Overview of the week's top stories
since 15 June 2002

After resolving to run for the presidency on 14 June, Janez Drnovšek now intends to step down from his current post as prime minister, most likely in September. The departure of the prime minister will require all of the current ministers to step down, a new prime minister to be named and a new government to be formed.

On Monday, the Council of Liberal Democracy decided that they will formally choose a new prime ministerial candidate in mid-July, before parliament breaks for the summer. According to Drnovšek, this will enable the government to continue its work unhindered.

Negotiations with coalition partners will follow, and the formal process of replacing the prime minister and the government should begin around 10 September. The new government should be in place before the election campaign begins.

More forceful in his criticism was Štefan Hudobivnik, who intends to run for the presidency as an independent candidate. On Friday, STA reported that Hudobivnik called for Drnovšek to withdraw his bid for candidacy, attacking the prime minister’s track record not only at his current post but also as the final president of the presidency of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.

The International Federation of Journalists released the report of its independent investigation into the attack on journalist Miro Petek and the subsequent police investigation this week. Alexander Sami, Central Secretary of the Swiss Federation of Journalists, conducted the investigation from 10 to 12 April 2002.

According to the press release, "the attack was motivated by Miro Petek's investigative journalism and his revelations of corruption in Slovenia; the failure to prosecute those responsible has left some Slovenian journalists concerned about their own safety; a lack of independence of the local police force undermines its capacity to conduct a full and independent investigation; the attack also intimidates the police, judiciary, local authorities and their families, undermining their ability to act professionally and independently; relatives of police officers and state prosecutors were fired from jobs without explanation; and six journalists are currently being sued for their coverage of the Miro Petek case."

"It is clear that local prosecutors have neither the resources nor the confidence to pursue the investigation to its conclusion," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary.

In the press release, the IFJ also said "The country has made good progress in establishing a vibrant democracy, however the attack on Miro Petek throws a shadow over the future of press freedom." The group is calling on the European Union to devote more attention to the issue of press freedom in its membership negotiations with Slovenia.

Tuesday was the deadline for collecting the 40,000 signatures necessary to call a referendum on the Law on the System of Salaries in the Public Sector. The Police Union came up short, however, and was only able to collect about 19,000.

The Law on the System of Salaries in the Public Sector was passed by the National Assembly on 26 April, but on 3 May the National Council vetoed it; days later, on 7 May, the Assembly overturned the veto by a large majority.

The referendum was called by the Police Union in an attempt to block the government from enacting the law. Other unions supported the initiative, and while the 19,000 signatures are less than half the requirement, it nevertheless represents three-times the membership of the Police Union itself.

Signatures are still being collected in support of two other referenda proposals: one concerning the draft Law on Organizations for the Handicapped with a deadline of 3 July, and the other concerning the privatization of Nova Ljubljanska Banka and Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor with a deadline of 19 July.

While Zagreb is home to the most ethnic Slovenes, 3,225, it has only the fourth-highest concentration. The highest is in Istria county, followed by the border counties of Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Medjimurje, then Zagreb. In fifth place is Krapina-Zagorje, Tito’s home region.

While 13,173 declared Slovene ethnicity, only 11,872 declared Slovene as their mother tongue. Interestingly, Krapina-Zagorje county recorded only 439 ethnic Slovenes, but 561 declared Slovene their mother tongue. Similarly, in Medjimurje there were 522 Slovenes but 661 speakers.

The opposite phenomenon shows up in Osijek-Baranja county, where 480 declared Slovene ethnicity, but only 248 declared their mother tongue to be Slovene.

The census recorded a total population of 4,437,460, or 6.1 percent less than in 1991. Nearly 90 percent are Croats, while just 7.47 percent are members of national minorities. On the 1991 census, Croats accounted for about 78 percent of the population. The biggest drop was among the Serbian community, which fell from 12.2 percent in 1991 to 4.5 percent in 2001.

The Slovene People‘ s Party (SLS) announced it will in fact support France Arhar in the upcoming presidential elections this week. The announcement was made at a ceremony marking the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic People‘ s Party (CPS).

SLS leader France But told Delo “ Our voice goes to him because we see in Arhar a man of width, experience, European principles and a man of the future.“ Arhar nevertheless intends to register his candidacy by collecting signatures, despite the fact that the endorsement of a parliamentary party would be sufficient.

Three other parliamentary parties have yet to name or support presidential candidates. On Tuesday, Delo spoke to representatives of the Slovene Youth Party (SMS), the Democratic Party of Pensioners (DeSUS) and the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) about their plans.

DeSUS is looking at two candidates, but has not yet decided.

The weekend featured sword fighting and archery, as well as medieval song and dance. A medieval market was set up, complete with wandering minstrels. Aside from local participants, knights from the Czech Republic also performed.

The Kamnik Medieval Days are part of the international tourism initiative Venerina, which is based on a medieval poem about Ulrich von Lichtenstein who journeyed through 52 towns in what is now Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy and Slovenia disguised as the goddess Venus in the 13^th century. Seven towns in Slovenia were mentioned in the poem: Rajhenburg (Brestanica), Štanjel, Predjama, Ljubljana, Škofja Loka, Kamnik and Mali Grad.

The sixth annual Break 21 International Festival of Young Emerging Artists started on Tuesday in Ljubljana. More than 100 young artists from all over the world are participating. The festival's theme this year is "Dead or Alive."

Musical events will be held at K4, visual arts and performances will be held at Kapelica and video and film projections and multimedia works will be shown at Kiberpipa, all in downtown Ljubljana.

The festival includes works from several disciplines. Theoretical and critical texts on the theme will be presented and published in the festival catalogue. Visual arts presented will include comic strips and graphic works, as well as photographs and computer-assisted art. Performance art, music, architecture, fashion, multimedia, film and even culinary arts are also included on the program.

Lent, Slovenia’s largest summer festival, began on Friday in Maribor. Last year, more than 500,000 attended, and more are expected this year. The event runs until 6 July.

The festival is featuring more than 400 performances on nine stages, among them concerts, theatre productions, operas, ballets, folklore presentations and other cultural events. Organizers say there will be nearly 3500 performers from 30 countries.

• On Wednesday, the nearly 1250-page Komentar Ustave Republike Slovenije (Commentary to the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia) was presented at the Konzorcij bookstore in Ljubljana. According to the book’s editor, Lovro Šturm, this is the first volume of this type to appear not only in Slovenia but also in the wider former Yugoslav region. The Komentar was published by the Faculty for Post-Diplomatic State and European Studies.