Slovenia

Brussels – Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša has called on Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew/D66) to resign as chair of the European Parliament’s democracy monitoring group. The move comes after Friday’s incident during the group’s public debate and censorship allegations.

Brussels – MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew/D66), chair of the European Parliament’s democracy monitoring group, has rejected allegations of censorship by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša. An impression that the Parliament is an opponent of Slovenia’s is regrettable and far from the truth, she told the STA on Monday.

Ljubljana, 28 March – A EuroNight train taking passengers from Slovakia’s Bratislava via Vienna to Croatia’s coastal city of Split later this year will cross Slovenia, with stops in the Slovenian towns of Maribor, Celje, Sevnica and Dobova.

Brussels – Prime Minister Janez Janša’s appearance in front of the European Parliament’s democracy monitoring group was overshadowed by a row with chair Sophie in ‘t Veld over a video alleging journalists are biased. After In ‘t Veld refused to play the video during the time allotted for his statement, Janša disconnected from the videoconference.

Brussels – Slovenian representatives presented differing views on the media situation as they attended Friday’s public debate at the European Parliament in Brussels. The head of the Parliament’s democracy monitoring group, Sophie in ‘t Veld, wanted to know what criteria are used as basis for journalist in Slovenia to be classified as “left”.

Zagreb – Members of the Slovenian ethnic minority in Croatia can no longer enter Slovenia without a negative PCR test from today, which means hassle and expenses in particular for those who regularly cross the border, their representative has warned.

Ljubljana – Former Health Minister Tomaž Gantar has left the Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS). Gantar, who also served as a party vice-president, announced the decision at a session of the DeSUS executive committee on Thursday. He told the STA he had been waiting for a proposal to consolidate the party, but given the developments he realised he had enough.

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša has proposed that President Borut Pahor call a meeting of the heads of parliamentary parties and deputy groups with the Health Ministry and its Covid-19 advisory group as soon as possible. Pahor meanwhile said that he had sent out invitations for Sunday morning.

Ljubljana/Brussels – Five Slovenian MEPs have supported the motion to speed up the adoption of the Digital Green Certificate in European Parliament in urgent procedure, while three voted against, drawing criticism from Prime Minister Janez Janša.

Ljubljana – The head of the Slovenian Hoteliers’ Association, Gregor Jamnik, has described the situation in the industry as disastrous, warning that the bulk of businesses are not generating any revenue and even though most are still able to keep their heads above water, they will need long-term state aid as the industry will not fully recover in a decade.