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On Saturday and Sunday, Prime Minister Janez Janša responded on Twitter to the increasing number of confirmed new cases of infection with the new coronavirus during the last two and a half months.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Janez Janša, today met with the German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Heiko Maas, who at the beginning of Germany’s EU Council Presidency paid his first visit to Slovenia.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia decided to include Belgium and the Netherlands in the list of epidemiologically safe counties or administrative units of countries (green list) as from 4 July 2020. It also decided to remove Czechia, Croatia and France from the green list, which means that these countries are now on the yellow list.

The Presidents of the coalition parties, Janez Janša, Zdravko Počivalšek, Matej Tonin and Aleksandra Pivec, and the President of the Slovenian National Party, Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, and the deputies of the two national communities, Ferenc Horváth and Felice Žiža, today signed an agreement between the political parties and the deputies of the national communities in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia on cooperation in the adoption of laws and other acts and documents in the period 2020–2022.

The number of infected people in Slovenia has been increasing again in recent weeks, and the source of infections is no longer only imported cases, but also secondary infections and cases of unknown origin, said Bojana Beović, the head of the Government Advisory Group. The number has been increasing exponentially since end of May.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today met with President of the European Council Charles Michel via videoconference. They discussed the European Commission’s proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework for the next seven-year period and the proposed recovery instrument.

Based on the agreement between the Slovenian and Croatian national institutes and the talks between both prime ministers, Janez Janša and Andrej Plenković, Slovenia will not remove Croatia from the green list of epidemiologically safe countries for now. Croatia plans to implement several measures to curb the spread of the virus, including closing nightclubs and cancelling similar events.

At its last night’s session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia finalised the text of the proposed Act on the intervention measures to prepare for the second wave of COVID-19 (ACP4) to be submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia for discussion and adoption under an emergency procedure. The proposed act replaces the proposed amendment to ACP3 adopted by the Government last week.

Message by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Janša on Statehood Day

Today Prime Minister Janez Janša attended a number of events to commemorate tomorrow’s Statehood Day.

In today’s video conference at the Ministry of Defence, a day before Slovenian Statehood Day, Prime Minister Janez Janša addressed the members of the Slovenian Armed Forces on missions abroad. In addition to the Prime Minister, the video-conference was attended by the Minister of Defence, Matej Tonin, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces, Robert Glavaš.

At its session today, the Slovenian government decided to take Luxembourg and Montenegro off the list of epidemiologically safe countries or administrative units (i.e., the green list) as of 25 June 2020. In addition, the government decided to add Portugal and Albania to the list of countries with a deteriorated epidemiological situation (i.e., the red list) as of 25 June 2020.

Below is the press release following the videoconference of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša.

Thirteen newly confirmed infections in Slovenia are more the result of less intensive testing over the weekend than the possible emergence of a new wave of the epidemic, said government spokesperson Jelko Kacin and head of the Communicable Disease Centre at the National Institute of Public Health Mario Fafangel at today's press conference. The government spokesperson added that no significant worsening of the situation was expected, but that the existing measures should continue to be followed: cough etiquette, hand washing and wearing masks indoors when it is not possible to maintain a 1.5-metre physical distance.

Prime Minister Janez Janša was a guest on A Talk with the Prime Minister broadcast on Nova24TV, where he talked about a potential second wave of the epidemic, international events, including the presidency of the Council of the EU, the upcoming Slovenian Statehood Day and other topical issues the viewers asked about.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša received the Doyen of the Diplomatic Corps in Slovenia, the Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia, Archbishop Jean-Marie Speich. In their talks, they affirmed the importance of relations between the Republic of Slovenia and the Holy See, also in the light of two upcoming commemorations – the thirtieth anniversary of the Holy See’s recognition of Slovenia (2022) and the twentieth anniversary of the Agreement between the Republic of Slovenia and the Holy See on Legal Issues (2021).

Today Prime Minister Janez Janša attended an informal video-conference meeting of the European Council. At the meeting, the heads of government were briefed on the progress of the negotiations on future relations between the EU and the United Kingdom. The main topic of discussion was the new proposal for the multiannual financial framework and recovery instrument prepared by the European Commission. At the meeting the participants held a first exchange of views.

"Despite the increased number of coronavirus infections in recent days, we cannot yet talk about the second wave of the epidemic, but we are preparing for it," said Minister Gantar yesterday, emphasising Slovenia's commitment to controlling the epidemic.

Prime Minister Janez Janša attended a video conference of the leaders of the EU Member States and six Eastern Partnership countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia).

Today's press conference on the current COVID-19 situation was attended by the Minister of Health, Tomaž Gantar, the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, the Director of the National Institute of Public Health, Milan Krek, and the Government's spokesperson, Jelko Kacin.