BUSINESS & ECONOMY
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed the national budgets for the coming two years on Wednesday amidst a continuing split between the coalition and opposition on whether the documents appropriately reflect the country's priorities for the coming period. The 2010 budget envisages revenues of EUR 8.6bn and expenditure of EUR 10.5bn, with the budget deficit envisaged at EUR 1.8bn or 5% of GDP, the highest in years and significantly above that allowed by the EU. In the 2011 budget, the government envisaged revenues of EUR 8.8bn and spending of EUR 10.4bn. The expected budget deficit stands at EUR 1.5bn or 4.1% of GDP.
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Borut Pahor predicted on Wednesday that the Slovenian economy would need a few years to stabilise in the aftermath of the global financial and economic crisis. However, Pahor also said that the results Slovenia has achieved despite or because of the economic turmoil would enable the country to emerge from the crisis more competitive and more solidarity-minded than it had been before it, based on a good exit strategy. He listed several goals that should give Slovenia a competitive edge.
LJUBLJANA - The government's crisis task force decided at Wednesday's meeting to pool the services offered by state financial and development institutions in the country for dealing with the crisis. The group of ministers headed by Development Minister Mitja Gaspari decided at its meeting that the services by institutions overseeing the dispensing of financial aid would be accessible in one place. The task force also emphasised the importance of better coordination among the tasks of the institutions, such as the SID development and export bank.
LJUBLJANA - The parent company of insurance group Zavarovalnica Triglav posted a net profit of EUR 28m in the first nine months of 2009, which is a 16% increase over the same period last year. The total assets of Slovenia's biggest insurance company increased by 11% to EUR 2.6bn, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.
LJUBLJANA - Insurer Adriatic Slovenica collected net premiums worth EUR 190.4m in the first nine months of the year, a rise of 2.1% compared to the same period last year. Net payouts in the same period rose 5.2% to EUR 136.9m. Reviewing the results at Wednesday's session, the supervisory board of Slovenia's third-largest insurer labelled them as "significantly better than last year's".
LJUBLJANA - Opposition leader and Democrats (SDS) president Janez Jansa has criticised the government for creating further state debt by spending money on short-term crisis measures and for interests of the ruling coalition. While admitting that all governments are having a hard time fighting with the global crisis, Jansa believes that Pahor is wrong in saying that Slovenia got past the worst of the crisis. "After one year in office, we can say that the current government has failed to stand up to the challenge," Jansa stressed at a press conference in Ljubljana.
VELENJE - The head of the Economic Forum of the opposition Democrats (SDS) Zofija Mazej Kukovic said at Wednesday's conference of the SDS in Velenje that the economic crisis in Slovenia was poorly managed. "We need a thriftier state, the culture of risk-taking and boosting of entrepreneurial potential," she said, adding that companies in time of crisis need relevant information on economic and financial trends, financial levers, new markets and flexible labour force.
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Borut Pahor addressed on Wednesday a business lunch marking the 10th anniversary of the AmCham in Slovenia, expressing firm resoluteness of his government to attract foreign investors to Slovenia and make the Slovenian economy more competitive. Pahor said that 2009 has been an extremely difficult year, but added that he was optimistic regarding future economic development in Slovenia and Europe, the AmCham said in a press release.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenian tourist resorts and sights were visited by 203,714 people in October and by 2.4m in the first ten months of the year, dropping 2% year-on-year in both cases, show preliminary official figures released by the Statistics Office on Wednesday.
ZRECE - Tooling company Unior published a prospectus on a new share issue on Wednesday in a bid to increase its nominal capital from EUR 19.5m to up to EUR 23.6m. The company will issue up to 500,000 new shares in the value of EUR 20 apiece, or up to to EUR 10m in total value of the issue, the Zrece-based company said. Unior will consider equity financing successful if at least 40% of the new share issue is paid-up by June 2010.
WOLFSBURG, Germany - The two biggest owners of Slovenian car seat cover maker Prevent Global took steps to overcome the differences between them at a meeting in Wolfsburg on Wednesday. The meeting was labelled as "constructive" by the chair of the supervisory board of the group. Vladimir Bilic said that both owners agreed to search for solutions to avoid bankruptcy at the group, which employs 1,300 workers in Slovenia, and to overcome the differences which have prompted the second-largest owner to seek that production be moved out of Slovenia.
LJUBLJANA - Participants of Tuesday's round table on foreign direct investments (FDI) agreed that despite high economic growth in the past years the share of FDI in Slovenia was never high, and concluded that the country's business environment should be made more attractive. According to Peter Kraljic of management consulting firm McKinsey, FDI are closely linked with economic growth. He added that Slovenia needed to improve its business environment if it wanted to attract more foreign investors.
LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana Stock Exchange saw on Wednesday the eight losing day in a row as the majority of blue chips posted slight losses. The SBI 20 benchmark index dropped 0.36% to 4,207.23 points, while the blue-chip SBI TOP index was down 0.26% to 1,016.61.
POLITICS
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Borut Pahor singled out on Wednesday the signing of the border arbitration agreement with Croatia as the biggest foreign policy achievement in the first year of his government. He believes solving the issue opens the door for Slovenia to again become an important player in SE Europe. In case the problem remains unsolved under this government, those facing it in the future will have "immense difficulties", Pahor believes, seeing no alternative to the current agreement.
LJUBLJANA - PM Borut Pahor announced on Wednesday that he would push for parliament to take a renewed decision on changes that would prevent deputies from serving as mayors, as he gave his assessment on the government's first term in office. The coalition is to meet to discuss the issue in early December. Pahor voiced confidence the coalition would successfully overcome disagreements among coalition partners and within parties to hold out until the end of the term.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly held on Wednesday an extraordinary session requested by the opposition Democrats (SDS) to debate appointments of ambassadors to Slovenia. The session lasted only an hour due to an obstruction by SDS deputies, because of what it called the coalition's "illegal" insistence to hold the session behind closed doors. The SDS demanded the debate in parliament after Russia appointed Doku Zavgayev, Chechnya's first pro-Russian president, as ambassador to Slovenia. The party finds his appointment problematic from the aspect of human rights.
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Army confirmed on Wednesday that Tuesday's shooting death of a soldier serving in Kosovo was suicide. Army spokesperson Simon Korez told the press that the soldier shot herself in the Villagio Italia army base in Pec. He said the incident happened outside the barrack buildings in the Italian base where the Slovenian contingent serving in Kosovo is stationed.
MOKRONOG - Justice Minister Ales Zalar hailed progress in creating new prison capacities in Slovenia as he unveiled a project of transforming a former barracks into a prison and plans for the expansion of Slovenia's biggest jail at a press conference in Ljubljana on Wednesday. Zalar said that as part of the government's efforts to tackle the problem of overcrowded jails, some of the prisoners from the lower security wings of the Dob prison in SE Slovenia will be moved to the nearby Mokronog barracks. Prior to the press conference, Zalar laid a foundation stone as part of the refurbishment and expansion of the prison at Dob.
LJUBLJANA - Robert Krmelj has been appointed charge d'affaires at Slovenia's Embassy in Zagreb pending the appointment of a new ambassador to Croatia. Media reports say former Ambassador to the UK Iztok Mirosic is tipped to be given the posting to Croatia. Slovenia's incumbent Ambassador to Croatia Milan Orozen Adamic will complete his term in office on 30 November, but his successor has not been appointed yet.
LJUBLJANA - The managing board of the Slovenian-run International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance on Tuesday appointed Dorijan Marsic to head the fund as of 1 January 2010. Marsic, who served as ITF director in 2004-2005, will succeed the incumbent Goran Gacnik.
CAIRO, Egypt - Slovenian Ambassador to Egypt Borut Mahnic has been appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Arab League, seated in Cairo. According to Tuesday's press release from the Foreign Ministry, Mahnic's accreditation will enable Slovenia to follow the activities of the Arab League more easily and to strengthen relations with its member sates.
LJUBLJANA - The chair of the Bosnian Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, will begin a two-day visit to Slovenia on Thursday, the second top-level visit from Bosnia-Herzegovina in a month. Komsic and Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk are expected to discuss ways to boost economic ties, succession to the former Yugoslavia, and Bosnia's efforts to join the EU and NATO.
TRIESTE, Italy - The heads of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association (SKGZ) and the Council of Slovenian Organisations (SSO), Rudi Pavsic and Drago Stoka, addressed a latter on Wednesday to Renzo Tondo, the premier of Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, protesting against the announced cuts to funding for the Slovenia minority. They pointed out that over 300 Slovenian cultural, sports, social and religious organisations in the region would be dealt an irreparable blow with Italy's new financial legislation, which envisages considerably lower funding for the Slovenian minority.
EDUCATION
LJUBLJANA - Changes to the higher education act providing the basis for an independent agency, which is to boost quality in higher education, were stressed as the main achievement of the Higher Education, Science and Technology Ministry as Minister Gregor Golobic on Wednesday took stock of the ministry's work in the past year. Presenting the ministry's plans for 2010, Golobic pointed to the drafting of a new national programme for higher education and a new decree on funding of higher education.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The EU is too slow in attaining the five key targets in education and training reform for 2010, a report published by the European Commission on Wednesday says. Slovenia is however in Europe's top when it comes to the reforms, already meeting four out of the five benchmark targets. Slovenia meets the targets regarding early school leavers, the percentage of low-achieving pupils in literacy, the share of young people completing upper secondary education and of the adult population participating in lifelong learning. It meanwhile fails to meet the goals in the number of university graduates in mathematics, science and technology (MST).
ENVIRONMENT
MONACO, Monaco - President Danilo Tuerk, who is on a visit to Monaco, met on Wednesday Prince of Monaco Albert II and exchanged with him an agreement on support to projects in the area of promotion of the preservation of nature and biotic diversity. The agreement was concluded between the Monaco Office of International Cooperation for Environment and Development and the Slovenian Nature Conservation Institute, according to the president's office.
ARTS & CULTURE
LJUBLJANA - Theatre Architecture in Central Europe (TACE), a three-year international project, will leave its mark on Slovenia this week with an exhibition opening in Ljubljana on Wednesday and a symposium underway in the following two days. Presented at the exhibition hosted by the town hall will be architectural ideas for a new theatre in Ljubljana that resulted from a workshop held earlier this year in Ljubljana, which featured 63 students and 11 mentors from seven European architecture faculties. Thursday and Friday will bring an international symposium on spaces of experimental theatre in Central Europe between 1950 and 2000.
AGRICULTURE
IZOLA - Agriculture Minister Milan Pogacnik stressed at a meeting with representatives of Slovenian fishermen on Wednesday that the EUR 28m Slovenia secured as part of EU development funds needed to be used efficiently. Out of the total EUR 28m earmarked for operative development of fishing by 2013, about EUR 8m will go for repairs on the fishing docks. Three quarters of the funds will be provided by the EU, 10% will come from the municipalities, while the remaining 15% will come from the state budget, Pogacnik explained.
SPORT
LJUBLJANA - Slovenian basketball champions Union Olimpija rebounded from their 0-4 slump in the Euroleague by beating Italy's Lottomatica 87:70 (23:21, 48:28, 64:48) in Ljubljana on Wednesday, earning their first win in Europe's elite basketball competition and keeping slim chances of advancing in the next round alive. Slovenia's sole representative in the Euroleague will play game 6 of the first round at home against Israel's Maccabi on 3 December.
OTHER NEWS
LJUBLJANA - Marking International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Interior Minister Katarina Kresal launched on Wednesday a 16-day campaign aimed at raising awareness about domestic violence held under the motto "Do you hear that? Stop listening, act!". Kresal called upon witnesses of domestic violence to rise up against it and report it. According to estimates, 20-25% of women in Slovenia are exposed to violence by their partner.
