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This summary is provided by the STA:
Pahor and Qatari emir optimistic about bilateral ties
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani hailed the good relationship between their countries and expressed the hope that Qatari investors would invest in Slovenia as the emir started a two-day visit to Slovenia, accompanied by a large delegation featuring the ministers of foreign affairs, finance and trade. Outgoing Prime Minister Janez Janša also met with al Thani, while Slovenia's SPIRIT agency and Qatar Holding LLC signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate. Pahor and al Thani also visited the Muslim Cultural Centre in Ljubljana, and unveiled a bench of friendship there.
Slovenia's economy expanded by 9.8% y/y in Q1
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's economy expanded at an annual nominal rate of 9.8% in the first quarter of this year driven by household spending and capital expenditure. The seasonally adjusted rate was 9.6%. At the quarterly level GDP was up by 0.8%, a significant slowdown compared to the 5.3% recorded in the previous quarter, the Statistics Office reported. Domestic consumption increased by 16.6% year-on-year with household expenditure up by 20% as the main driver of growth, as imports growth outpaced exports growth.
Brussels cuts Slovenia's growth forecast
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission has downgraded its economic growth forecast for Slovenia by 0.1 percentage points to 3.7% for this year and by half a point to 3.1% for 2023. The rates are still substantial above those forecast for the eurozone, while inflation is projected to run at 6.1% in Slovenia and the rest of the eurozone this year. Next year Slovenia's inflation is to run at 3.3%, above the 2.7% projected for the eurozone.
Left membership voting on whether to join coalition
LJUBLJANA - The Left has launched a vote among members on whether it should join the coalition after the party's council initialled a coalition agreement with the Freedom Movement and the Social Democrats (SD). The members have one week starting on Monday to cast their vote in a secret ballot. The party said it had managed to include "some of our key programme objectives" in the coalition agreement and secured three portfolios dealing with issues highlighted as essential during the campaign.
Poll shows Freedom Movement making post-election gains
LJUBLJANA - The Freedom Movement gained ground in the first post-election Vox Populi opinion survey commissioned by the newspapers Dnevnik and Večer polling at 38.4% after winning 34.5% of the vote in the 24 April election. Dnevnik writes that this is the first time in 20 years that a political party enhanced its poll showing post-election in that way. The Freedom Movement nearly doubled its margin ahead of the SDS, while only three more parties garnered over 4%.
Economists deem coalition agreement unrealistic, very leftist
LJUBLJANA - Economist Marko Pahor assessed that, from the economic point of view, the coalition agreement of the Freedom Movement, Social Democrats and the Left is much more leftist than centrist. He sees many of the priorities as expensive and thus unrealistic. Mitja Kovač expressed shock and disappointment, as the agreement "mostly deals with massive rearranging of funds and extreme increasing of public spending, massive raising of taxes." Sašo Polanec warned against high public sector spending.
Pundit misses NATO, Central Europe in coalition agreement, happy with multilateralism, W Balkans
LJUBLJANA - International relations professor Zlatko Šabič told the STA as he commented on the foreign policy segment of the draft coalition agreement document that there are many good things in the document. However, time will tell how much of what has been written for international relations or foreign policy is a wish list and what is reality. Commitments about "international reputation and security" bode well that the coalition intends to promote peaceful policies and the culture of peace, he said.
Doctors unhappy with blanket ban on work for private providers
LJUBLJANA - Doctors expressed strong opposition to the announcement in the draft coalition agreement that doctors in the public sector will be fully banned from working for private providers. Their view that the ban would be discriminatory to doctors in comparison with some other groups was upheld by jurist Nataša Pirc Musar. Nurses, on the other hand, have welcomed an announcement of better pay and of a new set of standards and norms for staffing and workload.
Future coalition wants inquiry of financing of "party propaganda in media"
LJUBLJANA - The MPs of the emerging coalition have filed a request to form a parliamentary inquiry that will look into alleged illegal financing of "party political propaganda in the media with funds of state-owned companies, state institutions or foreign institutions or entities." The request by the MPs of the Freedom Movement, Social Democrats (SD) and Left, with former journalist Mojca Šetinc Pašek of the Freedom Movement as the initiators, refers to the period from 13 March 2020 to the present day.
Hisense Gorenje Slovenia's top exporter in 2021
LJUBLJANA - Home appliances manufacturer Hisense Gorenje has overtaken drug makers Lek and Krka to become the country's biggest exporter in 2021, with exports totalling almost two billion euros, according to data gathered by Delo. Lek is in second place with EUR 1.59 billion and Krka right behind with exports worth EUR 1.47 billion. The only other company to break the one-billion mark is the Renault-owned car assembly plant Revoz with EUR 1.18 billion.
Ljubljana adopts ambitious energy strategy by 2030
LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana city council endorsed the energy strategy for 2022-2030, envisaging a 40% cut in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2008 and zero net greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century. Three hydro power plants on the Ljubljanica river are planned along with a waste-to-energy plant and number of solar power plants. In line with the strategy, Ljubljana should achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2025 and the entire energy chain in the municipality should become carbon-free.
Slovenia improves energy self-sufficiency
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia met 53% of its energy needs with domestic energy sources last year, which makes an improvement of two percentage points compared with 2020, Statistics Office data shows. The country depended fully on imports for petroleum products. Petroleum products represented 31% of the energy supplied, followed by nuclear (23%), renewable energy sources (19%), coal (15%) and natural gas (12%).
Covid hospitalisations, cases continue downward trajectory
LJUBLJANA - The gradual decline in the Covid pandemic continues, with Slovenia reporting lower hospitalisations and cases over the weekend, according to the latest Health Ministry data. There were 58 patients in hospital due to Covid this morning, down by 20 from Thursday, plus another seven in intensive care, up by two. Between Friday and Sunday a total of 910 new cases of coronavirus were reported, compared to 1,265 in the same period last week.
Damage at chemical factory Melamin estimated at around EUR 36m
KOČEVJE - The damage caused by the fire at the chemical factory Melamin in Kočevje last Thursday has been estimated at around EUR 36 million. CEO Srečko Štefanič said the management had presented details of the accident to supervisors today and they had backed the plans for mending the damage and gradual re-launching of production. The company will seek EU funding for renovation.
UKC Ljubljana reports EUR 9.3 million shortfall for 2021
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's largest medical centre, UKC Ljubljana, generated a shortfall of EUR 9.3 million last year. Given the Covid-19-related constraints and increase in costs, director-general Jože Golobič assessed the performance as successful. UKC Ljubljana treated 113,254 patients in its hospitals last year, 8.8% more than in 2020 but 4.9% fewer than planned for 2021. A total of 87,360 patients were handled in out-patient surgeries, which is 5.8% more than in 2020 but 8.9% fewer than planned.
SMEs struggling with digitalisation
LJUBLJANA - Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Slovenia lack the funds and properly skilled staff to adopt digital technologies, shows a survey which took a closer look at digitalisation at Slovenian companies. "SMEs will not be able to overcome such problems on their own," said Barbara Bradač Hojnik, the lead author of the Entrepreneurship Observatory survey.
Lampič switching from cross-country to biathlon as Gross takes over
LJUBLJANA - Anamarija Lampič, Slovenia's best cross-country skier, announced a switch to biathlon, a decision she says was long in the making since she had wanted to become a biathlete as a child. She made the announcement as the Biathlon Association announced that German biathlon legend Ricco Gross is taking over as the new headcoach of the Slovenian biathlon team.
