Overview of the week's top stories
since 31 March 2002

The strike of the country’s doctors and dentists was suspended on Friday at 7a.m. after 17 days. The signing of an agreement between national health union Fides and the government on Wednesday was enough to satisfy Fides, at least for now.

After intense negotiations this week, two issues remain unresolved: payment for time doctors are on call, and the entry into force of a new professional collective agreement.

As part of the agreement signed Wednesday, the government has agreed to create the opportunities for 50 new doctors to be hired, and to help internists enter into specializations.

Though doctors have returned to their regular schedules, the Fides strike board also adopted a resolution this week that if further negotiations with the government are not successful, the union will declare the strike back on.

Fides called a general strike of the country's doctors and dentists on 19 March to stress the need for better working conditions. The strike was a so-called "soft" strike, meaning that doctors only worked a forty-hour week with the possibility of only ten hours of overtime. The strike was not intended to shut down the country's healthcare system, simply to call attention to the problems doctors are facing.

Though the doctors’ strike ended this week, the railroad strike continued and the country’s teachers may be next. The national Union of Education and Science (SVIZ) threatened to strike last week over a collective agreement for education. Negotiations were held throughout the week, but no consensus was reached.

Compounding the issue is the systematic law on salaries in the public sector, which the government must pass by 30 April. If the law is not passed, school teachers will get supplements to their salaries which will equalize them to the salaries of doctors in August. The government can neither afford the cost, nor pass the law by the deadline.

In exchange for more time, the government is offering the teachers a better deal within the framework of the law. However, SVIZ representatives said this week that they would offer an extension on the passage of the law only if it was removed from its second (of three) reading in the National Assembly. The union is upset that the law was submitted to parliament before it was fully negotiated with the union.

The national police union also supports this demand for the same reason, though no predictions of a police strike have surfaced as of yet.

On Monday, the National Assembly passed new rules of procedures, with a vote of 57 for and 24 against. The new rules will take effect on 15 July and are intended to rationalize the Assembly’s work.

Among the innovations are enhancements to the role of the Collegium, which will no longer be solely an advisory body. According to the new protocol, it will now have appointment functions as well.

The new rules of procedure were championed by members of parliament of the LDS, ZLSD and DeSUS parties. The opposition, however, opposes them, insofar as they fear their role in parliament will be diminished.

On Sunday, 7 April, referenda will be held around the country deciding the fates of several communities. Many communities wish to be transferred from one town to another, while one community will vote for its establishment as a town in its own right: Šmartno pri Litiji will vote for secession from the town of Litija.

Some forty other communities also wanted to be established either as towns or municipalities, but the National Assembly, based on article 13 of the Law on Motions for the Establishment of Towns refused their requests.

The communities petitioned the Constitutional Court, which threw out the cases this week. Since the Assembly’s decision was made on the basis of a law which does not violate the constitution, the Court believes it has no authority in the matter.

The country’s first census since independence began on Monday, 1 April.

A poll in Nedelo last Sunday showed that some 95 percent of respondents knew the census was taking place. More than twenty percent, however, said they do not intend to answer the optional question regarding religion, while 8.5 percent were still undecided.

Almost 14 percent intended to withhold information about their assets, 7.6 percent about the ownership of their housing, 2.9 percent about their living conditions, 2.6 percent about their ethnicity or nationality, and 1.7 percent about their education. On the other hand, 82.2 percent intended to answer all questions on the census form.

The country’s Statistical Office expects only two percent of the population will not complete the census form, as compared to six percent in the United States. The usual demographic of those who do not comply is men under the age of thirty.

Data from the census which is important to the development planning of the state and towns will be released on 14 June. The information will be useful as the government debates its plans for establishing regions.

The 2002 census, the first since Slovenia’s independence in July 1991, is scheduled to run from 1 to 15 April. Slovenia’s last census was conducted in the spring of 1991, while the country was still part of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.

Newspapers early in the week reported statistics from Easter weekend which bode well for the upcoming tourist season.

On the coast, hotels in Piran were virtually full. Portorož’s Metropol hotel group reported 97 percent occupancy, but added that that was the same as in 2001.

In the ski resort town of Kranjska Gora, Kompas hotel reported 70 percent occupancy, of which 90 percent were tourists from abroad.

The country’s spas seemed to fare best of all. Dolenjske Toplice reported 98 percent occupancy over the weekend, while Moravske Toplice reported nearly 100 percent occupancy, up almost 15 percent over last year.

Although last year’s festival ran for four days, this year’s ran only three due to budget restraints. The lower budget also meant there were less guests and journalists from abroad.

The festival ran through Saturday, 6 April. Aside from Varuh Meje, four features premiered: Janez Lapajne’s Šelestenje, Miha Celar’s Amir, Andrej Košak’s Zvenenje v Glavi (Ringing in the Head) and Franci Slak’s Pesnikov Portret z Dvojnikom (Poet’s Portret in Double).

Igor Šterk’s recent hit Ljubljana also competed for the festival’s top prizes, along with Karp Godina’s feature-length documentary film Zgodba Gospod P.F (The Story of Mr. P.F.).

The board of RTV Slovenia elected Mojca Menart, director of programs for the Slovene Philharmonic, to the post of director of television programs this week. Menart received 14 of the total 25 votes.

Menart presented the board a platform stressing RTVS’s need for a higher profile, and more care for the Slovene language and nonpartisanship.

At the end of February, the board dismissed Janez Lambergar from the post, citing falling viewership. Jani Virk was named interim director, and even though he had the support of RTVS General Director Aleš Štakulj, he only managed to get 11 of the board members’ 25 votes. None of the RTVS board members voted for the third candidate, former editor at Kanal A, Gorazd Slak.

• Sestre, winners of the national Eurosong competition, are recording a remake of the 1970s ABBA hit "Dancing Queen" with Karmen Stavec, the runner-up in that competition. Miss Marlena of Sestre said that "The song is idea for a duet. And especially the verse ‘You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen’ is as if Bjorn and Benny had written it about Karmen." The song will be released as a single. Megaklik.com is reporting that in the video, Karmen will be dressed in "glamorous clothes in rainbow colors."