Zdravko Pocivalsek

Ljubljana – Tourist arrivals in Slovenia increased by 31% in 2021 to reach just over four million, while overnight stays were up by 22% to 11.3 million, show data released by the Statistics Office on Tuesday.

Both figures are still far behind the records of 2019, when Slovenia reported 6.2 million arrivals and 15.8 million overnight stays

Koper – Under the headline Euros and Concrete Incredibility, the newspaper Primorske Novice comments on Concretely, a new party which emerged from a merger of Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek’s coalition SMC and National Council President Alojz Kovšca’s non-parliamentary GAS, saying its main problem is a lack of credibility.

Celje – The coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) and the non-parliamentary Economically Active Party (GAS) merged at a congress on Saturday into a new party called Concretely that will focus on the social and economic development of Slovenia.

Ljubljana – Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek has called on businesses to organise work from home wherever possible and to stick strictly to the Covid pass rule and other precautionary measures in what he says is the only way to avoid potential new restrictions.

Ljubljana – The Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU co-hosted a virtual conference on Wednesday discussing the secure connectivity initiative, the third pillar of the EU space programme. European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton described space and the initiative as one of the European Commission’s priorities in 2022.

Ljubljana – Former police commissioners Andrej Jurič in Anton Travner, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Petra Grah Lazar and her predecessor Andrej Lamberger denied political interference in the work of the police and police staffing as they were heard before a parliamentary inquiry into political interference in the police on Friday.

Brdo pri Kranju – Government ministers and energy sector representatives discussed key frameworks and guidelines on climate change, the decarbonisation of society and the importance of energy in different sectors at Wednesday’s consultation on energy called by Prime Minister Janez Janša.

Ljubljana – The leader of the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek believes that the next election will be held as scheduled. Speaking to the newspaper Večer, he does not completely rule out the possibility of an early election though, but also notes that a snap election would not suit his party at the moment.

Ljubljana – The centre-left opposition condemned on Friday PM Janez Janša’s response to the visit of a fact-finding mission of the European Parliament, in particular his tweets. These were labelled as harmful and detrimental to Slovenia’s international image. Matej Tonin, the head of the junior coalition New Slovenia (NSi), urged Janša to apologise.

Ljubljana – Higher energy prices – the prices of natural gas, electricity and oil derivatives – are a major problem for the entire EU economy not just for Slovenian’s, Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said in Ljubljana on Tuesday. The situation is being analysed and he hopes solutions will be found for each segment.