News roundup - Thursday, 21 November, until 3pm

Eleventh-hour deal reached to avert postal strike

MARIBOR/KOPER - Pošta Slovenije and the company's two unions announced they have reached an agreement to avert a strike planned to begin on Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season. Most of their demands were met, notably accelerated hiring to fill staffing gaps, adjustments to make sure workload is more proportionate, and investments in better vehicles and equipment. The unions warn these deal only with the most pressing issues, while much larger problems still remain, most notably inadequate financing of universal postal services, which will require long-term solutions.

Hungarian exec Andras Hamori named chairman of OTP Banka

MARIBOR - The supervisory board of OTP Banka has selected Andras Hamori as the new chairman of the bank, which emerged this year with the merger of NKBM and SKB Bank and is part of the Hungarian banking group OTP. Hamori will succeed John Denhof, whose term expires at the end of the year. He will expectedly join the bank in May 2025. Before he receives regulatory clearance from the ECB, he will act as procurator. Hamori has most recently been head of retail banking at ING Bank Australia. Prior to that he was a board member and CEO of ING Austria, Sberbank Europe, ZUNO Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International, and GE Money.

Pay reform to cost public health insurer EUR 141m more next year

LJUBLJANA - The public sector pay reform will push up the expenditure of the public health insurance operator ZZZS, which expects to see its cost rise by EUR 141 million next year and will require at least EUR 46 million in additional budget funds. It expects to feel the brunt of the new burden in 2026. The estimate by the Health Ministry is slightly more conservative, at EUR 132 million. Asked how community healthcare centres and hospitals were meant to cover the cost, the ministry told the STA that prices of services would increase.

Consumers less optimistic in November

LJUBLJANA - Consumer confidence in Slovenia deteriorated by one percentage point in November from October to end six percentage points below the long-term average, shows the latest Statistics Office data. Pushing the index down the most this month was consumer expectations about major purchases (-4pp) and views on current household finances (-1pp). Consumers are however slightly more optimistic than a year ago.

Slovenia joins Clean Hydrogen Partnership

BRUSSELS, Belgium - As Slovenia has signed a cooperation memorandum for the EU Clean Hydrogen Partnership, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Climate and Energy said today that this would contribute to the project North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley as well as in terms of renewable targets. "We want to further our capacities and knowledge exchange for a more effective development and introduction of hydrogen technologies in Slovenia," Tina Seršen, a state secretary at the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Climate and Energy, said after signing the document in Brussels.

Slovenian Impressionist art on show in immersive exhibition

LJUBLJANA - An immersive exhibition based on paintings by Slovenia's leading representatives of Impressionism has been put on display in the largest hall of Ljubljana Castle. A three-dimensional video projection running daily until 26 October next year features the famous paintings by Rihard Jakopič, Ivan Grohar, Matija Jama and Matej Sternen. The 15-minute projection takes the visitor through 16 of their works such as the Sower, the Red Parasol, Bathers and the Circle Dance.