Marko

Ljubljana – Several radio stations with special status and two national newspapers have been left without the state’s financial support and thus face a precarious situation, report the dailies Delo and Dnevnik on Saturday.

Media outlets which applied for the government’s co-funding scheme in an annual open call by the Culture Ministry have started receiving the ministry’s decisions.

Brussels – European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson will start a two-day visit to Slovenia on Thursday to discuss the country’s EU presidency preparations. She intends to raise the issue of media freedom and pluralism as well. Slovenia should not underestimate the risk to its international reputation when it comes to this, Johansson has told the STA.

Železniki – Lotrič Meroslovje, a family business which is a Slovenian market leader in metrology testing, finished 2020 with 13% growth from 2019, as it acted on new opportunities brought about by the pandemic. The growing trend continues, so the 2021 plan is an 11% growth, director general Marko Lotrič told the press in Železniki on Wednesday.

Ljubljana – Goran Vojnović has written a sequel to his bestselling debut novel Čefurji Raus! after 13 years. Đorđić se Vrača (Đorđić Returns) is no longer a story about Slovenians and immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and their children, but about a world that is disappearing.

Ljubljana – Sustainable strategic business transformation offers visible results as early as it is introduced and it is never too late to start, agreed participants of a conference hosted by the Spirit Slovenia agency on Wednesday. Business executives have also welcomed the mentorship programme of sustainable transformation.

Ljubljana/Šoštanj/Velenje – Focus has welcomed the government’s proposal to phase out coal in Slovenia by 2033, saying this is the most sensible decision given the three potential scenarios to restructure Slovenia’s two coal regions. Still, it believes that given the Paris Agreement, Slovenia should drop coal by 2030, just like 14 other EU members.

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor sent to parliament today a proposal to appoint Tina Žumer a vice-governor of central bank Banka Slovenije, while the nominee will present her bid to the public at the Presidential Palace tomorrow. Žumer is a former employee of Banka Slovenije who now works at the European Central Bank.

Ljubljana – The European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group held a virtual public discussion on media freedom in Slovenia on Friday featuring representatives from Slovenia and the European Commission. Group members expressed concern about the situation and their expectations for the Commission to take action.

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša is suggesting the European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group have discussion with him and Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti on 26 March, after the EU summit as they would not be able to attend the discussion in Brussels in person this Friday, the PM’s office has announced.

Ljubljana – Media freedom in Slovenia will be one of the items on the European Parliament’s agenda as it meets for a plenary next week as the planned debate on government attempts to silence media in Poland and Hungary has been expanded to include Slovenia.