At today's meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, the ministers discussed the state of play of the revision of the Union fisheries control system. The Council Chair Jože Podgoršek briefed the ministers on important achievements of the Slovenian Presidency regarding the revision. Today, the ministers primarily focussed on the agreement on fishing quotas for 2022.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan passed the presidency baton in the field of development cooperation to his counterpart French State Secretary Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.

Today’s press conference about the current COVID-19 situation was attended by Martina Gašperlin, Acting Chief Inspector of the Market Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia, and Marjan Maček, Head of the Financial Control Sector at the Financial Administration of Republic of Slovenia.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project COVID-19 – Arrangement of premises for Intermediate Care Department – renovation of the old department of internal medicine at the Novo mesto General Hospital. The EUR 6 million project that will be implemented by the Ministry of Health will receive a substantial contribution from the European Regional Development Fund under the React-EU initiative in the amount of. EUR 3.8 million.

As part of the government visit to the region, the Minister for Development and European Cohesion Policy today met with the officials from the municipalities of Kranjska Gora, Žirovnica and Cerklje na Gorenjskem and with the CEOs of the Public Utility Company Tabre and the NGEN company to discuss EU funding opportunities.

"Every citizen should have the possibility to actively, continuously and responsibly participate at all levels of the community, both in person and online. A progressive and inclusive approach can also help public administrations to develop better digital services that bring more added value to end users. However, the use of advanced digital technologies is only possible if citizens support digital solutions, know how to use them and recognise their value. That is why we are working to offer citizens secure, trustworthy, freely accessible and user-friendly digital services," said the Minister of Public Administration, Boštjan Koritnik, in the opening session of the conference.

Yesterday, Minister Jože Podgoršek in his capacity as Chair of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council took part in a high level stakeholder conference entitled "EU animal welfare today and tomorrow". The conference organised by the European Commission presented an opportunity for stakeholders to express their views on the Commission’s main ideas regarding the revision of the EU’s animal welfare legislation in the context of the public consultation launched by the Commission in October.

On Human Rights Day, State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan addressed the participants of a hybrid round table on the importance and promotion of women’s participation in peace and security through an EU and NATO external approach.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan conducted virtual political consultations with Reenat Sandhu, Secretary (West) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India. The two high officials confirmed the good relations between the two countries, expressing a mutual interest in strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

On Friday, December 10, 2021, at 1 pm, after more than fifty years, Slovenia finally welcomed back thirteen Slovenian feature films (picture and tone negatives), which had been on February 15, 1968 deposited for storage at the Yugoslav Cinematheque in Belgrade by the production company Triglav Film. This deposit was based on the contract signed between the Yugoslav Cinematheque and the Republic Committee for Culture of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia.

The 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its Protocols took place in Antalya, Turkey. The most important achievement of the meeting is the designation of the entire Mediterranean Sea as an emission control area for sulphur oxides. In addition to adopting the Medium-Term Strategy of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Mediterranean Action Plan for 2022–2027 and the Post-2020 Strategic Action Programme for the Conservation of Biological Diversity, the parties also designated new marine protected areas and adopted the Antalya Ministerial Declaration.

EU ministers of the interior have unanimously concluded that Croatia has fulfilled the necessary conditions for the application of all parts of the Schengen acquis.

Minister dr. Jože Podgoršek assumed the presidency role at the Council for Agriculture and Fisheries at the French assembly for the rural areas yesterday, an interest grouping that unites representatives of local authorities, parliament members, academics and researchers. The central focus of the meeting was on the development of the rural areas for the further development of the common European agricultural policy. It was on this occasion that he gave Joël Giraud, minister of rural affairs, the beehive as the symbol of the Slovenian countryside.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has made voluntary contributions to the Council of Europe to support three important areas of their work.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša together with the ministers of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia signed the book of condolence in memory of the late Prof. Dr Lovro Šturm, former president of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia and minister of justice and of education and sports.

"Digital technologies offer huge opportunities for the improvement of service provision, participatory processes and cooperation with citizens. However, we need to ensure that these technologies are trustworthy, human-centred and focused on the fundamental rights and values of the EU," said the Slovenian Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik at the start of the informal meeting of EU State Chief Information Officers (EU CIO meeting). The meeting was attended by 54 participants from 30 countries, five Western Balkans.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and the Minister of Digital Transformation Mark Boris Andrijanič today met with the representatives of Google.

Slovenia will formally announce its candidature for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2024–2025 term in New York today. The decision on the candidature put forth on the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia after having been considered by the Committee on Foreign Policy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia.

A photo exhibition entitled Personae is on display in the lobby of the Ministry of Culture. Mexican-American portrait photographer Carlos David explores the complex relationship between how we see ourselves and the way we present ourselves to others. The exhibition is on display until February 22, 2022.

During the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the 41st session of the Executive Body for the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution took place in Geneva in a hybrid format from 6 to 8 December 2021. At a time when some of the capital cities across the world have once again decided to shut down all activities, this time because of excessive air pollution, the parties are adopting new provisions for cleaner air.