Latest News from Slovenia

Two ministers in for grilling as MPs convene multi-day session

Ljubljana – The National Assembly is meeting for an eventful plenary session tomorrow that will culminate on Friday and next Monday with debates and votes on the opposition-sponsored motions to oust Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak and Interior Minister Aleš Hojs.

European Parliament to vote on Slovenia rule of law resolution Thursday

Strasbourg – The European Parliament will take a vote on a resolution on fundamental rights and rule of law in Slovenia at the plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday. If they support it, MEPs will express deep concern over deep polarisation in the country and call on prominent public figures and politicians to ensure a respectful and civilised public debate.

Ministry notes new confirmations of Slovenia’s credit rating

Ljubljana – The credit rating agencies S&P Global and DBRS Morningstar have confirmed Slovenia’s credit rating, the Finance Ministry has announced. S&P Global confirmed the credit rating at AA- with a stable outlook and DBRS Morningstar at A with an equally stable outlook.

Missing Turkish migrant girl found dead in Dragonja River

Koper – A 10-year-old Turkish girl who went missing after she fell into the swollen Dragonja on the Slovenian-Croatian on Thursday evening and got swept downstream as her mother was carrying her on her shoulders across the river, was found dead around noon today.

Week-on-week coronavirus case count drops by 23% to 1,476

Ljubljana – Slovenia saw 1,476 new coronavirus infections confirmed on Friday, almost 23% less than the same day a week ago, fresh figures from the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) show. Another 11 people died with Covid-19 yesterday. The 7-day average of new cases dropped by 61 from the day before to 1,446, and the cumulative 14-day incidence per 100,000 people fell by 36 to 1,099.

LGBT Film Festival returns to cinemas this year

Ljubljana – The Festival of LGBT Film, organised in Ljubljana by the ŠKUC Association, returns to cinemas on Saturday after going online last year. While government financing has been almost halved, the festival will still screen over 40 productions from 22 countries until 19 December, organiser Brane Mozetič said.

Paper comments on human rights and migrants

Koper – The newspaper Primorske Novice ponders on illegal migrants and human rights as it comments on Saturday on a Turkish woman trying to swim across a river from Croatia into Slovenia as the water swept one of her children away.

Friday protesters note importance of fight for human rights

Ljubljana – The Friday protesters gathered last evening in Ljubljana’s Republic Square, dedicating this week’s protest to Human Rights Day to emphasise the importance of fight for their protection. They said that these were often violated precisely because of conscious acts and policies of the current authorities in Slovenia.

Croatia is ready for Schengen

Croatia meets the necessary conditions to implement all parts of the Schengen acquis.

This is the conclusion reached by the Council of the EU.

The report on the issue was adopted at today's Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels. This was announced by Slovenian Interior Minister Ales Hojs, whose country holds the EU presidency.

Covid-19 tracker most searched Google entry in Slovenia in 2021

Ljubljana – Slovenians this year searched the web most often for information about the coronavirus, as shown by Google’s data on Slovenia’s most frequent searches in 2021. The data tracker website Covid-19 Sledilnik was the most searched entry, followed by the weather and Euro 2020, said the PR & Public Affairs Agency Grayling Slovenija.

Hojs says Croatia meets conditions for entering Schengen Area

Brussels – Coming out of a meeting of EU home affairs ministers, Slovenia’s Aleš Hojs said it had been agreed that Croatia meets the conditions for entering the Schengen Area, and that it was a key step towards a final decision on the expansion of the no-passport zone. Hojs believes other steps will follow relatively soon.

Pahor calls for respectful dialogue at Biden’s democracy summit

Washington/Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor took part on Thursday in a virtual summit for democracy hosted by US President Joe Biden to draw attention to the crisis of confidence in democratic institutions and the low level of political and legal culture. He called for a respectful dialogue that includes the willingness to reconcile different views.

Govt raises wages of police employees over increased workload

Ljubljana – The government decided on Thursday to increase wages of employees of the police force and the Interior Ministry due to the increased volume of work and special workload related to support tasks of the police. The decision will be applied as of December wages.

Hojs says EURODAC reform elusive during Slovenia’s presidency

Brussels – Interior Minister Aleš Hojs expressed the hope that progress could still be made by the end of 2021 on changes to the European Asylum Dactyloscopy Database (EURODAC), a part of the new Migration Pact. He noted that there would not be a major breakthrough regarding the pact during the Slovenian EU presidency and it had not been expected either.

New Year’s Eve Kiss celebrates 50th anniversary

Maribor – A pop song without which Slovenians can hardly imagine a New Year’s Eve is celebrating its 50th anniversary. To mark the anniversary, a museum in Maribor honoured its singer and citizen Alfi Nipič with an exhibition which traces his 60-year career while he marked the anniversary in hospital ill with Covid-19.

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