SLOVENIA AND CROATIA SIGN BORDER ARBITRATION AGREEMENT
Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor signed in Stockholm on 4 November an arbitration agreement which is expected to bring the overdue solution to the 18-year border dispute between the countries.
The pair also pledged in a declaration to send the document to their respective parliaments for ratification within two weeks and expressed belief that it would be ratified by December.
The move was welcomed by Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, who signed the treaty on behalf of the Swedish EU presidency and also acted as a witness, and Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk, who labelled it "an important step on the path to resolving the border dispute".
Slovenian MEP Tanja Fajon (S&D/SD) said the signing was a historic step forward, while MEP Lojze Peterle (EPP/NSi) regretted it, despite the European Peoples Party (EPP) welcoming it.
The coalition parties also welcomed the signing, whereas all three opposition parties criticised it, announcing they would file a joint motion for a referendum on the agreement to "protect the most vital of Slovenian interests" if the deal is ratified.
President Danilo Tuerk meanwhile said the agreement should be "put to verification" to the people in a consultative referendum, which would be held before the ratification.
Occupying legal experts in the wage of the signing is whether the National Assembly should ratify the agreement with a regular or two-thirds majority. Meanwhile, the government has already announced that the deal would be sent to the Constitutional Court for review.
BRUSSELS FORECASTS 7.4% CONTRACTION FOR SLOVENIA
The European Commission issued its autumn economic forecast on 3 November, projecting Slovenia's GDP to shrink by 7.4% this year. The forecasts for the country's unemployment and general government deficit were downgraded as well, to 6.7% and 6.3%, respectively.
Like for the whole of the eurozone, the Commission forecast a recovery for Slovenia in 2010 and 2011, when the country's economy is to grow by 1.3% and 2.0%, respectively. The report says that Slovenia has been the hardest hit economy in the eurozone by the global crisis along with Ireland, followed by Finland and Slovakia. According to the Commission, Slovenia has seen an abrupt downturn caused foremost by a slump in trade due "Slovenia's very high degree of openness".
On the same day that the Commission issued the report, the Slovenian government adopted amendments to the 2010 and 2011 budget bills, which keeps the projected budget deficits at EUR 1.8bn or 5% of GDP for 2010 and EUR 1.6bn or 4.1% of GDP for 2011. However, the government redistributed funds within the budget to fund a deal with the public sector trade unions aimed at tackling flaws in the public sector pay system. Finance Minister Franc Krizanic said that funding had been cut at the transport, defence and finance ministries.
SOCIAL TENSIONS RISING, GOVT TO SEEK SOCIAL PACT
Workers' dissatisfaction with wages and the uncertain future of a number of companies has prompted several trade unions to announce strikes. After meeting their companies' managements, some of them suspended the industrial actions this week, including the trade unions at railway operator Slovenske zeleznice and workers in vehicle maker TVM.
Around 6,000 Slovenian police officers however went ahead with a token strike on 5 November demanding the raises that the government had promised them in the deal between the government and public sector trade unions. Moreover, Slovenia faces the biggest strike since the crisis began, as the SKEI trade union of metal and electronics industries announced that around 40,000 of its members would go on strike on 13 November.
Slovenia's biggest trade union confederation, the ZSSS, meanwhile reiterated its demand that the minimum wage be raised to EUR 600 net, since the minimum living costs stand at EUR 562.07.
In addition, unemployment also continues to rise. Slovenia's Employment Service registered 94,591 unemployed people in October, up 7% on September and up 51.1% on October 2008.
Labour Minister Ivan Svetlik therefore announced on 2 November plans for a new social pact dealing with issues such as the minimum wage, changes to labour legislation as well as major structural reforms.
SLOVENIA RECORDS FIRST SWINE-FLU RELATED DEATH
A woman in her 50s died on 3 November in what is the first swine flu-related death in Slovenia. The patient is said to have had one of the chronic conditions increasing the risk for more severe swine flu symptoms.
She was admitted to the intensive care section of the Ljubljana UKC hospital on 30 October, whereupon her condition deteriorated rapidly prompting the doctors to move her to intensive care.
Matjaz Jereb, the attending physician, said the woman died of complications related to her chronic condition. The list of conditions that could make swine flu life-threatening includes chronic lung and heart disease, impairments to the immune system, diabetes and alcoholism.
The woman's death was followed by a vaccination rush, after voluntary vaccination for the general public began on 2 November.
CHRONOLOGY:
SATURDAY, 31 October
LJUBLJANA - Former US President Bill Clinton addressed a business conference in a packed hall of the Cankarjev dom centre stressing the need to facilitate positive forces of interdependence and to move beyond past differences to focus on the future. Clinton also met President Danilo Tuerk and PM Borut Pahor.
LJUBLJANA/CELJE/ZAGORJE - President Danilo Tuerk and several top officials laid wreaths on memorials to the victims of WWI, WWII and the 1991 Slovenia independence war at the Zale cemetery ahead of All Saints' Day.
LJUBLJANA - PM Borut Pahor told TV Slovenija that the timeline for the decision of the arbitration tribunal in the Slovenian-Croatian border dispute had been scrapped in the latest arbitration agreement proposal, since this sacrifice was the easiest to make in order to achieve agreement with Croatia.
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Bishops' Conference wrote a letter to their Croatian counterparts, expressing regret over their appeal against the border arbitration agreement between Croatia and the call to the Croatian government to withdraw from it even at the price of Croatia's non-accession to the EU.
SUNDAY, 1 November
LJUBLJANA - PM Borut Pahor responded to a statement by Croatian President Stipe Mesic that Slovenia would never get contact with the high seas because this would make Croatia lose direct contact with Italy, saying that the border issue would not be resolved by Mesic but by the arbitration agreement.
HUDA JAMA - President Danilo Tuerk, PM Borut Pahor and Speaker Pavel Gantar laid wreaths at the Huda jama mass grave site near Lasko on the occasion of All Saints' Day, which was the first visit of the state's top officials to the grave believed to hold victims of post-WWII killings since it was uncovered in March.
LJUBLJANA - PM Borut Pahor's office rejected media reports that Pahor was considering resigning because of the lengthy procedure of resolving the Slovenia-Croatia border dispute.
LJUBLJANA - Ex-president of the Constitutional Court Janez Cebulj said that quiet diplomacy in talks with Croatia on the border arbitration agreement could be constitutionally problematic because it is unclear what exactly the two governments have agreed upon, as each side is interpreting the deal in its own way.
LJUBLJANA - Ljubljana Archbishop Alojz Uran delivered mass on the occasion of All Saints' Day at the Zale central cemetery, saying that "sanctity is not always a status originating from church recognition", adding that saints could be found in every family.
MONDAY, 2 November
LJUBLJANA - Labour Minister Ivan Svetlik announced at a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) plans for a new social pact dealing with issues such as the minimum wage, changes to labour legislation as well as major structural reforms.
LJUBLJANA - The supervisory board of Slovenia's top bank, NLB, announced that the bank's new management board would assume office on 1 December, after reaching agreement with three outgoing management board members on their departure.
LJUBLJANA - After meeting the management and in-house trade unions of the Slovenian railway operator, Prime Minister Borut Pahor said that railways would be Slovenia's strategic infrastructure priority in the coming years.
LJUBLJANA - The trade unions at railway operator Slovenske zeleznice suspended a token strike announced for 4 November after talks with the company's general manager Goran Brankovic.
LJUBLJANA - Workers of vehicle maker TVM started a general strike, demanding the payment of wages for September and holiday allowance.
MARIBOR - Zavarovalnica Maribor said that buyers had subscribed EUR 14m worth of fresh shares, or 98.5% of all shares issued in the first round of the capital increase run by the insurer.
LJUBLJANA - Three parties claiming succession to the Christian Democrats (SKD) celebrated the 20th anniversary of the creation of this party.
LJUBLJANA - Voluntary vaccination against swine flu for the general public began with chronic patients being the first to be vaccinated.
TUESDAY, 3 November
LJUBLJANA - PM Borut Pahor announced at a session of the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee that he would sign the Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration agreement on 4 November in Stockholm.
LJUBLJANA - A woman in her 50s became the first victim of swine flu in Slovenia.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission issued its autumn economic forecast, projecting Slovenia's GDP to shrink by 7.4% this year.
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted amendments to the 2010 and 2011 budget bills cutting a certain amount of funds for the transport, defence and finance ministries and using them to fund a deal with the public sector trade unions to tackle flaws in the public sector pay system.
LJUBLJANA - The government established a fiscal council, a consulting body tasked with examining the effectiveness and sustainability of fiscal policies and recommending improvements.
MARIBOR - A Slovenian contingent serving in Afghanistan since April finally returned home after being stranded there for a month due to complications with transport.
LJUBLJANA - The supervisory board of national railways operator Slovenske zeleznice debated at a marathon session measures for reversing a drastic fall in cargo transport and adopted a decision to seek an audit of operations from 1 September 2003 to the present.
LJUBLJANA - Head of the Slovenian Research Agency said he believed that Slovenia could achieve the desired development breakthrough if it keeps raising investment in research and development (R&D) as it did in 2009.
MARIBOR - Financial firm Infond Holding announced it had filed lawsuits against seven banks the holding believes have illegitimately sold off its shares to recoup unpaid loans.
LJUBLJANA - Catholic publisher Druzina presented a book containing documents from court proceedings against Bishop Gregorij Rozman, who was accused of collaborating with the occupying forces.
WEDNESDAY, 4 November
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Slovenia and Croatia pledged to enter binding international arbitration over their 18-year territorial dispute as their prime ministers signed an agreement to this effect.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's Employment Service said it had registered 94,591 unemployed people in October, up 7% on September and up 51.1% on October 2008.
LJUBLJANA - Defence Minister Ljubica Jelusic denied media reports that she had promised NATO secretary general that Slovenian soldiers in Afghanistan would get engaged in combat operations.
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Justice Minister Ales Zalar met his Turkish counterpart Sadullah Ergin on the sidelines of an international conference in Istanbul to discuss ways to decrease the excessive caseload of the European Court of Human Rights.
KRSKO - The Krsko district prosecution filed a criminal complaint against the Croatian citizen arrested at the beginning of July on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Slovenian PM Borut Pahor.
LJUBLJANA - Former commander of the special Moris brigade, Tone Krkovic, who is viewed a close associate of former PM Janez Jansa, was questioned by Finnish investigators as a suspect in the Patria case
LJUBLJANA - The ZSSS, Slovenia's biggest trade union confederation, backed their recent demand for the minimum wage to be raised to EUR 600 net with the findings of a study showing that an average adult person in Slovenia needs EUR 562.07 a month to survive.
MARIBOR - Workers in vehicle maker TVM suspended the strike they started on 2 November after reaching an agreement with the management on the payment of September wages.
TRZIC - The supervisors of state-owned footwear manufacturer Peko confirmed the merger of its two Slovenian subsidiaries, PGP Trzic and PGP Inde, which together employ around 520 people.
LJUBLJANA - The Manager magazine published a list of 100 richest Slovenians with retail magnate Mirko Tus retaining the top position even though his fortune decreased by more than a third (38.1%) to EUR 360.6m from last year.
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian translation of the book "Tito - The Mystery of the Century" was launched by publisher Orbis.
SEZANA - The woman charged with killing her four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter pleaded not guilty as the 28 March family tragedy in Sezana went to trial.
LJUBLJANA - Reports said that Slovenian football premier league team Interblock from Ljubljana is being investigated by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) under suspicion that it fixed a result of its game in the third qualifying round for the UEFA Europa League.
THURSDAY, 5 November
LJUBLJANA/ZAGREB, Croatia - The opposition People's Party (SLS) announced that it had the support of all opposition parties for a referendum on the Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration agreement.
OTOCEC - Slovenian parliamentary Speaker Pavel Gantar said the Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration agreement should be ratified in parliament with a regular majority.
LJUBLJANA - Former Secretary General of the Council of Europe Catherine Lalumiere met Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar after receiving Golden Order for Services from President Danilo Tuerk for her support to Slovenia's independence efforts and her role in Slovenia's joining the CoE.
LJUBLJANA - Finance Minister Franc Krizanic said that the government had manged to slightly cut the budget deficit for 2010 in the amended 2010 and 2011 budget drafts that it had referred to parliament for passage.
LJUBLJANA - Around 6,000 Slovenian police officers and investigators staged a two-hour token strike to pressure the government to tackle overdue pay rises and set up social dialogue.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn expressed his support for Slovenia's proposal that the Schengen visa regime for Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia be abolished on 19 December this year instead of 1 January 2010 as proposed by the European Commission.
NOVA GORICA - Head of the Slovenian Corruption Prevention Commission, Drago Kos, told the 9th conference of the European Partners Against Corruption (EPAC) that Slovenia belonged to countries modestly burdened with corruption but had reserves to improve the situation.
LJUBLJANA - Almost 40,000 workers associated in the SKEI trade union of the steel and electronics sectors announced a general strike for 13 November to highlight the deteriorating situation in the industry.
LJUBLJANA - Medical organisations and an NGO advocating the preservation of the public health care system were highly critical of the latest draft of the health services bill.
ROME, Italy - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini expressed surprise over the fact that Slovenian public broadcaster RTV Slovenija participated in the production of a short film depicting Slovenia's trauma of losing the port city of Trieste after World War II.
FRIDAY, 6 November
LJUBLJANA - President Danilo Tuerk called for the border arbitration agreement with Croatia to be "put to verification" to the people in a consultative referendum before the document is ratified.
LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar and PM Borut Pahor met the new Council of Europe Secretary General, Thorbjorn Jagland, who presented them his priorities at separate meetings.
LJUBLJANA - Defence Minister Ljubica Jelusic said that any further budget cuts affecting the Slovenian Armed forces would result in new limitations in the participation of the army in international operations.
LJUBLJANA - A conference marking the end of Slovenia's six-month stint at the helm of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe started with representatives of CoE members and 14 other countries discussing the renovation of cultural heritage in the Western Balkans.
LJUBLJANA - Head of the Energy Directorate at the Economy Ministry, Janez Kopac, announced that the negotiations between Slovenia and Russia on a deal that would take part of the South Stream gas pipeline across Slovenia have been successfully concluded and the agreement could be signed as early as next week.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenian minority representatives in Italy presented their problems to Slovenia's Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar and Minister for Slovenians Abroad Bostjan Zeks ahead of a meeting of the coordinating committee of the Italian and Slovenian governments.
LJUBLJANA - A government economic think-tank warned that the rise in minimum wage as demanded by trade unions could further deteriorate the situation on the labour market.
LJUBLJANA - Sava, the chemicals-through-tourism conglomerate, reported EUR 10.6m in net profit for the first nine months of the year, which the company said beat plans.
NOVA GORICA - Workers in gaming and tourism company Hit announced token strikes for 13, 21 and 28 November after the company's management opted out of the collective bargaining agreement and the agreement on working time.
LJUBLJANA - The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) responded to the announcement of a general strike of the SKEI trade union of the steel and electronics sectors, saying that the union's demands would further deteriorate the situation at Slovenian companies.
LJUBLJANA - The dean of the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts, Valentin Bucik, stressed the avantgarde role of the faculty in the development of humanist and sociological thought in Slovenia as he addressed the ceremony marking the faculty's 90th anniversary.
LJUBLJANA - As renovation work at the famous Planica Nordic centre is in full swing, the director of the Planica sports institute Jelko Gros announced that the world's biggest ski jumping hill would be ready to host the 2010 World Ski Flying Championships.
