Janez Janša

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor made a renewed appeal for cross-party effort to break out of the crisis, as he addressed a ceremony on Friday ahead of the 30th anniversary of a cross-party agreement on the independence referendum.

Ljubljana – Karl Erjavec, 60, is returning to politics having won the coalition Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS) leadership contest as the party declared the results of its electoral congress on Saturday. He is starting his fifth term as DeSUS leader after defeating the only rival, Srečko Felix Krope, in a 146:71 vote.

Brdo pri Kranju – Coalition officials reviewed the implementation of the coalition agreement and discussed further steps as they met at Brdu pri Kranju on Thursday. Details were sketchy but statements after the meeting suggest there are no major differences between the partners in the ruling coalition.

Berlin – Foreign Minister Anže Logar addressed participants of the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum on Tuesday to highlight the priorities of Slovenia’s EU presidency in the second half of next year and stress the importance of solidarity among EU member states, the Foreign Ministry said.

In an interview conducted last weekend, Wang said that the exact date of the 17+1 summit was not known yet. When the date is known, the ambassador expects information about Slovenia's participation.

One of the priorities of the new Slovenian government, led by Janez Janša, is the restoration of compulsory military service in Slovenia.

Matej Tonin, who is reportedly the new Minister of Defense, said returning the recruiting service was one of the priorities and was already included in the coalition agreement.

The centre-left government was formed by Marjan Šarec, a novice in the national political arena, and his LMŠ party with the SocDems, Modern Centre Party (SMC), the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) after the relative election winner Janez Janša and his right-wing Democrats (SDS) failed to put together a coalition.

The debate on a second reactor gained momentum in August as PM Marjan Šarec visited NEK, the only N-plant and one of the biggest electricity producers in Slovenia, unequivocally supporting the country's nuclear energy future.

Slovenian voters cast 2,473 valid general election ballots at diplomatic and consular offices abroad. The largest number of votes, 720, went to the election winner, SDS, while another right-leaning party, New Slovenia (NSi), came second with 438 votes, according to the National Electoral Commission. The left got 260 votes, followed by SD with 244 and the Modern Centre Party (SMC) with 192.

Ljudmila Novak