Overview of the week's top stories since 27 Sept. 2003

• US freezes support for Slovene military
• Poll shows low support for government
• Deal struck on Slovene radio in Austria
• Rezervni deli champ at Festival of Slovene Film
• Ljubljana hosts medieval festival

US freezes support for Slovene military

30 September marked the final day that several countries, including Slovenia, were eligible for military assistance from the United States. Earlier this year, the US decided to withhold assistance to dozens of countries because they refused to sign bilateral treaties exempting American citizens from extradition to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

That decision took effect on 1 October. The 2003 funds will be frozen until Slovenia and the other countries sign, ratify and implement a bilateral agreement.

Slovenia was expected to receive more than USD 4 million in the next twelve months. However, that amount works out to be is little more than USD 2 per capita, a small price to pay – as Mladina pointed out back in July – for one’s principles.

Though Slovenia and six other countries which will join NATO next year are affected by the US decision, military assistance to current NATO member states was not affected, regardless of whether they signed a bilateral treaty. Theoretically, Slovenia could once again be eligible for US assistance when it joins the alliance in just about six months’ time.

According to a poll published in Mag on 1 October, just 33.6 percent of voters support the current government led by Prime Minister Anton Rop. Some 50.3 percent oppose it, and 47.7 percent would like to see the Liberal Democrats – which have controlled the government virtually non-stop since independence – be defeated at the next election and enter the opposition.

Regardless, the poll reveals that Liberal Democrats continue to enjoy the highest popularity of any party currently sitting in parliament, 23.3 percent. They are followed by the Social Democrats (10 percent), the Untied List of Social Democrats (7.6), the Youth Party (5.5), the People’s Party (4.5), New Slovenia (3.7), the Nationalist Party (2.7) and the Pensioner’s Party (1.9).

Given that parties must attract at least four percent of the vote to enter parliament, these results seem to indicate that several of the eight parties currently holding seats may run into trouble in the next election, due in 2004.

The poll also compared present prime minister Anton Rop with his predecessor, current president Janez Drnovšek. Nearly 46 percent see no difference between the two, while some 26 percent believe Rop is a worse prime minister and 17 percent believe him to be better than Drnovšek was.

Deal struck on Slovene radio in Austria

On 30 September, the Slovene minority in Austria’s Carinthia (Koroška) province reached a deal with state broadcaster ORF regarding Slovene-language radio programming after nearly nine months of on-again off-again negotiations. Carinthian Slovenes lost Radio Dva, Austria’s only all-Slovene radio station earlier this year after ORF halted funding.

According to this week’s agreement, however, 24-hour Slovene-language programming may soon be available. ORF has pledged to provide for eight hours of programming per day, with private radio stations Radio Dva and Radio Agora picking up the 16-hour difference. ORF will provide EUR 200,000 to the two stations for that purpose.

The agreement is set to be signed at the end of the month, with 24-hour programming to be launched on 1 February 2004.

Local Slovene leaders were pleased, though somewhat reserved. Association of Slovene Organizations (ZSO) leader Marjan Sturm regrets that the agreement does not foresee the continuation of the one-hour daily Slovene-language program on ORF’s Carinthian frequency after the separate 24-hour service starts up.

On 27 September, the sixth Festival of Slovene Film (FSF) ended in Celje. The final event was the awards ceremony. Among other prizes, a jury awarded the Vesnas, Slovenia’s most prestigious film award, at the ceremony.

Damjan Kozole’s feature Rezervni deli (Spare Parts) took home four Vesnas, for best film, actor, music and photography. The film also won the Stop Magazine award for best actor, the Kodak Award for photography and the Synchro Award for production – a total of seven awards. The film was also recently named the country’s official entry for the United States Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film.

Metod Pevec’s feature Pod njenim oknom (Under her window) followed with six awards. The film won two Vesnas, for best actress and screenplay. The film also walked away with the Society of Slovene Film Critic’s Award for Best Film, and the Stop Magazine awards for best actress, most promising actor and best supporting actress.

A total of some 57 films were shown at the festival, including seven features which competed for the Vesna awards. The French, Greek and Slovene co-production Lilly’s Story by director Robert Manthoulis was also screened.

Ljubljana hosts medieval festival

From 3 to 5 October, Ljubljana hosted its annual medieval festival, beginning with a Friday-night reception at the city’s castle. Throughout the weekend, events were held all over town, from the castle to Zvezda Park to Tromostovje to the City Park shopping center and in front of town hall.

More than 150 performers entertained the crowd, with contingents coming from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Poland and the UK. Various events were on the program, including concerts of medieval and renaissance music, traditional puppet theatre (including Pulcinella, Punch and Judy and Knight Laszlo), a medieval market place and knights’ camp. Fireworks ended the festival on Sunday night.

The medieval festival was organized by the Ljubljana-based Mini Teatr organization, with the support of the Ljubljana Tourism Institute, the City of Ljubljana and the Ministry of Culture.

And in other news…

• 30 September was the deadline to submit suggestions to the National Assembly for a new state symbol and for a new national flag. More than 100 proposals were received. At stake is a prize of SIT 4m (USD 20,000). The winner will be announced on 30 October.

• On 2 October, Galerija Avla at Nova Ljubljanska Banka in Ljubljana opened an exhibit of Slovene tourism posters from 1945 to 1960. The posters feature various regions of the country and show the development of poster art in the post-World War II period. The exhibit will close on 14 November.

• Two new bookstores opened this week in Ljubljana. The first, run by the Prešeren Society, is at Igriška ulica 5. The shop also reportedly offers internet access, a rare find in town. Azil is the name of the second store, run by the Scientific Research Center of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts. It is located at Novi trg 2.