Slovenia

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša has condemned extremism after members of a radical Islamist group in Bosnia and Herzegovina protested in front of the Slovenian embassy in Sarajevo Sunday over an alleged non-paper linked to Slovenia that speaks about the breakup of Bosnia-Herzegovina along ethnic lines.

Ljubljana – The Vox Populi poll for April shows support for the government continues to fall while there are also more respondents who consider its performance successful. The ruling Democrats (SDS) continued to poll highest among political parties whereas over a fifth of the respondents had problems with access to healthcare during the Covid epidemic.

Ljubljana – The business newspaper Finance believes the tax reform drafted by the Finance Ministry is far from ambitious, even though it says in its commentary on Monday that any reform is better than none.

The proposal has not left the ministry yet and it might not be adopted in its current form or at all, the paper says under the headline Tax Reform – Better Some than None?

Brnik – The number of people travelling through Slovenia’s biggest airport in the first quarter of this year was only a tenth of that recorded in the first quarter of last year, which was in the most part still unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ljubljana – Jerneja Jug Jerše, the new head of the European Commission’s Representation in Slovenia, considers a national recovery and resilience plan an opportunity for a country to step up. The Commission will borrow funds that will have to be repaid by future generations, so the plan should be focused on the future, she has told the STA.

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor rejected “naive and dangerous” ideas of redrawing borders in the Western Balkans as he addressed reporters on Friday in response to a non-paper floating the idea, arguing the EU’s accelerated enlargement to the region would best to silence such ideas.

Brussels – Prime Minister Janez Janša does not take the international reputation of Slovenia seriously enough, European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova has told news portal Euractiv. Sustainable financing of the media in Slovenia is endangered, particularly when it comes to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), she said.

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor said the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative is an important leverage of regional cooperation and European integration of Western Balkan countries as he addressed the 17th conference of parliamentary speakers from the group of 10 countries as part of Slovenia’s presidency of the initiative.

Ljubljana – The college of deputy group leaders has voted against making four newly unaffiliated MPs, including the speaker, members of parliamentary bodies in a victory for what is formally a minority ruling coalition.

Ljubljana – Parliament debated Tuesday the Court of Audit’s recent findings about the efficiency of personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement during the Covid-19 epidemic last spring. Centre-left opposition MPs insisted there had been serious problems with the purchases, coalition MPs saw today’s plenary as a mere show for the public.