News roundup - Monday, 21 October, until 3pm

FinMin says Slovenia capable of financing Krško 2

LJUBLJANA - Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič said that Slovenia is capable of financing a second unit at the Krško nuclear power station with a combination of equity and debt financing. He warned, however, that clear rules would have to be laid down. Relations between the majority and minority equity partners will have to be clearly defined, he told a panel organised by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy. Boštjančič feels a public-private partnership would be the best solution. "Slovenia can provide the required amount of debt financing without a deterioration of its position on international debt markets," he said.

Fiscal Council says govt again plans overblown expenditure

LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council has assessed that the 2025 and 2026 draft national budgets, which are currently being debated in parliament, anticipate unrealistically high expenditure and as such enable further uneconomical spending. It also says that additional measures will be needed to meet the commitments from the medium-term fiscal-structural plan. The anticipated increase in deficit compared to 2024 is despite the emergency measures expected to no longer have a negative impact on the balance as of 2025, since the expenditure on the post-flood reconstruction will be financed with earmarked funds.

Golob visits Gazan children treated in Ljubljana

LJUBLJANA - PM Robert Golob visited a group of children from Gaza who are being treated at the Soča University Rehabilitation Institute in Ljubljana, describing their stories as upsetting, while pointing out to the continued killing in Gaza. "It's hard to find an answer how to move forward, but that doesn't mean we are not trying all the time, and it is with this aim in mind that I'm travelling to the US today to meet President Joe Biden tomorrow. Trust me, the situation in the Middle East, as far as we are concerned, will be the main topic of these talks," he said.

Last Jewish Holocaust survivor from Prekmurje dies aged 93

MURSKA SOBOTA - Erika Fürst, the last Jewish Holocaust survivor from Prekmurje, died this weekend, the Maribor Synagogue announced on Sunday. She was 93. Fürst had been deported to Auschwitz at age 13 along with her mother and older sister. All three survived, but most of the other members of her broader family perished. She returned to Murska Sobota and lived there until her death as one of the few remaining members of a once thriving Jewish population in the region of Prekmurje. For many years she had been a driving force of the preservation of the memory of Prekmurje Jews and was awarded the Golden Order of Service in 2012 for her contribution to Slovenian and European Holocaust awareness.

Hungarian art critic Edit Andras wins Igor Zabel Prize

LJUBLJANA - Edit Andras, a Hungarian art historian, critic, curator and senior researcher at the Institute of Art History of the Centre for the Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, is the winner of the 2024 Igor Zabel Prize for Culture and Theory. She was honoured for achievements of culture workers whose work supports, develops or investigates visual art and culture in Central, Eastern and SE Europe. She will receive the EUR 85,000 biennial prize at the end of November in Ljubljana.

Topical German-language films on show at Cinematheque

LJUBLJANA - A selection of contemporary films made in Austria, Germany and Switzerland will be screened at the Slovenian Cinematheque from Tuesday to Friday as part of the annual Days of German-Language Film. Six films will be shown, most of them released this year. Three are live-action films and three are documentaries. All the films are in German but subtitled in English and Slovenian.