STA, 12 November 2018 - Joško Knez, the director general of the Environment Agency (ARSO), stepped down on Monday, over an internal review of procedures for granting environmental permits for a controversial Ascent Resources gas extraction project in the far north-east of the country.

According to a report by the news portal Siol, Knez has resigned because irregularities were uncovered in the review ordered by the new Environment Minister Jure Leben last month.

Leben ordered the oversight of procedures for extracting gas in the Petišovci area by the UK's Ascent Resources and its Slovenian partner Geoenergo. The latter is owned by energy companies Petrol and Nafta Lendava, which are in majority ownership of the state.

According to a recent report by investment research firm Morningstar, Ascent Resources had received "repeated" private assurances from senior government officials, especially at the Environment Agency, that it would be getting the permit soon.

Apparently the review struck a nerve and the UK-based company launched an offensive against Slovenia, and Leben in particular.

At the end of October, Ascent Resources said it was mulling taking Slovenia to "EU courts" over the delay, while the minister has had to face an onslaught from shareholders and the management of the UK company.

Ascent Resources director and shareholder Colin Hutchinson tweeted that the company "invested EUR 50m in the project to date and will not walk away. The permitting system in the country is in need of urgent reform and foreign investors should be very wary of investing until this happens".

However, the Environment Ministry said today that "today's report corroborates that the minister's suspicions have been warranted", as the principles of independence and autonomy of ARSO were violated in the two procedures.

Moreover, the report says that "persons from abroad apparently do not find unacceptable and contentious putting pressure on Slovenian officials and are willing to repeat them".

The findings of the review will be forwarded to the relevant authorities, including "all the efforts to put pressure on the ministry during the review".

Just today, three non-parliamentary parties and several environmental NGOs urged Foreign Minister Miro Cerar to summon UK Ambassador Sophie Honey over lobbying for the UK company.

The Pirates, Solidarity, and the United Left and Workers' Labour Party (ZL-DSD) alliance, accuse Honey of lobbying and putting pressure on Slovenian authorities to secure the environmental permit for fracking in the Petišovci area.

Ascent Resources claims it would use hydraulic stimulation and not fracking to extract gas in Petišovci. This was corroborated by Geoenergo, which said that the method used in Slovenia would differ from fracking as used in the US significantly.

The procedure, "cannot and must not be equalised with the hydraulic treatment or fracturing of shale ... There are significant differences between the procedures in Slovenia and those in the US ... that basically stem from the difference in the geological profile of the rock".

But the environmental alliance is unconvinced. "We're witnessing a reality show where multinationals are treating us as natives from the most underdeveloped countries and heaping alternative truths on us in line with the worst case of fake news," environmental activist Gorazd Marinček told the press today.

STA, 12 November 2018 - Municipalities in Slovenia are obliged by law to provide a range of public services to residents. However, funding is often a tough task causing friction in relations with the government, which provides a considerable amount of money for municipal budgets.

All of the country's 212 municipalities must provide services such as day-care for pre-school children, primary school, primary healthcare and social services.

They are also obliged to manage local transport infrastructure, and provide utility, firefighting and environmental protection services.

They have to make sure that their local government institutions - from the city council and mayor to the city administration - carry out their tasks duly.

To provide all these services, which are generally set down in the local government law, municipalities receive funds from the state.

These funds are known as "povprečnina" and were introduced with the new local government act as of 2007. Their main source is personal income tax.

€573.5 state funding per capita

The amount a municipality receives a year is calculated as an annual lump sum per capita and transferred from the state budget.

It is calculated by the Finance Ministry on the basis of the average cost per capita the municipalities have spent in the past four years to provide their services.

The government and the municipalities have just recently reached a deal on the per capita budget transfer for 2019, meeting half way at EUR 573.5.

Robert Smrdelj, who heads one of the three municipal associations, says this is 20 euros higher than this year but still 35 euros below the projected costs for 2019.

Municipalities underfunded since the last financial crisis

Ever since 2011, municipalities have received lower budget transfers than they are legally entitled to.

Apart from the per capita budget transfer, municipalities expect the state to provide the funds for higher wages which are currently subject to public sector talks.

Although "povprečnina" is the main source of revenue, municipalities are also funded from other own sources.

They for instance collect a property tax known as the compensation for the use of building land, tourist tax, inheritance tax, and various fines.

Not insignificantly, they are also entitled to concession fees for the use of public good in their municipality or the tax on lottery prizes of their residents.

Nevertheless, municipalities and experts have been warning about insufficient funds, especially since they were cut during the crisis to fall below the guaranteed sum, while at the same time new tasks are being transferred onto them.

This makes funding extremely difficult, affecting especially new investments and infrastructure maintenance, posing a risk to the country's balanced development.

As municipalities carry out a number of infrastructure projects with the help of EU cohesion funds, they also fear they will not be able to secure the required share of own funds.

Boštjan Brezovnik from the Maribor Faculty of Law says municipalities are the founders of almost 1,100 public institutions which employ more than 60,000 workers, and can issue more than 1,200 different types of administrative decisions.

He says that many of their tasks are also set down or specified in laws governing individual fields, such as zoning or infrastructure construction.

Small municipalities must provide the same services as large ones

They manage municipal property, take care of water systems, energy and utility objects and local sport infrastructure. Some are also in charge of air, water and soil quality as well as of waste management, he explains.

Municipalities differ greatly in the number of residents, but they are all obliged to provide all the services practically on an equal footing.

Brezovnik says "Slovenian law does not distinguish between small and large municipalities", noting that small municipalities with few civil servants are unable to carry out all of the allocated tasks.

"For instance, the smallest municipality, Hodoš, with 376 residents, and Ljubljana as the largest one with almost 290,000 residents, have equal powers and tasks."

To cut their costs, municipalities have joined forces as part of "joint municipal administrations", which carry out certain tasks for multiple municipalities. In 2017, there were 52 such administrations, with all but 10 municipalities taking part.

Nevertheless, some municipalities are heavily indebted, although total municipal debt, which rose during the crisis, dropped for the third year in a row in 2017.

According to a Finance Ministry report, their debt was at almost 842 million euro at the end of last year, down 0.3% from 2016, but more than double what it was a decade ago.

At the end of last year, only 16 municipalities had no debt, but these are mostly small municipalities.

In absolute terms, large municipalities have the biggest debt burdens, not least because they carry out the biggest investments.

Ljubljana has €624 debt per capita

For example, Ljubljana had the highest debt at the end of December - EUR 171m, followed by Maribor and Koper with EUR 63m and EUR 46m, respectively.

However, calculated per capita, large municipalities are often less indebted than smaller ones, which is also true for Ljubljana.

Its debt per capita was EUR 624, which made it one of the less indebted municipalities when the average per capita debt stood at EUR 408 in 2017, the report says.

Overall, municipal debt is not seen as a cause of concern, with the exception of a few municipalities which have had their accounts blocked for several years due to overdue debt from the past.

All our local election coverage can be found here

STA, 12 November 2018 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec has told Marko Bandelli, the minister without portfolio in charge of development and EU cohesion funds, to resign or face dismissal over efforts to use his government clout to impact a local election. Reactions by the coalition parties indicate Bandelli would not survive a dismissal vote.

Šarec said he has warned Bandelli twice before about his communication, right after the government was appointed and then again a few weeks ago, when Bandelli came under fire for using emergency lights on his service vehicle. "Now I've decided he should leave."

Šarec and Bandelli met today after the story broke last week that Bandelli had threatened one of the candidates for the mayoral post in Komen (SW) with leaving the municipality without the support of his department and of the Infrastructure Ministry.

Both are controlled by the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), on whose slate Bandelli was elected the mayor of Komen in 2014 and earlier this year as MP, which meant he had to give up the mayoral post.

Bandelli, who left today's meeting with Šarec without a comment, had apologised for the September e-mail to Erik Modic, in which he accused the candidate of being driven merely by self-interest and a personal vendetta.

The apology was also highlighted in today's press release by SAB, whose leadership will meet to discuss the situation on Tuesday morning.

But Šarec said that neither the apology nor SAB's initial defence that mayors are used to a different style of communication was convincing. "It was also insulting to all current, past and perhaps future mayors," said Šarec, who used to serve as the mayor of Kamnik.

While the largest parliamentary party, the opposition Democrats (SDS) already threatened with a dismissal motion ahead of today's meeting, the first reaction by SAB's fellow junior coalition parties confirmed Bandelli would not survive a vote were he to hold on to the post.

The Modern Centre Party (SMC) welcomed Šarec's decision, arguing Bandelli had undermined trust in the government. In the case of vote, the SMC would back the dismissal, as would the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) whose Karl Erjavec said he would have probably acted the same way as Šarec in such a situation.

Erjavec however indicated that the Komen e-mail had not been the sole reason for Šarec's decision. According to his knowledge, Bandelli also still owes the PM a report on the drawing of EU funds.

The SocDems, another junior coalition party, did not wish to comment on the situation today, but with the ruling Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) naturally sharing the view of the prime minister, Bandelli's fate seems sealed.

"I'm convinced I did the right thing. We'll see what happens next," Šarec said.

Other issues with Bandelli’s communication style in local politics

The controversial correspondence was reportedly not an isolated case of the minister communicating inappropriately with a candidate in the Komen election.

Media also highlighted an October exchange on Facebook with Sergio Stancich, in which Bandelli expressed support for Stancich's rival candidate Dean Zalesjak, announcing the latter would "of course get maximum political support, know-how and ministerial information".

He later argued that he just highlighted the obvious fact that "mayors and municipal councillors of parties that are part of the government have easier access to ministers".

The news portal Siol reported last week that Bandelli erased his profiles on social networks last week.

In general, Bandelli appears to have not performed according to expectations, in particular now that the government has come under heavy pressure due to the poor drawing of EU funds.

Unofficial information obtained by the STA suggest Šarec demanded Bandelli that he present measures to improve the phasing of EU cohesion policy funds by last week, something the minister did not do.

But the demand that he resign also comes in the midst of rising tensions between Šarec and Brastušek, who recently requested a government debate about the realization of coalition priorities.

Her party attempting to take over the mantle of pensioner protection from the DeSUS, she said she would not rescind her demands for significantly higher pensions, even as the government faces demands from public sector unions that could run into several hundred million euro per year.

If Bandelli resigns or is dismissed, he will be allowed by law to return to the National Assembly as an MP.

All our local election stories are here

DELO

Bandelli sacking
"Resignation or dismissal - that is the question": Alenka Bratušek and her SAB party, which nominated the sacked development and EU cohesion funds minister Marko Bandelli, demand that PM Marjan Šarec use the same criteria for "all officials". (front page, 3)

Appointment of central bank governor
"He wanted to make money through Todorić as NLB supervisor": Scrutinising one of the top three candidates for the new governor of Banka Slovenije, the paper suggest Igor Masten wanted to work for the foreign buyers of retailer Mercator and the NKBM bank. (front page, 2)

DNEVNIK

Roadworks in Ljubljana
"Final section of Slovenska street under repair": The final, northern section of Slovenska street in the capital is being redone after many years. (front page, 9)

Bandelli sacking
"Marko Bandelli becomes the first minister to leave the Marjan Šarec government": SAB, the party behind the dismissed minister for development and EU cohesion funds Marko Bandelli, will reveal today what the PM's decision means for its status in the coalition. (front page, 2)

Healthcare
"All doors closed for women without gynaecologist": Gynaecologists at the Ljubljana Healthcare Centre are no longer accepting new patients. (front page, 4)

FINANCE

Ljubljana mayor
"How did the wealth of the Janković family evaporate?": The paper tracks how the family of Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković was affected by the crisis to fall into debts after being one of the wealthiest in the county only 12 years ago. (front page, 4, 5)

Local elections
"How business savvy are municipalities and how comfortable is a mayoral seat?": The paper provides an overview of municipal revenues and expenditure and looks at which municipalities are saddled with the most debt. (front page, 2-3)

VEČER

Ballet
"Clug at the Bolshoi": Edvard Clug, a much sought choreographer and the artistic director of the SNG Maribor ballet company, is being hosted by the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow with Stravinsky's Petrushka. (front page, 16, 17)

Bendelli sacking
"Bandelli needs to go": PM Marjan Šarec tells Marko Bandelli, the minister without portfolio in charge of development and EU cohesion funds, to resign or face dismissal. (front page, 2)

Gas extraction
"Petišovci: Pressure sweeps away ARSO director?": Joško Knez, the director general of the Environment Agency (ARSO), steps down after an internal review of the permit procedure that would grant the UK's Ascent Resources rights for hydraulic fracturing in the NE of Slovenia. (front page, 5)

While one peak of tourism in Slovenia occurs in August, another is in December, when instead of green pastures and forests the country offers whiter, brighter scenes of snow and ice. While some spend their time in the great outdoors, skiing, sledding and so on, others prefer to warm their hands around a glass of mulled wine while looking at all the pretty lights. And if you’re in the latter camp then you’re in luck, as preparations are well under way to turn various town centres into magical places at night, not only lit up but made merry by stalls selling food, drink, decorations, hats, gloves, scarves, and so on.

So while you may not have unpacked your winter jacket yet, Festive December is atill fast approaching, those four weeks before Christmas that see appearances from, among others, St Nicholas, Santa Claus, Grandpa Frost and the Krampus, and if you’re planning a trip to Slovenia then these are some light shows to consider taking in on your stay.

December in Ljubljana

The lights that keep the capital festive were designed by Zmago Modic, the artist who’s also responsible for the rain that appears each summer in Prešeren Square. And it’s in this square, soon to be home to a giant Christmas tree, where the lights will be turned on Friday November 30 at 17:15. Thus will begin a month or so of merriment, fuelled, as elsewhere in Slovenia, by stalls selling mulled wine, hot food and other seasonal delights, along with live music at various open air venues around town, with the action very easy to find. The city’s official site for the month is here. Note that this year no ice rink is planned for Zvezda Park, perhaps because of the mild, rainy winter last year, which saw it rather quiet.

If you're in the capital now, check out the latest edition of What's on... for an incomplete selection of things to do in things to do in Ljubljana this week.

December in Maribor

The lights in Maribor will start shining a week earlier than those in the capital, with the switch being flipped at 17:00 on Friday November 23^rd in General Maister Square. A full programme of events if planned for that day, with details here. As well as all the usual stalls and merriment, Maribor will have an ice rink in Trg Svobode. The city’s official site for the month is here.

December in Bled

The picturesque lake, island, chapel and castle are especially magical in winter, with the scene made even more full of wonder when the lights come on at night. This year the festive season will run from November 30 until January 6, and – in addition to the usual lights and stalls – there’ll also be an ice rink with a spectacular view. The official website is here with more details, and note that if you’re in the area on Christmas Day then you have the chance to join other brave souls and go for a swim in the lake.

December by the Coast

Of course, not everyone likes the cold and snow, even in December, in which case a festive trip to the mild climate the Slovenian coast is recommended. All the towns here will have lights to enjoy, starting on December 1, but if in Portorož then head to Christmas market in the park of Hotel Kempinski Palace Portorož, while in Koper the Old Town will come alive to a series of events call Magical December, usually including an ice rink. Finally, in Piran the centre of festivities will be Tartini Square.

STA, 12 November - Slovenian voters will head to the polls on Sunday to elect mayors and local councils in 212 municipalities. Coming less than half a year after the general election, the vote will be closely watched for signs of shifting political sentiment, but the results are likely to make for a poor barometer of the political climate in the nation.

For well over a decade, local elections have been dominated by truly hyperlocal issues, and 2018 does not look any different. In fact, judging by the candidacies and the handful of polls carried out, the vote may simply affirm trends that have become entrenched in the last decade-plus.

For one, large parties that are established at the national level do not necessarily perform well in local elections, with two constant exceptions: the Democrats (SDS) on the right and the Social Democrats (SD) on the left.

The SDS has won the last three local elections in terms of the total share of the vote for local council, while the SD has been near the top, finishing third in 2014, second in 2010 and third in 2006.

In 2006, the second strongest party was the Liberal Democracy (LDS), which has since disappeared from the political map, and in 2014 the runner-up position went to the then newly established Miro Cerar Party, since then renamed the Modern Centre Party (SMC).

The People's Party (SLS) has always done well and finished in fourth place in the last three elections, a feat achieved in 2014 despite having just been ejected from the National Assembly in what was a major upset for the once major political player.

In terms of the number of mayors, the SLS has been the undisputed leader, having the highest number of mayors of any party even in 2014, seemingly regardless of its fluctuating fortunes on the national political arena.

Local politics in Slovenia is a rural affair

These results reflect Slovenia's low rate of urbanisation, which is among the lowest in Europe, and the fragmentation of local communities.

The vast majority of Slovenia's municipalities are rural. Only 11 of the 212 qualify as urban, and the smallest among them has only 17,000 inhabitants.

In small rural communities, conservative parties tend to do well, and because there are so many small municipalities, centre-right parties have an upper hand by default when it comes to the sheer number of mayors.

But even more importantly, there has been a surge in independent and semi-independent parties and local lists, which have come to dominate the fragmented local political landscape.

In 2006, 67 mayors were elected from independent local lists. The figure rose to 70 in 2010 before exploding to 115 in the last election in 2014; that year, the SDS won 14.3% of the vote and had 31 mayors as the strongest individual party.

The trend is similar when one looks at the number of local councillors elected. In absolute terms strong parties such as the SDS have the highest number of local councillors, but independents have been gaining ground.

Independents accounted for just under 20% of all councillors elected in 2006 but 22% in 2010 and over 29% in 2014. Additionally, a tenth of councillors in each of those years was elected on the slates of smaller national or regional parties.

Another major trend driving Slovenian local elections has been the advantage of incumbency, which has been accelerating.

A 2015 study of local elections in Slovenia revealed that the rate of re-election rose from 77% in 1998 to over 80% in 2006 and as high as 84% in 2014.

As of 2018, ten of the 212 mayors have been in office for almost 24 years and many more have been mayors since their municipalities were first established (municipalities were created in several rounds in 1995, 1998, 2006 and 2011).

The incumbency advantage is so large that in as many as 36 municipalities, there is a single candidate for mayor, 35 of them being incumbents.

One major source of uncertainty disrupting these trends is the Slovenian tradition, especially on the left, of the rapid creation of parties, some of which tend to burn down fairly quickly.

In 2011, for example, the party of Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković won 28% of the vote in the general election. But, unable to form a government, the party pretty much collapsed in time for the 2014 local election and won just 0.25% of the votes for local council.

In 2014, on the other hand, the newly established SMC profited from its win in the general election to finish second by the share of the local council vote. Nevertheless, it did not manage to get a single mayor elected despite fielding candidates in 40 municipalities.

This year, it is the prime minister's Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) that is in a unique position. It finished as runner-up in the spring general election with 12.6% of the vote, half of what the election winner, the SDS, received, and then managed to put together a five-party coalition.

But the party has its roots as a local player in Kamnik, where Šarec served as two-term mayor, and it has not yet built up a network of local chapters, which are seen as key for any party planning to become a serious player at the local level.

The LMŠ plans to field candidates in just 40 municipalities while also backing several candidates of other parties.

Given these trends, it seems likely that the SDS, SD and SLS may once again emerge as the strongest parties in the nation-wide tally, but independents, especially incumbents, are just as likely to affirm or even extend their dominance.

In the end, the results will probably give many players a cause for celebration. Some will brag with the number of mayors and local councillors, others will celebrate their outsize influence at the local level, and some will be happy with anything short of disaster.

You can find our guides to all the main political parties here

STA, 11 November 2018 - President Borut Pahor stressed that Sunday's central commemoration marking the end of World War One in Paris celebrates a commitment of states and world leaders to peace. "We want to enhance our common efforts towards this fundamental value," he was quoted by his office as saying.

Pahor added that "there is nothing nobler than our political mission to secure that this and future generations live in safety and peace".

He is in Paris with some 80 world leaders upon the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as the US and Russian presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

The president is also taking part in the Paris Peace Forum, which is debating the world order, its goals and possible changes, according to Pahor's office.

Ob Slavoloku zmage v Parizu poteka osrednja slovesnost ob 100. obletnici konca 1. svetovne vojne. #CentenaireArmistice #armistice100 pic.twitter.com/fKAnfi8JeI

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) November 11, 2018

The forum, organised by France to strengthen multilateralism, was opened by Macron, and also addressed by Merkel and UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres.

Pahor sees it as an attempt to see if countries themselves and in collaboration with one another do everything to secure a lasting peace and strengthen values such as mutual respect, consideration, tolerance and solidarity, as well as renouncing threats and hate speech.

"We wish for the memory of war atrocities not to fade away as time passes by. It is people who decide on peace or war. No action in favour of peace and enhanced mutual understanding and cooperation is superfluous," said Pahor.

The world leaders taking part in the forum were invited to donate a book which in their view brings a message of peace to the Peace Library.

Pahor will donate I Saw Her That Night, Drago Jančar's award-winning novel which was among many accolades it has received declared in France the best novel by a foreign writer in 2014.

The shocking plot is based on real events, narrating a story about war, which never solves problems but creates even more horrific ones, Pahor's office said.

"I Saw Her That Night is a story about emptiness and about the people whom the war deprived of their lives - symbolically and actually."

The novel will be donated in three languages - Slovenian, French and English, bringing to the library "a Slovenian appeal and desire for peace".

STA, 9 November 2018 - An exhibition has being launched at Khislstein Castle in Kranj which sheds light on the family that gave the 13th century castle its name and its present appearance 440 years ago.

The Khisls were an important family in Slovenian lands in the 16th century, owning estates across the historic regions of Carniola and Styria. Their last known descendants lived here in the mid-18th century.

They are believed to have come here from Bavaria or German-speaking lands. Their first member in Slovenia was merchant Vid Khisl, who became Ljubljana mayor in 1537.

Although not originally of noble rank, the family rose to prominence fast by acquiring wealth through business enterprise and moving up to a higher class.

Part of the reason for their prosperity was their involvement in the defence against the Turks and their good political and business links with the rulers.

Among other things, they won privileges to manufacture glass and built an iron mill for the manufacture of weapons and a paper mill.

A supporter of Slovenian Protestants and musicians, Janez Khisl issued what is the oldest known official document in the Slovenian language in 1570 as the provincial administrator of the time.

In the mid-16th century Janez Khisl bought a castle in Kranj and redesigned it before being granted the permission in 1578 to rename it Khislstein.

"I wonder why the family picked the Kranj castle to to name it after themselves when they had at least 30 estates and mansions in Carniola and Styria at the time. They obviously held the Kranj castle especially dear," Marjana Žibert, director of the regional Gorenjska Museum, said ahead of the launch.

The castle is the museum's main venue and the exhibition will also mark the museum's 65th anniversary. Running until September 2019, it will be accompanied by a 120-page catalogue.

The castle changed hands several times before it was bought by the state in 1913. It has been housing the regional museum since 2012, following the last renovation.

The castle attracts between 8,000 and 10,000 visitors each year, which makes it the second most popular museum in Kranj after the one dedicated to Slovenia's greatest poet France Prešeren.

STA, 11 November 2018 - Abandoning the practice of changing the clocks in spring and autumn should have no major consequences for small businesses, a survey by the Slovenian chamber of small business has shown.

This view was expressed by 99% of the 960 businesses polled, whereas some even believe the end to changing the clocks will have a positive effect on their employees.

As many as 92% opted for abandoning this practice, according to the Chamber of Craft and Small Business, which added that if abolished, the practice should be done away with in all EU member states at the same time.

In September, the European Commission proposed that changing the clocks twice a year should be abolished next year.

However, EU transport ministers pulled the breaks on the proposal last month, arguing more time was needed to clarify some issues. This is also Slovenia's stance.

As Infrastructure Ministry State Secretary Nina Mauhler said two weeks ago at the informal EU ministerial in Graz, Austria, Slovenia would like to align its position with its neighbours, as "going solo would bring more problems" than benefits.

At the time, Austria as the EU presiding country proposed abolishing the practice of changing the clocks as of 2021, which member states largely welcomed.

Mauhler said that in consultations with Slovenian businesses, the ministry had identified the majority of potential problems in the aviation industry.

Along with ski jumping and climbing, judo is another of the individual sports that Slovenia does far better than many much bigger nations, a fact that seen over the weekend in Uzbekistan, at the Taskent Grand Prix. Here Slovenia managed to achieve 8^th place in the overall rankings, with Adrian Gomboc winning gold in the men’s -66 kg division, while Kaja Kajzer picked up the bronze in the women’s -57 kg, as did Leski Andreja in the women’s -63 kg

Kosovo had the best performance among the nations fielding atheletes, winning three golds and one silver in the women’s events, with the full results available at the International Judo Federation’s website.