At its 10th regular session, the Government extended the mandate of Barbara Koželj Podlogar, the current Head of the Creativity Directorate, as Acting Director-General of the Directorate.

At its regular session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a draft act on a lower rate of value added tax on certain types of energy products. By temporarily reducing the VAT rate from 22% to 9.5%, the Government is addressing the impact of energy price increases during the peak energy consumption period, i.e. the heating season. The Government also took note of the partial report on the fire intervention in the Goriška Karst region and instructed the Ministry of Defence to prepare, by the end of August, a legal solution to enable the payment of a special award to volunteers participating in the system of protection, rescue and assistance in the event of large-scale disaster interventions. The Government will also launch a procedure to assess the damage caused by the Karst fire and the possibility of acquiring financial assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 27 July 2022 in Kyiv between the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Information Security and the Administration of the State Service of Ukraine for Special Communications and Cyber Security Data Protection.

The latest DESI report, DESI 2022, shows that Slovenia has made progress again and is now ranked 11th, which is its highest ranking ever.

On 26 July, 2022 in New York, the Slovenian mission to the UN hosted a hybrid event entitled Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Cyber Threats: An Analysis of Appropriate Regulation, Good Practices, International Law and Norms, prepared by the Government Information Security Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Microsoft.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon paid a working visit to Ukraine, where she met with Ukranian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko and Director of the Ukraine Investment Promotion Office Sergiy Tsivkach. During talks with her hosts, Minister Fajon stressed that Slovenia will continue to support and assist Ukraine, both in coping with the catastrophic consequences of the Russian aggression and in overcoming the obstacles on the path towards EU integration.

The European Commission declared three violations to have been successfully resolved by Slovenia – the failure to fulfil obligations from the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in connection with the Rules on the Protection of Buildings Against Lightning, the non-notification of regulations in connection with the establishment of assessment methods for harmful effects of environmental noise, and the non-notification of regulations concerning common noise assessment methods for the purposes of adapting to scientific and technical progress.

On Sunday 24 July 2022, Prime Minister Robert Golob visited the area affected by the fire in the Karst region for the third time. He was briefed on the current situation and met the mayors of the affected municipalities.

Kim Komljanec worked as a playwright, scriptwriter and stage director, theatre director, pedagogue and lecturer until she took up her position as an advisor to the Minister of Culture. Until recently, she was the head of the unit for playwrights within the Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists, which she founded in 2019.

At its 9th regular session, the Government appointed Matevž Čelik Vidmar, former Director of the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), as State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture. He will take up his duties on 1 August 2022.

At the 9th regular session, the Government issued its Decree Determining the Prices of Natural Gas and adopted a further decision regarding risk preparedness in the event of disruptions in the supply of power and natural gas, taking note of the information concerning the problem of the supply of drinking water to the population of Slovenian Istria. It also discussed the general baselines for the preparation of budget documents for the following two years. These will allow the line ministries to draft the financial plans that will form the basis for future coordination and the Government’s priorities in the next two years.

Following yesterday's narrow veto vote by the National Council on the government's amendment to the RTV Slovenia Act, the National Assembly has again approved the proposed amendments. The amendment aims to remove politics from public service broadcasting and ensure its institutional and programme autonomy.

Prime Minister Robert Golob visited a fire site in the Goriška Karst region and the Regional Civil Protection Headquarters to check on the situation faced by local residents, firefighters, civil protection service members and others battling the large-scale fire.

To strengthen cooperation and provide comprehensive solutions to deal with inflation and ensure Slovenia's energy security, Prime Minister Robert Golob invited the presidents and leaders of the parliamentary groups, economists and representatives of energy companies to a special meeting.

On 20 July 2022, Ambassador Suhadolnik participated at the Book Donation Ceremony at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Minister Irena Šinko attended the meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council. The attendees exchanged opinions on the new draft Regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products presented by the European Commission. Moreover, they discussed the agricultural market situation in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the initiative to update the EU legislation on animal transport, and confirmed the Council’s decisions with regard to the new EU strategy for the sustainable development of aquaculture. The Ministers familiarised themselves with the situation of the EU member states in preparations for the implementation of the new Common Agricultural Policy and strategic plans.

Prime Minister dr Robert Golob visited the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia and met with the President of the Constitutional Court, Prof dr Matej Accetto.

The Ministry of Justice welcomes the first judgement of conviction of the Slovenian courts in which the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) acted as the prosecutor.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the regular meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union, chaired by High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. The main topics of discussion included the Russian aggression against Ukraine, digital diplomacy, and the relations between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is with great sadness that we inform you that the voice of Dr Vladimir Kos, a great Slovenian who lived and worked in Tokyo for many years, has fallen silent forever. We offer our sincere condolences to his family, relatives and fellow comrades.