Overview of the week's top stories
since 9 November 2001

The latest Regular Report of the European Commission (EC) once again showed Slovenia’s success in its transition to democracy and a market economy. The annual Regular Reports evaluate the progress made by candidate states for membership in the European Union (EU).

For the fourth year running, Slovenia’s report is positive overall. Successes in judicial reform were highlighted, with the EC noting appreciation for the reduction of the backlog of pending court cases.

The EC also noted the elimination of duty-free shops with satisfaction. Slovenia had promised to do away with the shops in 1998, but it was not until September of this year that the shops were finally converted.

The apparent finalization of the border with Croatia was also praised.

But work remains to be done. The biggest criticism in this year’s report was Slovenia’s lack of a coherent regional policy. Local leaders, especially in Štajerska and Koroška, opposed the government’s plan to introduce a regional structure consisting of two parts: metropolitan Ljubljana, and the rest of the country. The EC also discouraged the plan.

State Secretary for Regional Development at the Ministry of the Economy Igor Strmšnik told STA that the government has reworked the plan to include three regions - presumably metropolitan Ljubljana; Štajerska and eastern Slovenia; and Primorska and western Slovenia. The government hopes that this formulation will be more acceptable both at home and also in Brussels.

The need for further reform of civil service was also pointed out. The EC acknowledged that some progress has been made, but the biggest step remains: the passage of the Law on Civil Servants and Public Agencies.

Significantly, the EC picked up on calls made earlier this year by Amnesty International and Helsinki Monitor, and reports that police behavior must be addressed, given the number of abuse allegations filed in the past year.

A spokesman for the police told the daily Dnevnik that they have taken the comments into consideration and will "study" them.

Regardless of the remaining problems, Slovenia’s progress according to the EU criteria is significant, especially when compared to the other candidate countries. It is a commonly held belief that regardless of the enlargement scheme Brussels finally adopts, Slovenia is a shoo-in.

In Thursday’s Finance, Uroš Urbas reported on the case of eighteen students lured to the Economics and Business Faculty (EPF) in Maribor from China who seem to be the victims of fraud.

The students were part of the International Business School for foreign students. The school’s program has two parts: English classes and specialized subject classes. However, the specialized classes were never held, since the students did not learn enough English to follow the lectures. The students are disappointed and want their money back.

Compounding the problem, there is no record of the International Business School ever having been legally established, and none of the students have gotten official reviews of transfer credits. Without such a review, foreign students cannot study in the country.

The relationship between the International Business School and the Economics and Business Faculty of the University of Maribor remains unclear.

Most of the students want to go home, but first they want their money back. One of them, Jing Zeng, told Finance that "all of the students from China paid USD 3,900 for classes, aside from the USD 350 for admission fees, computer use and textbooks, for one year."

But getting the money back will not be easy. Zeng was the only one who paid the EPF directly; the others paid through the agencies in China that arranged for them to come to Slovenia. A portion of the money apparently stayed with these middlemen.

Both the Chinese embassy and the Ministry of Education are investigating the affair. Finance spoke to Dr. Dušan Lesjak, former assistant director of the International Business School, who said that most of the students’ money went to Chinese middlemen.

When Finance asked him for the phone number of one of these middlemen, Lesjak reportedly was surprised and explained that such a call would be pointless since none of the middlemen speak English.

On Monday, the executive committee of the Society of Journalists of Slovenia (DNS) Celje branch spoke out against the interrogation of journalists about information received from sources by the courts.

Last Friday, two journalists were questioned at the Celje regional court to divulge confidential information of use to the legal proceedings.

The DNS warns that this practice violates the codes of ethics of both journalists and also the police. They maintain that, while there have been no incidents of this practice in over a year, it appears the courts are trying to reinstate it.

If the courts continue to try to force journalists to divulge confidential information or sources, the DNS warns it will call on its members to conduct acts of civil disobedience.

The Slovene Academy of Science and Art (SAZU) presented the new Slovene Orthography on Wednesday. The book, detailing the language’s latest spelling and grammar rules, is the sixth such work in the language's history; the last was published in 1962.

Though the book will certainly strike many as dry – orthographic rules cover the first 300 pages; a lexicon fills out the remaining 1500 – publishers anticipate great interest. The book will have an initial print run of 20,000 copies, well above average.

• Franc But, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition, said on Friday that initial tests seem to confirm that Mad Cow Disease has been found in Slovenia. Officials are waiting for test results from a lab in Switzerland for final confirmation. Minister But assured consumers that there is no meat in stores that has not been tested. There is no threat to public safety. Of the 26,000 heads of livestock tested so far, only this one case seemed to show Mad Cow Disease.

• The Bank of Slovenia reported that from January to August 2001, Slovenia had received a record USD 199.8 million in foreign direct investment (FDI). From 1996 to 2000, the total FDI received amounted to only USD 236 million. Projections released this week by the Economist Intelligence Unit expect USD 590 million for the period 2001-2005.

• The Ministry of Culture plans to give the Film Fund more than SIT 50 million (USD 200,000) from its annual budget for 2001. The money will be used to begin two feature films: Rezervni deli (Spare parts) by Porno film director Damjan Kozole and Kam je izginila Stella del Nord (Where did Stella del Nord disappear to), by Karp Godina. The remaining funds will go towards four short films.

Note: There will be no weekly news report published for the upcoming week of 26 November. The next report will be published on Tues, Dec 4^th.