BUSINESS & ECONOMY
LJUBLJANA - The government promised trade unions Wednesday it would adopt a new law on the minimum wage, but it is as yet unclear to what extent it will meet union demands to raise the net minimum wage to EUR 600 from EUR 450. The government will adopt a bill in the next two weeks and put it to parliament in January, Dusan Semolic of the Association of Free Trade Unions (ZZZS) told the press after a meeting with Prime Minister Borut Pahor. The news comes less than a week after trade unions staged a 30,000-strong protest rally in Ljubljana calling for a higher minimum wage.
LJUBLJANA - The ministerial crisis task force will draw up an exit strategy to reduce the general government deficit that is expected to bear fruit in the second half of 2010, Prime Minister Borut Pahor said after Wednesday's meeting of the task force headed by Development Minister Mitja Gaspari. The strategy will comprise short-term measures and structural reforms, which should be ready within the coming three months. "Our objective is to post one percent economic growth at the annual level for Christmas next year and to keep the jobless total below 120,000," Pahor added. Gaspari said that the government would like Slovenia's report to the EU to become its platform for the coming period.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's Employment Service registered 95,446 unemployed people in November, up 0.9% on October and up 50.6% year-on-year. The Employment Service registered 9,845 freshly unemployed people in November, which is 34.6% less than in October and 41.5% more than in November last year. Despite the number of unemployed rising substantially, the past months have also seen improved employment rates, with 44,623 of the 76,855 that have been removed from the unemployment registry being re-employed or self-employed, a 13.5% increase compared to the same period last year.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Finance Minister Franc Krizanic welcomed the agreement reached by EU finance ministers on Wednesday on a system of financial oversight aimed at avoiding a repeat of the situation that caused the global financial crisis. "We are happy with the agreement, which suits Slovenia's interests," said Krizanic, who highlighted that Slovenia was happy that a domestic regulator could challenge the decision of the European regulator and claim damages in the event of a wrong decision.
MARIBOR - The Slovenian banking system is solvent, but problems may yet appear in 2011 or 2012, when present company results and crediting will be reflected on the balance sheets, Sibil Svilan, the boss of the SID development and export bank, told Wednesday's Vecer. The potential problems stem from the fact that export companies have been hit much more than expected. Foreign demand collapsed and exports dropped 20%, Svilan noted.
LJUBLJANA - The Administrative Court has revoked a decision by the Competition Protection Office (CPO) from March 2008 accusing the telecoms incumbent Telekom Slovenije of abusing its monopoly in ADSL broadband internet access between 2001 and 2005, Telekom said in a press release on Wednesday. The court has found faults in the legal procedure and returned the case to the competition watchdog. The CPO must also cover the legal costs. CPO chief Jani Sorsak confirmed for STA that the case had been returned to the office, adding zjat the office would issue another ruling.
LJUBLJANA - Big names continued a moderate rebound on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange Wednesday, keeping the main indices in the black after a ten-day losing streak that was snapped yesterday. The benchmark SBI 20 put on 0.42% to 4,225.22, while the blue-chip index SBI 20 gained 0.8% to 1,021.22.
POLITICS
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Borut Pahor said on Wednesday that Slovenian troops would remain in Afghanistan, but only until such time as the government decides "whether or not it is still appropriate" to stay in the country. His statement comes after US President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday the deployment of an additional 30,000 troops with the aim to stabilise the country so that US soldiers can begin withdrawing in mid-2011. International forces are in Afghanistan so that the people there can take control of their future, Pahor told reporters.
TRIESTE, Italy - The regional government of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has promised to Slovenian minority officials to intervene with the Italian government so that the minority should get the full funding for next year. The pledge was made at Tuesday's meeting between Slovenian minority officials and Councillor Roberto Molinaro, who is responsible for education and culture in the regional government. Based on the 2001 minority protection act, the Slovenian community in Italy has received around EUR 5m in funding for this year, while the draft national budget for 2010 envisages about a EUR 1m cut.
LENDAVA - Parliamentary commissions dealing with Slovenians abroad and with minorities held a meeting with their Hungarian counterparts and the representatives of the Hungarian minority in Slovenia on Wednesday, discussing issues related to the position of both minorities, the related funding, and minority media. Despite a walkout by representatives of the Hungarian minority in Slovenia, officials from both countries labelled the meeting as successful. The head of the Slovenian delegation stressed before the walkout that Hungary earmarks only about EUR 620,000 for the Slovenian minority per year, while Slovenia channels over EUR 12m to the Hungarian minority annually.
LJUBLJANA - Parliament Speaker Pavel Gantar denied Wednesday a request by the opposition Democrats (SDS) to call an extraordinary session of parliament over loans given by the NLB bank to a company with ties to the higher education minister and Zares president. The Constitution states that a session must be called at the request of a quarter of all MPs, but this does not mean a session can be called on "any random subject, for example a debate on a football game," Gantar said. Gantar bases his decision on an opinion by the parliament's legal department and the principle of separation of powers. SDS responded by saying Gantar was protecting the president of his Zares party.
HEALTH
LJUBLJANA - The swine flue death toll rose to eight in Slovenia Wednesday as a 61-year-old man without previous chronic conditions died at the Golnik lung clinic. The man, who had not been vaccinated against swine flu, was brought to the hospital ten days ago and was kept alive by a lung machine. The number of people infected with swine flu has been rising steadily and dozens of patients with serious conditions are currently hospitalised across Slovenia.
ENVIRONMENT
LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary committee on the environment confirmed on Wednesday a non-binding resolution on the Adriatic which gives the government guidelines on protecting the northern Adriatic. The Resolution on a Strategy for the Adriatic, drawn up by MPs of the ruling Social Democrats (SD), mandates the government to launch a diplomatic initiative and declare the northern Adriatic a protected area. But the draft was watered down and no longer includes outright objection to the construction of disputed LNG terminals that Italy is planning.
LJUBLJANA - Commitments of the Copenhagen climate talks must reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the global level by at least 30% until 2020 and by 85-90% until 2050, Slovenia's leading climate change expert, Lucka Kajfez Bogataj, told a panel on climate change in Ljubljana on Wednesday. Kajfez Bogataj added that liberal capitalism could function successfully only if it did not include the environmental costs. Other participants agreed that a change in paradigm was necessary.
LJUBLJANA - The Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry on Tuesday renewed the environmental permit to Lafarge Cement, the Trbovlje-based subsidiary of the French cement maker, for burning waste after annulling it in July over procedural irregularities. The permit allows Lafarge Cement a combined use of secondary energy sources like waste materials together with primary sources in line with the EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control in July.
ARTS & CULTURE
KOSTANJEVICA NA KRKI - A new permanent exhibition on Bozidar Jakac (1899-1989), one of the widest-known artists in Slovenia, will open at the gallery bearing his name on Wednesday evening to mark the 110th anniversary of his birth. The show at the Bozidar Jakac Gallery in Kostanjevica na Krki (SE) features 105 prints and paintings, many of which the gallery has acquired in the past few years.