FRIDAY February 4
LJUBLJANA – The National Assembly has rejected the appointment of Marjan Divjak as deputy central bank governor. The Democrats (SDS) proposed that the vote be postponed, but their motion was defeated and voting continued with 44 votes in favor and 40 against in a secret ballot, short of the super majority required.
LJUBLJANA – The National Assembly has passed a bill on electronic communications, presented by the government to transpose EU law, unsuitable for further reading. The bill would exclude high-risk vendors from the market in a provision aimed at China’s Huawei. Without specifically mentioning the supplier, the bill would prohibit suppliers from using equipment from high-risk suppliers if they are labeled by the government based on the advice of the National Safety Council.
LJUBLJANA – The National Assembly has failed to overturn the upper house’s veto on a bill increasing the required level of Italian language proficiency for staff in Italian-speaking schools and kindergartens. While the coalition voted for, the centre-left opposition voted against.
LJUBLJANA – The leftist opposition has announced that it will withdraw its motion for a referendum on the income tax law after the government indicated that the referendum could be held on the same day as the general election. The amendments will likely be passed during this government’s term and the left will strive to win the election and then “fix the law”, said leftist leader Luka Mesec.
LJUBLJANA – The Ministry of Finance has unveiled a new bill on the taxation of cryptocurrencies. It offers a 10% tax rate and a general tax exemption of up to EUR 10,000 of redeemed cryptocurrency per year. The proposed solutions would apply to all natural persons who pay taxes in Slovenia, but not to legal entities and individuals who hold cryptocurrencies as business assets.
DOBROVO – Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek spoke with his Italian counterpart Stefano Patuanelli. They discussed plans for the joint promotion of Slovenian and Italian wines from the border region, in particular the white wine Rebula, known in Italy as Ribolla.
LJUBLJANA – Slovenia’s exports rose 19.8% year-on-year to €39.4 billion in 2021 and imports rose 30.8% to €42 billion, the report reported. Office of Statistics. A trade deficit of 2.6 billion euros was recorded, the highest in the last ten years.

SATURDAY February 5
BEIJING – Slovenian ski jumpers Urša Bogataj and Nika Križnar have made history at the Winter Olympics. Bogataj won gold and Križnar won bronze in the women’s individual normal hill event, the first time more than one Slovenian athlete had reached the Olympic podium in the same event.
CARDIFF, UK – Slovenia’s top female boxer Ema Kozin lost to American Claressa Shields in Cardiff, UK in a fight for the title of world champion in multiple categories in the women’s middleweight category . This is Kozin’s first loss of her professional fighting career.

SUNDAY February 6
LJUBLJANA – Slovenia has reiterated its support for the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy of sustainable energy sources. The finance ministry said nuclear power will be needed to maintain low-carbon power generation over the long term, not just during the transition period.
BEIJING, China — Slovenian ski jumper Peter Prevc finished fourth in the men’s individual normal hill event at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games. He was half a point short of picking up what could have been his third Olympic medal after winning two at Sochi 2014.

MONDAY February 7
VATICAN CITY, Vatican — President Borut Pahor met Pope Francis during an official visit to the Vatican to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and the Holy See. The couple stressed the importance of dialogue and discussed the situation in the Western Balkans, the Ukrainian crisis, as well as bilateral cooperation.
ROME – President Borut Pahor met with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella. European issues were at the top of the agenda. Discussions focused on peace and stability in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood, the need to coordinate post-pandemic economic recovery policies and the need to make debates on a common European future more ambitious.
LJUBLJANA – The Freedom Movement, the party of Robert Golob, came out on top in a poll commissioned by RTV Slovenija, ahead of the ruling democrats (SDS). One in five respondents said they would vote for the Freedom Movement, an increase of 6.8 percentage points from January. The SDS gains three points to 15%.
LJUBLJANA – Slovenia’s annual inflation stood at 5.8% in January, the highest since August 2008, accelerating from the 4.9% recorded at the end of last year, mainly in because of more expensive fuels and energy. Consumer prices rose 0.4% from December.
BEIJING, China — Slovenian ski jumpers Nika Križnar, Urša Bogataj, Timi Zajc and Peter Prevc won gold in the mixed team normal hill event at the Winter Olympics to make history in as the first nation to win the event in its Olympic debut in Beijing.
CLERMONT FERRAND, France — Animation filmmaker Špela Čadež received a special mention at this year’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival for her animated short Steakhouse in what is the tenth international award for the film.

TUESDAY February 8
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Foreign Minister Anže Logar spoke with his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, as he embarked on a tour of the Gulf countries. Ministers confirmed excellent bilateral relations, which have deepened since the opening of the Slovenian Embassy in Abu Dhabi in 2018, and discussed possibilities for further cooperation.
STRASBOURG, France – Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek has welcomed the initiative for a new economic model for low-carbon agriculture, based on real carbon sequestration and involving the possibility of evaluating it on the market. Podgoršek told his counterparts at an informal meeting that the initiative was an opportunity for additional income for farmers and foresters.
BEIJING — Slovenian snowboarders have won two medals in the Olympic parallel giant slalom. Tim Mastnak won silver in the men’s category as one of the favorites for medals, while Gloria Kotnik won bronze in the women’s category, a feat few expected before the Olympics.

WEDNESDAY February 9
LJUBLJANA – President Borut Pahor has officially called general elections in Slovenia for April 24, announcing that he will hand over the mandate to form the government to the person with sufficient support in the new parliament after the elections.
LJUBLJANA – Prime Minister Janez Janša has tested positive for the coronavirus. He posted a photo of a positive test result on Twitter, saying he had all the typical symptoms of Covid-19, albeit mild.
DOHA, Qatar – Foreign Minister Anže Logar met with his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to discuss economic cooperation and regional and global issues, including energy. Logar also took the opportunity to talk about Slovenia’s candidacy for the post of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
ZAGORJE OB SAVI – The new green party Vesna held its founding congress, during which environmentalists Urša Zgojznik and Uroš Macerl were elected co-chairs. The former said the aim was to enter parliament and demand that programs in the areas of environment, economy, agriculture, youth policy and democracy be implemented.
LJUBLJANA – The current robust economic growth is overshadowing the deterioration of Slovenia’s public finances, the Fiscal Council said in its latest assessment of the country’s public finances. She estimated that structural measures taken during the Covid epidemic that are not related to it will affect public finances by reducing GDP by 2.2% per year.
LJUBLJANA – Slovenia’s competition watchdog has found that Renault Nissan Slovenija and four car dealerships engaged in anti-competitive behavior for more than ten years in the repair and maintenance of Renault vehicles. One of the companies admitted their involvement and provided additional evidence in exchange for a lighter sentence.

THURSDAY February 10
LJUBLJANA – The government has passed a bill to encourage digital inclusion. The centerpiece of this €31 million project is a €150 digital voucher program that secondary school pupils, college students and adults over the age of 55 can use to take various digital literacy courses or buy digital devices.
LJUBLJANA – The European Commission has lowered Slovenia’s growth forecast for this year by 0.4 percentage point from its autumn forecast to 3.8%, forecasting a more moderate growth rate of 3.6% in 2023. This compares to growth forecasts of 4% for the Eurozone this year and 2.7% in 2023.
LJUBLJANA – Slovenia’s industrial production grew by 10.2% in 2021 thanks to strong performance in the manufacturing sector, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Statistics. Industrial turnover increased by more than 15% and inventory value by nearly 5%.
LJUBLJANA — The Slovenian labor market recorded a record 22,900 vacancies in the last quarter of 2021, with the number of occupied positions reaching 792,100, another all-time high, according to new data from the Statistics Office. The vacancy rate in the fourth quarter was 2.8%.
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Six of Slovenia’s eight MEPs have sent a letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola expressing regret over one of her statements which they say conveys a “false and repeatedly criticized position of the former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano” regarding the faith massacres during and after World War II.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Foreign Minister Anže Logar spoke with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and several other cabinet members as he wrapped up his tour of the Gulf. Economic cooperation was the focus, as was Slovenia’s bid to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.