The Festival of LGBT Film has come a long since the days when the organisers were building an underground event around a collection of VHS tapes hand collected from London, often screened without anyone involved knowing quite what they contained. Now getting ready to start it’s 34^th edition, the festival is a well-established annual affair, put on with the support of public and private sponsors, and with a large, well-curated programme of features and shorts from around the world. Over twenty titles will be shown in Ljubljana, at Kinodvor, Kinoteka and Metelkova’s Klub Tiffany, with additional screenings in Maribor (IntimiKino), Koper (MKSMC), Ptuj (Mestin kino), Bistrica ob Sotli (Mladinski center), Idrija (Filmsko gledališče) and Trst/Trieste (Cinema Ariston).

English and Slovene subtitles keep the event open

The films come from Slovenia, the USA, China, Germany, Italy, Myanmar, Columbia, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, Spain, France, Paraguay, Brazil, Scotland, Kenya and elsewhere, with all screenings including both English and Slovene subtitles, when needed. The related website also has an English version, here, which includes the full schedule of screenings and events, and there’s also a Facebook page.

The festival presents a round-up of the last year or so in LGBT+ film from around the world, with both fictional and documentary presentations, including Chi salverà le rose? (Who Will Save the Roses?), Sydney and Friends, Mr Gay Syria, Call Her Ganda, Freak Show, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Rafiki, Carmen & Lola, Martesa (The Marriage Film), Consequences (Posledice), Obscuro Barroco, Queercore and The Handmaiden (Agassi), although note this list is incomplete and a fuller account can be found elsewhere online.

All our LGBT+ stories can be found here

STA, 20 November - The 34th Slovenian Book Fair is getting under way at Ljubljana's Cankarjev Dom tonight, featuring more than a hundred publishers and 25,000 books, including 3,000 new titles. Hungary is the guest country.

For several years now the fair has been seeking to expand beyond its national character with a guest country and guest appearances by foreign authors.

The Slovenian Book Fair is an increasingly international event

This year it will welcome Man Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle, Goncourt Prize winner Marie NDiaye, Fulvio Tomizza Award laureate Mauro Covacich and Nepali poet Yuyutsu Ram Das Sharma.

After France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Hungary will be in the spotlight, showcased through literature, film, music, dance and cuisine.

Zdravko Kafol, the head of the organising committee, says that the fair is not yet international, but that Ljubljana deserves to have an international book fair, especially now that it has been designated as UNESCO's City of Literature.

Talking with the STA ahead of the launch, Kafol said that the fair featured virtually the entire publishing industry in the country and most of the new titles and attracted more visitors than all other book events together.

The publishing sector has not yet broken out of the spiral of contraction. But while it represents only two thousandths of GDP, its symbolic value is much bigger, even though not appreciated, Kafol says.

One-in-four Slovenes functionally illiterate

Despite efforts by various stakeholders, 42% of Slovenians do not read and one out of four is functionally illiterate, while tax on book is one of the highest in the EU, Kafol noted.

This is why the fair has taken it upon itself to promote reading and buying books through various campaigns, such as this year's call to visitors: "Admission free, buy a book more instead!"

Kafol says the aim is to attract more young people, as well as leaders from all walks of life, in order to draw attention to the importance of books for the health of the individual and the country.

Running until Sunday, the fair will open with an address by Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, which Kafol says indicates that the increasing importance that is being attached to books.

More than 300 events to choose from at the Slovenian Book Fair

The fair will see more than 300 accompanying events on seven stages, involving almost 1,000 participants from literary, cultural, social and media life as it strives to become a must-see event.

Among more than 100 authors hosted at the fair, several acclaimed guests from Slovenia will be celebrating their jubilees, including Drago Jančar, Ivo Svetina and Marjanca Jemec Božič.

Next year, the fair will focus on the Enlightenment, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the deaths of two Slovenian representatives of the movement, Valentin Vodnik (1758-1819) and Žiga Zois (1747-1819). Instead of a guest country, the fair will play host to whole Europe.

The official website, in Slovene, is here

STA, 20 November 2018 - Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, held a series of talks in Slovenia on Monday, including with Parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan and Foreign Ministry State Secretary Simona Leskovar, discussing the situation in the Middle East.

The Middle East peace process and bilateral relations were in the focus of talks between Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and State Secretary Leskovar, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Leskovar stressed the need to continue regional and international efforts in the peace process and said Slovenia remained committed to the two-state solution, which is "the only possible path to lasting peace between Palestine and Israel," the ministry said.

She also highlighted the importance of good bilateral cooperation and said Slovenia would continue assisting Palestine through development and humanitarian projects.

Ashrawi presented the situation in the region and voiced the need for a continuation of high-quality political dialogue with Slovenia, which she sees "as an important supporter in the affirmation and respect of the fundamental principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in the international community," the ministry said.

Ashrawi, accompanied by Palestinian Ambassador Salah Abdel Shafi, also held talks with Speaker Židan and Left MP Matej T. Vatovec, the head of the parliamentary friendship group with Palestine.

The visit coincided with a week-long Palestine cultural embassy project which kicked off at the Janez Boljka Gallery in Ljubljana yesterday.

All our stories about Slovenia and Palestine are here

STA, 19 November 2018 - Foreign Minister Miro Cerer criticised on Monday "immature acts" on the part of Slovenia as a reason for Hungary deciding to pull out of the Koper-Divača rail expansion, saying "Slovenia has missed a unique historic opportunity to the detriment of future generations".

The former prime minister, whose government was in talks with Hungary to take part in this major infrastructure project, believes such treatment of strategic partners does not bode well for Slovenia.

Speaking to the press after an EU ministerial in Brussels, Cerar regretted that as he meets his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó in Ljubljana on Tuesday, they would probably not discuss "further strategic cooperation on the second rail towards the port of Koper".

Despite his government's major effort to get Hungary on board for strategic partnership on this important transport route, Cerar regretted that "a unique historic opportunity has been lost to the detriment of future generations".

"In my view, this is a big defeat for Slovenia," said Cerar, stressing that Hungary had been willing to cooperate for the past three years, but had been driven away by "immature acts" on the Slovenian side.

Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek referred to, but not named

He regretted "completely inappropriate, politically immature statements saying that we will dictate to Hungary the conditions for cooperation". This is in reference to Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek's statements, whom he did not explicitly mention. [More on that story here]

He said that such statements "mean a total lack of understanding of cooperation among countries at high political level", and added that it remained to be proved that the project would be more expensive with Hungary taking part.

He also warned the EUR 200 million that would have been contributed by Hungary would have to come from other sources - from loans or the state budget, which means there will be less money for other projects.

"Those who have caused this situation will have to find an answer to it. They will also have to say where we'll get the money and how we'll treat strategic partners in the future," Cerar said.

Similarly, Defence Minister Karl Erjavec, who is also in Brussels for an EU ministerial, regretted Hungary's withdrawal, pointing to the financial aspect.

"If we look at how difficult it is to draft a supplementary budget for 2019, every cent coming into the country is welcome," said Erjavec, the foreign minister in Cerar's 2014-2018 government.

"Talks with the Hungarian side had been under way. Since the minister [Bratušek] disclosed how they proceeded, Hungary obviously withdrew," said Erjavec, who hopes this is not its final decision.

On Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the idea under which Hungary would take part in the construction of a new railway line between Koper and the inland hub of Divača had been dropped. He also said the country had already started talks with the port of Trieste in Italy, located some 15 km north of Kop

All of our stories about Slovenia and Hungary can be found here

STA, 19 November - Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek appears unperturbed that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban decided to withdraw from the Koper-Divača rail project. She said on Monday that Hungary was interested in the project to get a piece of the Slovenian coast and that that would never have happened.

Bratušek said on Saturday, when the news about Orban's decision broke, that she had wanted to propose to the government to implement the major infrastructure project on its own anyway, but that she had been waiting for certain figures.

Speaking to the press today, the minister said that she had known for at least a month that the project would have a lower price tag without Hungary's involvement, but at the moment she was still uncertain by how much.

Under the previous government's plans, Hungary would invest EUR 200m in the EUR 1bn project seen as vital for the development of Slovenia's sole maritime port in Koper, but Bratušek has calculated since taking over as the minister that the project would be cheaper if Slovenia went at it alone.

"Hungary was promised certain returns as well as 50,000 square metres of land in long-term lease," she said today and added that "personally, I would have never proposed to the government to back Hungary's involvement under the conditions it had set".

The law governing the management of the rail project was adopted some time ago and has survived two referendums, but there are still several open issues. "The investment plan has not been hammered out to the point where the government could discuss it," Bratušek said.

Bratušek: Hungary focused on the Slovenian Sea

The minister believes that Hungary would have set additional terms for its collaboration: "Hungary is more interested in the Slovenian sea, a gateway into the world, than in the Divača-Koper project."

According to her, Orban explained his decision by saying that Hungary would get a bigger stake, potentially even a majority stake, in the port of Trieste. However, Bratušek would not allow "a single centimetre of the port of Koper to end in foreign hands" as long as she is minister.

"If this is the reason that [Hungary] will not be involved, then be it," she added and reiterated that Slovenia was able to build the second rail track connecting the Koper port and the inland hub in Divača on its own.

All of our stories about Slovenia and Hungary can be found here

Below is a review of today’s news in Slovenia, summarised by the headlines in the daily newspapers for Tuesday, 20 November 2018, as prepared by the STA:

DELO

Book fair
"So many different books, let's find them readers": The 34th Slovenian Book Fair is getting under way at Ljubljana's Cankarjev Dom today. School children are expected to attend it in the mornings and adults in the afternoons and the weekend, when the fair will be open until 10 PM. (front page, 13)

Turkey's gas pipeline
"Erdogan: Turkey will secure gas to Europe": The gas pipeline, which replaced the South Stream due to another cold war, is becoming a reality. The first section of the Turkish Stream was officially opened yesterday. (front page, 6)

Police strike
"On strike by working thoroughly": Police stepped up their strike yesterday by conducting through check-ups on the border with Croatia, creating traffic chaos. (front page, 3)

DNEVNIK

Second round of local elections
"We're in for some interesting duels in the second round of mayoral elections": The paper looks at the most interesting of the 56 mayoral races ahead of the second round of local elections. (front page, 2-5, commentary 14)

Charity
"Who is breaking up Red Cross?": The top body of the Red Cross will decide today on the new secretary general of the charity. The battle for the post is fierce, says the paper. (front page, 6)

European monetary union
"German-Franco train driving again": Berlin and Paris have proposed a special budget for the eurozone to reduce the differences among member states. (front page, 8)

FINANCE

Logistics
"Fastest growing logistics companies": The paper brings an overview of the business results for 101 biggest logistics and transport companies. (front page, 16-17)

Stocks
"A package of Impol shares to be sold at auction. Are they worth buying?": A batch of 1,261 shares of Impol 2000, the core company of the aluminium producing group Impol, will be sold at an auction in Slovenska Bistrica on Friday. (front page, 4)

NLB bank
"After NLB sale: When can Blaž Brodnjak and employees at NLB expect higher wages?": Now that the NLB bank has been privatised the rules restraining wages at state-owned companies no longer apply for it, so the paper wonders when the staff can expect higher wages. (front page, 5)

VEČER

Post-election analysis
"Time for making connections": The paper brings an analysis of the local elections and the situation at city councils. (front page, 2-5, 8-9, 12-15)

Public sector talks
"Strikes still looming": Although the trade unions representing teachers, nurses and social care workers have reached a strike-averting deal with the government, the deal needs a quorum to become valid. (front page, 6)

Weather
"Winter arrived quickly this year": The start of meteorological winter is still 12 days away, but almost entire Slovenia is already covered in snow. Snow is expected to fall all day today. (front page)

STA, 19 November 2018 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec told the National Assembly on Monday that by acceding to the UN Global Compact for Migration, Slovenia would not lose sovereignty in that field. He stressed that the document did not equalise legal and illegal migration, adding that Slovenia was successful in tackling illegal migration.

"Illegal migration is a problem and Slovenia does not support it," Šarec said in an answer to an MP question, adding that the current illegal migration faced by Slovenia was a consequence of activities of human-smuggling criminal groups.

"This is something we are fighting against every day. The Slovenian police are working responsibly on this," he told Danijel Krivic of the opposition Democrats (SDS), who originally asked about an official Slovenian translation of the UN Global Compact for Migration.

While Krivic believes that a translation could resolve dilemmas raised in the public, Šarec said that there was no translation because ratification in parliament had not been envisaged. A translation has nevertheless been commissioned and it will be published soon, he added.

UN Compact on Migration is not legally binding

But the prime minister said that this would change nothing, as the fact is that the document is not legally binding. He added that the document, which is expected to be confirmed in Morocco's Marrakesh in December, was being "hugely politicised".

Šarec believes that the countries which have announced withdrawal from the agreement did so for internal political reasons. He rejected the policy of scaremongering in a bid to score political points, including by the SDS.

He pointed out that some countries "which have much bigger problems with migration than us", like Spain, had acceded to the UN Global Compact for Migration.

The signature on the document will not have any impact on the number of migrants in Slovenia, he said, adding that it was the beginning of resolution of a common problem, like climate change or something else.

Migration an international problem

"If every government started to solve the issue on its own, and close its borders ... then we will not get far," Šarec said, adding that the EU was facing huge problems because the issue was not being tackled in unison.

"The issue of migration needs to be addressed at the source and by no means by politicking here today," he added.

The right-leaning opposition has been calling on the government to fully reject and actively oppose the adoption of the UN Global Compact for Migration.

The SDS, New Slovenia (NSi) and National Party (SNS) want the National Assembly to propose that to the government, with the session on the topic scheduled for Wednesday. The motion has already been rejected by the relevant committee.

The government meanwhile appointed last week an inter-ministerial task force to draft and implement a migration management strategy. The strategy will include economic and illegal migration, international protection and integration.

Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said on Thursday that the strategy was an obligation under the coalition agreement. The task force will be headed by Interior Ministry State Secretary Sandi Čurin, an expert in combat against human trafficking.

A number of NGOs and humanitarian and research organisations have called on the government to include at least two NGO representatives in the task force and a representative of an organisation studying migration.

By doing so, the government would draft a strategy which would be based on the latest findings, reliable and comprehensive data on the situation regarding migration, says the letter signed by a total of 23 organisations.

All our immigration stories are here

STA, 16 November 2018 - Slovenia and six other EU members have called on the European Commission to check whether Austria's legislation set to reduce dependent child allowance for foreign citizens working in Austria complies with the EU's legal order.

Slovenia has joined the protests by Bulgaria, Lithuania and the Visegrad countries after Austria passed in late October legislation under which child benefits paid to foreign workers who are not Austrian residents would be calculated to correspond to the cost of living in their respective countries as of 1 January.

Slovenia's Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Family and Equal Opportunity said that the letter calls on European commissioner in charge of employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility Marianne Thyssen to look into the legislative changes and take appropriate action.

The ministry also said in a statement for the STA that minister Ksenija Klampfer had expressed objections to the Austrian legislative changes on a number of occasions.

"By passing this, Austria is violating one of the key principles of the EU's legal order: equality." The changes adopted amount to discrimination, the ministry added.

It is unfair that children of workers who contribute to Austria's prosperity and are not the country's citizens should be punished with lower child benefits, the ministry said.

However, soon after the legislation was passed, Slovenia's Foreign Minister Miro Cerar said during a trip to Vienna that it was up to the European Commission to say whether Austria's new legislation amounted to discrimination.

The European Commission confirmed for the STA that it received a letter from the seven countries on Thursday and that it would look into the matter.

STA, 16 November 2018 - The Supreme Court has reversed a decision in favour of Swiss franc borrowers, as it ordered a retrial in a case in which the Higher Court sided with the borrower's claim that he had not been forewarned about possible appreciation of the currency. The case was reported by the Bank Association of Slovenia on Friday.

This is one of the cases related to the by the Swiss central bank in 2015 to stop defending the value of the franc against the euro, which led to a surge in the value of the franc against the euro.

The affected borrowers in Slovenia have been trying to reach a systemic solution, including through the Franc Association, which is lobbying for a special law. In the meantime, courts are processing individual cases.

The key issue: Should Banka Slovenije have foreseen Swiss franc appreciation?

The particular case had been rejected by the court of first instance, while the Higher Court changed the ruling by completely upholding the claim by the borrower and finding the contract null and void.

According to the newspaper Delo, the case involves the Austrian-owned bank Banka Sparkasse.

The Bank Association of Slovenia, which advocates the case-by-case basis, argued today that the Supreme Court said the consequence of the bank failing to forewarn the borrower could not be the basis for annulling the contract.

The court added that when assessing loan contracts in Swiss francs, courts should take into account that the Slovenian consumer legislation at the time did not precisely regulate the mechanism of informed consent.

The Supreme Court added that an absence of loan calculations in any case must not be a decisive factor, according to the Bank Association.

The court has also confirmed that the central bank, Banka Slovenije, had not been able to project in its publications that the Swiss franc will appreciate, which had happened in 2011 and 2015. It is not possible to make reliable and precise forecasts regarding the period and extent of the change of currency exchange rate, it added.

While the impact of certain factors is predictable to a certain extent to experts, no expert could have predicted a unilateral measure such as that by the Swiss central bank in 2015, which had a decisive impact on the Swiss franc exchange rate, the association also quoted the court as saying.

STA, 19 November - Slovenia's local elections delivered few surprises. Incumbents ruled supreme carrying the biggest cities except for Koper, conservative parties did even better than last time around, centrist parties continued to lose ground, and independents became an even more formidable force, in a continuation of a long trend.

In the most closely watched race in Ljubljana, Mayor Zoran Jankovič predictably won re-election against centre-right candidate Anže Logar of the Democrats (SDS).

Janković even increased his share of the vote slightly from four years ago, to 61%, and his list regained outright majority in city council, but Logar also exceeded expectations with 29% of the vote, the best a Janković opponent has ever mustered.

In Maribor, the unpopular incumbent Andrej Fištravec was predictably swept out of office. In the second round, voters will pick between entrepreneur Saša Arsenovič and former mayor Franc Kangler. After almost all of the votes counted, they won 38.2% and 31.4% respectively.

The outcome makes Maribor one of the more interesting races to watch in the run-off on 2 December, as Kangler attempts his second comeback after being swept out of office by a popular uprising in 2012 and Arsenović tries to emulate his role model Janković with a business-like approach to running the city.

Another interesting race to watch will be Koper, where incumbent Boris Popovič will have to enter a run-off for the first time since 2002 facing Aleš Brežan, an independent with a growing following in the coastal city.

Some of the other long-lasting incumbents in big cities easily won re-election, including Bojan Šrot in Celje, Aleksander Jevšek in Murska Sobota, Gregor Macedoni in Novo Mesto and Bojan Kontič in Velenje.

All in all, 157 of the 212 municipalities got mayors in the first round, one more than four years ago.

Independents, SDS and SD do well at the party level

Independent and semi-independent parties and local lists further expanded their reach to reinforce the trend seen over the past decade. Independents aside, the biggest winners of this election are the SDS and the Social Democrats (SD).

According to nearly complete results, independents as the biggest single group won mayoral offices in 87 of the 212 municipalities in the first round and 944 of the 3,400 seats available on the local councils or 32.4% of the national vote.

While the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) remains the party with the largest number of mayors, its tally of mayoral offices won in the first round fell by two to 23 compared to the previous elections.

The SDS, the party that won the general election earlier this year, made the biggest gain nation-wide by securing 17% of the vote for local councils, up three percentage points from 2014. It also won 12 mayoral offices, which is as many as in the first round in 2014.

"The results show that in this election nation-wide more people have voted for the SDS alone than for the entire ruling coalition combined," Janša said.

Indeed, the only of the five ruling coalition parties that did well and even better than in the previous local election was the Social Democrats (SD), who like the SDS have a well-established local network.

The SD came as the second-strongest national party by winning 14 mayoral offices and 10.1% of the vote to local councils, which compares to 12 mayoral seats and 9.95% in the first round of the previous election.

SD leader Dejan Židan said that while there is an increasing number of independents and ever fewer parties field their own candidates, "we are the party that fights on, being aware that a party cannot be cut off from the local environment".

While being first in terms of mayoral offices, the SLS ranks fourth in elections to local councils with 6.5% of the vote, down just over one percentage point.

"After a difficult period behind us, we consider it a major victory and a better showing than the most upbeat expectations," Marjan Podobnik, the new-old SLS leader, commented.

The conservative New Slovenia (NSi) also did well. It won eight mayoral offices and 6.5% of the vote to local councils, compared to seven mayors and 6.61% of the national share of the vote to local councils four years ago.

"The NSi appears to be on the right track and our work pays in the long run," NSi leader Matej Tonin said, hailing joint support that the right-wing bloc threw behind mayoral contenders in several of the municipalities.

The Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the party of the prime minister which made its first appearance at the national level in the general election in June, did not win a single mayoral seat in the first round, although its candidate is in the lead in Kamnik, where Šarec first served as mayor.

As a newcomer that is yet establishing its local network, the party won 2.4% of the vote to local councils, which is a much poorer result that the SMC posted in 2014 after winning the general election as a newcomer.

Although not winning a single mayor back then, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) won one this time around, while its vote to local councils collapsed from 11.11% to 4.2% of the vote.

Prime Minister Marjan Šarec downplayed the result by saying that "we'll be happy of any result we achieve". He also pledged to work with mayors saying that "previous governments did not understand the work of municipalities".

The Left did not make much of a mark at the national level either, securing no mayor and winning only 2.8% of the vote.

Nevertheless, the party's deputy leader Violeta Tomić said the Left was happy with the result, in particular in Ljubljana where it emerged as the third strongest faction and its candidate for mayor came third.

The Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) fared better in terms of the national share of the vote, securing 4.9%, which is down from 7.45% four years ago. The party won no mayoral office.

Learn more about Slovenia’s many political parties here