News

Today marked the opening of the online conference entitled “Water and Beyond: EU transformative approaches for international partnerships”, hosted by the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships and the Government of Slovenia, with the support of Portugal, which is currently holding the EU Council presidency. At the introductory panel, State Secretary Stanislav Raščan stressed that water needs to be systematically and fully integrated into all aspects and facets of the Union's external action. During its Council presidency in the second half of this year, Slovenia will continue efforts aimed at strengthening EU water diplomacy.

A press conference on the current situation regarding the COVID-19 virus was held by state secretary in charge of vaccinations Jelko Kacin and state secretary at the Ministry of Health Marija Magajne.

Prime Minister Janez Janša was invited to the Nova24TV show. In the interview, the Prime Minister talked about vaccination, the epidemic and the economic recovery after the epidemic, and the observance of containment measures in Slovenia. He also touched upon the current political situation, the crisis of the opposition and how the unstable political environment affects the fight against the epidemic. The Prime Minister also responded to the threats that the deputies of the coalition parties and the DeSUS party are exposed to.

Prime Minister Janez Janša was a guest on the Planet 18 show on Planet TV where the coronavirus epidemic and current domestic policy topics were discussed.

The Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) continues to take part in the regional association of countries - the European Union Battle Group (EUBG), led by the Italian Julia Brigade, which in addition to the Slovenian Armed Forces, also incorporates the forces of Austria, Croatia and Hungary.
The Slovenian Armed Forces is planning to take part in the EUBG from July to December 2021 with an infantry company and its support elements. The SAF capabilities are provided by the 1st Brigade, which will also man positions at all levels of the EUBG command structure.
Slovenian contingent, which will operate under the auspices of Italy and will include up to 190 members, is led by the SAF 10th Infantry Regiment. The preparations of the regiment for the assigned tasks is already underway, since SAF capabilities assigned to the EUBG forces are to be ready for possible operation within the battle group in the first half of this year.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a financial support decision for the call for proposals “Mobile rehabilitation teams” which will be published by the Ministry of Health. The total funding made available under the call for proposals and contributed by the European Social Fund amounts to EUR 1 million.

Today’s press conference on the current situation with regard to COVID-19 was attended by Robert Carotta, COVID beds coordinator at the Ministry of Health, Deana Potza of the Health Inspectorate, Tomaž Pečjak, Deputy Director General of the Police, and Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin.

Today the Prime Minister Janez Janša and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Jože Podgoršek, held a meeting in Ljubljana with representatives of the Slovenian Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar is paying a working visit to Helsinki today. He met with his host, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavistö, the Minister for European Affairs, Tytti Tuppurainen, and was also received by Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. He outlined the main highlights of the programme of the Slovenian six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of this year, focusing on measures to mitigate the economic and social effects of the crisis caused by the epidemic and to strengthen the resilience of the Union to a variety of challenges.

Today’s press conference on the current situation with regard to COVID-19 was attended by Nuška Čakš Jager, Deputy Director of the Centre for Communicable Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), Marta Grgič Vitek, National Vaccination Programme Coordinator at the NIJZ, Sašo Rebolj, Director of Kamnik Medical Centre, and Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin.

In his capacity as health minister, today Prime Minister Janez Janša attended an informal video conference of EU health ministers. The aim of this conference was to exchange experiences with the various vaccination monitoring systems used, the lessons learned from the first days of administering the vaccine, and views on the current and planned contracts for additional vaccine doses.

The press conference on the latest situation regarding the Covid-19 disease was attended by Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Janez Cigler Kralj, Head of the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology and Head of the Laboratory for the Diagnosis of Viral Infections, Miroslav Petrovec and Government spokesperson, Jelko Kacin.

Prime Minister Janez Janša, who is also the acting Minister of Health, and National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) director Milan Krek gave a detailed presentation of the public vaccination programme planned for the first half of the year at a press conference today.

On Twitter, Prime Minister Janez Janša announced that the Government will “exempt the operational part of the police from the uniform salary system and make the regulation of relations fairer.”

Prime Minister Janez Janša was a guest of today's “Pogovor o” talk show on Radio Ognjišče. In the show he spoke about the plebiscite and Slovenia’s attainment of independence thirty years ago, the fight against the epidemic, the vaccination strategy, current political situation, the formation of a new coalition, the role of the opposition during the epidemic, moves made by the Constitutional Court, the police strike, media and Slovenian foreign policy.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a financial support decision for the project “Construction of the cycling path from the town of Litija to the settlement of Pogonik”. The project worth EUR 3 million will be implemented by the Munucipality of Litija and will receive approximately EUR 981,000 of European Regional Development Fund support.

Prime Minister Janez Janša was a guest on current affairs show Odmevi [“Echoes”] on Tuesday, where he talked about the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations, the joint European strategy for the purchase of vaccines, ongoing measures by the government to contain the epidemic and the current political situation.

At today's press conference the Director of the National Institute of Public Health, Milan Krek, and the government's spokesperson, Jelko Kacin, provided the latest information on the COVID-19 situation in Slovenia.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan took part in a handover workshop of the trio Presidency of the EU Foreign Affairs Council attended by development cooperation ministers. The workshop took place in the form of an audio-video conference with the Portuguese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Francisco André, and the German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Martin Jäger.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša, together with Deputy Prime Ministers Zdravko Počivalšek and Matej Tonin, took part in a press conference on the Government’s measures and plans to contain the epidemic in the coming weeks and months and information regarding the current ongoing vaccination campaign against COVID-19.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša, together with Deputy Prime Ministers Zdravko Počivalšek and Matej Tonin, took part in a press conference on the Government’s measures and plans to contain the epidemic in the coming weeks and months and information regarding the current ongoing vaccination campaign against COVID-19. "As anticipated in December, when we received the European forecasts for the first half of this year, we entered the most difficult period of the epidemic, but we have not yet reached the peak. Most of the northern hemisphere, including the EU, has found itself in a similar situation. Even countries that have a much more robust, modern and capable system than ourselves are facing problems unlike any they had to deal with before," stated the Prime Minister at the outset.

At today’s session, the Government adopted several ordinances to contain the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Speakers at the afternoon press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19 included Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs, Minister of Infrastructure Jernej Vrtovec and Government Spokesperson Jelko Kacin.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs closely follows the developments in the United States. The shocking scenes of violence at U.S. Capitol in Washington DC were an inadmissible attack on the pillar of American democracy, its institutions and the rule of law.

At a press conference, Borut Štrukelj, a professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Ljubljana, and Jelko Kacin, the government spokesperson, provided the latest information on the COVID-19 situation in Slovenia.

Prime Minister Janez Janša met with representatives of educational institutions today. The participants of the meeting, which included Simona Kustec, the minister responsible for education, Alenka Forte, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Marjan Dolinšek, the State Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, Damir Orehovec, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and Vinko Logaj, the Director of the National Education Institute Slovenia, discussed the potential reopening and safe operation of at least a part of educational institutions during the coronavirus epidemic.

Today’s press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19 was attended by Nuška Čakš Jager, Deputy Head of the Centre for Communicable Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health, Marta Grgič Vitek, National Vaccination Coordinator at the National Institute of Public Health, and Government spokesperson, Jelko Kacin.

In his capacity as the Minister of Health, Prime Minister Janez Janša today held an audio/video conference with Chen Shih-chung, Taiwanese Minister of Health and Welfare.

On Tuesday 5th January 2021, the Republic of Slovenia successfully entered the markets with a dual-tranche transaction, consisting of a new EUR 1.75bn 10-year (Feb-31) benchmark issuance and of a EUR 250m tap of its 0.4875% Oct-50 line.

Today’s press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19 was attended by Janez Cigler Kralj, Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Tomaž Pečjak, Deputy Director General of the Police, and Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin.

The Republic of Slovenia new EUR 10-year benchmark due January 2031 and a reopening of the EUR 30-year benchmark due October 2050.

Marija Magajne, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, presented the vaccination process and a new system of rapid testing in the country.

Yesterday, on 30 December 2020, the UK Parliament passed by a large majority the EU (Future Relationship) Bill, the primary implementing legislation for the future UK-EU relationship agreement. Slovenia welcomes the approval of the agreement which is the result of several months of intensive negotiations and provides a comprehensive framework for future EU-UK relations. Slovenia appreciates all the efforts invested by the two negotiating parties to reach an agreement.

Prime Minister Janez Janša: Let’s close our ranks in the fight against the harmful disease which is an equal threat to all of us

Yesterday in the evening the Krško NPP completed a detailed inspection after the reactor trip due to the earthquake. The inspection showed that the earthquake did not cause any damage to the systems and equipment.

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 shook the wider area of Zagreb at around 12.20 today, the epicentre of which was near the Croatian town of Petrinja, which is reported to have suffered significant material damage. Based on the known information, the earthquake killed at least one person, and at least 20 are injured, report the Croatian media. The earthquake was also felt in the whole of Slovenia.

Today's earthquake, which was 40 km from Zagreb at 12:19, caused the automatic shutdown of the Krško NPP.

Prime Minister Janez Janša, who is also acting as the minister of health, participated at the working meeting with the management of UKC Ljubljana today, together with the state secretary at the Ministry of Health, Alenka Forte, and the Head of Cabinet of the Ministry of Health, Tina Bregant.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Health Marija Magajne reacted to the successful first day of vaccinations, which took place across the country. Vaccination went smoothly and according to plan, the vaccine was well tolerated among the patients, there were no reports of adverse reactions, and there was a lot of optimism among the elderly.

Today's earthquake, which was around half past six in the vicinity of Zagreb, was also detected in the Krško NPP, but it did not have any impact on its operation.

Today, when the first COVID-19 vaccinations for the groups of the population most at risk started to be administered, Prime Minister Janša visited the University Medical Centre Maribor, where the first healthcare workers were vaccinated. The Slovenian Prime Minister also visited the COVID-19 hospital wards to gain insight into the work of the doctors and medical staff.

The first shipment of a vaccine against COVID-19 arrived in Slovenia yesterday, and today the first vaccinations of the most critical groups began across the country. Prime Minister Janez Janša today visited the Danica Vogrinec Home for the Elderly in Maribor, where they are at the moment still facing an aggravated epidemiological situation and where the first married couple was vaccinated.

The first batch of the coronavirus vaccine arrived at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana on Saturday and was delivered to the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

Below is the Christmas address of the Prime Minister Janez Janša.

The Ministry welcomes the deal on EU-UK future partnership, which was reached after extremely intensive negotiations led by the EU’s negotiator Michel Barnier and on the UK side, David Frost.

Below is a transcript of the address by Prime Minister Janez Janša at the state ceremony on Independence and Unity Day; due to the epidemiological situation, it was only broadcast on television.

Government of the Republic of Slovenia took note of the activities regarding the draft national Recovery and Resilience Plan which was approved on 8 October 2020 and instructed the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy to submit the said proposal to the Government for approval after the European Parliament adopts the EU Regulation establishing a Recovery and Resilience Facility in February 2021.

Today’s press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19 was attended by the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, the state secretary at the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology, Simon Zajc, the deputy head of the Centre for Infectious Diseases at the National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ), Nuška Čakš Jager, and the government spokesperson, Jelko Kacin.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2021.