Ljubljana

Ljubljana – The European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group held a virtual public discussion on media freedom in Slovenia on Friday featuring representatives from Slovenia and the European Commission. Group members expressed concern about the situation and their expectations for the Commission to take action.

Ljubljana – Data from the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) obtained by Radio Slovenija and the web portal Necenzurirano show that one out of three positive rapid antigen tests have been proved false through the more reliable PCR tests since 13 February.

Ljubljana – Banks and savings banks in Slovenia received until the end of February a total of 28,485 applications under the government’s scheme that enables loan takers to request a deferral of loan payments. More than 85% of the applications have been approved, with the total exposure related to these loans amounting to EUR 2.6 billion.

Ljubljana – The daily count of coronavirus cases dropped to 881 on Thursday, when 5,435 PCR tests were performed for a positivity rate of 16.2%, a further drop compared to the day before. The number of people in hospitals today increased somewhat to 521, including 85 in intensive care, government data show. Four patients died, the same as the day before.

Ljubljana – The insurance group Sava generated EUR 674.9 million in operating revenue last year, up 15.5% compared to 2019, while net profit increased by 12.3% to EUR 56.4 million, which was also above plans, show the unaudited results announced on Friday.

Ljubljana – The 22nd international feminist and queer festival Red Dawns will open on Friday with an exhibition of posters from Polish women’s strike entitled To jest wojna. All events will be held online.

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša is suggesting the European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group have discussion with him and Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti on 26 March, after the EU summit as they would not be able to attend the discussion in Brussels in person this Friday, the PM’s office has announced.

Ljubljana – Media freedom in Slovenia will be one of the items on the European Parliament’s agenda as it meets for a plenary next week as the planned debate on government attempts to silence media in Poland and Hungary has been expanded to include Slovenia.

Ljubljana – Slovenia will step up health checks on its borders starting on Monday. It plans to reintroduce checkpoints on internal borders, which were scrapped in mid-February, and tighten quarantine rules for arrivals, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs told the press on Thursday.

Ljubljana – After consulting heads of parliamentary factions, President Borut Pahor has narrowed down the list of candidates for consideration to put forward to the National Assembly in a renewed attempt to fill a vacancy on the governing board of the central bank and one on the Constitutional Court.