Review of Slovenia's Economy from 12 to 18 October

Ljubljana, 20 October - This week was full of turnarounds. First, the Constitutional Court gave the insurer Triglav the chance to file an appeal at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Agency for Insurance Supervision that the company's supervisory board should dismiss CEO Nada Klemencic and CFO Joze Obersnel. Triglav responded the following day by dismissing both officials, thus complying with the agency's decision - something it had repeatedly refused to do since July. Another surprise came late on Friday when Swiss pharmaceutical Novartis said it was willing to raise its takeover offer for drug maker Lek. It generously offered 50 euros more per share, although it was adamant that the previous offer was as high as it was willing to go. More predictably, though, the prime minister and the finance minister presented the budgets for 2003 and 2004, which are to get Slovenia ready for EU and NATO entry.