News

"The adoption of the amended Family Code places Slovenia alongside tolerant and inclusive European countries such as Austria, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scandinavian countries that are open to all members of society.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon paid an official visit to Skopje and met with Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani. They discussed the excellent bilateral relations between their two countries and Slovenia's continued support for North Macedonia's European path.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the regular meeting of the EU General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, which focused on the preparations for the October European Council, the follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe, the state of the rule of law in Poland and the European Commission's report on the enforcement of EU law.

More than EUR 1 million in incentives to the economy for nearly zero-energy buildings

Today, we celebrated Plecnik's year 2022 with the opening of the exhibition "Plecnik's Ljubljana" of the Museum of Architecture and Design Ljubljana at the Cleveland Public Library - as part of the Cleveland Sister Cities Conference.

In Luxembourg, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon attended the regular meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union, chaired by High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. The main topics on the agenda were the Russian aggression against Ukraine and relations with China.

The Minister, Ms. Irena Šinko, participated today in the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting. The EU Ministers exchanged information on conditions in agricultural markets in particular due to the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine.

The plenary part of the 68th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which will take place until 21 October 2022, this year under Slovenia's chairmanship, has started. High-level participants, including a number of delegates from the Contracting Governments and representatives of non-governmental delegations, were addressed by State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Samuel Žbogar, Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Uroš Brežan, and Mayor of the Municipality of Piran Đenjo Zadković.

On 18 October this year, European Anti-Trafficking Day, the National Working Group on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings focuses on raising awareness about the exposure to trafficking in human beings of people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

The Minister Irena Šinko, participated today in the ‘For Forests Group’ meeting. The Member State Ministers, cooperating in the Group, signed the Guidelines and principles on closer cooperation in forestry within the European Union. The meeting was held in the margins of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting.

The Minister of Defence of the Republic of North Macedonia, Slavjanka Petrovska, is paying a two-day official visit to Slovenia at the invitation of the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, Marjan Šarec. Her visit is a continuation of the meetings at the highest political levels between the two friendly countries, and an opportunity to further strengthen the cooperation between Slovenia and the Republic of North Macedonia in the field of defence and military affairs.

At the upcoming Cleveland Sister Cities Conference 2022 (October 18-20), Ljubljana, a long-time partner of Cleveland, will present itself during several events.

Today we started setting up the exhibition about Plecnik´s Ljubljana.

Klemen Boštjančič, the finance minister, has attended the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank Group, which took place from 11 to 15 October 2022 in Washington. The primary focus of the discussions was on developments in the global economy and on the international financial markets, the consequences of the war in Ukraine, the food and energy crisis, and possible responses.

Prime Minister Robert Golob addressed attendants at the official opening of Intra Lighting's new factory today, 14 October 2022. The company, which is active in sixty-five countries worldwide, has moved from Mirna to its new premises in Šempeter pri Gorici. The construction of the new, sophisticated factory followed the policy for green transformation that is friendly both to the environment and the community.

Following the adoption of the Healthcare Emergency Measures Act in the summer, a rulebook and two additional decrees to help stabilise the healthcare system and shorten waiting times are due to be published today.

At today's correspondence session, the Government adopted an opinion on the request for a reconsideration of the amendments to the Family Code and proposes that the National Assembly adopt the law in the reconsideration. It also concluded that the proposer's request to suspend two articles of the Decree amending the Decree on Packaging and Packaging Waste Handling is unfounded.

Uroš Brežan, minister of the environment and spatial planning, today made a field visit to Vintgar Gorge together with the mayor of Gorje, and also met the mayors and other representatives of the municipalities of Bled, Bohinj, Jesenice, Kranjska Gora, Bovec and Kobarid, and those responsible for managing natural resources in Triglav National Park (TNP).

Interior minister Tatjana Bobnar attended the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg.

The ministry has received the final report on research into the minimum cost of living. Before determining the size of the adjustment to the minimum wage, and drawing up the basis for raising the minimum basic income, we will coordinate with the government and the social partners. The latter were today briefed on the report within the framework of the Economic and Social Council.

The Naša Super Hrana website published the results of the third survey of basic food products from 10 October 2022. According to this insight into price developments in the consumer food basket, and additional analysis, products of Slovenian origin prevail at all food retailers included in the survey.

The purpose of the Decree on the criteria to define and assess the number of households in energy poverty is to contribute to a high-quality planning and implementing of energy and social policy in the field of energy poverty.

At today’s meeting by correspondence, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the amended Organisation and Financing of Education Act and the amended Public Sector Salary System Act.

The Government and public sector unions signed the Agreement regulating measures relating to salaries and other labour costs in the public sector for 2022 and 2023. The Agreement will increase salaries and meals allowance of public sector employees, including the adjustment of annual holiday pay for those working in salary grade 50 and below.

The Government adopted the Decree on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. The Decree governs individual objectives and measures for certain plastic products and waste generated from these products.

At the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, the ministers of justice discussed current activities regarding war crimes in Ukraine. Minister Dr Dominika Švarc Pipan condemned Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, especially the attacks on civilians.

At today’s session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the draft act on emergency actions to contain the spread and mitigate the consequences of the infectious COVID-19 disease in healthcare and submitted it to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia to be discussed in an urgent procedure. After the Government’s session, Minister of Health Danijel Bešič Loredan stated that the draft act "sets the legal bases for COVID-19 to become an endemic disease by spring."

Slovenian Press Agency journalist Luka Tetičkovič spoke to Slovenian Defence Minister Marjan Šarec about the defence budget, investments in the defence sector, the manning levels in the Slovenian Armed Forces, and the planned changes in the protection and disaster relief system. We are hereby providing a summary of the interview, published by the Slovenian Press Agency on Wednesday, 12 October.

At today’s meeting, the Government adopted a proposal for the Act on Healthcare Emergency Measures to Contain the Spread of the Covid-19 Communicable Disease and Mitigate its Consequences, and issued a Decree on the criteria for determining and assessing the number of households in energy poverty. The Government also took note of the proposal for the Agreement on measures relating to salaries and other labour costs in the public sector for 2022 and 2023.

Marjan Šarec, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, attended the meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence in Brussels. The war in Ukraine, strengthening the deterrence and defence of the Alliance, investing in defence and incentives to increase stocks of military equipment and industrial capacities were at the forefront of the ministers’ discussions. On the margins of the meeting, Minister Šarec signed a declaration on strengthening bilateral cooperation with Christine Lambrecht, the German Federal Minister of Defence.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today attended, as a guest of honour, the 26th meeting of businessmen from the Primorska region, which was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Primorska at the Vila Vipolže venue in Dobrovo.

The European Commission today published its annual report on the enlargement strategy and progress of candidate countries and potential candidate countries for membership of the European Union. In addition to the strategy, the so-called enlargement package summarises the annual progress of the six Western Balkans countries and Turkey and makes recommendations for the way forward. For Slovenia, the package is particularly important in the part concerning the granting of candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which Slovenia has been advocating since the European Council meeting last June. Today, the European Commission has made a recommendation on granting the candidate status to this country, which is expected to be decided by EU Member States in December.

As part of the enlargement package, the European Commission today issued a recommendation that Bosnia and Herzegovina be awarded EU candidate status but will have to meet additional requirements before making further steps on the path to the Union. This is the same formula that the Commission has already applied in the case of Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes the recommendation as an important step towards the granting of EU candidate status. In the next stage, this will be decided on by the EU heads of state and government at the European Council.

The Government included the renovation of a section of the Ljubljana - Šiška Retirement Home into the applicable Plan of Development Programmes for the 2022–2025 period.

Ms Irena Šinko, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (MAFF), participated today in the 7th meeting of the ‘Golden Bee Award’ Committee, where the central topic was the approval of the ‘2023 Golden Bee Award’ public tender dossier.

Within the framework of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the meeting of Directors-General for the Environment is taking place in Prague, which is also attended by mag. Tanja Bolte, the Acting Director-General of the Environment Directorate. The event is intended to start an international discussion on the environment and be a platform for an exchange of views regarding the recent legislative initiative of the European Commission about nature restoration and harmonisation of plans.

Today on 11 October 2022, Matej Arčon, Minister for Slovenians Abroad, visited the Primorska Technology Park (PTP) in Vrtojba and held a meeting with its Director, mag. Tanja Kožuh. Minister Arčon was accompanied by State Secretary Vesna Humar.

A panel discussion was held in Ig Training Centre (ICZR Ig), Slovenia, on 11th October 2022 as part of the planned project activities within the European Project Safe and Equal in EMErgencies – “SEE ME”.

The European Defence Agency and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia are organising a two-day thematic workshop of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector at Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana. The participants were welcomed by State Secretary for Defence, Dr Damir Črnčec.

On the occasion of today’s World Mental Health Day, the Ministry of Health organised an expert meeting, 'Day of Mental Health', at the Brdo Congress Centre. In the initial part of the meeting, the attendees were addressed by the Minister of Health, Danijel Bešič Loredan, and the Human Rights Ombudsman, Peter Svetina, who presented the challenges of mental health.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today outlined the budget proposal in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. As a preliminary point, he highlighted the historic moment at which the Government proposed its draft budgets for the next two years. The situation is uncertain due to the COVID and energy crises, the Russian aggression against Ukraine and China's cooling economy: "We can speak of a general economic crisis across Europe."

The Ministry of the Interior began implementing workshops to raise awareness among children and adolescents about human trafficking. This year, the workshops are focusing on ninth-graders in primary schools in the Central Slovenian, Gorenjska, Goriška and Zasavje regions and second-year secondary school students in the Podravje, Pomurje, Koroška and Savinjska regions.

This year's Biwako Biennale is entitled "Origin". With this title, it returns to the origins of the world. The Slovenian artist Ms Eva Petrič is also exhibiting at the Biennale with the artwork "Incubator of E@motions, we all come from this heart...". The heart as the centre of all networks, surrounded by a tree made of Slovenian lace.

During his visit to Japan, Minister of Education, Science and Sport Dr Igor Papič participated at the Science and Technology in Society Forum, which took place from 1 - 4 October 2022.

State Secretary Samuel Žbogar attended the 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Lima, Peru, from 5 to 7 October 2022. Foreign Ministers from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, as well as permanent observers, held discussions under the title "Together against inequality and discrimination" to reduce social and other inequalities that have been exacerbated in the countries of the Western Hemisphere by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council concludes its 51st regular session today. Between 12 September and 7 October 2022, the central body of the UN in the field of human rights addressed the most pressing human rights situations around the world and adopted a number of thematic resolutions. At the meeting, Slovenia presented two initiatives in cooperation with partner countries, an initiative on the human rights of older persons and a resolution on human rights education. Slovenian expert Dr Sancin was elected to the Advisory Committee of the Council.

Today’s discussion focused on the convergence of EU Member States’ positions on energy market reform. As Prime Minister Golob pointed out after the meeting, significant progress was made today in finding a common energy solution for Europe. The starting point for the discussion was the European Commission’s latest proposal, which, according to the Prime Minister, was "a big step in the right direction", as it also contained the conclusions of yesterday’s round table on climate change, energy and environmental challenges, which was chaired by Dr Robert Golob together with his Icelandic counterpart.

State Secretary Marko Štucin addressed participants at the event held at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and Austria.

The President of the National Assembly, Ms Urška Klakočar Zupančič visited Japan from 26 to 30 September 2022, where she attended the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On behalf of the Republic of Slovenia, she expressed condolences to Prime Minister Kishida, Foreign Minister Hayashi, and Mrs. Akie Abe. The funeral ceremony was also attended by the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Miroslav Cerar.

Prime Minister Robert Golob is today attending the first European Political Community Summit and tomorrow, 7 October, will attend an informal meeting of EU heads of state or government.