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Slovenia News Bulletin Overview of the week's top stories since 13 Oct. 2003 by brian J. po žunThis week’s headlines…
And in other news...
Controversy engulfs Rupel Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel was back on front pages in recent weeks in conjunction with corruption allegations. On 24 October, the investigative section of the Ljubljana Regional Court formally requested an investigation against Rupel on charges of attempted criminal abuse of position. If he were to eventually be convicted, Rupel could end up with one to eight years in prison. Rupel issued a press release in which he called the allegations a "political construct." In an interview with Mag published on 29 October, Rupel professed innocence of any wrongdoing and suggested that the allegations are simply an attempt to discredit him and to get him to step down from his position as Foreign Minister. "If I stepped down, it would make too many people happy who do not deserve to be, who want to damage me as well as to damage the state. For now, I do not intend to step down, and there is also no particular danger of me being fired," he told the news weekly. At the center of the controversy is the Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic academy, which is mandated by the Law on Foreign Relations. For about ten years, the academy was part of the Social Sciences Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. In April, however, the Ministry pulled the academy from the university and signed an agreement to mo ve it to the Law Faculty and Diplomatic Academy (PFDA) based in Portorož.Controversy erupted when the media discovered that the PFDA does not formally exist, since it is not registered and its program still has not been approved by the Council on Higher Education. Further, Mladina reported that Rupel himself had signed on to teach full time at the PFDA. The news weekly alleged corruption, the head of the government’s anti-corruption office Boštjan Penko agreed. In an interview in April with Delo, Penko said that the third article of the agreement between the ministry and the PFDA, which states that the ministry will provide resources for the diplomatic program, "shows abuse of public function for personal gain," given that Rupel is supposed to teach at the school. According to media accounts, the ministry pledged SIT 8 million (USD 37,200). An investigation was launched at the end of April by the State Prosecutor’s office, based on a report prepared by the Office for the Prevention of Corruption. On 25 April, Rupel held a press conference in which he denounced the investigation as being an "unprecedented attack." He pointed particularly to reporting by Dnevnik, saying that the media accounts were intended to discredit him personally and politically. The foreign minister added that "Penko has done something really stupid, he has no authority to report me anywhere to anyone." He went on to say that "Penko should deal with…real problems, not with academic plans."
Nice candy bar wrappers, but as new state symbols… On 28 October, the results of the National Assembly’s contest for new state symbols were released. The winner was Dušan Jovanovič of Koper, who took home a SIT 3.9 million (USD 19,500) prize. Jovanovič’s design for a new flag features horizontal alternating blue, white and red stripes, with a stylized Triglav in the center. The design for a new coat of arms and symbol are the same, but reshaped to match design requirements.More than 250 entries were received by the 30 September deadline, but just 106 fulfilled the required criteria. The selection was made by a special committee. Second place went to Klemen Rodman of Žirovnica. Third place went to the coat of arms design of Valt Jurečič, the flag design of Igor Rehar, and the symbol design of Goran Tomič and Aleš Galičič. All four men are from Ljubljana. Some of the designs can be seen here.The designs can be seen in person at the National Gallery in Ljubljana, where an exhibit of contest entries opened on 11 November. The display runs until 23 November. The winner’s flag and coat of arms will be used by the Constitutional Commission and the National Assembly in further debate on the possibility of changing the current state symbols, adopted at independence in 1991. The Constitutional Commission next meets on 9 December. In order for new state symbols to be adopted, the constitution will have to be amended. Among the many who did not take the results well was Slovene Nationalist Party leader Zmago Jelinčič. He was particularly not impressed with the winning design, since it has no connection to Slovene history and culture. According to 24ur.com, he stated that the design would make a good candy bar wrapper, but as state symbols they leave much to be desired.
Final EC report on Slovene preparedness for EU Earlier this month, the European Commission released its final report on Slovene preparations for membership in the European Union. The report, released on 5 November, shows that several steps must still be taken before the country joins the EU next year, but the country remains the best-prepared of the acceding countries. In only one field, free movement of persons, did the EC show "serious concerns." This related to the harmonization of the recognition of professional qualifications with EU guidelines, which has yet to be completed. The report primarily points to doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, veterinarians and chemists. The EC recommended that Slovenia make a "more concerted effort" in twelve other chapters of the 29-chapter acquis: agriculture, competition, consumer protection and health, corporate law, foreign relations, free movement of goods and services, justice and home affairs, regional policy and structural funds, social affairs and employment, taxes and telecommunications. Slovene officials including Minist er of European Affairs Janez Potočnik gave assurances after the report was made public that many of the recommendations have already been enacted. The report only covered the period up to the end of September, and so advances made in October and November are not reflected.EU candidates leave CEFTA, three members remain At the end of last week, the eight member states of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) met in Brdo pri Kranju for the last time before five of its members – Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – leave the organization to join the European Union next year. This was the tenth anniversary of the founding of CEFTA, and the first summit in which new member Croatia participated. Slovenia joined in 1996. Just three members – Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania – are left, and they intend to keep the organization going. They would like to see new members join, though as of now only Macedonia fulfils the membership criteria and has not expressed interest in CEFTA membership. All eight CEFTA members agreed that the organization, founded in 1993, has been a huge success. Prime Minister Anton Rop said that Slovenia’s membership not only helped to strengthen the country’s economy, but was also useful in the country’s European integration processes. In his address to the summit, he said, "CEFTA is a rehearsal for the complex processes of nominal and real convergence with the high standards of competition that exist in the European Union."
Schools (re)introduce Serbian instruction On 8 November, optional Serbian-language instruction began at the Ivan Cankar elementary school in Maribor. This is the first school in the country to offer Serbian classes since independence in 1991. The program is expected to be introduced into more schools around Slovenia in the next school year. Students enrolled in the program receive four hours of Serbian-language instruction each Thursday afternoon throughout the school year. Instruction is given in four subjects: Serbian language, literature, history and music. Some 46 students aged 7 to 18 have signed up to start. The occasion was marked by a full cultural program organized by the local Branko Radićević Serbian Cultural Society. The organization has been active in Maribor for five years and has been keenly interested in the introduction of Serbian-language instruction.The Serbian classes are the result of 18 months of talks between Slovenia and Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia plans to introduce optional Slovene-language instruction in its Vojvodina province, home to the majority of that country’s ethnic Slovenes. According to Slovenia News, some 150,000 of the 170,000 immigrants to Slovenia recorded on the 2002 census were from the other republics of the former Yugoslavia. These figures do not account for the established Serbian minority in Bela Krajina and elsewhere, or the Croats along the border between Slovenia and Croatia. Bosnian-language instruction was introduced throughout the country at the beginning of the school year, organized by the Bosnian Cultural Union of Slovenia. The classes take place twice weekly throughout the school year.
New free weekly premiers Ljubljana and Maribor residents found a new weekly newspaper in their mailboxes on 7 November. The paper, called Žurnal (Journal), is being distributed free of charge in the two cities. The print run of 205,000 copies is a new record in the Slovene print media.The newspaper is general interest, with different regional coverage in the Ljubljana and Maribor editions making up 20 to 30 percent of the contents. The paper is owned by the Austrian firm Styria Medien AG, which also publishes Die Presse and Kleine Zeitung in Austria. They are also the majority owners of Croatia’s largest daily, Vecernji list. With Žurnal, Styria is only an investor and has left the management of the paper to Slovenes. The paper's editor in chief is Dejan Steinbuch, formerly of Demokracija.In other media-related news, Finance reported this week that the free biweekly newspaper Dobro jutro is planning to expand from its base in Maribor, Ptuj and Slovenska Bistrica with a new edition aimed at Ljubljana and Celje on 22 November. Finance also reported this week that plans for the debut of the new weekly newsmagazine Kolektiv have been delayed. The magazine was supposed to appear this fall, but investors backed out and the team is now in talks with new investors. An internet edition is expected to premier before the end of the year regardless of the status of the print edition.
And in other news…
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