As part of preparations for Slovenia's Presidency in the second half of 2021, the Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs and his delegation paid a two-day working visit to Brussels and The Hague. In Brussels, he met with the Director-General for Justice and Home Affairs at the General Secretariat of the Council Christine Roger.

The Minister of Health, Janez Poklukar, presented the decision of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today met by video-conference with Italian senator and Northern League party leader Matteo Salvini and his colleagues.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today continued the discussion about fundamental challenges and key issues of the future of Europe that had begun on 5 March. The Conference on the Future of Europe, whose content is already being addressed by the Portuguese Presidency, will be one of the responsibilities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU as well.

Today's press conference on the current COVID-19 situation was attended by Milan Krek, Director of the National Institute of Public Health, Tjaša Žohar Čretnik, Director of the National Laboratory for Health, the Environment and Food, Deana Potza from the health inspectorate and Tomaž Pečjak, Deputy Director General of the Police.

Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Andrej Vizjak attended an on-line informal conference of EU environmental ministers, which held an exchange of views on the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, which was published by the European Commission in February. Ministers also debated the role of the Recovery and Resilience Plans for a Green Transition in conjunction with the European Semester and held a political debate on the Commission's proposal for a regulation concerning batteries and waste batteries, following the goals of the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan. The afternoon part of the session was attended by State Secretary Metka Gorišek, PhD.

Prime Minister Janez Janša: Today, even those who are not part of the governing coalition got a sense of the dilemmas the government is facing during the epidemic

Marta Grgič Vitek, the national coordinator of the vaccination programme at the NIPH, presented the results of vaccination in the country.

After yesterday's meeting of Prime Minister Janez Janša at the Bundeskanzleramt in Vienna with Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov, Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, where the discussion focused on the distribution of vaccines among EU Member States, the six leaders held a videoconference today with President of the European Council Charles Michel.

Out of 19 applicants from nine countries, the European Landowners' Organization (ELO) awards Mr Zvone Černelič from Slovenia for his outstanding contribution to the development of agricultural practice protecting the soil and the environment. This is the first time in 15 years that a Slovenian project has won this prestigious award.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today attended a working meeting in Vienna with Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to discuss the distribution of vaccines among EU member states. In addition to the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, the working meeting was attended by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov, Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjanis Karinš (by video-link) and the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković (by video-link).

Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek participated in an informal videoconference of EU ministers responsible for consumer protection. The first part of the meeting was devoted to political debate on consumer policy and an exchange of views and experiences. In the second part of the meeting, Minister Počivalšek, at the request of the Portuguese Presidency, presented the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU in the area of consumer protection.

The press conference was attended by Bojana Beović, member of the advisory group for vaccinations at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), and Ada Hočevar Grom from NIJZ.

Today, Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs met with Michael O'Flaherty, the Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

Today, Minister Andrej Šircelj participated at an informal video conference of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN). Economic recovery in the European Union remains the most important subject of the discussions at the European level.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a funding decision for the project Cycling connection Krško – Sotelsko - Brestanica. Total cost of the project that will be implemented in the scope of the Agreement on the development of the Posavje region amounts to EUR 375,000; the project will receive over EUR 110,000 from the European Regional Development Fund.

Today, at the invitation of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar is on a working visit in Kiev. In addition to his meeting with his host, Minister Kuleba, and in light of the preparations for Slovenia’s EU Council Presidency and the Eastern Partnership Summit, Minister Logar also met with Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov, and Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Yaşar Halit Çevik. During all these talks, the Minister expressed his full support for Ukraine’s reform endeavours on its path towards the European Union and NATO.

The Slovenian project, aiming to restore forests damaged by natural disasters and involving forest owners and Slovenia Forest Service as the main beneficiaries of the funds, was named as one of the 20 finalists out of 125 projects submitted for the European competition Rural Inspiration Awards 2021.

Today saw the third session of the Slovenian-Brazilian joint Commission for Economic Cooperation, held this time in virtual form. The Slovenian side of the Joint Commission was chaired by the Director-General for Economic and Public Diplomacy at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Iztok Grmek, and the Brazilian side by Ambassador Kenneth Félix Haczynski da Nóbrega, Secretary of Bilateral Negotiations in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Slovenia is suspending administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine pending Tuesday’s decision of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said Minister of Health Janez Poklukar.