POLITICS
LJUBLJANA - After the Croatian parliament ratified on Friday the Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration agreement by a sweeping majority, Slovenian coalition parties welcomed the decision, while the opposition said the ratification was expected, as the agreement primarily served Croatia's interests. Prime Minister Borut Pahor responded to the criticism coming from the opposition, saying Slovenia should be satisfied with the agreement as it was "us who achieved it", while Croatia merely "consented" to it in exchange for the unblocking of their EU accession talks.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - All but one Slovenian MEP welcomed on Friday the choice of Belgian Herman Van Rompuy as the first ever full-time president of the European Council and UK's Catherine Ashton as the high representative for foreign affairs. All in all, the MEP believe time will show whether the decision was right. Ivo Vajgl (ALDE/Zares) was the critic, saying that the decision was a reflection of a situation where EU members, or better their leader, are looking for common points where the common denominator is the lowest. Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar also welcomed the decision.
LJUBLJANA - A professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences labelled Thursday's decisions of EU leaders to appoint two relative political lightweights to top positions in the bloc as a disappointment. "The EU has sent the message to the world that it is not yet ready to be a major player on the global scene," Zlatko Sabic said. Sabic's colleague Sabina Kajnc meanwhile said that Van Rompuy and Ashton would "undoubtedly mark the new posts" that would help the EU to enhance its role in the world.
LJUBLJANA - Following the ratification in the Croatian parliament of the Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration agreement, which includes Croatia's unilateral statement saying that "nothing in the arbitration agreement between Croatia and Slovenia shall be understood as Croatia's consent to Slovenia's claim of its territorial contact with the high seas", the Slovenian Foreign Ministry sent on Friday to the Croatian Embassy the Slovenian statement saying that the Croatian document has no legal bearing.
LJUBLJANA - The national ceremony marking Rudolf Maister Day, a holiday marking the day in 1918 when General Rudolf Maister took control of Maribor and in effect secured what later became Slovenia's northern border, was held in Ravne na Koroskem on Friday, attended by top state officials and National Council President Blaz Kavcic as the keynote speaker. "Maister made decisive changes to the history 90 years ago," Kavcic said in the opening speech, stressing that Maister's personality reflected his profoundity and swift military decision-making.
LJUBLJANA - After hidden cameras were found at the seat of national railway operator Slovenske zeleznice last week, the parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Commission debated the issue and its investigation on Friday. Robert Crepinko of the Criminal Police Administration said that the police had searched the scene, seized the cameras and had them examined. They however cannot continue the investigation because nobody had filed a complaint. The commission's chair Zvonko Cernac of the opposition Democrats (SDS) said this was an excuse. It is in someone's interest that what has been recorded gets lost, he said. Interior Minister Katarina Kresal responded to today's session, saying that Cernac gravely exceeded his powers and interfered with the police work.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk was forced to cancel a visit to Sarajevo due to fog at the airport in Bosnia-Herzegovina's capital. Tuerk was due to attend a regional economic forum there today.
LJUBLJANA - A top court official warned of negative implications of political campaign against the judicature in an interview for a political weekly. The majority of judges believe politics has been undermining the judicature's reputation by design, President of Supreme Court France Testen told an interview with the Mladina weekly. Testen believes that the judiciary has justifiably used the recent bomb attack on the home of a Ljubljana District Court judge to highlight their position and to show how reckless the behaviour of those who attack judges to score political points or increase circulation figures is.
BLED - State Prosecutor General Barbara Brezigar condemned political interference in the prosecution's independence and warned against excessive changes to legislation as she outlined her view of the State Prosecutor's Office in 2009. Brezigar highlighted judicial oversight at the Ljubljana District Prosecutor's Office initiated by the justice minister at the beginning of September over doubts regarding the prosecution's handling of proceedings against a Finnish journalist. She said the oversight was "prompted by dissatisfaction of a political party with the prosecutor's decision to begin prosecution in a specific case". Justice Ministry State Secretary Bostjan Skrlec said in a response for STA that the oversight had been introduced because of certain unclarities and discrepancies in Brezigar's answers to the Justice Ministry.
LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court has ruled that the post of the National Council president must be made professional, so the president should receive a salary and not only a compensation as has been the case so far. Incumbent president Blaz Kavcic told STA on Friday the National Council expected the decision, which has strong symbolic meaning.
LJUBLJANA - Parliament passed an alternative dispute resolution bill which requires courts to offer mediation to parties in dispute. The coalition says the new act will help reduce backlog at courts, while the opposition believes it in a way turns mediation into obligation. The bill was passed late on Thursday by 55 votes, while no of the National Assembly's 90 deputies voted against.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
LJUBLJANA - The supervisors of the state-owned NLB bank appointed on Friday Marko Simoneti the new chair of the supervisory board. Simoneti will succeed Stanislava Zadravec Caprirolo, who stepped down on Monday without giving a reason for her decision. Simoneti, a professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Law, was chairman of the Ljubljanska borza stock market operator between 2005 and 2009. Finance Minister Franc Krizanic, who relived Caprirolo of her duties as the head of the treasury department at the Finance Ministry last week, still has not commented on whether the resignation of Caprirolo was the result of political pressure.
LJUBLJANA - The planned second reactor at the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) will be completed between 2020 and 2025, Economy Minister Matej Lahovnik said on Friday. He expects that the issue of the management of low and medium level radioactive waste produced by the power station will be resolved by the end of the year. "I have said on several occasions that I support the second reactor because nuclear energy is very attractive and necessary for Slovenia," Lahovnik pointed out at a press conference marking his one year in office when asked about NEK.
LJUBLJANA - National telco Telekom Slovenije saw its profit fall 55% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2009 to EUR 34.1m. Operating revenues of the group for the same period were flat at EUR 637m, the group said. The group announced it was successful in maintaining operating revenues at last year's levels despite the global economic crisis and the stiff competition among telecommunications companies. This resulted in a drop in profit margins, which coupled with the continuing shift from classic voice telephony to IP services put pressure on profit.
LJUBLJANA - The Economy Ministry focused in its first year on giving aid to companies affected by the crisis, Minister Matej Lahovnik told the press on Friday. Planned are investments into loan guarantees and tourism, while the EU has already agreed to finance the gas pipeline from Ljubljana to the Austrian border, he noted.
In the year which was marked by the financial and economic crisis, the Economy Ministry earmarked a total of EUR 259m to over 800 projects in Slovenian companies, the minister said.
LJUBLJANA - As the government is getting ready to amend the act on worker participation in profit, Economy Minister Matej Lahovnik argued on Friday for keeping the distribution of profit voluntary while making it more attractive for companies as well as workers. Although only 21 companies are participating in the profit distribution scheme under the existing law, Lahovnik fears that making worker participation in profit compulsory could backfire and that instead, the scheme should be improved in other ways.
LJUBLJANA - Parliament passed on Friday changes to the banking act, which increase in line with EU law state guarantees for bank deposits from EUR 22,000 to EUR 50,000. Despite the change, unlimited guarantees, introduced in November in response to the financial crisis, remain in place in Slovenia until the end of 2010.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly rejected on Friday the closing account of the 2008 national budget in a 37-32 vote. The coalition MPs called on the government to change the legislation in a way that will not allow discrepancies between the closing account and the findings of the Court of Audit.The Court of Audit issued in September an adverse opinion on the draft closing account of the 2008 national budget and a qualified opinion to budget users. According to the court, there was no EUR 65m surplus in the 2008 budget as shown in the closing account, but actually a deficit of EUR 43.1m.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly unanimously passed on Friday amendments to the chambers of commerce and industry act which eliminate inequalities and differentiation among Slovenian representative chambers in division of assets of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS). The government adopted the changes in October after the Constitutional Court had ruled that the provisions of the act related to the division of assets of the GZS after its transformation in 2006 are unconstitutional.
PORTOROZ - Workers in two casinos of gaming company Casino Portoroz will stage a five-hour strike on Friday, after failing to reach an agreement with the management. The trade unions rejected the management's proposal on separate talks with every group of employees. They saw this as an attempt to break their unity.
LJUBLJANA - Industrial revenues in Slovenia increased slightly in September with 0.5% better results than in August, but were still almost 15% lower year-on-year. The value of new orders grew by 11% compared to the months before, but was lower 18% year-on-year, the Statistics office said on Friday.
LJUBLJANA - The consumer confidence index rose 2 percentage points in October compared to the month before and 10 percentage points year-on-year. This is largely due to more optimistic expectations of consumers regarding employment in Slovenia in the next 12 months, the Statistics Office said on Friday. In spite of the increase in the index, it still stands 4 percentage points below last year's average.
LJUBLJANA - The negative streak on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange that started on Monday persisted on Friday. Only three items ended in the black, which resulted in the SBI 20 benchmark index shedding 0.69% to 4,256 and the blue chip SBI TOP 0.7% to 1,032 points.
TRANSPORT
MOSCOW, Russia - Transport Minister Patrick Vlacic attended the first global ministerial on road safety in Moscow on Friday. He said the ministerial was a platform for the exchange of know-how, experience and good practices in road safety, which is one of the key priorities of the Slovenian Transport Ministry. "The conference is showing to the world that road safety is an important global issue which demands joint efforts for efficient solutions, while also marking the 200th anniversary of transport in Russia," said Vlacic.
HEALTH
LJUBLJANA - Swine flu looks to have affected Slovenian premiership football, as twelve players from a single club are thought to have fallen ill to the virus, forcing the postponement of a match scheduled for Saturday. The number of people infected with the H1N1 virus is said to be rising rapidly in Slovenia, according to data from the Public Health Institute.
SPORTS
ZURICH, Switzerland - Boosted by their stunning 1:0 victory over Russia that booked them a place at the 2010 World Cup, Slovenia soared 16 places to 33rd on FIFA's latest world rankings. The jump is the biggest of any country in the top 100 in the last month and represents the best position for Slovenia since January 2004. Slovenia have improved a remarkable 46 places from 79th since the qualifying cycle for the 2010 World Cup began in September 2008. The top football official in the country meanwhile announced that Slovenia's goal is to get among the top 20.
PTUJ - Slovenia's top professional boxer Dejan Zavec has been picked by reigning IBF welterweight champion Isaac Hlatshwayo of South Africa as the one to challenge him in Johannesburg on 11 December this year. Zavec labelled his first world title opportunity as an historic moment as he addressed the press in his hometown of Ptuj on Friday.
