Ljubljana related
The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 3 January 2020
Mladina: Change ahead for the global economy in 2020
STA, 3 January 2019 - The trade war the US started three years ago could get a new development in 2020 which will be caused by Europe as it is transiting to cleaner technologies. To promote clean technologies as it pursues its CO2 commitments, Europe will have to resort to customs and taxes, "which changes everything", the left-wing weekly Mladina says on Friday.
Europe is rushing the change especially because of the interests of Germany, its No. 1 economic power which wants to be the leader, says editor-in-chief Grega Repovž, noting the German industry is expected to roll out this year many new materials and products, which will not be competitive at least in their first years.
The editor says there is some historical irony and a lot of symbolism in Europe starting the transition to cleaner industries and a new way of protecting its interests with steel.
Firstly, steel epitomises the old and dirty industry which used to turn entire regions in deserts, and secondly, the EU was in 1950 formed to protect its steel industry.
Ursula von der Leyen included the introduction of a CO2 tax in Europe in the programme of the new European Commission, thus highlighting a new/old way of protecting European interests in order to adapt to the climate crisis.
She believes Europe should not allow its market getting flooded by cheap Chinese steel which is possibly subsidised and produced in an environmentally contentious manner.
"This announcement clearly shows that Europe will change its economic behaviour, while other superpowers will not be just watching what is going on.
"The global economy could thus change significantly due to the climate crisis ...," Repovž says, adding that things may well not develop as Europe would like it.
The transition will cost a lot at first and there is no doubt that European countries and the EU itself will have to help companies financially.
Industries are thus in for several difficult years as production and markets gets adapted to new environmental standards.
This is not just an economic issue, but also a political one because such developments can cause political turmoil, Repovž concludes the editorial A Fight for New Economy.
Demokracija: Doubts about the multiplier effect of state investment
Ljubljana, 3 January - The right-wing weekly Demokracija disputes the argument that state investment in infrastructure projects has a multiplier effect on the national economy and economic growth, rubbishing an op-ed article in which economist Jože P. Damijan argued against the selection of Turkey's Cengiz as the contractor to build the Karavanke motorway tunnel.
In the latest editorial, headlined Jože P. Damijan's Voodoo Economics, Demokracija editor-in-chief Jože Biščak notes that the article appeared in Delo, the newspaper owned by the industrial concern Kolektor, whose construction arm was one of the bidders in the tender to built the Slovenian section of the tunnel.
"Since the deep state is facing the threat of a similar outcome in other public infrastructure tenders (...) Jože P. Damijan set out to 'scientifically' prove why the state should renounce (cheaper) foreign contractors (in particular the Turks), and explained to the executive how to get rid of them.
"Damijan is not just anybody, in a decade and a half the man went from being a young free market economist to an advocate of the command economy, becoming the darling of Forum 21 and the leading left economist," writes Biščak.
He says that in his "zeal Damijan applied his strongest weapon - the multiplier effect", which Biščak denounces as a myth, quoting economists Federic Bastiat and Friedrich von Wieser.
"This is not to say the national and local governments should not invest money into infrastructure (...) but they should do so with utmost care. Including by seeing to the cheapest possible implementation of an infrastructure project.
"Governments do not produce a market value (...) Even less has their investment multiplier effects. This has also been established in a working document of the IMF for 2014 (which Damijan often refers to) by economist Andrew M. Warner, who found few (empirical) pieces of evidence that infrastructure projects had multiplier effect or generated economic growth.
"The state can do most for the domestic economy by ensuring a functional rule of law and by allowing freedom to people. That should be Slovenia's reality if it wants to be a successful country."
All our posts in this series are here
STA, 20 December 2019 - Slovenia's forest management is facing a number of challenges due to severe windstorms increasing in intensity and frequency, a consequence of climate change. This year's extent of related damages has been the greatest so far, with experts urging adapting forest management to global warming.
Related: Ljubljana Predicted to Be World's Fastest-Warming City
The bark beetle outbreak and spread, caused by the 2017 and 2018 windstorms, posed another threat, forcing the government to declare a natural disaster this year.
Slovenia is one of the most heavily forested European countries - forests cover more than 58% of the country, with 20% of woods being state-owned.
The annual forest increment has been nearing 9 million m3 of trees. Meanwhile, last year's allowed felling amounted to 6.8 million m3.
More trees had to be felled in the recent years, partly due to clean-up efforts resulting from windstorm damage.
After the 2014 ice storm, causing damage to more than 9 million m3 of trees, bark beetle poured gasoline on the fire and devastated more than 8 million m3, while windstorms wreaked havoc on some 3 million m3 of trees.
Since 2014, forest rangers have had to fell almost 18 million m3 of trees. Clean-up felling has accounted for at least half of all cutting down in the past years.
During winter, such removal efforts need to go on since the majority of bark beetles overwinter in adult development stages and have to be decimated during the wood removal and processing.
"Nature-friendly, sustainable and multi-purpose forest management as developed in Slovenia in the past 50 years is an effective framework for responding to climate change," said the Slovenian Forest Service.
One of the main future challenges in the field will be adapting tree species. The spruce is the most endangered one, with its share decreasing in areas unfit for its growth. On the other hand, the beech tree acclimatises more easily, which is reflected in its share being on the rise.
However, the experts believe that the beech tree will stop flourishing due to climate change as well, with the oak and other deciduous trees thriving in warm climate.
Whereas global warming has a negative impact on forests, trees play a major role in mitigating climate change since use of wood and wood products is beneficial for balancing out carbon emissions, maintaining the ability of forests to store carbon and introducing renewable materials and energy sources.
Strengthening Slovenia's timber supply chain is thus essential. The country exports some 4 million m3 of timber a year, which then becomes value-added wood abroad.
The target is to process at least 5 million m3. The Slovenian State Forests company plans to set up four centres for collecting and processing wood across the country.
Časoris is an online newspaper aimed at children. Each week we’ll take an article and post it here as a Slovene-English dual text.
Ukradli ste mi sanje, ukradli ste mi otroštvo
You stole my dream, you stole my childhood
Written by Sonja Merljak Zdovc, translated by JL Flanner & G Translate
Ukradli ste mi sanje, ukradli ste mi otroštvo
Greta Thunberg je svetovne voditelje nagovorila z mešanico žalosti in jeze v glasu.
Greta Thunberg addressed world leaders with a mixture of sadness and anger in her voice.
Ti so se na podnebnem vrhu v New Yorku zbrali pred 74. zasedanjem generalne skupščine Organizacije združenih narodov.
They gathered at the New York Climate Summit before the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
»Kako si drznete! S svojimi praznimi besedami ste mi ukradli sanje, ukradli ste mi otroštvo,« je dejala s solzami v očeh.
“How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Obtožila jih je še, da so zanemarili izsledke znanstvenikov.
She also accused them of neglecting the scientists' findings.
»Smo tik pred množičnim izumrtjem, vi pa govorite samo o denarju in pripovedujete pravljice o večni gospodarski rasti. Kako si drznete!«
“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
In dodala: »Če se boste odločili, da nas boste razočarali, vam ne bomo nikoli oprostili.«
She added: "If you decide to disappoint us, we will never forgive you."
Še s petnajstimi otroki je naslovila peticijo na OZN. Pozivajo k odgovornosti držav, ki najbolj prispevajo k podnebnim spremembam.
Will fifteen other children she has petitioned the UN. They are calling for the accountability of the countries that contribute most to climate change.
Greta Thunberg je pred švedskim parlamentom ob petkih vztrajala sama. Sčasoma so se Petkom za prihodnost pridružili posamezni protestniki. Že pol leta kasneje je njen protest prerasel v globalno gibanje.
Greta Thunberg protested alone in front of the Swedish Parliament on Fridays. Eventually, more individual protesters joined her Fridays for Future protests. Half a year later, her protest grew into a global movement.
Otroci in odrasli po vsem svetu se že drugič množično podajajo na ulice. Zahtevajo, naj politiki poskrbijo za prihodnost planeta.
For the second time, children and adults alike are taking to the streets en masse. They demand that politicians take care of the future of the planet.
V Sloveniji bodo spet protestirali v petek, 27. septembra, ob 11.55.
They will protest again in Slovenia on Friday, September 27 at 11:55.
Read more stories and improve your Slovene at Časoris, while all our dual texts can be found here.
STA, 2 September 2019 - The Bled Strategic Forum, the top event on Slovenia's foreign policy calendar, opened in Bled on Monday dominated by calls for action on climate change and appeals to multilateralism. The focus was on the challenges the EU faces and the role it could and should play in the new world order.
Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, delivering the opening address, focused on the importance of ensuring stability and security through sustainability, and stressed that there was "an urgent need for a unified and coordinated approach towards global challenges".
According to him, clear recognition of scientific facts and immediate action are needed regarding climate change, water supplies and food security.
Šarec stressed that Slovenia was committed to a strong, cohesive and united EU, while ensuring solidarity and the highest standards of human rights and dignity.
Sustainable development was also in focus of Slovenian Foreign Minister Miro Cerar's address, who labelled sustainable development "our key priority".
Putting words into practice is the main responsibility, according to Cerar, who said that the burden of going sustainable and green should not fall on the shoulders of those who are already struggling now to cope with the changes in the globalised world.
The opening was also addressed by María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the president of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, who said that climate change was the "greatest challenge we must address".
She said that the planet had to increase the ambition towards green economy, taking immediate steps, such as public and private investments in low carbon, green jobs, otherwise the world would face instability.
Espinosa Garcés also pointed to the need to rework social contracts as there was an increasing inability of governments to protect their citizens, and to improve the health of the international system to counter the rise in nationalist sentiment.
The main panels of the first day of proceedings respectively tackled the challenges facing the EU and the current state of multilateralism.
The presidents of Slovenia and Estonia, Borut Pahor and Kersti Kaljulaid, spoke in favour of a strong EU as they discussed the future of the bloc.
Arguing that the EU was at a standstill that was unsustainable, Pahor proposed that the new European Commission and Parliament should consider initiating a constitutional process, something like the Convention on the Future of Europe in 2002 and 2003.
Kaljulaid agreed in principle but also suggested that the underlying question of whether the EU was useful or efficient might be misguided, especially if one tried to imagine what it would be like without the EU.
Two main immediate challenges for the EU were singled out: Brexit and migrations, issues that the Slovenian president said needed to be addressed if the EU was to be capable of dealing with more strategic questions.
A ministerial panel on multilateralism showed that multilateralism is under attack and that it can survive only if a concerted action is taken and global cooperation is maintained in order to tackle relevant challenges, including nationalism and narrow interests.
The notion that multilateralism is "under severe attack" was presented by Slovenian Foreign Minister Cerar, who said that some leaders were making mistakes by thinking that complex issues could be resolved by simple means.
"There are so many knots around the world that should be untied by diplomatic means, and they should not be simply cut," added Cerar.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu presented a nuanced picture of multilateralism, saying that his country was not moving away from European alliances.
"Doing business with one country does not mean that you are moving away from other parts of the world," he said, while criticising western allies for sometimes not providing assistance when needed.
His Spanish counterpart Josep Borrell Fontelles wondered how Europe would survive in the global world as its population is decreasing. In today's world, which he called "a world of G2 - China and the US", more stability would be provided by another superpower, with Europe having the capacity and economy for that, but only if it was united.
STA, 12 July 2019 - Ljubljana, a city situated on the meeting point of two climate zones most affected by global warming - northern Mediterranean and the Alpine region, is slated to become the fastest-warming city in the world, a projection by Swiss institute Crowther Lab shows.
In line with the projection, temperatures in the Slovenian capital in the warmest month of the year will go up by 8 degrees Celsius by 2050, while the average annual temperatures are to rise by 3.5 degrees.
Central Europe and the Balkans are expected to see the most notable temperature raises, so the climate in the region is expected to resemble that of Texas cities in the US, the study shows.
According to climatologist Aljoša Slameršak, Crowther Lab projections are very much in line with the forecasts the Slovenian Environment Agency presented last year. The estimate for Ljubljana's hottest month might be somewhat more drastic but not impossible, Slameršek told the newspaper Dnevnik.
"We must take into account the climatology of cities, which differs from the climatology of the wider area. With a concentration of unnatural surfaces we get heat island effects in the cities," he explained.
Ljubljana is expected to see the biggest rise in average summer months temperatures among all 520 cities included in the Crowther Lab survey. One-quarter of the cities are projected to see drastic changes.
According to the projections, the weather in Ljubljana in 2050 will resemble that in Virginia Beach, US.
The Slovenian capital would be affected by global warming so severely because Slovenia is the meeting point of two climate zones that are most affected by global warming - northern Mediterranean and the Alpine region.
This means more rain, more dry spells and above-average temperature rise, Slameršek told Dnevnik, adding that up to three long heat waves per summer would become common place with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees.
Crowther Lab made its projections based on the assumption that countries will not implement the Paris climate deal in full and climatologists stress that such scenarios could still be avoided with immediate and radical action.
"Bad news is that Slovenia cannot affect climate change one bit by reducing its emissions. We are mainly dependant on the European climate policy," Slameršek said.
More on this story can be found here
Časoris is an online newspaper aimed at children. Each week we’ll take an article and post it here as a Slovene-English dual text.
Ukrepajmo zdaj tudi mi!
Let's take action now!
Written by Sonja Merljak Zdovc, translated by JL Flanner & G Translate
To poletje ima vlada na mizi pomembne podnebne dokumente.
This summer, the government has important climate documents on the table.
To so dokumenti, s katerimi lahko sprejme tako odločne ukrepe, da bo Slovenija lahko sledila ciljem pariškega podnebnega sporazuma.
These are the documents with which it can take such decisive measures so that Slovenia can follow the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
»Da bi podnebne spremembe postale prednostna naloga politikov in da bi jih vlada obravnavala kot problem, ki zadeva vsakega posameznika, smo se odločili, da bomo z nujnim pozivom. Želimo, da se vlada tega problema loti tako, da bo preprečila podnebno katastrofo, ki nam sicer preti,« pravi Katarina Bervar Sternad iz Pravno-informacijskega centra (PIC), ki je skupaj s številnimi drugimi organizacijami pobudnik poziva.
"In order for climate change to become a priority for politicians and to treat it as a problem that affects every individual, we decided to make an urgent appeal. We want the government to deal with this problem in a way that will prevent the climate catastrophe that is threatening us, "says Katarina Bervar Sternad of the Legal Information Center (PIC), who is making this call along with many other organizations.
Zaradi podnebnih sprememb lahko pride do poplav, suš, plazov pa tudi drugih nevarnosti, ki so povezane s podnebjem in okoljem, v katerem živimo.
Climate change can lead to floods, droughts, avalanches as well as other dangers associated with the climate and environment in which we live.
»To je nekaj, čemur nihče ne more ubežati,« dodaja Katarina Bervar Sternad.
"This is something that no one can escape," adds Katarina Bervar Sternad.
Znanstveniki pravijo, da se Zemlja ne sme segreti za več kot za 1,5 stopinje Celzija nad ravnijo v predindustrijski dobi, torej v času, ko še ni bilo tovarn. To je pol stopinje manj, kot so sprva menili. Ugotovili so namreč, da smo okolju doslej že preveč škodili, zato morajo biti ukrepi toliko bolj koreniti.
Scientists say that the Earth cannot warm by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, that is, at a time when there were no factories. This is half a degree less than they initially thought. They have found that we have already done too much damage to the environment, so the measures taken must be more radical.
»Preprečiti moramo vse, kar lahko prispeva k slabšanju okolja, v katerem živimo,« poudarja Katarina Bervar Sternad.
"We must prevent everything that can contribute to the deterioration of the environment in which we live," stresses Katarina Bervar Sternad.
Read more stories and improve your Slovene at Časoris, while all our dual texts can be found here.
STA, 27 June 2019 - Heat records for June have been shattered in some parts of the country on Thursday, as temperatures climbed to the upper 30s. People in Brežice (SE) saw their thermometers exceed 39 degrees Celsius, meteorologist Andrej Velkavrh told the STA.
He said that records were broken today in Ljubljana (36 degrees) and at Kredarica, the country's highest mountain cottage at 2,515 metres of altitude (20 degrees), as well as a few other places.
Meanwhile, storm cells are moving across the eastern half of the country from the north. Strong winds, rain and hail have been forecast.
Ozone levels have also been exceeded in Nova Gorica, Koper and Otlica in Trnovski Gozd plateau, all in the west of the country.
The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 21 June 2019
Mladina: Concerns Over Abanka Privatisation
STA, 21 June 2019 - Commenting on the recent sale of the country's third largest bank Abanka to the NKBM bank, the left-wing weekly Mladina believes that this step will probably lead to adverse consequences, with the government having wasted the last opportunity to secure any kind of financial backbone for the country during the next financial crash.
"Due to this decision, Slovenia will break (again) more easily and quickly upon the arrival of the next (and the next) financial crisis. Not the country, but its economy, because there will be no vascular system any more through which the state could help the economy."
Pointing out that during any financial meltdown, when the capital of foreign banks is retreating at a rapid pace, countries need to provide stability for their economies, the editorial says that the easiest way to do so is through state banks.
"In 2009, EUR 3.5 billion left Slovenia very quickly, more than EUR 2.5 billion in the first few months. Estonia, not having any domestic banks, broke immediately. Croatia as well. But not Slovenia," highlights editor-in-chief Grega Repovž, adding that was the main reason the country's economy started showing signs of improvement already in 2011.
But then things went awry when Borut Pahor, preoccupied with his public image, got scared and stopped the recapitalisation of banks, concludes the commentary under the headline The Traces of Some Ignorance.
Demokracija: Warnings on Climate Change a Scam
STA, 20 June 2019 - The right-wing weekly Demokracija denies in its commentary on Thursday the existence of climate change, saying that its only purpose is to provide state funds for those making money off warnings of imminent catastrophe.
Demokracija editor-in-chief Jože Biščak says under the headline Fairytale about World's End that the Fridays For Future campaign is nothing but a way for students to avoid school on Fridays.
Warnings about the end of the world have been growing increasingly severe, but the end of the world does not come, Biščak says.
Natural disasters are a mainstay of human history, only reports about them travelled much slower than they do today, therefore it seems that their frequency has increased. "And climate change was not blamed for every fire, like it is now."
"If I exaggerate a bit: a person gets a fever (of course, a consequence of global warming), their coordination deteriorates and they drop a match. And there you go, a fire caused by climate change."
People are easily manipulated. "It's logical. It is much easier to believe dramatic forecasts about the end of the world and humanity than (fairytales) that people will continue to live on Earth for a long time."
All our posts in this series can be found here, while you can keep up-to-date on Slovenia politics here, and find the daily headlines here
STA, 23 May 2019 - Climate change is bringing some major challenges for tourism, with skiing being among the sectors already suffering substantially under its impact. Participants of the Green Day of Slovenian Tourism conference heard on Wednesday that the number of ski destinations in the Alps with sufficient natural snow could drop by 70% in this century.
Talking about the impact of climate change on ski resorts at the annual conference promoting sustainable tourism was Cenk Demiroglu of the Umea University in Sweden, who said the number of skiers in the US had fallen by 15 million between 2000 and 2015.
Revenue in the sector in the US fell by US$1 billion in the same period, while the number of jobs lost is estimated between 13,000 and 27,000.
Future prospects are also bleak, as some resorts in the US will see their season shortened by 50% by 2050 and by 80% by 2090. This entails the number of skier falling by 25 million and revenue by US$ 2 billion.
Similarly worrying forecasts are coming from the Alps, where the projected rise in global temperatures by 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century would reduce the number of resorts that can rely fully on natural snow from 666 to 202.
While conditions could improve for some resorts, many would no longer be able to operate even with artificial snow, Demiroglu warned, while also noting that artificial snow required a lot of water.
Climate change will also be felt by Slovenia, Renato Bertalanič of the Slovenian Environment Agency said. He said the number of hot days will be rising and they will also be recorded at higher altitudes. The most pessimistic projections suggest the number of snow cover days could decrease by over a month.
Economy Ministry State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogar added that Slovenian ski resorts are already having to supplement their operations with strong and attractive summer programmes. Only two resorts, Vogel and Kanin, are operating without artificial snow, she noted.
Štravs Podlogar also explained that the ministry, in cooperation with mountain resorts, recently ordered a study on ski resorts. The results are expected to be in by the end of the summer.
STA, 19 May 2019 - Slovenia has the worst draft energy and climate plan among all EU member states, according to a report by NGOs that highlights lack of ambition and credibility and absence of a clear path to carbon neutrality by 2050.
In the report Planning for Net Zero: Assessing the draft National Energy and Climate Plans, the European Climate Foundation looked at how credible national goals are, how comprehensive and detailed policy proposals are, and how good the drafting process was.
A graphic from the report (a link to which is at the end of this story)
Slovenia performed dismally across all areas, getting only 3.2 out of a maximum of 100 points; the second worst performed, Slovakia, got 12.5 points, while the best performers got over 40.
Focus, the Slovenian NGO that published the report, said the score showed "a carbon neutral economy will not just happen automatically, it requires being goal-oriented and planning accordingly."
All member states, but Slovenia in particular, must improve the plans in the coming months; the final versions are due by the end of the year.
Slovenia's draft plan was drawn up by the Ministry of Infrastructure. One of its main aims is to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to 2005.
A PDF of the full report can be found here
