJUBLJANA - The opposition-led Commission for Oversight of Public Finances discussed the budgets for 2025 and 2026, warning that Slovenia should prepare better for the challenges it will face due to the problems of its main business partners. The proposed budget bills do not prepare Slovenia for the challenges ahead, Jernej Vrtovec from the opposition New Slovenia (NSi) said.

LJUBLJANA - Budgetary funds available for Slovenians abroad will be higher in 2025 and 2026, at EUR 13 million and EUR 12.1 million, respectively, the parliamentary Commission for Slovenians Abroad heard as it discussed the budget documents for the coming two years.

LJUBLJANA - Some 264,000 people, or 12.7% of Slovenia's entire population, lived beneath the poverty line last year, 0.6 points higher than the year before. Nevertheless, this is still among the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rates in the EU, the Statistics Office said on International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

LJUBLJANA - The Islamic community in Slovenia marked the 30th anniversary of its governing body Meshihat with a ceremony in Ljubljana which heard an appeal for an end to wars. President Nataša Pirc Musar hailed the Muslims' contribution to multicultural dialogue. Mufti Nevzet Porić believes the situation of the Islamic community in Slovenia is good, but there are still several issues to tackle.

LJUBLJANA - Termoelektrarna-Toplarna Ljubljana, the capital's district heating and electricity provider, has begun trial operations of a new gas-steam unit, the Energetika Ljubljana utility said. The EUR 145 million investment is expected to reduce coal usage by 70% and double electricity production.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian texts from the Baroque have been put online 310 years after the death of monk and writer Janez Svetokriški, a key figure of Slovenian Baroque literature. The collection of electronic editions, termed Slovenian Baroque Literature, is the work of the Institute of Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU).