News roundup - Sunday, 24 November

Minister on COP29: It's key agreement was reached

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Slovenian Minister of the Environment, Climate and Energy Bojan Kumer said it is crucial that COP29 ended in an agreement, which proves the world can come together for common good, as he commented on the UN climate conference, which ended after the lengthy and demanding talks were prolonged and some feared could fail. The main decision at COP29 is that developed countries, including Slovenia, will allocate US$300 billion a year for climate measures in developing countries in 2025 to 2035. "The new goal, which replaces the existing goal as of 2025, triples the current funds for this purpose," Kumer told the press.

Slovenian environmentalists unhappy with COP29 outcome

BAKU, Azerbaijan/LJUBLJANA - Environmentalist Barbara Kvac from Focus is critical of the outcome of COP29, saying the UN climate conference ended with a bad agreement which ignores warnings by scientists and the responsibility of rich countries. She blamed the countries of the global north for "the failure of the negotiations". She said the agreement is "1 trillion US dollars short of the estimated needs of [developing] countries". Climate expert Lučka Kajfež Bogataj urged focussing on the causes of climate change rather than on finances. At COP30 next year there will be only five more years "for a serious detour from fossil fuels". To reach limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, emissions should be cut by 43% by 2030. "Current country pledges represent only a 2% reduction by 2030," she told the STA.

Hungarian school drama wins main LIFFe prize

LJUBLJANA - Lesson Learned, a film about the Hungarian education system, won director Balint Szimler the Kingfisher Prize at the 35th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe), which wrapped up on Saturday evening. The film portrays a strict school system with no room for concessions, a reason for which it was made without state support but with 19 co-producers. Accepting the prize, Szimler said he found it important to highlight the archaic school methods. Several other awards were gven out, with the LIFFe audiences choosing Manas, Marianne Brennand's debut feature film about child sexual abuse in the Amazon Rainforest, as its favourite.

Law on legal recourse for junior creditors goes to Constitutional Court

LJUBLJANA - A group of 14 junior creditors wiped out in a massive bank bailout in late 2013 and early 2014 asked the Constitutional Court in October to review several provisions in the May 2024 law that provides legal recourse for the junior creditors, the newspaper Delo reported on Saturday. More than 100,000 owners of around EUR 960 million worth of subordinate bonds or shares in the six banks that had to be recapitalised were wiped out. The petitioners argue that four articles of the law violate the principle of equality before the law, the right to legal recourse and the right to private property. Delo said another such petition could be filed soon.