Overview of the week's top stories
since 7 October 2002

The sitting president told Pop TV that he intends to follow events in Slovenia and around the world after he steps down, but has no plans to reenter Slovene politics in the near future. He will, however, continue his work with the Bled Network, a body he helped form to discuss global ethics which gathers intellectuals, businessmen, politicians and artists in Bled every year.

"With a peaceful soul I look at all that has happened, with a slightly unsettled soul I look at all that could have happened, and it is with a somewhat dissatisfied soul that I look at opportunities which were not better exploited. I am also at this moment relatively tired and that somehow seems like a redeeming thing to me," he concluded.

Another candidate who did not manage to collect the signatures required for registration, Štefan Hudobivnik, appealed to the Internal Ministry earlier in the week for protection. Hudobivnik believes that his life is in danger due to a suit he filed with the state prosecutor’s office against current Prime Minister and presidential candidate Janez Drnovšek. The suit alleges that Drnovšek participated in the preparations for a genocide that was ultimately executed in Kosovo during his tenure as president of the presidency Yugoslavia. The Internal Ministry, however, only provides bodyguards once hopefuls have officially registered their candidacy, and so Hudobivnik is ineligible.

Progress in creating regions was the topic of a press conference given by Interior Minister Rado Bohinc on Wednesday. Bohinc said that for now everything rests on the shoulders of the Commission for Constitutional Changes, which will soon decide whether to repeal article 143 of the Constitution, which governs the formation of regions in Slovenia.

According to article 143, municipalities may join and form provinces or regions on the basis of referenda, but this has never been put into practice. Among the proposed amendments to the Constitution is one that would give the central government the ability to create regions itself.

If the Commission decided to approve the measure, the government will set about forming six, eight or twelve regional governments. The work will be founded on three laws which are expected to be passed in 2003: a law on regions, a law on the territorial structure of regions and a law on the transfer of responsibilities from the state to the regions. Nearly 50 other laws will have to be altered to accommodate the change.

However, if the Commission decides not to approve the measure, regions will be formed based on article 143 as it stands, according to Bohinc.

The government must form a regional tier of government as part of its EU membership plan in order to receive funds for regional development. For now, Slovenia is continuing its negotiations with the EU on the premise that the entire country will enter the Union as a single region, with the possibility of adjusting that arrangement at a later date. Currently, Luxembourg is the only EU member which has no regional governments in place.

On Thursday, the government established the Governmental Commission on Non-Governmental Organizations. The Commission is mandated with expanding cooperation between the government and the country's various NGOs. Among the Commission's tasks are the preparation of a strategy of cooperation with NGOs, and coordinating a project aimed at involving NGOs in the process of Slovenia's accession to the European Union.

Members of the commission were drawn from various ministries, including the Ministries of the Interior, of Labor, Family and Social Issues, of the Environment and of Finance. Representatives of several other ministries have expressed interest in participating in the Commission's work as well.

Previously, the Government Service for European Affairs (SVEZ) managed the government's cooperation with NGOs. SVEZ also contributed to the establishment of the Center for Non-Governmental Organizations (CNVOS) last year.

The first Festival of Slovene NGOs, called Lupa, began on Thursday at sites in Ljubljana, Maribor and Nova Gorica. The goal of Lupa is to raise awareness of NGO issues and activities, to increase cooperation among various groups and to strengthen dialogue between NGOs and the government, local communities and international organizations. The festival runs through Tuesday, 22 October.

Organized by the year-old Center for Non-Governmental Organizations (CNVOS), the festival's schedule includes workshops, roundtable discussions and forums as well as a cultural program made up of concerts, films and performances. Hot topics at the festival include the situation of refugees and asylum-seekers in Slovenia, volunteerism, lobbying, tax legislation and Slovenia's bids for membership in the EU and NATO.

Both the Dutch MATRA (MEDE European Consultancy) and the Belgian European Citizen Action Service helped sponsor the Lupa festival, along with the Governmental Service for European Issues, the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe and the Dutch and American embassies. There are roughly 16,000 NGOs registered in Slovenia, and nearly 70 are members of CNVOS.

Although Journalism Days 2002 was held last Thursday through Saturday in Izola, coverage continued to appear in the press through Monday. The event has a more than ten-year history and drew nearly 200 journalists in three days.

This year’s Journalism Days ran under the slogan "Journalists are not public servants. Journalists are in the service of the public." Meetings addressed issues such as working conditions, editorial autonomy and relations between administrations and editorial boards within media organizations.

The most important news emanating from the event was the adoption of a new code of ethics for Slovene journalists, replacing the previous one from 1991. The code is composed of four chapters, which deal with the work of journalists, conflicts of interest, general ethical norms and the rights of journalists and relations to the public. The text is based primarily on the codes of ethics of the American Society of Professional Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists.

Another important result of the meeting was the signing of a special protocol on cooperation between the Society of Journalists of Slovenia (DNS) and the Syndicate of Journalists of Slovenia (SNS) concerning the preparations for a new collective agreement for journalists. The two organizations have primarily worked separately in the past, and so the protocol is seen as a significant step forward.

• Ekran, the only Slovene cinema journal is celebrating its 40^th anniversary with its October issue. The issue hits newsstands on 21 October.

• On Wednesday, an eleven-member committee chosen by the Society of Slovene Filmmakers selected Andrej Košak’s Zvenenje v glavi (Ringing in the Head) to be the Slovene candidate for the foreign-language Academy Award. Maja Weiss’s Varuh meje (Guardian of the Frontier) and Janez Lapajne’s Šelestenje (Rustling Landscapes) were also eligible. The Academy Awards will take place on 23 March 2003 in Los Angeles.