In today’s session, the Government was briefed on Slovenia’s successful participation in the cross-border, transnational and inter-regional Interreg programmes. The European Commission is presenting Slovenia as a success story.

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Cairo is selling a passenger car model VOLVO S80 T5 Momentum Geartronic, year 2014, current mileage 74.000 km. The offer is intended for the general public/buyers on the local Egyptian market, who do not enjoy diplomatic privileges.

In Helsinki, State Secretary Štucin held bilateral consultations with Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering Tytti Tuppurainen, Permanent State Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Jukka Salovaara and Director of Foreign and Security Policy in the Cabinet of the President Petri Hakkarainen.

Slovenia ranked ninth out of 180 countries on the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index, which is compiled by the Swiss-Korean think-tank Solability. It ranked first amongst all countries studied in terms of economic sustainability.

At today’s second meeting of the Strategic Economic Council, which was held in Lipica, members exchanged views for the first time regarding opportunities for the so-called ‘scale-up’ of innovative development companies, incentives for development jobs, the retention of highly-skilled domestic workers and the faster employment of such talent from abroad, and employee participation in profits.

The head of the government negotiating team, the Minister of Health Danijel Bešič Loredan, and the head of the trade union’s negotiating team, Irena Ilešič Čujovič, initialled an agreement on the resolution of strike demands, and on the implementation of the agreement on urgent measures in connection with wages in the health and social care sector, and on the continuation of negotiations.

During a bilateral visit, State Secretary Marko Štucin met with Minister of State for Europe Laurence Boone. They discussed strengthening strategic relations between Slovenia and France and went on to exchange views on current European and international topics.

Today, Prime Minister Robert Golob attended the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana. The aforementioned summit of EU and Western Balkans leaders, which was held in one of the Western Balkan countries for the first time, focused on strengthening cooperation between the EU and Western Balkans in light of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and on migration management.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the 21st session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and participated in the general discussion. Alongside the Assembly session, he engaged in numerous bilateral dialogues.

The government has adopted the Act Governing Aid to Businesses today to mitigate the consequences of the energy crisis. Aid to businesses includes subsidies due to high prices of electricity, natural gas and technological steam, subsidising two job preserving measures and measures aimed at ensuring the liquidity of companies. The estimated total aid amount of all measures is 1.2 billion euros.

At the proposal of the Minister of Health, the Government appointed Nataša Vidnar as the Acting Director-General of the Nursing Directorate at the Ministry of Health at the meeting by correspondence.

The Prime Minister, Dr Robert Golob, met with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at Strmol Castle. They discussed the topics to be addressed by the European Council on 15 December 2022, in particular energy, migration, Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the EU's enlargement policy, with a focus on the Western Balkans.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has earmarked an additional 100,000 euros for humanitarian aid to Ukraine to help people survive the approaching harsh winter, as the devastating effects of the war continue.

During a visit to the Hague, State Secretary Marko Štucin met with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Director-General for European Cooperation Anita van den Ende. They discussed the strengthening of bilateral relations and current European topics, including the situation in Ukraine, the energy crisis, the rule of law, EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, migration and Schengen.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon addressed more than 100 local staff members from almost all diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Slovenia, who are attending their first ever consultation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Irena Šinko and state secretary dr. Darij Krajčič presented the projects of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (MKGP) under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) at the press conference today.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EUR 527,000 in EU funding for public passenger transport in Nova Gorica (project Integrated Territorial Investments, Urban Municipality Nova Gorica, Sustainable Mobility Measure – Public Passenger Transport).

On Thursday, 1 December 2022, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the Regulation Amending and Updating the Regulation on the Method of Ensuring Rights to Persons with Temporary Protection, which entered into force on Saturday, 3 December 2022.

On 2 December 2022, a ceremony was held in an event tent at the Cirkovce substation to mark the completion of the Cirkovce-Pince transmission line project. The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Robert Golob, and the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban. The Government Communication Office took care of the media logistics.

International Volunteer Day is an opportunity to place the spotlight on volunteers and their importance for the well-being of society. This year, volunteer organisations are highlighting their role in the strengthening of solidarity with the slogan ‘Together, Act Now’.