POLITICS
LJUBLJANA - Quoting the chief Finnish investigator in the Patria case, daily Delo reported on Monday that the bribe money from the 2006 deal between the Finnish defence contractor and Slovenia went not the former Slovenian PM Janez Jansa, but to his party. However, the investigator, Kaj Erik Bjoerkqvist, told STA that Delo misquoted him and that the Finnish investigators had no evidence money from Patria had been channeled to the Democratic Party (SDS) or any member of the party. Delo editor-in-chief Darjan Kosir meanwhile said the paper stands behind its journalist and the report "with all means". Jansa and the SDS denied any involvement, with the SDS saying in their response they wanted the investigation to finally be concluded.
MADRID, Spain - PM Borut Pahor was acquainted with the priorities of Spain for its upcoming six-month stint as EU president during a visit to Madrid on Monday. The meeting with his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Zapatero also examined possibilities for upgrading economic ties. The prime ministers met as part of Spain's preparations to assume the EU presidency on 1 January as the first member state to hold the presidency under the Lisbon Treaty, the prime minister's office said.
LJUBLJANA - More than half of those questioned in a poll carried by Monday's edition of daily Dnevnik are in favour of the border arbitration agreement between Slovenia and Croatia. While 52.5% said parliament should ratify the agreement, 30.7% said it should not. The Vox populi poll, carried out by Ninamedia, also showed that 46.5% of those who said they would turn out would endorse the agreement, while 38.9% said they would not.
LJUBLJANA - The government Roma Community Protection Commission confirmed on Monday the draft national strategy for the Roma for 2010-2015. Municipality associations and Roma organisations can now send their comments on the document to the Government Office for Nationalities, Education Minister Igor Luksic said after the session.
LJUBLJANA - The problems that the world is dealing with - from the economic crisis to the fight against terrorism - are all intertwined and cannot be solved if they are tackled individually, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard stressed in his speech in Ljubljana on Monday. Rocard, who came to Slovenia at the invitation the left-leaning Forum 21 group, delivered a lecture on the global crisis as co-chair of the International Ethics Committee.
BELGRADE, Serbia - Filing an application for EU candidate status must be coordinated with the European Commission and Serbia still has some tasks to carry out before it can do that, said Slovenian MEP Jelko Kacin (ALDE/LDS), European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia, at a press conference in the Serbian parliament on Monday.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly started the debate on the 2010 and 2011 budget bills on Monday, with the opposition criticising the document as spendthrift. The coalition deputies meanwhile believe that the budgets for the next two years focus on development, saving and social security. The budget deficit is to rise to EUR 1.8bn or 5% of GDP in 2010. The government had to find additional savings after failing to reach agreements on freezing pensions, public sector salaries and social transfers.
LJUBLJANA - The supervisory board of Slovenia's second largest bank, NKBM, discussed on Monday the bank's nine-month results, according to which the NKBM group finished the period with a net profit of EUR 11.5m or EUR 0.34 per share. In the January-September period, the group's total assets increased by 6.1% and at the end of September stood at EUR 5.83bn.
LJUBLJANA - The need for better dialogue and stronger cooperation among social partners was highlighted as crucial for overcoming the economic crisis in Slovenia at a debate organised by the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) in Ljubljana on Monday. While the debate highlighted difference in opinions on whether the crisis is over, participants agreed that cooperation among all stakeholders was key to making Slovenia's economy more competitive.
LJUBLJANA - Former Development Minister Ziga Turk believes that the response of the incumbent government to the financial and economic crisis is poor, both in the short-term sense and strategically. The head of the development committee in the expert council of the opposition Democrats (SDS), added that the government would not be the one to pull Slovenia out of the crisis, but that this would be done primarily by small and large entrepreneurs.
LJUBLJANA - Economic outlook of the Slovenian public has improved somewhat this month compared to October, according to a survey carried by Monday's Delo. The index measuring the outlook was up 3 points to 36 in November. More than half of the respondents (53%) said their standard of living in November was the same as before the crisis. This compares to 46.6% in the previous month's survey.
LJUBLJANA - Construction workers have been struck harsh by the crisis, which is reflected in all relevant indicators, agreed the Monday panel on the impact of the economic crisis on small and micro construction companies, pointing to problems like unfair competition and proposing measures to soften the consequences of the crisis.
LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana-based business consultancy company Arkas was the best Slovenian company in 2008, according to a list compiled by Delo FT, the business supplement of the daily Delo. The "Slovenian superchampion" is followed by power producer HSE and hydro energy group Litostroj Power. The list is based on 20 business indicators examined in about 500 companies.
LJUBLJANA - The website of the Slovenian Press Agency (www.sta.si) has entered the list of Slovenia's most popular websites in October, taking 42nd place. The first place went to the site of the private broadcaster POP TV, www.24ur.com, followed by search engine Najdi.si and news portal siol.net.
LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana Stock Exchange ended in the red for the sixth consecutive session on Monday. Mixed lacklustre trading pushed the benchmark SBI 20 index down 9.34 points to 4,246.37 and the SBI TOP index of blue chips down 3.81 points to 1,027.73. Port operator Luka Koper led the retreat on the prime market, shedding 2.08% to EUR 25.94. Also down were retailer Mercator, fuel retailer Petrol and the NKBM bank.
HEALTH
LJUBLJANA - A man infected with swine flu died on Saturday morning in the UKC Ljubljana hospital in what is the second swine flu-related death in Slovenia, UKC medical director Brigita Drnovsek Olup told the press on Monday. According to Matjaz Jereb of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, the patient had a serious chronic condition, which was also the main reason for the death of the over 50-year old patient.
ENVIRONMENT
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The EU should push for a 30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions and define concrete financial aid to developing countries in international climate talks, Slovenia's Karl Erjavec said in Brussels, where he is attending Monday's extraordinary session of the EU Environment Council aimed at setting EU's positions for the Copenhagen climate talks. Erjavec believes that EU committing to a 30% decrease in emissions would be an encouragement to other partners to set similarly concrete and ambitious goals.
SCIENCE
LJUBLJANA - Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Gregor Golobic stressed on Monday an increase in the funding of science and research as an achievement of his ministry. According to him, this year brought a reversal of 20 years of stagnation, as the government earmarked 0.74% of GBP for science and research despite the crisis. Golobic said that in the past this share constantly stood at around 0.6%. He said a further increase to 0.85% was planned for 2010.
LJUBLJANA - Alojz Kralj, professor emeritus at the Ljubljana Faculty of Electrical Engineering, was conferred the Zois Award, the highest national prize given out once a year for lifetime achievements in science. The alureate received the award in Ljubljana on Monday. Zois Awards for top achievements meanwhile went to Igor Musevic in the field of physics, Marko Jesensek in Slovenian language studies and Roman Jerala in biology.
SPORTS
LJUBLJANA - A second match involving a Slovenian club has been mentioned as part of UEFA probe on match fixing, with German media reporting that up to seven Slovenian premiership matches are being scrutinised by investigators. German public broadcaster ARD reported on Sunday that up to seven premiership league games in Slovenia are being investigated as part of the Europe-wide probe. A 4:1 loss by Nafta against Drava in April is said to be one of the matches.
EDUCATION
LJUBLJANA - Compared to their colleagues in other countries, Slovenian teachers are very happy with their work and the atmosphere in their classes, the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey has shown. Slovenia is also among the leading countries when is comes to access to additional training for teachers.
ARTS & CULTURE
LJUBLJANA - Writer, poet, playwright and translator Kristina Brenk, who was best known for her books for children and as the editor of the legendary children's book series "Cebelica" (Honey Bee), died in Ljubljana on Friday aged 98. Brenk epitomised Slovenian children's and youth literature for more than half a century. She was best known for "Deklica Delfina in lisica Zvitorepka", a 1972 fantasy comprising 15 short fairy tales.
PIRAN - The biennial Piranesi architectural award for 2009 went to Greek architectural bureau Deca Architecture for the house Aloni on the Greek island Antiparos. The award was presented on Sunday as the 27th Piran Days of Architecture wrapped up. Two Piranesi Commendations went to Italy's studio Insito and Laura Peretti for the renovation of a house with a mill in Vicenza and to architectural bureau Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten for the municipality centre in St. Gerold.
