STA, 6 February 2019 - As the government is about to decide whether to follow in the footsteps of several other EU countries by recognising Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, the coalition are divided on the issue with the Social Democrats (SD) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) arguing parliament should be consulted first.

Before taking any unilateral action which would mean assuming responsibility under international law, the government should discuss it with parliament, Milan Brglez, an MP for the SD and former speaker of parliament, told reporters on Wednesday.

He believes that Slovenian legislation is clear and that the National Assembly needs to take a decision on the matter, while he said that it would be very unpleasant if it had to discuss the matter subsequently.

He expressed concern about the hardship of the people of Venezuela, including Slovenians living there, who he said should be taken care of by the Foreign Ministry as a matter of priority.

Considering Venezuela's constitutional categories, a president's self-declaration could not have happened. "If this held true in Catalonia and Spain, I don't know why it wouldn't in such a case," said Brglez.

If in Catalonia's case "the constitutional constraints were those which wouldn't warrant direct application of international law over self-determination, I cannot see why it would be different this time around and why we would apply double standards in our foreign policy".

DeSUS leader Karl Erjavec, the former foreign minister now serving as defence minister, told the STA that the situation was a highly delicate one.

He believes that Foreign Minister Miro Cerar's proposal for Slovenia to recognise Guaido as interim president should be debated by the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee before the government took its decision.

Like Brglez, he warned that such decisions by the international community could have grave consequences for Venezuela and there was a serious risk of a civil war.

Erjavec believes that the solution for Venezuela is to hold an early democratic election. Whether Guiado's recognition could lead to such an election is in his view a very complicated question, but he said that it increased the danger of internal unrest.

Erjavec also noted that there was a very thin line as to whether recognising the interim president was interference in Venezuela's internal affairs. He believes that international organisations should exert pressure in order to have the country hold an early election.

Asked about whether the decision on recognising Guaido should be taken by the government or parliament, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) of Foreign Minister Cerar noted that in 2011 the government recognised the National Transitional Council as the legitimate representative of Libya's people and in 2013 the government recognised the Syrian national coalition in the same way.

"We trust that the government will dedicate due attention to the matter and justify its decision. The important thing is that Slovenia stands by a position that is clear and right: that a free and democratic election should be held as soon as possible," the party stated on its website.

The LMŠ party of Prime Minister Marjan Šarec would not comment on the matter officially but unofficial information indicates that there is coordinated communication on the issue between the Foreign Ministry and Šarec's office.

The Foreign Ministry will brief the government on the situation in Venezuela on Thursday and the LMŠ will take steps based on the discussion.

The Left, the minority government's partner in the opposition, is strongly opposed to recognising Guaido with the party's MP Miha Kordiš saying the question of recognition "is the question of whether we'll break international law" and indicating it could impact on the Left's cooperation with the government.

"Guaido is a self-styled American appointee; as Slovenia we certainly cannot benevolently recognise someone who declared himself as one," Kordiš said, adding that Emmanuel Macron's presidency in France could be called into question because of the gilets jaunes.

The opposition Democratic Party (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) support recognising Guaido with NSi MP Jernej Vrtovec commenting that the recognition must lead to a democratic process starting with a writ of a snap presidential election.

He believes that the government can take the decision on the matter itself but that the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee should also discuss the issue.

SDS MP Žan Mahnič said the party favoured an earliest possible recognition of Guaido as an interim president and a snap election. He said it was up to the government whether the issue would be discussed by the Foreign Policy Committee but he did deem every discussion on the issue useful.

Below is a review of the headlines in Slovenian dailies for Thursday, February 7, 2019, as summarised by the STA:

DELO

Culture Day
"Where to?": The paper looks at the situation in culture on this year's Culture Day, noting that the Culture Ministry is embroiled in a bullying scandal, which swept away the culture minister, and a well-known actor is in the spotlight for plagiarising a theatre play. (front page, 3)

Healthcare
"Will Klokočovnik leave UKC?": The head of the clinic for heart surgery at the UKC Ljubljana, surgeon Tomislav Klokočovnik, has offered his resignation after eight heart surgeons demanded his resignation. (front page, 2)

UEFA
"Čeferin with full term, UEFA with record revenue": Slovenia's Aleksander Čeferin is expected to be re-elected head of the European football association UEFA in Rome today. (front page, 5)

DNEVNIK

Police
"All police helicopters grounded": The situation at the police aviation unit in Brnik is worrying. Currently all of the six police helicopters are grounded. (front page, 3)

Real estate tax
"No real estate tax in 2020": Five years after a failed attempt of the Alenka Bratušek government to introduce a real estate tax, it seems that the public real estate records are still not ready for the new levy, the paper says. (front page, 2)

FINANCE

Real estate market
"How much did the prices of apartments in Ljubljana go up last year": The prices of second-hand apartments in the capital grew by 12% last year but growth is stabilising now. (front page, 2-3)

Healthcare
"Chief heart surgeon Tomislav Klokočovnik offered resignation, but they did not accept it": The head of the clinic for heart surgery at the UKC Ljubljana, surgeon Tomislav Klokočovnik, has offered his resignation after eight heart surgeons wrote a critical letter, demanding his resignation, but the UKC boss did not accept it. (front page, 4)

Subsidies
"Up to hundred thousand a year available for companies with innovative projects": The Economy Ministry has published a call for applications to support SMEs which take part in the research and development programme Eurostarts as part of the Eureka initiative. (front page, 6)

VEČER

Maribor bus station
"It will have hard time hiding that it turned thirty": Maribor's main bus station will turn thirty at the end of November. (front page, 10-11)

Meat scandal
"Salmonella found in kebab meat": A microbiological test of kebab meat that came to Slovenian from Poland has shown two samples of meat were contaminated with Salmonella. (front page, 2-3)

Ski jumping
"Ljubno, women's Planica": Female ski jumpers are catching up on men both in terms of boldness and success and the Slovenian town of Ljubno has a lot to do with that, the paper says. (front page, 12, 22)

STA, 6 February 2019 - Food Safety Administration inspectors have cracked down on an illegal operation in the north-west of the country where sport horses were slaughtered and their meat processed for human consumption.

During the inspection, carried out on Friday night at an address in Kamna Gorica, one slaughtered animal and one alive as well as a large amount of cured meat products were discovered.

"Both were harness horses, sport horses for which a ban is in place on slaughtering and using the meat for human consumption," the Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary Sector and Plant Protection said on Wednesday.

According to its press release, the inspectors posing as customers proved that the operation served for further sale of meat.

The inspection was based on inquiries that had been conducted for a while. The inspectors also found equipment for the production of cured meats.

The two horses found at the site are believed to have been brought there the same day from the Dolenjska region in the south-east of the country without proper paperwork or identification.

The meat products and meat have been destroyed, while the horse that was still alive was put down. An offence procedure has been launched against one individual while the investigation continues to establish the animals' origin.

Inspectorate director Andreja Bizjak told the STA that the facility was illegal and was not registered as an abattoir, but had been operating for quite while.

Samples of the meat products found there have been taken to establish whether the activity was merely illegal or did it jeopardise people's health because the meat could have contained residues of illegal substances. "We are in particular concerned about hormones and other performance enhancers," Bizjak said.

The inspectorate is rarely tipped off in such cases so it is looking for information itself. "We read forums, watch out the web and oral information. These may produce the results as today or they don't."

The Food Safety Administration works on the case in cooperation with the National Public Health Institute, which said it would notify the public as required as soon as sample tests come back.

STA, 5 February 2019 - As many as 702 native plant species or 20.3% of Slovenia's flora was stored in the seed bank of the University of Ljubljana's Botanical Gardens (Botanični vrt Univerze v Ljubljani) in 2018. Thus the country reached the global goal whereby every country should protect at least 20% of its native plants in seed banks by 2020.

The goal is set in the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, a programme of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. Slovenia ratified the convention, the main global treaty governing biodiversity, in 1996.

To accompany the achieved goal, the Botanical Gardens published a book to present the tradition of Slovenian plant research as well as the collection and keeping of seeds, researcher Blanka Ravnjak told the press in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

The Botanical Gardens have collected seeds and grown plants from them since inception, also exchanging seeds with other botanical gardens, she explained.

Related: Herbal medicine in Slovenia – a flower for every disease

The exchange of seeds has been documented ever since 1889, when the first list of seeds was printed.

Seeds are collected annually in the Botanical Gardens and broader, and are kept in paper bags stored in wooden cabinets. The dry storage contains seeds of around 3,000 different plant species in more than 120,000 paper bags.

But to prolong their longevity, some seeds have been kept in bottles in refrigerators and freezers at -18 degrees Celsius in the permanent seed bank since 2016.

It is in this permanent storage where the 702 native plant species are kept at the moment.

The Botanical Gardens have also selected seeds of 80 species "which are especially important for Slovenian flora", contributing them to the Millennium Seed Bank, the world's largest bank of its kind.

STA, 5 February 2019 - Ljubljana police have arrested a senior criminal investigator with access to sensitive police information who appears to have been involved in drug dealing and was caught in wiretaps.

The arrest was announced by the Ljubljana Police Directorate on Tuesday and the case transferred to the special task force of prosecutors dealing with suspected crime in police ranks.

Slovenian media report that the suspect was on the staff of the police's intelligence department and had been busted dealing drugs.

Police caught whiff of his off-duty activity in October, when they were wiretapping suspected drug dealers, according to Večer.

Večer also reports that his clearance gave him access to information that may have been of interest to criminals.

The police did not reveal the man's identity beyond saying that he was a senior detective who was "involved with sources and informants".

But Večer says the suspect was a senior detective who had received a special commendation from the police commissioner for successfully investigating the massive robbery of an SKB bank vault that took place in 2005.

As a result of the sting, two heads of departments dealing with the acquisition and analysis of intelligence have been transferred.

Tomaž Pečjak, the police commissioner's chief of staff, told the press the department heads were not suspected of any wrongdoing, they were transferred as a matter of precaution.

Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar also decreed that the police intelligence and analytics department be reorganised to improve efficiency.

Deal signed on cooperation in prosecution of police officers

STA, 5 February 2019 - Representatives of the prosecution and police have signed an agreement on the prosecution of police officers, which is expected to provide them with better conditions for cooperation and exchange of information in relevant cases.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday by State Prosecutor General Drago Šketa and Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar, the Office of the State Prosecutor General announced in a press release.

It determines the rules for cooperation and exchange of information between the police and the department for the investigation and prosecution of officers with special authorisations of the Specialised State Prosecution.

Šketa and Tatjana Bobnar said that the agreement enabled better cooperation and exchange of information in cases when there is reasonable suspicion that an officer employed in the police has committed a criminal act prosecuted ex officio.

Šketa was quoted as saying that the "agreement means quicker and more efficient prosecution of criminal acts, with police officers informing the special department about all criminal acts."

Police officers will also "provide prosecutors with expert and technical assistance in cases requiring specific know-how and technical equipment which the special department does not possess".

Announcing the signing of the agreement, the newspaper Dnevnik said today that the exchange of information between the police and prosecution had not been automatic so far.

The "grey area" has been the cases which were managed "past the police", the paper added.

If an alleged injured party reported a police officer directly to the prosecution, the police force was not notified about the report, and had no access to the information about the further steps taken by the prosecution.

There were cases when the prosecution launched criminal proceedings without the police even knowing that a police officer has been accused and being able to carry out internal and disciplinary proceedings, Dnevnik said.

STA, 5 February 2019 - A subsidiary of the Slovenian national railways operator Slovenske Železnice has won the tender to build a new container terminal in the Croatian seaport of Rijeka, a decision that is yet to be made final as a rival bidder from Croatia has filed an appeal.

The new terminal is planned to increase the port's capacity by eliminating a bottleneck and adjust the port's railway infrastructure to the railway station in Rijeka.

The project will be co-funded in a 85% share by the European Commission as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

The selection of the bid filed by the engineering company SŽ - Železniško Gradbeno Podjetje Ljubljana, estimated at EUR 28.5m, is being challenged by Croatia's DIV Grupa, which had submitted the lowest bid (EUR 24.6m).

The contracting authorities, the Rijeka port administration and the infrastructure arm of the Croatian national railways operator Hrvatske Željeznice, said that the bid by DIV Grupa was "unrealistically low".

Several other international and Croatian bidders participated in the tender, including Slovenia's Kolektor Koling, which valued its bid at EUR 29.3m.

All our stories related to Croatia can be found here

STA, 5 February 2019 - The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) has filed a formal complaint against Slovenia alleging that it is granting illegal state aid to companies that temporarily post workers abroad.

"Slovenia has organised its national legislation in such a way that companies that temporarily post workers abroad receive considerable reductions in social security contributions."

This allows these companies a significant financial competitive advantage, since they can "offer their services more cheaply abroad than in their own country," the organisation said in the complaint to the European Commission.

EFBWW President Dietmar Schäfers said there was "nothing wrong with this autonomy but countries must not deliberately abuse their independence by giving considerable financial benefits to their companies when they post workers abroad."

He claimed that the financial advantage for these companies easily amounted to around EUR 500 per worker per month, depending on the country the workers were sent to.

Between 2010 and 2016, the number of Slovenian posted workers increased from around 25,000 to 164,226, according to the organisation. These workers are mainly employed in the construction sector in Germany, Austria and Belgium.

The federation claims this makes Slovenia "a kind of gateway of cheap labour for Europe for numerous workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Albania", which proves Slovenia has adopted a policy of exporting cheap labour.

Below is a review of the headlines in Slovenian dailies for Wednesday, February 6, 2019, as summarised by the STA:

DELO

School reform
"What should the school of the future be like?": In the aftermath of a parent initiative for a far-reaching education reform, Minister Jernej Pikalo has announced a white paper setting the guidelines for future development. (front page, 2)

Transport
"An airport painfully empty": The owners of Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport had promised 300 million in investments and eleven scheduled flights, including to China. Their promises have not been realized. (front page, 9)

Ski jumping
"Little Planica ready for jumpers": Ljubno will host the women's Ski Jumping World Cup Friday through Sunday, in what is the female equivalent of the Planica event. (front page, 25, 26)

DNEVNIK

Competition protection
"Just to get rid of the director": The Economy Ministry has drawn up legislative amendments that introduce a new way to dismiss the director of the Agency for the Protection of Competition, in what appears an attempt by the minister to deal with current director Zdenko Matvoz, a man the minister has unsuccessfully tried to dismiss before. (front page, 3)

Ljubljana infrastructure
"Reconstruction of Letališka ramp will last four months": The motorway company DARS and the city of Ljubljana will need four months to upgrade the motorway ramp at the end of Letališka street. (front page, 9)

Skiing
"Mikaela Shiffrin wins super-G, Ilka Štuhec eighth": American star Mikaela Shiffrin has won the World Championship super-G, while Slovenia's Ilka Štuhec finished eighth in a close race. (front page, 17)

FINANCE

Juncker investment plan
"Was the money from the Juncker fund distributed fairly?": The European Court of Audit acknowledges that the Juncker fund provided sufficient financing, but it has doubts about its added value. (front page, 4, 5)

PwC executive survey
"What Slovenian directors are afraid of": A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers has shown that Slovenian directors are pessimistic about the prospects for this year, but this is not unexpected given the general Slovenian proclivity for gloom, the rise of populism, and lingering memories of the previous economic crisis. (front page, 2, 3)

Pension fund returns
"Is it time to panic because of last year's pension fund returns?": Pension fund managers will want to forget 2018 as soon as they can. Most had negative 12-month yields. (front page, 6, 7)

VEČER

Libraries
"Personal brought to life as public": The Maribor University Library yesterday marked Culture Day by inaugurating the Janko Glazer Library, a special room containing the personal library of the local author. (front page, 16)

Skiing
"Ilka misses first chance": Ilka Štuhec missed her first chance at a medal at the World Championship super-G, en event where every mistake was decisive. Despite finishing just 0.26 seconds behind the winner, she took eighth place. (front page, 22, 23)

Recognition of Venezuelan interim president
"To recognize or not to recognize?": The question whether to recognize Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela has divided Slovenian politics along the customary ideological lines. (front page, 2, 3)

Crime
"Detective caught in wiretaps": A senior Ljubljana detective has been apprehended on suspicion that he has been dealing drugs. (front page, 20)

STA, 4 February 2019 - Calls for structural reforms, in particular lower taxes and a more flexible market, were in the centre of a Slovenian Business Club (SBC)-sponsored meeting in Postojna, which featured some of Slovenia's top business and state officials. Prime Minister Marjan Šarec promised changes, while also noting the importance of preserving the welfare state.

Šarec told the meeting, which brought together around 300 successful entrepreneurs and several cabinet members, that the government would draft a package of measures before the end of the year, "measures that you've perhaps been wishing to see for a while".

He expects the measures will again cause a storm in the public, but "there is no action without a reaction".

Šarec, however, went on to stress that the welfare state was also needed, "since things that it provides for everybody - such as education, healthcare and other services - are not unimportant".

Šarec, who acknowledged the economy was slowing down but argued it was too early to speak of a crisis, rejected comparisons with Switzerland, which is being looked to at the meeting for inspiration on how to increase added value.

"If we continue to wonder how to become another Switzerland or somebody else, we'll probably fail to meet the desired goals and results. No system has only pluses and no system has only minuses," the prime minister said.

Marjan Batagelj, the chairman and majority owner of Postojnska Jama, the operator of Postojna Cave, said it was time for concrete measures, calling for lower taxation of wages and greater labour flexibility.

"We must not become a tax island. All countries around us are reducing taxes and we need to make sure our business environment is competitive," said Batagelj, while at the same time calling for a more effective education system.

He pointed to Switzerland as an example of a country where politics is constantly coordinating its actions with business.

This was echoed by Heinz Karrrer, the president of the biggest economic organisation in Switzerland, Economiesuisse, who said politics should listen very carefully to the needs of business when it comes to creating jobs.

The afternoon part of the meeting, which also featured Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek, Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj and Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Minister Ksenija Klampfer, looked in more detail at the forthcoming measures in Slovenia.

Bertoncej said the government would present measures coming as part of "comprehensive tax optimisation" to social partners within a month.

He called for an all-encompassing review, noting that while labour was taxed heavily in Slovenia, the tax burdens on capital were lighter than in other countries.

Promising that the business environment would remain predictable, Bertoncej also announced a gradual introduction of measures, with the biggest batch expected in 2019, to be followed by individual measures in 2020 and 2021.

Among concrete measures being mulled by the government, he mentioned easing taxation on the holiday allowance, changes to income tax brackets, to general income tax allowance, as well as to the corporate tax rate.

Bertoncelj, who also sees reserves as regards the effectiveness of the public sector, added that macroeconomic stability would be the priority focus of the ministry.

Economy Minister Počivalšek highlighted labour force shortages as a key factor undermining growth, suggesting that focusing on raising the average wage would have been better than the recent focus on the minimum wage.

He added that "a step forward" could also be possible when it comes to expanding possibilities to lay off unmotivated staff.

Labour Minister Klampfer also called for reducing the tax burden on labour "across the entire vertical", while stressing the need for social dialogue.

Ascent Resources’ quest to gain the permits needed to develop its Petišovci gas field continues, reports the investment website Morning Star, with the threat of legal action against Slovenia if the delays continue. The company requires one permit to install a gas processing facility, while another is needed to re-stimulate wells to increase their production, a process commonly known as fracking.

CEO Colin Hutchinson was quoted on Monday as follows: "While the pace of progress in Slovenia remains frustratingly slow, as we continue to follow the process and provide those responsible for making the permitting decision with all of the information they require, based on the unarguable benefits for the country I remain hopeful the permits will be awarded in due course."

Some of the messages sent in support of Ascent Resources. Screenshot from RTV Slovenia

The project has been in the news in recent months because of the environmental concerns it raises, but also because of a number of harassing messages that were sent to government officials in Slovenia, including the Minister of Environment. While the author(s) of the messages have not been identified, all expressed support for Ascent Resources.

Although new developments are stalled production at the site is continuing, and the website notes that in January the firm was able to extract 412,763 cubic metres of gas, for expected revenues of about €70,000, down slightly from the figures seen in December.

Ascent Resources is a penny stock, currently trading at 0.28p, or £0.0028