Robert Carotta, Coordinator for COVID-19 hospital beds at the Ministry of Health; Primož Horvat, Head of the COVID-19 Department at Ptuj General Hospital; and Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin attended the press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19.

At the invitation of Michael Roth, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office, a video conference meeting of state secretaries for EU affairs of the Trio presidency Germany-Portugal-Slovenia was held tonight. The state secretaries exchanged views on the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic and called for further coordinated action at Union level, particularly with regard to the vaccine and testing. The latter will also be the topic of a video conference meeting of Heads of State and Governments to be held on 19 November.

General Manager of Ljubljana University Medical Centre Janez Poklukar and Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin spoke about the current situation regarding the COVID-19 epidemic.

Today, in the Grand Hall of the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana, Prime Minister Janez Janša attended the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the decision taken by Demos to call for a plebiscite on the independence of the Republic of Slovenia. On 9 and 10 November 1990, a meeting was held in Poljče, where members of the Demos coalition adopted a decision to call for a plebiscite on the independence of the Republic of Slovenia. Based on the decision taken at the meeting in Poljče, the Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the Plebiscite on the Sovereignty and Independence of the Republic of Slovenia Act on 6 December 1990, which determined that the plebiscite would be held on Sunday, 23 December 1990.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, addressed the public.

The following address is unauthorised.

A new book entitled International Humanitarian Law has been added to the International Law Series, published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Faculty of Social Science of the University of Ljubljana. The newest addition to the series features a collection of papers by 21 authors discussing war and the related ethical, moral and legal issues, and international humanitarian law and related issues, as well as Slovenia's views and positions on this topic. The publication also includes references to older Slovenian literature on the law of war, including Professor Ivan Tomšič’s book on the law of war, the first Slovenian book on the subject.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar attended a virtual meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia, which form the unofficial regional group Central5. The ministers focused on COVID-19 coordination, especially the cross-border movement of persons, goods, and services.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a financial support decision for the project “Infrastructural modernisation of the craft and industrial zone Nasipi”. The project worth over EUR 2.8 million will be implemented by the Municipality of Trbovlje and will receive nearly EUR 1.74 million of European Regional Development Fund support.

The Slovenian Government took note of the assessment carried out by the expert group for the containment and control of the COVID-19 epidemic at the Ministry of Health as regards the expert justification of measures for the containment and control of COVID-19, and decided to extend the measures and restrictions under the ordinances.

The press conference on the current COVID-19 situation was attended by the Minister of Education, Science and Sport, Simona Kustec, the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Ajda Cuderman, and the Government's spokesperson, Jelko Kacin.

Today, the Director-General for EU Affairs, Barbara Sušnik, held bilateral consultations with the Director-General for EU Affairs at the Portuguese Foreign Ministry, Rui Vinhas. Due to the current situation related to the pandemic, consultations were held via videoconferencing. The topics of discussion covered bilateral relations, current European issues and preparations for the EU Council presidency. The two countries are participating in the current trio of presidencies together with Germany.

At a time when Slovenia is once again facing an epidemic, the importance of local self-sufficiency and short supply chains is particularly highlighted. Every third Friday in November we celebrate Slovenian Food Day, in whose context the Traditional Slovenian Breakfast project, consisting of locally produced and processed foods, will be carried out this year for the tenth consecutive year.

Today, State Secretary Tone Kajzer took part in the 130th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which on this occasion was held in a virtual format, under the auspices of the Greek Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.

As part of the ongoing preparations for Slovenia’s Presidency of the EU Council, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan today held a virtual meeting with full and alternate members of the Slovenian delegation to the Committee.

Address to the nation by Janez Janša, Slovenian Prime Minister

This morning, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Dr Jože Podgoršek, participated in the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) High-level Conference, taking place in the form of an audio-video conference. The topics of the Conference included the preparation of a new strategy for fisheries and fish farming in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea.

On 22 October 2020, the Government of Slovenia endorsed the 7th National Report under the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management and sent it to the International Atomic Energy Agency. With this Slovenia fulfilled one of the obligations under the Joint Convention on time.

Psychologist Eva Kovač spoke at the press conference about distress during this time of epidemic.

Dr Matjaž Vogrin, Medical Director of Maribor University Medical Centre, Dr Irena Grmek Košnik, epidemiologist from Kranj Regional Unit of the National Institute of Public Health, and Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin attended the press conference on the current COVID-19 situation.

At the initiative of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, a copy of the Bible with full title, Biblia, tu ie, vse Svetu pismu, Stariga inu Noviga testamenta, which has thus far been kept at the castle in Brdo pri Kranju was handed over to the National and University Library for safekeeping.

Dr Daniel Grabar, Medical Director of Murska Sobota General Hospital, Robert Masten from the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana and Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin attended the afternoon press conference on the current COVID-19 situation.