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

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses solidarity with, and support for, Belarusian citizens who have insisted on peaceful anti-government protests since the presidential elections held in August last year, demanding respect for democratic standards and fundamental human rights. The Belarusian authorities responded with disproportionate violence, illegal deprivation of liberty, and systematic disrespect and violation of fundamental human rights, which is unacceptable.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar paid a working visit to the Republic of Cyprus, where he met with the political heads of Cyprus, discussing cooperation between the two countries and the situation in the EU and in the Mediterranean. The visit was aimed at maintaining good relations with one of Slovenia's natural partners and strengthening cooperation with the Mediterranean countries.

At its meeting by correspondence, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia has adopted the Ordinance temporarily prohibiting the offering and sale of goods and services to consumers in the Republic of Slovenia and the Ordinance amending the Ordinance determining the conditions of entry into the Republic of Slovenia to contain and control the COVID-19 communicable disease.

On Friday, 5 February, members of the 45th Tracked Combat Vehicles Centre left for the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Germany.
The multinational military exercise Combined Resolve XV will take place in Hohenfels and Grafenwoher until Wednesday, 3 March. It will include some 4,500 members from seven allied and partner armed forces. The Slovenian Armed Forces will participate with a tank platoon (four M-84 tanks) and the associated logistical support. The aim of the exercise is to upgrade the competence of the Slovenian Armed Forces armoured unit to operate across the spectrum of combat operations and to strengthen its international cooperation.
In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection, the participants were self-isolated for 14 days before traveling to the exercise venue, and all appropriate measures will also be apply in the training area.

Prime Minister Janez Janša today gave his annual address to the diplomatic corps. Owing to the current epidemiological conditions, this year’s event took place in virtual form. The diplomatic corps was also addressed by President Borut Pahor and the Most Reverend Jean-Marie Speich, Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia and Doyen of the diplomatic corps accredited in Slovenia.

Today’s press conference on the current Covid-19 situation was hosted by chief inspector at the Slovenian Education and Sport Inspectorate Simon Slokan and member of the Slovenian minority in Italy Damijan Terpin, who spoke about experiences with educating children during the time of the epidemic in Italy.

During a working visit to Malta today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar met with his host, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Evarist Bartolo. Slovenia and Malta are EU member states sharing similar views on several European topics. They are also Mediterranean countries, which makes it imperative that they develop closer cooperation and work together on key issues in the Mediterranean region.

Today Prime Minister Janša called for a consultation to be held at Brdo pri Kranju before the final discussion of consent to the content of the invitation for enrolment into undergraduate and integrated master’s study programmes in the 2021/2022 academic year. He believes that the determination of the number of places available for enrolment at public schools and faculties that are financed by taxpayers is one of the most crucial strategic decisions of any country. Prior to the final adoption of the document by the Government the Prime Minister thus wanted to also consult the representatives of universities, independent higher education institutions, chambers of commerce and associations.

At today's press conference at Brdo pri Kranju, Prime Minister Janez Janša, together with Deputy Prime Ministers Matej Tonin and Zdravko Počivalšek, talked about the situation concerning the coronavirus.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a financial support decision for the project “Road K5-K8 in the Business and Industry Zone Tezno (expansion EPC)”. The project worth a little under EUR 1.6 million, implemented by the Urban Municipality of Maribor, will receive European Regional Development Fund support in the amount of EUR 984,000.

Today’s press conference on the current situation with regard to COVID-19 was attended by representative of the Centre for Communicable Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) Mario Fafangel, head of the Consulate Sector at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andrej Šter, Deana Potza of the Health Inspectorate, and Deputy Director General of the Police Tomaž Pečjak.

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (MAFF) is intensively preparing the 2023–2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan. The preliminary draft of the Strategic Plan was prepared in last December and includes the needs identified, proposals for interventions, defined funds, and the output and result indicators.

Prime Minister Janez Janša attended a mourning session in the Great Hall of the National Assembly honouring the deceased National Assembly Deputy Franc Kramar.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has issued a funding decision for the call for proposals Financial incentives for innovation startups in 2021. The call for proposals makes a total of EUR 2.16 million available, of which over EUR 1.56 million comes from the European Regional Development Fund. The Slovene Enterprise Fund will publish the call for proposals next week.

Today, State Secretary Stanislav Raščan held a telephone conversation with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Qin Gang. They reaffirmed the positive bilateral relations and advocated for closer cooperation during the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2021.

Based on the decision of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, members of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) have been cooperating with the Police in the broad protection of the national border since 18 February 2016.
Around 150 of SAF members are currently involved in the aforementioned tasks daily, and in almost five years, the SAF has assigned members to these tasks on 150,000 occasions. In addition to members working in mixed patrols with the Police, the SAF also provides independent observation posts, a helicopter, and drones to observe the border area, as well as engineers arranging patrol routes and maintaining temporary technical barriers.
SAF members have been participating in the above-mentioned efforts based on the operations and tactical plan regulating the cooperation between the Slovenian Armed Forces and the Police in broad protection of the national border. Its purpose is to ensure the stability and national security of all inhabitants of Slovenia, and it determines the forms of work of police officers and soldiers in protecting the border and preventing illegal migration. In line with the basic guidelines from the operations and tactical plan, the protection of the national border is led, directed and supervised by the Police. Police procedures are conducted by police officers, while soldiers who take part in border-protection activities in accordance with military tactics, techniques and procedures, are commanded by military commanders.
Based on the decision of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, the SAF has continuously been supporting the Ministry of the Interior in resolving the illegal-migration situation since 19 October 2015.

Today’s daily press conference on the current situation regarding COVID-19 was attended by Neda Hudopisk, Head of the National Institute of Public Health Ravne na Koroškem unit, Aleš Rozman Director of the Golnik University Clinic for Lung Diseases and Allergy and Borut Štrukelj, full professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Ljubljana.

On the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as part of the preparations for Slovenia's presidency of the Council of the EU, State Secretary Dovžan today held a virtual meeting with Slovenian members of the European Economic and Social Committee. In his introductory address, he outlined the envisaged priority tasks of the Slovenian presidency in the second half of this year.

This afternoon, Minister Dr Jože Podgoršek held a remote meeting with Mr Janusz Wojciechowski, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. They primarily discussed topics to be in the forefront during Slovenia’s EU Council Presidency in the field of agriculture and forestry. The interlocutors discussed the difficult situation in the pig meat sector, also within the context of Slovenia’s call for action launched at the January videoconference of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers. The Minister informed the Commissioner of the progress made in preparing the National Strategic Plan.