Overview of the week's top stories
since 8 December 2002

Slovenia’s new Prime Minister: Anton Rop

On Wednesday, Anton Rop became Slovenia’s third prime minister since independence. Rop, vice-president of Liberal Democracy (LDS), was confirmed with a vote of 63 to 24 in the National Assembly, far more than the 46 necessary. Rop was sworn in as prime minister immediately upon confirmation.

Also on Wednesday, the coalition parties (LDS, ZLSD, SLS and DeSUS) reaffirmed their coalition agreement signed after the 2000 parliamentary elections. They set several priorities for the next two years, including economic policy and regional development.

Anton Rop was born in Ljubljana in 1960. From 1996 to 2000 he was Minister of Labor, Family and Social Affairs, and has been Minister of Finance since December 2000.

Janez Drnovšek, who was elected to the post of president on 1 December, has been prime minister since independence, with the exception of several months in 2000, when Andrej Bajuk held the post.

"We will restore more cooperation with non-governmental organizations, most of all with those which help the elderly and isolated. There are many good and knowledgeable people in these organizations who want to help," she said. The comments will certainly be well received by the civil society sector, which is underdeveloped throughout the country.

Simšič intends to begin work in this field by figuring out exactly what the city has by way of housing, and then devising a strategy from there. The fact that denationalization is still unfinished is a hindrance.

A new weekly newspaper is slated to appear in Austria’s Carinthia (Koroška) province in the near future. The new publication will unite the weekly organs of the province’s two leading Slovene organizations, the National Council of Carinthian Slovenes (NSKS) and the Federation of Slovene Organizations (ZSO).

However, the new weekly will be independent of both groups. A new organization, called SLOMedia, has been created to produce the newspaper. Andrej Wakounig, head of the Austrian Slovene political party Enotna Lista, is not convinced. He has pointed out that there are only four owners of SLOMedia: two each from the NSKS and the ZSO. Wakounig fears that the new weekly will become the mouthpiece of just these four individuals.

The new weekly should premier next April, with a print run of 4000 copies. SLOMedia also plans to expand its services into the internet with a bilingual German and Slovene portal. According to the 2001 Austrian census, Carinthia is home to 12,554 ethnic Slovenes.

• When Slovenia joins the European Union, its citizens will gain the same rights to work in the United Kingdom as other EU citizens from the date of accession, planned for 1 May 2004, according to a statement made by UK foreign secretary Jack Straw on 10 December. New members’ citizens will face restrictions on the right to work in several current EU member states, which are to remain in place for two to seven years.

• Slovenia was elected chairman of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2005 on 7 December. The decision was made at the organization’s tenth ministerial meeting in Portugal. The OSCE is the largest regional security organization in the world with 55 member states from Europe, Central Asia and North America.

• The 18^th annual Festival of Gay and Lesbian Film at Ljubljana’s Slovenska Kinoteka closed on 8 December. The festival began in 1984, and is the oldest gay and lesbian film festival in Europe. The festival was organized by the Škuc Society, with financial support from the City of Ljubljana, the Slovene Office of Youth Affairs, Škuc – Magnus, Institut Francais Charles Nodier and the British Council.