STA, 26 March 2019 - The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to scrap the twice-a-year custom of changing the clocks by 2021. The Slovenian government is in favour of the decision, but it is not yet clear whether the country would opt for permanent winter time or permanent summer time.

Since national governments will be able to choose whether to keep winter or summer time, MEPs urged EU members to cooperate in making their decisions to prevent chaos on the single market.

Countries wanting to be permanently on summer time will change their clock for the last time on the last Sunday in March 2021.

Those opting for permanent winter will do so on the last Sunday in October 2021.

All of them must notify the European Commission of their choice by 1 April 2020.

The Slovenian government is in favour of the change, but wants an an EU-wide mechanism to be put in place to allow for a smooth transition.

The Infrastructure Ministry told the STA on Tuesday Slovenia's standard time is Central European Time (CET), which is actually winter time.

"If the custom of changing the clock to summer time is abolished, Slovenia will have the standard winter time all year long."

The ministry also explained this was not its decision, but resulted from the time act, a Slovenian law passed in the 1990s.

It said it had already asked neighbouring countries, which have the same standard time as Slovenia, about their stances, but received no reply yet.

Consultations are also planned at EU level, although it is not yet clear when they would he held.

If it turns out there is a need to change Slovenia's standard time to permanent summer time, the government would consult all stakeholders.

Last year's consultations showed Slovenians were more in favour of adopting permanent summer time as the new standard. The same was in Portugal, Cyprus and Poland.

During today's debate in the European Parliament, Slovenian MEP Igor Šoltes (Greens) backed the scrapping of the daylight-saving time, but stressed it should be done with caution so as not to affect the internal market.

STA, 26 March 2019 - Slovenian creatives have welcomed the European Parliament's yes vote for the copyright directive in the digital single market, whereas its fiercest opponents labelled it a "catastrophe" and a "dark day for the internet".

AIPA boss Gregor Štibernik told the STA on Tuesday that on behalf of audio-visual artists he could thank "all those who voted for the directive and a creative Europe".

He believes this means that authors will finally be able to get properly paid for their works which are used online.

He noted, however, much would depend on how the directive, which had been several years in the making, "will be implemented in national law".

EU members states have two years to transpose it, and the process in Slovenia will be coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.

Slovenian writers and publishers are happy as well, with Luka Novak from SAZOR stressing that "copyright law will now finally also apply to the internet".

He believes the directive will encourage competition in that small platforms, which are now practically non-existent in Slovenia, get a chance to promote independent content.

Novak also sees the directive as a means of putting Slovenian authors on a par with major global players in that they finally get paid for their work.

"Today is a big day for all copyright holders, authors, musicians, which will bring major change to the digital environment around Europe," said Dario Rot, speaking on behalf of musicians.

"This means that YouTube will be at least partly equalised with other musical portals which do business legally and pay adequate fees to all creatives and copyright holders. It will no longer have its own rules when for instance it does not pay authors in Slovenia."

The directive was also welcomed by the Slovenian Journalist Association (DNS), which said it would enable publishers and journalists to get a share from their works being used on the internet.

Nevertheless, Špela Stare of the DNS said members of the European Parliament had unfortunately not used an option to improve the text of the directive.

So when the directive is being implemented in Slovenia, journalist organisations intend to enter talks with publishers so that journalists get a fair share when media companies distribute copyright money.

By not opting to improve the directive with amendments, MEPs passed the controversial Articles 11 and 13 (respectively renumbered as 15 and 17 in the latest version), which the directive's critics believe will have far-reaching consequences.

The director of the Institute for Intellectual Property, Maja Bogataj Jančič, said that legal experts assume "it will bring many legal problems".

She nevertheless hopes "that Article 11 will bring journalists and those who post content on the net rewards and that Article 13 introduces a mechanism under which Google and similar platforms reward at least some authors."

She warned that Article 13 will result in too much content being eliminated from the internet, so she believes it is important for Slovenia to clearly transpose rules about exceptions, foremost to protect education-related content.

Pirate Party and Left oppose the move

A strong opponent of the directive, the non-parliamentary Pirate Party said the decision by MEPs to back the directive was a catastrophe.

The party believes it leads to stagnation and corporatisation of culture, fearing the internet as the biggest stimulator of development in history would be dropped.

"Article 13, which demands that everything big corporations believe violates copyright law be filtered and censored as a preventive measure, will change the internet as we know it," the party said about what is known as the upload filter.

The party also criticised the link tax introduced by Article 11 which lets publishers charge platforms when they display snippets of news stories, and announced it would keep fighting against the harmful provisions.

The opposition Left, which supported Saturday's anti-directive protest organised by the Pirate Party, said today "is a dark day for the internet".

As a result, ordinary internet users and small creatives will be worse off, and the internet will become even more controlled and monopolised.

STA - Below is a roundup of major events on Wednesday, 27 March 2019:

Changes to criminal procedure act passed, police to start using IMSI catchers

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed changes to the criminal procedure act, which introduce a number of novelties, including the police use of devices that mimic mobile phone towers to intercept mobile traffic. The changes were passed in a 46:33 vote, with the opposition arguing some provisions could be at odds with the Constitution. The changes, also needed for a long overdue transposition of the EU's victim's rights directive, are significantly watered down compared to a version that was rejected in 2017.

Parliament transposes EU trade secret directive

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly adopted a bill to protect trade secrets which translates into Slovenian law the corresponding EU directive from 2016. The law includes exceptions for the purposes of parliamentary inquiries and to allow for disclosures made by whistle blowers. The EU directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure is aimed at aligning diverging national laws on trade secrets. EU member countries were required to transpose it by mid-2018.

Most Slovenian MEPs vote against copyright directive, Slovenian creatives happy

STRASBOURG, France/LJUBLJANA - The majority of Slovenia's MEPs rejected the EU copyright directive in today's plenary vote in Strasbourg, mostly arguing it undermined internet freedom. Only three of Slovenia's eight MEPs backed the directive, including Lojze Peterle (EPP/NSi), who said in September that no freedoms were being undermined with the directive "except the freedom to have at one's disposal the work of others without repaying the authors". Slovenian creatives welcomed the yes vote, while the opponents, most notably the non-parliamentary Pirate Party and the opposition Left said today "is a dark day for the internet."

Šabeder okayed by committee for new health minister

LJUBLJANA - Aleš Šabeder, the nominee for health minister, was confirmed by the Health Committee, with 12 MPs voting in favour and two against. He announced a systematic approach to cut waiting times and red tape, and an overhaul of the health care and health insurance act. One of his first priorities will be to revise waiting lists on the national level and then prepare measures to cut waiting times such as setting up additional programmes and focus on the areas where the number of patients is rising.

SNS leader in trouble over money comments

LJUBLJANA - The police launched a preliminary inquiry targeting National Party (SNS) leader Zmago Jelinčič in the aftermath of claims by a man originally slated to become the party's top candidate for the EU election that Jelinčič demanded a monthly payment if he gets elected. Gregor Preac said he had been offered the top slot on the SNS slate in exchange for giving 500 euro a month to the party and 1,000 euro to Jelinčič personally if he is elected. Jelinčič says he was misunderstood when he jokingly said that he would take all of Preac's money and give him only a thousand.

Unions to fight new tax, pension legislation

LJUBLJANA - Two of Slovenia's largest trade unions, ZSSS and Pergam, will oppose government plans to change laws governing income tax, pensions and unemployment benefits. They say the changes do not benefit workers and would only be acceptable if they are significantly altered. ZSSS president Lidija Jerkič expects that negotiators will now get down to work and hammer out compromise proposals. Given the scope of work ahead, she does not expect the bills could be implemented until the summer as the government plans.

MEPs vote to drop daylight saving time, Slovenia OK with it

LJUBLJANA - The European Parliament voted to scrap the twice-a-year custom of changing the clocks by 2021. The Slovenian government is in favour of the decision, but it is not yet clear whether the country would opt for permanent winter time or permanent summer time. The Infrastructure Ministry said it had already asked neighbouring countries, which have the same standard time as Slovenia, about their stances in order to coordinate, but received no reply yet.

Finding answers to population ageing is a must, panel agrees

LJUBLJANA - Participants of a debate on demographic policy in Slovenia hosted by President Borut Pahor agreed that finding answers to the population ageing is a must. Pahor pointed to the responsibility and duty of the stakeholders for creating policies at the national level, while researchers called for relevant studies to be made. According to Janez Malačič of the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics, a too low birth rate may quickly result in the ageing of the population, and immigration could be one of the solutions.

Šarec meets relatives of Basovizza victims

LJUBLJANA - PM Marjan Šarec received relatives of one of the four Slovenian victims of fascism known as the Basovizza victims, who would like Italy to rehabilitate them posthumously before next year's 90 anniversary of their execution. Matjaž and Marko Bidovec, a nephew and a grandnephew of Ferdo Bidovec (1908-1930), presented the activities of the relatives of victims of the fascist regime in Italy, while Šarec said he would do everything he could for Slovenia to keep a clear memory of Basovizza as a reminder of the evil done by fascism.

AmCham debate hears calls for Slovenia to adopt clear vision

LJUBLJANA - A debate hosted AmCham Slovenija heard that Slovenia should adopt a clear vision and strategy to be able to compete in the globalised world, which no longer plays by the rules but has become unpredictable. Economic Mojmir Mrak noted that the significantly changed business environment throughout the world. "China and India are increasingly big players and globalisation has started to show its negative aspects," he said, adding that this was not good for small and open economies such as Slovenia's.

Labour minister says dismissal without cause not an option

LJUBLJANA - Labour Minister Ksenija Klampfer announced the government was not considering relaxing dismissal rules as she attended an employer conference. While the employers have been urging more flexibility in hiring and firing, the minister said she was aware of their proposals to enable termination without cause. "However, some international documents prevent it, so no changes in this direction are in the making, there being no expert basis for it," the minister said.

Nikolić moves from CFO to CEO position at HSE

LJUBLJANA - Stojan Nikolić, the CFO at the state-owned energy group HSE, has been appointed as the new director general of the group. He is being joined by Viktor Vračar, so far supervisory board member and director of the Slovenian subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Elevator, as managing director. The appointments were made by the HSE supervisory board last night. The new director general will assume his duties on 1 April and the managing director on 1 May.

Irregularities in overtime uncovered at health organisations

LJUBLJANA - As doctors often do more than 100 hours of overtime a month, inspectors have uncovered a number of irregularities in registering and paying their overtime public in hospitals and community health centres, a report of inspectors in the public sector for 2018 has shown. Some employees received a bonus for overtime even if they did not even put in the regular hours for the month, or they got paid more overtime than they did. Some health organisations did not even have a record of overtime.

March 26, 2019

Trubarjeva and Poljanska Roads are facing total closure till the end of this summer, but these are not the only streets that will be disrupted in the near future. Luckily, there’s a city government website to keep you informed of when, where and why you can’t drive – or sometimes even walk – along a certain route.

Most of the current road works in Ljubljana are due to construction of a new sewage canal system, an 88-km long project that began in 2017, is expected to end in 2021 and include the renovation of 261 streets in the city, so do bookmark that site and keep it handy for the next two years.

If you’ve ever wondered roughly how many festivals there are in Slovenia, how they’re distributed through the year, and where the main focuses are, then you’re in luck. The good folks at Culture.si have been producing interactive infographics with just this information since 2012. The one for this year, 2019, can be seen at the top of this story, while an interactive version with details in each square, can be found on the main website.

A few things to note from this year and others. One is the dominance of musical events, accounting for 48 out of the total of 146 festivals currently on the site for 2019, followed by dance & theatre (24) and film (22) – with food and drink festivals not included in these calendars. Another is summer being the clear peak season for festivals in Slovenia, with the top month being August.

A third observation, and a surprising one, given the seemingly relentless increase in tourist numbers, and thus tourist offers, over the last decade or so, is that the number of festivals isn’t increasing. While this could be due to data collection issues, since it’s already late March, and these events will have been planned for months, it seems likely some events have been consolidated or simply disappeared over time.

data from culture.su

You can play around with the infographic here, while you can see a list of all 215 festivals on Culture.si here. finally, readers interested in the history of festivals in Slovenia can explore this timeline, which gives the first appearance of each of the events.

Related: What's on in Ljubljana

STA, 26 March 2019 - Labour Minister Ksenija Klampfer announced the government was not considering relaxing dismissal rules as she attended an employer conference in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

While the employers have been urging more flexibility in hiring and firing, the minister said she was aware of their proposals to enable termination without cause.

"However, some international documents prevent it, so no changes in this direction are in the making, there being no expert basis for it."

But despite an upturn on the labour market and the economic trends, which are currently still positive, legislation should be changed to facilitate faster activation of workers and keep older workers on the labour market longer, she told the employers.

The employers presented their demands to Klampfer at the conference, primarily calling for less red tape and no additional labour costs.

They also complained about the education system, saying it did not provide the trained staff that Slovenian companies needed.

Sharing their view, Klampfer said there were "many challenges" in this respect, assuring them the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities was pushing for a change in the mindset so that workers realise life-long learning was a must.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Jernej Pikalo urged employers to help promote apprenticeship. Apprentices are initially a cost for the company but the investment pays off in the long-term, he stressed.

"That's why I'm urging you to cooperate with us, to present us your needs," he said, noting that the apprenticeship system was not functioning too well in Slovenia.

The system is working because apprenticeship is backed by EU funds, but once these funds are cut, there will be big problems, he said.

The president of the Association of Employers in Craft and Small Business, Drago Delalut, urged the employers to close ranks and state clearly they needed a stable business environment comparable with competitive countries.

He expressed concern over the supplementary budget for 2019, saying it had set expenditure much too high and had been passed with much horse trading.

The guidelines of a tax reform are also a cause for concern as they indicate measures will be taken to further burden the corporate sector, he said.

"Political decision-makers like to decide on expanding rights without calculating their consequences," he said.

Sharing some of the employers' views, the president of the upper chamber of parliament, Alojz Kovšca, criticised the government for not taking the pressure off the corporate sector.

On the contrary, the government is putting more burdens on businesses, while not talking about any measures to increase productivity, Kovšča said.

He also urged the employers to close ranks to revive social dialogue in the country, regretting it had come at a standstill.

All of our stories on employment in Slovenia are here

STA, 25 March 2019 - Advertisers in Slovenia will increase investment into digital advertising by 25% this year, spending an average of EUR 290,000 on it, suggests a survey carried out by the digital agency Iprom and pollster Valicon.

Iprom said on Monday that 68% of the 214 surveyed decision-makers on the Slovenian advertising and marketing scene said they would increase the budget for digital advertising this year. 29% said they would leave it on par with last year's.

Data obtained in the AdEx international survey suggests companies and organisations in Slovenia invested EUR 47.2m in digital advertising in 2017. Simon Cetin of Iprom assessed that the figure will easily exceed EUR 60m this year.

The Slovenian survey meanwhile showed social media will be used this year as a platform by 82% of those investing in digital advertising. Search engine marketing will be used by 77%, and display advertising by 73%.

Display advertising is expected to account for the largest share of the investments, 29%, followed by search engine marketing, at 24%.

The service sector will spend the most on digital advertising, EUR 352,000 on average, followed by the retail (EUR 291,000) and tourism sectors (EUR 233,000).

STA, 25 March 2019 - Household appliance maker Gorenje, which was taken over by China's Hisense last year, reported EUR 1.184bn in group sales revenue for 2018, a 1.7% decrease. After ending 2017 in the black, Gorenje recorded a EUR 37.3m net loss in 2018, or EUR 111.2m when factoring in one-off and extraordinary events.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 53.5% to EUR 29.6m. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were EUR 28.2m in the negative after a EUR 12.1m plus had still been recorded in 2017.

"In the first half of the year, performance was consistent with the budgeted dynamics; in the second half, however, it was adversely affected by uncertainty among our partners with regard to the outcome of the strategic process, and it worsened as a result," Gorenje wrote, referring to the sale to Hisense.

The largest decline was seen in industrial (OEM) deals, "as customers trod very warily when doing business with Gorenje, for reasons referred to above".

Without the decline of OEM deals, revenue in Gorenje's core activity would have grown relative to the year before, said the company which employs slightly over 11,000 people.

As to the different net loss figures, Gorenje pointed out that assumptions and methodologies of accounting estimates changed considerably, with the "adjustment upon integration into Hisense having had many one-off and extraordinary effects on Gorenje results".

Gorenje generated 91% of its revenue in its core activity of domestic appliances. It primarily grew in eastern Europe, in particular in Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic where it is marketing products under the Asko brand.

Revenue on the other hand decreased in western Europe, where the company felt the effect of strong competition and labour cost pressures.

"As sales decreased, results from operations were negatively impacted by the unchanged amount of fixed costs that were impossible to adjust to the lower-than-planned sales in such a short period of time," Gorenje wrote.

The company said it continued to invest in development, earmarking 2.5% of total revenue or EUR 30m for this purpose. The same amount was invested last year into marketing.

The core company increased sales revenue by 2.2% to EUR 819.3m but recorded a EUR 126.8m net loss after being EUR 470,000 in the black in 2017.

All our stories on Gorenje can be found here

STA, 25 March 2019 - Prices of residential properties in Slovenia rose by 18.2% last year, driven by a 19.8% growth in the prices of second-hand homes, according to a report by the Statistics Office.

The number of transactions decreased by 14% from the 2017 peak to 9,421 in 2018. The number of transactions in new apartments remained low for the second year running.

In the final quarter of 2018, prices of existing family houses increased the most, by as much as 38.6% compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Prices of existing apartments in areas outside Ljubljana were up by 12.6% year-on-year, while Ljubljana saw an 8% growth.

Prices of new family houses and new flats were also up year-on-year in the final quarter of 2018, by 5.2% and 3.3%, respectively, with prices of both types of new homes rising by 3.7%.

Despite the volatility in prices of new apartments, the prices increased by 23.9% since 2015.

The final quarter saw only 38 new flats sold, which is a record low. The number of new family houses sold remained low as well, but at 24, this was the highest figure last year.

Compared to the third quarter, prices of existing homes - flats and houses - rose by 6.9% with prices of flats up by 4.1% and prices of houses increasing by 11.9%.

As many as 1,757 transactions in existing homes were recorded in the final quarter of 2018, which compares to only 632 involving newly built homes.

More detailed data can be found here, while all our real estate stories are here

STA, 25 March 2019 - The Koper and Novo Mesto police caught 51 foreigners illegally crossing the border the past weekend. Seven migrants requested international protection.

According to the Koper police department, 23 foreigners were caught crossing the border from Croatia in the western region from Friday morning until today.

Two of them were Croatians, while the rest were citizens of Kosovo (five), Pakistan (four), Algeria (three), Somalia (three), and Afghanistan, and Iraq and Iran (two each).

The Koper police also apprehended a Slovenian citizen who transported four foreigners who had illegally crossed the border.

Seven people were already returned to Croatia and just as many are expected to be handed over today. Seven migrants requested international protection.

The Novo Mesto police, meanwhile, found an Algerian citizen hiding in the undercarriage of a train, trying to avoid border control. The man was handed over to Croatian authorities.

In the Novo Mesto area, a total of 27 foreigners were apprehended, with six of them coming from Afghanistan, just as many from Algeria and Morocco, four from Yemen, two from Iraq and just as many from Egypt, and one from Syria.

A total of 611 illegal crossings of the border were recorded in Slovenia in January and February, which is a 35% increase compared to the same period last year. Most of the foreigners came from Algeria and Morocco.

All our stories on illegal migration in Slovenia are here