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Weekly News Bulletin Overview of the week's top stories by brian J. po žun
Slovene businesses saved from American threat The Administrative Court threw out all six complaints filed this week by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer against the Ministry of Healthy. The American giant protested the Ministry’s allowing the registration of generic medications by Krka and Lek just before changes to the Law on Medications took effect. According to Health Minister Dušan Keber, the complaints were baseless, since the medications were registered properly, in accordance with the law. Regardless, the court dismissed the complaints for procedural reasons on the part of Pfizer. Given the circumstances, the company should have filed complaint first with the Ministry, and then used the courts as recourse if no settlement was reached. Krka and Lek are two of the largest corporations in Slovenia, whose products have found highly profitable export markets, especially in Russia and Poland. Among the drugs named in the complaints were one for cholesterol and one for Alzheimer’s disease. Pfizer sells similar drugs at much higher prices. Spokesmen for both Krka and Lek have accused the government of caving into American demands for the amendments to the Law on Medication, intended to boost American presence on the Slovene market while lessening that of local businesses. The press alleged that it is a "public secret" that the amendments were part of the price for NATO membership.
Prime Minister visits New York Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek participated in the World Economic Forum in New York this week. The Slovene delegation also included Finance Minister Tone Rop and ministerial advisor and former general director of Nova Ljubljanska Banka in New York Rudi Gabrovec. Drnovšek’s full schedule has already included meetings with Canadian prime minister Jean Chretin and Swiss president Kaspar Villiger. On the agenda for the talks with Chretin was Canada’s support for Slovene membership in NATO, which the Canadian prime minister assured. On Saturday, Drnovšek is expected to meet with the leading Republican senator Orrin Hatch and former president Bill Clinton. The following day, he is scheduled to meet with New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, following a meeting with Russian prime minister Mihajl Kasjanov.
Parliament votes to keep environment minister On Tuesday night, the National Assembly voted to keep Minister of Environment Janez Kopač. Th e bid to have the minister dismissed ended, after two days and eleven hours of debate, in a vote of 28:43.The Social Democratic Party and New Slovenia requested the interpellation in October, citing a number of complaints: the way Kopač handled the effe cts of the severe drought in the northeast in summer 2000, and his decision to headquarter the new Slovene Electric Holding in Ljubljana and not in Maribor, among other issues.Peter Levič, leader of the Slovene Youth Party’s delegation of four MPs told Delo last week that his party agrees that Kopač has done a poor job, but the Youth Party does not think he can be held accountable. Responsibility lies with the Prime Minister and the government, which issued Kopač wrong-minded directives.Stanislav Holc, head of the Maribor-based NGO Gibanje za Ljudi (Movement for the People), spoke out against the failure to dismiss Kopač. His group has managed to gather 40,000 signatures calling for the minister’s dismissal, which Holc believes was not taken into account by the Assembly. Holc also expressed disappointment towards many members of parliament from Štajerska and Prekmura who failed to vote for Kopač’s dismissal.Kopač is one of the highest-ranking functionaries of Prime Minister Drnovšek’s Liberal Democra ts, which has the most seats in the Assembly. While the governing coalition did keep a more or less united front in his defense, at least one LDS member of parliament did vote for his dismissal.
Sarajevo mayor urges a mosque for Ljubljana Sarajevo mayor Muhidin Hamamdžič encouraged the city of Ljubljana to finally approve the decade-long plan to build a Muslim cultural center in the city. During a two-day visit last week, Hamamdžič met with the city’s Muslim community, which has long been outraged over the city council’s refusal to allow the building of the center, which is to include a mosque, in the city’s Vič area. "I am personally of the opinion, that as a national capital Ljubljana needs such a building, but it will also be necessary to cool down the overheated fears that such things raise,” Ljubljana mayor Viktorija Potočnik told Hamamdžič.Ljubljana’s mayor may support the plan, but the city council forcefully resists the idea. Residents are also resistant, and have sent protest letters to the city council. For more than a decade, Slovenia’s Muslim community has wanted to build the cultural center in the capital. The center would have not only a mosque, but also a library, a classroom for religious instruction, a café, a restaurant, a shop and other facilities. It would be the central institution of the community, which numbers several tens of thousands. The mayor of Sarajevo will return to Ljubljana in September, for an international conference of mayors of Southeastern European capitals.
ŠKUC celebrates 30 years On Wednesday, the ŠKUC organization celebrated its 30th anniversary at its gallery on Stari Trg in Ljubljana. ŠKUC emerged from the student movement of 1968 and was formally established on 31 January 1972 to promote alternative culture. Today, its role in the Slovene civil society movement cannot be underestimated. Achievements in music include releasing the first Pankrti album, and various projects with Laibach. Their film projects branched out into a separate organization in 1994, which became E-motion Film. They have also published dozens of books, under such imprints as Studia Humanitatis, Vizibilija and Lambda, as well as influential magazines like Kekec and Rock Vibe. Since the 1980s, ŠKUC has been in the forefront of the gay-rights movement. The organization has three branches which deal with gay-rights issues: Magnus, ŠKUC-LL and Ro ža Klub. They are also responsible for organizing virtually all of Ljubljana’s gay night-life: the clubs Roža, Monokel and Tifani.Beginning in 1998, the organization has run Info ŠKUC, a center to keep young people up to date about cultural events and other opportunities including scholarships, employment, travel and volunteerism. Galerija ŠKUC is located at Stari Trg 21 in Ljubljana, and more information can be found on their website.
And in other news:
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