Government Communication Office

Ljubljana – The government will help Slovenian pig farmers with EUR 1.87 million in financial aid, to be paid out on 23 December, to cope with falling prices of pork and pigs and rising prices of fodder, the Government Communication Office (UKOM) said on Tuesday.

Brussels – The European Commission said on Tuesday it would keep monitoring closely the situation of the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) following the signing of the contract on the STA public service for the last two months of the year. The Slovenian authorities must ensure that the independence of the agency is fully preserved, it added.

Ljubljana – In the wake of soaring Covid cases, the government decided at Thursday’s session to supply almost 4.5 million FFP2 face masks, 13,000 latex hand gloves, 1,500 one-litre bottles of hand sanitiser, nearly 5,000 one-litre bottles of surface disinfectants and more than 4 million masks for general use, the Government Communication Office (UKOM) said.

Ljubljana – The government has decided that Slovenia will join the Powering Past Coal Alliance as part of the Energy Day at the COP26 conference in Glasgow on Thursday, dedicated to enhancing global energy transition, and will also sign a statement of public support for the clean energy transition.

Ljubljana – The Slovenian Journalist Association (DNS) relaunched today a fundraising campaign to secure funds for the STA, which has not received any budget funds for its public service since the start of the year. A month-long campaign was first launched on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, and raised almost EUR 275,000.

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša had a video call with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday with a release from the Government Communication Office saying they talked about legislative acts that are being coordinated in the EU in the field of digital transformation, and about the importance of cybersecurity in digitalisation services.

Ljubljana – The supervisory board of the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) appointed on Monday Igor Kadunc, former director general of the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, the agency’s acting director. Kadunc will take over from outgoing director Bojan Veselinovič on 31 October, while taking over as full-fledged director on 1 January 2022.

Ljubljana – The government changed on Friday a decree setting out exemptions from mandatory quarantine after a high-risk contact, so that those vaccinated against Covid-19 will be exempted from this indefinitely for now. The government also decided to donate some 578,300 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to COVAX.

Brussels – European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova has called for a “swift solution to fund the STA that would fully preserve its independence” in a letter addressed to Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti.

Vienna – A number of international journalism and media freedom organisations have signed a joint statement urging the Slovenian government and the Government Communication Office (UKOM) “to immediately end the economic suffocation of the STA and take steps to ensure sustainable funding before its collapse”.