Jernej Vrtovec

Ljubljana – The new infrastructure minister, Bojan Kumer, announced on Thursday that he and Economy Minister Matjaž Han would appoint a task force on Monday to deal with energy price hikes. “The energy price hikes need to be addressed immediately,” Kumer said as he took over from his predecessor Jernej Vrtovec, adding that the new task force would be in charge of that.

Kamnik – Matej Tonin, the defence minister, praised his Christian democratic party for its efficiency in delivering on its promises as he addressed the annual get-together of New Slovenia (NSi) in his home town Kamnik on Saturday.

Ljubljana – The parliamentary Commission for Oversight of Public Finances debated on Monday staffing at state-owned energy companies. The centre-left opposition reiterated its allegation of politically-motivated dismissals of managers, while Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec yet again denied having anything to do with them.

Ljubljana – Following his dismissal as the chairman of the country’s largest electricity distributor Elektro Ljubljana, Andrej Ribič announced on Monday that he will challenge the decision of the supervisory board in court. He believes Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec is behind the dismissal, which Vrtovec denied.

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 – Prime Minister Janez Janša will lead a sizeable Slovenian delegation to the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, to be held between 31 October and 12 November. The roadmap posted on the government website estimates the cost at EUR 1.2 million, most of which is to be spent on an EU pavilion.

Ljubljana – Slovenia will significantly expand subsidised public transportation starting on 1 September in an effort to boost ridership and limit the use of cars.

Students with subsidised transport passes will no longer be limited to the home-to-school route, they will be able to travel on all routes in Slovenia year-round.

Pragersko – Works have started on a project to upgrade the Pragersko railway hub, one of the main rail junctions in the country. The EUR 90 million project is slated for completion in June 2023.

The overhaul aims to bring it in line with EU technical standards, increase speed on the Maribor-Celje route, and improve transport safety.

Ljubljana – A group of Slovenian environmental NGOs has called on Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec as a representative of the Slovenian EU presidency to propose a political discussion on the EU exiting the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) at the September informal meeting of ministers in charge of energy.

Jesenice – Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec and his Austrian counterpart Leonore Gewessler took part in Thursday’s ceremony marking the reopening of the Karavanke railway tunnel following a safety and technical upgrade. The ministers said on the occasion that railways represented the backbone of mobility of future.

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