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

Due to changes in methodology, the 2002 total population is not fully comparable with that of 1991. As part of the changes, those who have permanent residences in Slovenia but who lived outside of the country for at least one year prior to 15 April 2002 were not counted. At the same time, those who did not have permanent residence in Slovenia but who lived there for at least one year prior to 15 April 2002 were counted.

If the 1991 census data is reformulated using the new methodology, the country's population has risen by 34,895 people, or 1.8 percent. With about 1500 more people dying than being born, a slight negative natural growth was recorded between 1991 and 2002. The overall increase is the result of immigration.

Further. the number of households rose 7.6 percent, while the average number of household members fell from 3.1 to 2.8. According to the STA report, this is the most significant demographic process in the past decade. Among the reasons given for the change are a higher number of households with just one child or no children and a lower number of traditional households made up of three generations of a family.

Also, the census counted 5,997 settlements in the country, of which 62 had no residents and 223 had less than ten. Only 16 settlements had more than 100,000 inhabitants. Ljubljana and Maribor together account for almost 18 percent of the population of the entire country, though in 1981 they accounted for nearly 19 percent. The greatest population increase (1.6 percent) was recorded in settlements with 500 to 5000 inhabitants. More than 34 percent of the country lives in settlements of under 500 people.

The census was conducted from 1 to 15 April 2002. The complete official results will not be available until April 2003.

On Thursday, Ljubljana's High Court invalidated the ruling of the regional court which last June tried and convicted former Ministry of the Economy State Secretary Boris Šuštar of corruption. The High Court cited irregularities in the legal process as the basis of its decision.

Last June, the regional court convicted Šuštar of two counts of accepting a bribe. He was sentenced to three years in prison and fined SIT 7 million (USD 30,000). The implementation of the sentence was put on hold pending appeal.

Three others were implicated in the affair: businessman Stanislav Droljec, who received a one-year prison sentence and a fine; Boštjan Šoba, former member of the oversight council of the Slovene Development Agency, who received two years' probation; and Šuštar's wife Rozana, who was acquitted.

The High Court has sent the case back to the regional court for a new trial for all four. Šuštar told STA that he expected a pardon but was nevertheless satisfied with what has happened. He is certain a new trial will find him innocent.

The November 2000 arrest of Šuštar, his wife and two others was Slovenia's first major corruption scandal.

On 11 June, amendments to the Law on Local Self-Administration entered into force, in preparation for elections to be held later this year. The amendments introduce many changes into local self-administration, and include new regulations for the salaries of mayors, vice-mayors and city councilmen, as well as other administrative details.

The new amendments also regulate the representation of the country's towns. From now on, any association with a membership of at least one-fourth of the country's towns representing at least one-fourth of the country's population will be considered valid. The country's two such existing associations, the Assembly of Slovene Communities (SOS) and the Association of Slovene Communities (ZOS) both fulfill the new requirements.

Another major change concerns the status of Koper, which has been a special case for many years. According to the new amendments, local elections will now be held there with the rest of the country, instead of next year. Due to administrative controversies, Koper's local elections have been out of synch for some time.

On Wednesday, the Association of Regional Development Agencies (RRA) was established in Celje. Directors of the country's twelve RRAs signed an agreement and participated in the Association's first general meeting immediately afterwards. The Association will be based in Celje, and steered by a five-member executive committee.

Representatives of the various RRAs believe that the government is not doing enough to promote equitable development of Slovenia's regions. By forming a common body, they feel the RRAs will have more influence at the national level.

Boris Klancik, director of the Celje RRA, told STA, "Our goal is, among others, to achieve the programmatic project financing of the regional development of Slovenia as well as to ensure the professional autonomy, awareness, quality and social significance of development work and the work of the RRAs in Slovenia."

At the Union's first general meeting, the group discussed proposals for establishing formal regions within Slovenia as part of the country's bid for membership in the European Union. Minister of the Interior Rado Bohinc was also present.

A public discussion on the Law on the Use of Slovene as the Official Language was held on Tuesday. Members of parliamentary Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Science and Sport participated, along with other representatives of the government and parliament, along with the general public.

According to the Working Group for Language Planning and Language Policies, the protection of the Slovene language is in the interest of the public. However, a representative of the working group pointed out that the language is not "alarmingly" threatened at this time.

Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) representative Dr. Kajetan Gantar said the opposite. SAZU has warned for years that the Slovene language has never been as threatened as it is today. Gantar particularly lamented the fact that many Slovene experts no longer regularly publish their works in Slovene.

Dr. Zoltan Jan, representative of the National Council, agreed, and added medicine is one of the primary areas where Slovene is losing ground for that reason. He also pointed out that the use of foreign languages in advertising is also rising rapidly.

On Monday, the Ljubljana City Council joined in the debate, passing a recommendation which urged parliament to pass the draft law as soon as possible. The council is particularly interested in having the law passed before Slovenia joins the European Union.

• On 10 June, STA reported that the Slovene embassy in Sarajevo has donated five computers and other equipment to Bosnia's Election Commission. The donation is intended to help Bosnia in its upcoming parliamentary elections, which will be held on 10 October. The elections will be the first organized and conducted by the Bosnian authorities rather than by the international community.

• According to STA, in the past four months, the most foreign tourists in Belgrade were Slovenes, more than 1700. Next were Macedonians, Bosnians and Germans. Americans stayed the longest, with an average visit of 5.8 days.