The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, yesterday had a meeting at Otočec with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Andrej Plenković. The talks of both prime ministers and their delegations focused on a more coordinated fight against COVID-19 and the curbing of the spread of coronavirus. The participants at the meeting included Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Dr Tina Bregant, Director of the National Institute of Public Health, Dr Milan Krek, and Director of the University Clinic of Pulmonary and Allergic Diseases Golnik, Aleš Rozman.

At the press conference, the deputy head of the Communicable Disease Centre at the National Institute of Public Health, Nuška Čakš Jager, presented the current epidemiological situation in Slovenia. State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Mateja Ribič, and Government spokesperson, Ambassador Jelko Kacin, also spoke about the current situation regarding COVID-19 and the fourth package of anti-corona measures approved yesterday. Slovenia will also present the measures and the current epidemiological situation at today’s meeting between Prime Minister Janez Janša and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and their core expert teams responsible for controlling the epidemic. The meeting will focus on a coordinated fight against COVID-19, curbing the spread of coronavirus, measures for containing the spread especially among the young, and providing assistance to the Western Balkan countries in the fight against the virus.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša was on a working visit to Brussels. In the morning, he met Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, and later in the day, the Prime Minister met Janez Lenarčič, the Slovenian Commissioner, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

The Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša, today took part in an online conference entitled "Europe Uncensored". In addition to the Slovenian Prime Minister, the online conference was attended by Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, Aleksandar Vučić, President of the Republic of Serbia, and François-Xavier Bellamy, Member of the European Parliament, philosopher. At the conference, the European leaders spoke about how to shape the future of Europe, given all the key challenges we are facing.

At its regular weekly meeting, the Government adopted a number of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. This was announced at the press conference by the Government spokesman, Ambassador Jelko Kacin, epidemiologist Mateja Logar from the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions at the University Medical Center Ljubljana, and Deputy Director General of the Police Tomaž Pečjak.

At Monday's session, the Government, in its extended composition, decided on several actions to contain the spread of coronavirus infections in the country. At the press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19, the session's conclusions were presented by the Head of the Communicable Disease Centre at the National Institute of Public Health, Mario Fafangel, the Director of the University Clinic of Pulmonary and Allergic Diseases Golnik, Aleš Rozman, and the government spokesman, Ambassador Jelko Kacin.

"The situation in the Balkans is drastically deteriorating", said official spokesman Jelko Kacin at the start of the government press conference, adding that the situation had worsened, especially in countries which, like some Western countries in the past, decided to hold elections (Serbia, Croatia), which will also be held soon in Northern Macedonia.

On Saturday and Sunday, Prime Minister Janez Janša responded on Twitter to the increasing number of confirmed new cases of infection with the new coronavirus during the last two and a half months.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Anže Logar hosted Gent Cakaj, Acting Foreign Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, who was in Slovenia on a working visit. The ministers expressed satisfaction with the excellent relations between the two countries and were in full agreement that the current situation calls for solidarity in tackling the economic and social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Minister Dr Logar pledged his full support for Albania’s EU integration.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia decided to include Belgium and the Netherlands in the list of epidemiologically safe counties or administrative units of countries (green list) as from 4 July 2020. It also decided to remove Czechia, Croatia and France from the green list, which means that these countries are now on the yellow list.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today met with President of the European Council Charles Michel via videoconference. They discussed the European Commission’s proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework for the next seven-year period and the proposed recovery instrument.

The number of infected people in Slovenia has been increasing again in recent weeks, and the source of infections is no longer only imported cases, but also secondary infections and cases of unknown origin, said Bojana Beović, the head of the Government Advisory Group. The number has been increasing exponentially since end of May.

Based on the agreement between the Slovenian and Croatian national institutes and the talks between both prime ministers, Janez Janša and Andrej Plenković, Slovenia will not remove Croatia from the green list of epidemiologically safe countries for now. Croatia plans to implement several measures to curb the spread of the virus, including closing nightclubs and cancelling similar events.

From 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2021, the Presidency of the Council of the European Union will be held successively by Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. For several months, the trio has worked in the spirit of constructive and friendly cooperation to shape the 18-month programme. In June 2020, the final Presidency programme was presented and approved at the General Affairs Council.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Anže Logar attended a video conference of Foreign Ministers and State Secretaries from the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) participating states, where he outlined Slovenia’s views on the further development of institutional ties within the 3SI and closer cooperation process in the wider region of Central and Eastern Europe.

At its last night’s session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia finalised the text of the proposed Act on the intervention measures to prepare for the second wave of COVID-19 (ACP4) to be submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia for discussion and adoption under an emergency procedure. The proposed act replaces the proposed amendment to ACP3 adopted by the Government last week.

State Secretary mag. Monika Kirbiš Rojs took part in a videoconference with Cohesion Ministers of the Visegrad Group (V4), Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the representative of Croatia and the EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira. Participants reaffirmed the importance of Cohesion Policy in addressing the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On behalf of Foreign Minister Dr Anže Logar, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tone Kajzer, attended a video conference with Foreign Ministers of South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) participants.

State Secretary Tone Kajzer attended the international Sudan Partnership Conference.

Message by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Janša on Statehood Day