FRIDAY, 4 February
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly rejected the appointment of Marjan Divjak as vice-governor of the central bank. The Democrats (SDS) proposed that the vote be postponed, but their motion was rejected and the vote went ahead with 44 voting in favour and 40 against in a secret ballot, short of the required super majority.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly voted a bill on electronic communications, put forward by the government to transpose EU law, unfit for further reading. The bill would bar high-risk vendors from the market in a provision directed against Chinese Huawei. While not mentioning the vendor specifically, the bill would ban providers from using the equipment of high-risk suppliers if they are labelled by such by the government based on the opinion of the National Security Council.
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly failed to overturn the upper chamber's veto on a bill raising the required level of Italian language proficiency for staff at Italian-language schools and kindergartens. While the coalition voted in favour, the centre-left opposition voted against.
LJUBLJANA - The opposition Left announced it will withdraw its motion for a referendum on the income tax act after the government indicated the referendum could be held on the same day as the general election. The amendments will probably be passed during this government's term and the Left will strive to win the election and then "correct the law," Left leader Luka Mesec said.
LJUBLJANA - The Finance Ministry unveiled a new draft law on cryptocurrency taxation. It proposes a 10% taxation rate and a general tax exemption on up to EUR 10,000 of redeemed cryptocurrency per year. The proposed solutions would apply to all natural persons who pay taxes in Slovenia, but not to legal persons and individuals that hold cryptocurrencies as a business asset.
DOBROVO - Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek held talks with his Italian counterpart Stefano Patuanelli. They discussed plans for the joint promotion of Slovenian and Italian wines from the border-spanning region, especially the Rebula white wine, known in Italy as Ribolla.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's exports rose by 19.8% year-on-year to EUR 39.4 billion in 2021 and imports increased by 30.8% to EUR 42 billion, the Statistics Office reported. A trade deficit of EUR 2.6 billion was recorded, the highest in the last ten years.
SATURDAY, 5 February
BEIJING - Slovenian ski jumpers Urša Bogataj and Nika Križnar made history at the Winter Olympics. Bogataj won gold and Križnar won bronze in the women's normal hill individual event, the first time that more than one Slovenian athlete made the Olympic podium in the same event.
CARDIFF, UK - Ema Kozin, the best Slovenian female boxer, lost to American Claressa Shields in Cardiff, UK in a fight for the world champion title in a number of categories in the female middleweight class. This is Kozin's first defeat of her professional fighting career.
SUNDAY, 6 February
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia reiterated its support for the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU's taxonomy of sustainable energy sources. The Finance Ministry said nuclear energy will be needed to maintain low-carbon energy production in the long run, not only during the transition period.
BEIJING, China - Slovenian ski jumper Peter Prevc finished fourth in the men's normal hill individual event at the Beijing Winter Olympics. He was half a point short to clinch what could have been his third Olympic medal after the two he won at Sochi 2014.
MONDAY, 7 February
VATICAN CITY, Vatican - President Borut Pahor met Pope Francis during an official visit to the Vatican to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Slovenia and the Holy See. The pair noted the importance of dialogue and discussed the situation in the Western Balkans, the Ukraine crisis, as well as bilateral cooperation.
ROME - President Borut Pahor held talks with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella. EU issues topped the agenda. The talks focused on peace and stability in the EU's eastern neighbourhood, the need to coordinate post-pandemic economic recovery policies, and the need for debates on the common European future to be more ambitious.
LJUBLJANA - Freedom Movement, the party of Robert Golob, led the field in a poll commissioned by RTV Slovenija, ahead of the ruling Democrats (SDS). One out of five respondents said they would vote for Freedom Movement, an increase of 6.8 percentage points from January. The SDS gained three points to 15%.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation ran at 5.8% in January, the highest since August 2008, picking up pace from 4.9% reported at the end of last year mostly due to costlier fuels and energy. Consumer prices rose by 0.4% from December.
BEIJING, China - Slovenian ski jumpers Nika Križnar, Urša Bogataj, Timi Zajc and Peter Prevc won the gold medal in the mixed team normal hill event at the Winter Olympics to make history as the first nation to win the event in its Olympic premiere in Beijing.
CLERMONT FERRAND, France - Animation filmmaker Špela Čadež received a Special Mention at this year's Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival for her animated short Steakhouse in what is the tenth international award for the film.
TUESDAY, 8 February
DUBAI, UAE - Foreign Minister Anže Logar held talks with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as he started a tour of Gulf countries. The ministers confirmed excellent bilateral ties, which have been deepened since Slovenia opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi in 2018, and discussed opportunities for stronger cooperation.
STRASBOURG, France - Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek welcomed an initiative for a new business model for low-carbon farming that is based on the actual sequestration of carbon and involves the option of evaluating that on the market. Podgoršek told his counterparts at an informal meeting that the initiative was an opportunity for extra income for farmers and foresters.
BEIJING - Slovenian snowboarders won two medals at the Olympic parallel giant slalom. Tim Mastnak got silver in the men's category as one of the medal favourites, while Gloria Kotnik won bronze in the women's competition, a feat few had expected prior to the Olympic Games.
WEDNESDAY, 9 February
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor formally called the general election in Slovenia for 24 April, announcing that he would give the mandate to form the government to the person with sufficient support in the new parliament after the election.
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Janez Janša self-tested positive for coronavirus. He posted a photo of a positive test result on Twitter, saying he had all the symptoms typical of Covid-19, although mild.
DOHA, Qatar - Foreign Minister Anže Logar met his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to speak about economic cooperation and regional and global issues, including energy. Logar also took the opportunity to talk about Slovenia's candidacy for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
ZAGORJE OB SAVI - The new green party Vesna held its founding congress, at which environmentalists Urša Zgojznik and Uroš Macerl were elected its co-presidents. The former said the goal was to enter the parliament and demand that programmes in the fields of environment, economy, agriculture, youth policy and democracy be implemented.
LJUBLJANA - The current robust economic growth is blurring a worsening of Slovenia's public finances, the Fiscal Council said in its latest assessment of the country's public finances. It estimated that the structural measures taken during the Covid epidemic which are unrelated to it will affect the public finances by reducing GDP by 2.2% a year.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's competition watchdog found Renault Nissan Slovenija and four car dealerships had engaged in anti-competitive behaviour for over ten years in the repair and maintenance of Renault vehicles. One of the companies admitted its involvement and provided further evidence in exchange for a milder sentence.
THURSDAY, 10 February
LJUBLJANA - The government adopted a bill to encourage digital inclusion. The centrepiece of the EUR 31 million project is a scheme of EUR 150 digital vouchers that secondary school kids, students and adults over 55 will be able to use to attend various digital literacy courses or buy digital devices.
LJUBLJANA - The European Commission downgraded Slovenia's growth forecast for this year by 0.4 percentage points from its autumn forecast to 3.8%, projecting a more moderate growth rate of 3.6% in 2023. This compares to the 4% growth forecast for the euro area this year and 2.7% in 2023.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's industrial output expanded by 10.2% in 2021 on the back of strong performance in manufacturing, the latest Statistics Office data shows. Industrial revenue increased by over 15% and the value of stocks by almost 5%.
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's job market saw a record 22,900 vacancies in the final quarter of 2021 as the number of occupied posts hit 792,100, another all-time high, shows fresh data from the Statistics Office. The job vacancy rate in the fourth quarter was 2.8%.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Six out of the eight Slovenian MEPs addressed a letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to express regret over a statement of hers that they say conveys an "untrue and repeatedly criticised position of the former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano" regarding the foibe massacres during and after WWII.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Foreign Minister Anže Logar held talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and several other cabinet members as he wrapped up his tour of the Gulf. Economic cooperation was in the focus, as was Slovenia's bid to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
