News

Today, at the Baron Andrej Čehovin Barracks in Postojna, the nine-day Adriatic Regional Security Cyber Cooperation Exercise 24 – ARSC2EX 24 successfully concluded.

The Government approved the texts of the draft act governing the measures to optimise certain procedures at administrative units and of the draft act amending the Act Determining Intervention Measures for Recovery from the Floods and Landslides of August 2023.

Prime Minister Golob hosted a consultation of parliamentary parties on changes to the electoral system and the introduction of a preference vote also for the election of deputies of the National Assembly. All the presidents of the parliamentary parties and the heads of the parliamentary groups were invited to the consultation.

The Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovenia to the Council of Europe hosted a reception on 2 July to mark the National Day and the 30th anniversary of the entry into force of the European Convention on Human Rights for the Republic of Slovenia

The new biennial Economic Survey of Slovenia, prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), was presented today at Brdo pri Kranju. The Survey analyses key areas for Slovenia and makes recommendations for the further development and progress of our country.

At the invitation of the Prime Minister and the President of the Government Council for Slovenians in Neighbouring Countries, Robert Golob, the Government Council for Slovenians Abroad met today. The participants discussed the realities, achievements and key challenges faced by Slovenian communities around the world.

The Prime Minister, Robert Golob, and his delegation met today with the Prime Minister of the Portuguese Republic, Luís Montenegro. This is the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries since the Portuguese elections in March this year.

As part of the International Day of Women in Diplomacy, the Ministry is hosting an exhibition entitled Influential Slovenian Women without Make-up, curated by young photographer Jernej Jelen and opened today by Minister Tanja Fajon. To mark the day, a roundtable discussion brought together Slovenian and foreign women diplomats to present their lifestyles, their strengths and weaknesses, and the challenges they face.

The Government is continuing to prepare the budgets for 2025 and 2026. It has adopted a breakdown of budget expenditure by budget users. In the next two years, the focus will remain on measures to deal with the consequences of last year's floods and to strengthen economic growth and development.

An expert working group chaired by Dr Janez Vogrinc has adopted the final proposal for the National Education Programme for the period 2023–2033 and submitted it to Minister of Education Darjo Felda.

In June, when the Republic of Korea held the presidency of the Security Council, Slovenia completed the first quarter of its current term on the UN Security Council. The month was marked by the adoption of a resolution backing the proposal for a lasting peace in Gaza.

The 17th Dubrovnik Forum is drawing to a close with the participation of Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. This year's Forum, under the theme "Dire Straits and Safe Passages", focuses on the growing global economic and security challenges and provides a platform for much-needed dialogue and the search for solutions.

The social partners met again, after almost one year, at the session of the Economic and Social Council (ESC) with the aim of reviving the social dialogue and the constructive and continuous functioning of the ESC.

On Thursday, 27 June 2024, Prime Minister Robert Golob attended a European Council meeting at which the leaders of EU Member States reached an agreement on the appointments and nominations for heads of EU institutions.

After the Government took note of the Report on the Implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) on Wednesday 26 June 2024, the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Recovery and Resilience today submitted to the European Commission a third request for payment of funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The Slovenian Prime Minister, Robert Golob, together with the Minister of Finance, Klemen Boštjančič, and the Minister of Public Administration, Franc Props, met with the President of the Slovenian Trade Union of State Bodies, Frančišek Verk, and the President of the Trade Union of the Administrative Unit of Ljubljana, Dragan Stankovič.

The biennial Nuclear Safety Conference took place in Brussels on 24 and 25 June under the auspices of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG). This year's conference was chaired by Mr Igor Sirc, Director of the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, and attended by more than 200 participants.

Dr Slobodan Šešum, Director General for Economic and Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, attended the OECD High-Level Conference on South East Europe in Paris.

At the Intergovernmental Conference with Montenegro, participants discussed the state of play of the accession process and confirmed the steps Montenegro needs to take to close key chapters on the rule of law. The Conference recognises Montenegro's track record in this area and provides an impetus for further reforms with a focus on closing the negotiating chapters.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon hosted Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Retno L. P. Marsudi during her return visit to Slovenia. The ministers focused the discussions on the strengthening of bilateral relations, including the planned political consultations, and the current international issues with an emphasis on the Middle East and the cooperation between the EU and ASEAN.

The Government set the text of the proposed new amendments to the Local Elections Act, adopted the proposed new amendments to the Companies Act and set the text of the draft act amending the Disabled People's Organizations Act. The Government took note of the report on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) and began consideration of Mr Tomaž Vesel’s nomination as a Member of the European Commission.

Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar attended a two-day Ministerial Conference of the Salzburg Forum in Austria.

On 25 June 2024, the Council of Europe hosted the opening of the exhibition "75 women in the 75-year history of the Council of Europe". Among the 75 women are two Slovenian women, Petra Roter and Alenka Puhar.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the regular meeting of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, which focused on preparations for the June European Council meeting. Council members discussed draft conclusions and outstanding issues related to Ukraine, security and defence, competitiveness, external relations and the new institutional cycle.

Slovenia is making its mark beyond our planet.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the quadrilateral meeting of deputy foreign ministers of Slovenia, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. They exchanged views on current European and international issues.

At a farewell meeting, the Prime Minister, Robert Golob, received Natalie Kauther and Adrian Pollmann, the German ambassadorial couple who are finishing their term of office in Slovenia.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon took part in the regular meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg. The discussion focused on the worrying situation in the Middle East and Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Together with the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Western Balkans, they discussed common challenges in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and EU enlargement.

The Government Office for Slovenians Abroad is proud and pleased to present a musical greeting from Slovenians living abroad on the occasion of Slovenian Statehood Day.

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Tehran will be closed on 25 June 2024, Slovenia's Statehood Day.

From 17 to 19 June, 2024, the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration hosted the National Technical Workshop on Cybersecurity, bringing together cybersecurity professionals from various fields of cybersecurity and nuclear safety.

The Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development has approved EU funding for the call for proposals Problem-based learning for students in the workplace: the economy, the non-economic and non-profit sectors in local/regional environment 2024-2027.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended bilateral consultations in Vienna. He met with Karoline Edtstadler, Austrian Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, and Nikolaus Marschik, Secretary General for Foreign Affairs at the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

At the invitation of Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Minister Tanja Fajon attended the Europa-Forum Wachau, a platform for discussion on European integration, with this year's edition focusing on the Western Balkans. The event also included a meeting of the Friends of the Western Balkans group.

Secretary-General Renata Cvelbar Bek and Ambassador Alenka Suhadolnik opened the Slovenian Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. The Secretary-General also met with Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hoang Long, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong and Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Municipal People's Committee Nguyen Van Dung.

In Vienna, State Secretary Marko Štucin participated in the meeting of Danube Foreign Ministers organised in the framework of the 13th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. He also attended a joint dinner with the “Friends of the Western Balkans” group, where participants discussed EU enlargement at a time of high security risks.

The Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development held the final meeting of the peer review on development cooperation and humanitarian aid in the Republic of Slovenia. The examiners from Denmark and Switzerland, on behalf of the Development Assistance Committee, presented the report and recommendations to Slovenia to improve the effectiveness of its development and humanitarian aid.

On Monday, June 24th, the Archive, the reading room and the information room will be closed due to a collective leave day.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today took part in the business and investment congress "Invest and Connect: Slovenian Business Pitch" in Munich as the keynote speaker. Senior representatives of the Slovenian and German Governments and more than 100 Slovenian companies attended the congress, which shows how important the Bavarian market is for Slovenia.

Today, the world observes the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict to honour the victims and stand in solidarity with the survivors of this horrific human rights violation and abuse. The United Nations General Assembly chose this day to commemorate the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008), which condemns the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war and an impediment to peacebuilding.

The temporary reintroduction of controls at Slovenia's internal borders with Croatia and Hungary have been extended for another six months, up to and including 21 December 2024. Controls will continue to be carried out in such a way as to minimise the negative impact on travellers, the environment, the economy and the local border population.

Today, the European Commission published the European Semester Spring Package. The European Union (EU) has initiated an excessive deficit procedure against seven EU Member States; Slovenia is not one of them.

The Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development has approved EU funding for the project Promoting the inclusion of workers whose jobs are at risk, including jobs affected by digitisation and automation - SPIN 2.0. The project will receive nearly 4.4 million euros from the European Social Fund Plus.

At today's session, the Government decided to extend the temporarily reintroduced controls at the borders with Croatia and Hungary until 21 December 2024. It also adopted amendments to the Mining Act and new amendments to the Decree on the method of determining and calculating the contribution for ensuring support for the production of electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration and renewable energy sources.

Today, Minister Han attended the business and investment congress "Invest&Connect Slovenian Business Pitch: Germany Experiences Slovenia" in Munich. He also discussed opportunities for strengthening economic cooperation with Hubert Aiwanger, Deputy Prime Minister of Bavaria and Minister for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy.

The Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development has approved EU funding for the project Get moving, start exercising. The European Social Fund Plus will support the project with nearly 2.8 million euros.

The Government adopted the first National Intellectual Property Strategy 2030 and tasked the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport to prepare an action plan to implement the Strategy in cooperation with other authorities. Thus Slovenia further recognises the role of intellectual property in fostering innovation, creativity and knowledge-sharing and the importance of its strategic management.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher have signed an agreement that will see Slovenia become a full member of ESA on 1 January 2025, when the current Association Agreement expires.

The Ministers of the Interior of Croatia, Italy and Slovenia, Davor Božinović, Matteo Piantedosi and Boštjan Poklukar convened for a trilateral meeting in Gorizia.

The ministers met in the context of the General Affairs Council to discuss the link between cohesion policy and the new Strategic Agenda 2024-2029. Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira underlined that cohesion policy and Treaty objectives of promoting convergence and reducing disparities must feature prominently in the Council Strategic Agenda for the next five years as cohesion is a public good. Minister Jevšek stressed the importance of tailored, place-based approach to challenges.