News roundup - Thursday, 25 April

Triple referendum to be held alongside EU election

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly decided that the referendums on assisted dying, cannabis production and use, and the introduction of the preferential vote in general elections will be held on 9 June alongside the EU election. The proposal was adopted despite withheld support from the junior coalition Social Democrats (SD), while the opposition voted against.

MPs approve 2025-2027 budget framework

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly approved the government's draft budget framework for the next three years. Debating the decree a day earlier, opposition MPs were critical of the scope of public spending and argued the document was pointless given the upcoming overhaul of EU fiscal rules. Under the plan, the general government deficit for the next year should amount to 2.7% of GDP, 2.5% in 2026, and 1.9% in 2027.

Pirc Musar discusses business cooperation with Montenegro

PODGORICA, Montenegro - President Nataša Pirc Musar and her Montenegrin counterpart Jakov Milatović expressed the desire to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation as they attended the opening of a Slovenian-Montenegrin business forum in Podgorica. The economic indicators for the past years show a positive trend, she said, noting as an example that a 14% growth in trade was recorded in 2023.

Šarec announces enhanced participation in ALTHEA and KFOR

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Taking part in a meeting of the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) initiative in Budapest, Defence Minister Marjan Šarec announced Slovenia's increased involvement in the ALTHEA mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the KFOR mission in Kosovo in the 2024-2025 period, read a press release from the ministry.

MEP Nemec to top SD's EU election slate, Fajon not standing

LJUBLJANA - The coalition Social Democrats (SD) approved the candidates for the upcoming EU election, putting their current MEPs Matjaž Nemec and Milan Brglez at the top and bottom of their slate, respectively. The list does not include three-time MEP Tanja Fajon, the incumbent foreign minister, who ran the party until recently. The party's delegates also confirmed the SD's platform for the EU election.

Intel commission to report suspected information leak to police

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Commission for Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services will inform the police about suspected information leaking, said commission chair Janez Žakelj, after a news portal reported the details of a visit that three commission members made to the police as part of their oversight activities. He raised concerns about potential links between the top echelons of the police and the ruling party, which the police dismissed.

Kučan marks WWII resistance ceremony with call for peace efforts

VELENJE - Addressing a ceremony in Velenje ahead of 27 April, Day of Uprising Against Occupation, former President Milan Kučan noted the unprecedented number of wars around the world and urged efforts for peace. He backed Slovenia's endeavours, including for the recognition of Palestine. He argued that wars could only be ended at the negotiating table, with the understanding that negotiation does not in any way mean surrender, still less justification of aggression.

Slovenia's Earth Overshoot Day moves back a week

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's Earth Overshoot Day landed on 25 April this year, which is one week later than last year. The day, also known as Ecological Debt Day, marks the day when the annual biocapacity of Earth would be used up if everyone lived like people in Slovenia do. According to the Global Footprint Network organisation, the ecological footprint of a Slovenian is 5.37 global hectares, while the Earth only has 12.2 billion hectares of productive land.

Talks about new supercomputer under way

MARIBOR - Three years after Slovenia got its strongest supercomputer Vega, talks are under way for an even more powerful supercomputer, said Digital Transformation Minister Emilija Stojmenova Duh at an event where the Institute of Information Science hosted representatives of the biggest supercomputing centres in Europe. The ministry has been talking with the European Commission for some time about further investment in this field, she said.

Tourist arrivals and nights up in March and Q1

LJUBLJANA - Tourist accommodation facilities recorded nearly 337,400 arrivals and just over 841,400 nights in March, up 21.6% and 17.6%, respectively, in a year. Tourists most often spent the night in the municipalities of Ljubljana, Piran and Bled, while the largest numbers of tourists visited municipalities with spas, Statistics Office data shows.

AirBaltic connects Ljubljana and Riga

BRNIK - A new route, linking the Slovenian and Latvian capitals of Ljubljana and Riga, was launched as airBaltic's first plane landed at Jože Pučnik Ljubljana Airport. This is the second of four new routes that are being introduced at the airport as part of a subsidy scheme designed to boost Slovenia's air connectivity. Latvia's flag carrier will fly between Ljubljana and Riga twice a week.

Slovenia's tax wedge up to 43.3% in 2023, 7th biggest in OECD

PARIS, France - The tax wedge, an amount of taxes and social security contributions paid by employers and employees for a single worker earning the average pay, hit 43.3% in Slovenia in 2023, a rise of 0.43 points from 2022, shows the OECD's latest report on taxes paid from wages. Slovenia had the seventh highest tax wedge among 38 OECD member states.

Police reprimanded over handling of sexual abuse case

LJUBLJANA - Police officers have been reprimanded for being "lax" about the enforcement of a restraining order against a former primary school head teacher who was later jailed for sexually assaulting a ten-year-old, the daughter of his former partner, commercial broadcaster POP TV reported. It was not clear from the report whether the officers face any sanctions.

Discontent boils over among book publishers

LJUBLJANA - A total of 14 leading Slovenian book publishers issued a joint call for action to enable the long-term survival of non-commercial publishing in the country. They say their hope things would improve after Slovenia's successful stints at the Frankfurt and Bologna fairs had been in vain. The initiative comes after some publishers were taken aback by subsidy cuts.

Ljubljana gallery taking part at Art Brussels

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Ljubljana gallery Ravnikar Gallery Space is taking part at Art Brussels, one of the key contemporary art fairs in Europe, running until Sunday. The gallery is presenting the work of Meta Drčar, a Paris-based Slovenian artist, and Dutch visual artist Bart Lunenburg. In addition, works by eight other Slovenian artists are on sale as part of a charity project by the Belgian cancer research foundation KickCancer.

Slovenian judoka Kajzer wins silver at European championships

ZAGREB, Croatia - Slovenian judoka Kaja Kajzer won the silver medal in the women's 57kg category at the European Judo Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, losing in the finals to Ukraine's Daria Bilodid, an Olympic medallist and two-time world champion. The 24-year-old Slovenian tied her best career accomplishment, having also won silver at the European championships in Lisbon in 2021.