Aleš Hojs

Brdo pri Kranju – The government has endorsed the proposal of the Covid-19 advisory team to impose an 11-day circuit breaker lockdown from 1 April in a bid to help hospitals cope with an expected influx in Covid-19 patients following an increase in Slovenia’s coronavirus transmission rates driven by the UK variant.

Ljubljana – The government has shortened the curfew from between 9pm and 6am to between 10pm and 5pm, and imposed a ban on movement into and out of three regions with the highest coronavirus infection rates.

Ljubljana – Michael O’Flaherty, the director of the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), held talks with senior Slovenian officials on Tuesday dedicated to the priorities of Slovenia’s upcoming EU presidency.

Ljubljana – The government of Janez Janša took over a year ago, just as the coronavirus epidemic started. Analysts think the cabinet has failed in communication with the public during the epidemic, while businesses assess stimulus measures as mostly good. In foreign policy, the government has moved to strengthen ties with neighbouring countries.

Brdo pri Kranju – The government has extended the majority of coronavirus restrictions by another week as it prolonged the state of the epidemic by another thirty days as part of its weekly review of measures on Wednesday.

“The current epidemic situation … requires a new, temporally limited declaration of the epidemic across the entire territory of Slovenia,” the government said.

Ljubljana – The government has decided to launch a free-of-charge testing campaign near border crossings with Italy. Rapid antigen testing will be available from Wednesday for commuters, students being schooled across the border and owners of property across the border.

Ljubljana – The Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy, a group providing legal support to individuals and NGOs facing prosecution for non-violet public actions, described as inaccurate a claim made by Interior Minister Aleš Hojs in an interview with the STA that protests were not banned in Slovenia.

Ljubljana – Slovenia’s most senior officials called for continued efforts to improve gender equality on International Women’s Day, praising women’s contribution to the battle against Covid-19. They also noted Slovenia’s comparably good gender equality record.

Ljubljana – Police Commissioner Anton Olaj, who took over in late January, told the newspaper Delo in an interview run on Saturday there were indications some police investigations had been politically motivated.

Olaj would not elaborate on details of politically motivated investigations in the police but he noted that the success of criminal procedure depended most on prosecution.

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.