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Today’s press conference on the current situation regarding Covid-19 will be attended by Director-General of the Public Health Directorate Vesna Kerstin Petrič and Anton Gradišek of the Jožef Stefan Institute.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Janez Janša attended a video conference of the members of the European Council. European heads of state exchanged best practices related to the measures adopted to contain the coronavirus, and discussed prospects for the coming weeks.

Slovenian Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Sabina R. Stadler handed over today a high-tech disinfection system, to the World Health Organization in Geneva. The device will be used at the WHO Geneva headquarters, where it will provide additional protection to its employees and visitors.

This afternoon’s press conference on the latest situation with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic was attended by Janez Cigler Kralj, Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Deana Potza of the Health Inspectorate and Tomaž Pečjak, Deputy Director General of the Police.

The press conference on the current COVID-19 situation was attended by Minister of Education, Science and Sport Simona Kustec, Minister of Infrastructure Jernej Vrtovec and State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology Simon Zajc.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar took part in a virtual high-level Arria-formula meeting of the United Nations Security Council on media freedom in Belarus, held under the auspices of the Estonian presidency of the UN Security Council. Among the keynote speakers was Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Belarusian opposition leader and human rights activist.

Prime Minister Janez Janša stressed in today's statement to the media following the 50th regular session of the government that, on the basis of prior consultation with the management of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) and the Government Advisory Group, some decisions were made stemming from the current epidemiological situation and the plan for relaxation of measures.

State Secretary mag. Monika Kirbiš Rojs attended the video conference Trends in Sustainable Financing, hosted by the Centre for Energy Efficient Solutions and the Representation of the European Commission. She presented the process of developing Slovenia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan and the planned measures in the field of green and sustainable development.

The year 2021 is an anniversary for Slovenia and for Slovenes at home and abroad who will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the declaration and defence of the independent Republic of Slovenia.

Today’s press conference on the current situation with regard to COVID-19 was attended by Director of the Maribor Unit of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) Zoran Simonovič and Marta Grgič Vitek, National Vaccination Programme Coordinator at the NIJZ.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Janez Cigler Kralj, held a press conference today in Brdo pri Kranju to provide an update on vaccination against COVID-19 and present the eighth Anti-Corona Package to mitigate the consequences of the epidemic.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Minister Janez Cigler Kralj held a press conference today in Brdo pri Kranju to provide an update on vaccination against COVID-19 and present the eighth coronavirus relief package designed to mitigate the consequences of the epidemic.

Minister Andrej Šircelj today attended an informal video conference of economics and finance ministers (the ECOFIN Council). The meeting started with the presentation of the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency Programme. In the continuation, ministers discussed the state of play and implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the 2021 European Semester, and the Action Plan for Non-Performing Loans.

Today, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan took part in an informal video conference of the General Affairs Council. The ministers responsible for European affairs discussed the preparations for the virtual meeting of the European Council to be held on 21 January, exchanged views and information on the current epidemiological situation in the EU and the vaccine roll-out, and took stock of the vaccination process.

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.