Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a grant decision for the project “Drainage and treatment of wastewater in the Soča river basin - Municipality of Miren-Kostanjevica”. The project worth more than EUR 657,000, which will be implemented by the Municipality of Miren-Kostanjevica, will receive Cohesion Fund support in the amount of a little less than EUR 197,000.

Ljubljana, 15 July 2020 - Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a grant decision for the project “Drainage and treatment in the Krka River Basin - Municipality of Šentjernej”. The Cohesion Fund will contribute EUR 566,000 for the project which is worth more than EUR 1.2 million and will be implemented by the Municipality of Šentjernej.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša met Managing Director of Fraport Slovenia, Zmago Skobir.

The United Nations has published the latest global review of the development of e-government. It is a regular and established publication, which UNDESA has been preparing since 2001. According to the e-government development index, Slovenia is ranked 23rd among 193 countries.

The Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Andrej Vizjak, attended the informal videoconference of the EU environment ministers, the first under the German presidency, held yesterday and today. On the first day of the meeting the ministers continued the discussion on the green recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and held an interactive discussion on the role of digitalisation in environmental protection and climate change, in which Mr Vizjak chaired one of the panels.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša met Chief Commissioner of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, Dr Robert Šumi.

On Tuesday, 14 July 2020, the foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia met in Budapest. It was the second time they have held a meeting in this configuration of five Central European countries, informally called, on Slovenia's proposal, “the Central 5”. The first such meeting was held on 16 June 2020 in Vienna.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes today’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the arson attack on the National Hall in Trieste, held in the presence of the highest state officials of Slovenia and Italy. On this solemn occasion, the National Hall was formally handed over to the Slovenian community in Italy. This concluded the long-lasting efforts of the Slovenian national community in Italy and Slovenian diplomacy, which pursued regular dialogue on the topic with representatives of the Italian Republic. The restitution of the National Hall in the presence of President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor and President of the Italian Republic Sergio Matarella has a strong symbolic charge both for Slovenians in Italy and for relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Today, Prime Minister Janša published his reply to the State Prosecutor’s Council on his Twitter account. Upon the publication of the letter, he emphasised that calling for death and inciting hatred was highlighted in the 2019 report of the state prosecution service as the prosecution policy’s great priority. With the appointment of the new government, the position and conduct changed abruptly, which is clearly a case of double standards.

The entire letter can be found in the attachment.

At today’s 19th regular session of the National Assembly, Prime Minister Janez Janša answered parliamentary questions raised by Luka Mesec (the Left), Marko Bandelli (SAB – Party of Alenka Bratušek), Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti (SNS – Slovenian National Party) and Jožef Horvat (NSI – New Slovenia, Christian People's Party).

At a press conference, Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik, Andreja Mojškrc from the Health Inspectorate and government spokesman Jelko Kacin spoke about the current situation regarding COVID-19.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, yesterday had a meeting at Otočec with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Andrej Plenković. The talks of both prime ministers and their delegations focused on a more coordinated fight against COVID-19 and the curbing of the spread of coronavirus. The participants at the meeting included Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Dr Tina Bregant, Director of the National Institute of Public Health, Dr Milan Krek, and Director of the University Clinic of Pulmonary and Allergic Diseases Golnik, Aleš Rozman.

On Friday, Prime Minister Janez Janša was a guest on the TV programme Odmevi, in which he talked about various current political issues. The conversation focused on the measures related to the containment of the spread of the coronavirus, since the starting point of the interview was the meeting between the Slovenian Prime Minister and the Croatian Prime Minister at Otočec, which also took place yesterday. The first question posed by the anchor of the TV programme, Rosvita Pesek, was if Croatia will be put on the red list of COVID-19 risky countries with regard to the increase in the number of infected persons in Croatia.

At yesterday’s United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) Zvonko Černač, minister for development, strategic projects and cohesion, presented Slovenia’s second Voluntary National Review of the progress towards meeting the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

This year marks 25 years since one of the heinous crimes was committed at the heart of Europe in plain sight of the international community. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice determined that the massacre at Srebrenica constituted genocide. In 2009, the European Parliament adopted a resolution declaring 11 July Srebrenica Memorial Day.

At the invitation of the foreign ministers of Spain and France, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan participated at an informal video conference between foreign ministers of European and Latin American countries. The EU was represented by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

Acting Director-General Barbara Sušnik participated at an informal video conference of Directors-General for EU Affairs.

At the press conference, the deputy head of the Communicable Disease Centre at the National Institute of Public Health, Nuška Čakš Jager, presented the current epidemiological situation in Slovenia. State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Mateja Ribič, and Government spokesperson, Ambassador Jelko Kacin, also spoke about the current situation regarding COVID-19 and the fourth package of anti-corona measures approved yesterday. Slovenia will also present the measures and the current epidemiological situation at today’s meeting between Prime Minister Janez Janša and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and their core expert teams responsible for controlling the epidemic. The meeting will focus on a coordinated fight against COVID-19, curbing the spread of coronavirus, measures for containing the spread especially among the young, and providing assistance to the Western Balkan countries in the fight against the virus.

On Friday, July 10, a ceremony was held at the Edvard Peperko Barracks in Ljubljana marking the return of members of the 6th Slovenian Armed Forces contingent from the Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP). Contingent members performed their duties as part of a battalion battle group in Latvia. On this occasion, they were awarded In the Service of Peace medals.

In cooperation with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD, a special webinar was held today, at which the key findings of the OECD review of digital public administration were presented - Digital Government Review of Slovenia: Leading the digitalization of the public sector - Key findings. The findings from the document were presented to the stakeholders who participated in its creation.