Sinfo_2013_02 News from Slovenia

7/29/2019 Sinfo_2013_02 News from Slovenia

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02ISSN 1854-0805 February 2013

IN FOCUS: An escape route rom crisis has been mapped outIN FOCUS INERVIEW: Te Prime Minister Janez Jana

IN PERSON: Slovenian missionary Pedro Opeka

Te latest rom Slovenia


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3Sinfo Slovenian information

Gods blessing on all nations!

Tis is a eeling that many citizens o any nation or community carryin their hearts. Work or the common good is the basis or this editiono Sino. Work or the common good must be the oundation o politics,economics, examples o good business practice and good personalbehaviour.

A year has passed since Prime Minister Janez Jana ormed the currentGovernment, and a lot has happened on the political scene during thistime. We conducted an interview with the Slovenian Prime Minister,Janez Jana, and an overview o the Governments work in the rstyear o its mandate. We highlight achievements and plans o theGovernment or the uture.

We dedicated quite a lot o attention to the great Slovenian CulturalHoliday Preeren Day. On this day, Slovenians acknowledge valuesand people that are exceptional. However, this day is not only adisplay; it has important symbolic signicance. Zdravljica (A oast) discussed in more detail inside is Preerens most important nationaland political poem. While its ramework is a toast in which the poetraises his glass to personal and human values, a political programmecan nevertheless be ound at its core. oday, when Slovenia is part o

a multinational European community, Preerens text signies therealisation o a prophetic vision o the uture. It is an ode to all that isimportant to Slovenians.

Te Slovenian Culture Day is a holiday o understanding and harmonybetween all nations, an appeal to kindness, mutual respect andtolerance. And Slovenia has many exceptional people, a vision andattainable goals. In addition to the political vision, we direct ourattention to the astonishing story o Slovenian missionary Pedro Opeka,riend to the poor. His lie story carries the message that a dierent andriendlier world is possible i we are sympathetic, and that there are noreasons to despondent.

Te month o February is a month o costumes and masks. We highlightnot only carnival costumes and the celebration o carnival, but also thenational costumes which demonstrate a nations individuality.

SINFO SLOVENIAN INFORMAIONExecutive Editor andEditior in - Chie:anja Glogovan, [email protected]: Vesna arkovi, Polona Preeren, Sandra Letica,Irena Kogoj, omaLisjakPhoto Editor: JanezVidrihProduction: Nuitd.o.o.ranslation: Amidas, DZPSPrintedby: Littera picta d.o.o., Slovenia, Number ocopies: 4300Photo on the rontpage: riglavMountain, Klemen Kunaver/SO

GovernmentCommunication Oce: www.slovenia.siGovernmentCommunication Oce: www.ukom.gov.siGovernmentothe Republic oSlovenia: www.vlada.siSPIRI: www.slovenia.inoSlovenian Chamber oCommerce andIndustry: www.gzs.siSlovenian Chamber oCrat: www.ozs.siJapti: www.japti.siLjubljana StockExchange: www.ljse.siStatisticalOce o the Republic oSlovenia: www.stat.siState Portalothe Republic oSlovenia: http://e-uprava.gov.si

anja Glogovan, editor

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EDITORIALCONTENTS

IN FOCUS 16Te rst year under the leadership o Prime Minister Janez Jana

An escape route rom the crisis has been mapped out

IN FOCUS INTERVIEW 22Te Prime Minister Janez Jana

We are behaving responsibly

IN PERSON 36Slovenian missionary Pedro Opeka

Slovenian a Nobel Prize Candidate


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Government Communication Ofce4 5Sinfo Slovenian information

anja Glogovan

A political consensuson three key projectsParty presidents have reached a political consensus on three keyprojects: they will endeavour to ratiy Croatias EU Accession rea-ty in time, change reerendum rules and adopt the labour reorm.

Tis is a message to the people that agreement can be reached despitethe dierences and the deepening distrust, said Slovenian PresidentBorut Pahor. Prime Minister Janez Jana voiced the hope ater themeeting that the agreed measures would be adopted, which couldhappen next month provided that everyone sticks to the deal andthe dispute with Croatia over Yugoslav-era bank deposits is resolvedby then. However, he pointed out that another issue - amendingthe Constitution with a balanced-budget rule - would have to beresolved as well ater having been deerred last year.

Government to Sell oState-owned CompaniesTe government adopted a classication o investments in line withwhich state capital assets are to be transerred onto the SloveniaSovereign Holding. Te document slates elekom Slovenije, Abankaand part o energy company Petrol or sale.

According to Finance Ministry State Secretary Andrej ircelj, the saleo investments will be conducted in dierent ways, but all will betransparent. Other actors besides the price will be taken into accountin the decision making.Te document dierentiates between strategic, important and port-olio investments. In strategic investments the state will keep 50%plus one share, in important ones 25% plus one share, while the hold-ing is not obliged to preserve a controlling stake in portolio invest-ments. Te government plans to preserve 25% plus one share in theNLB Bank, while elekom Slovenije, Abanka have been classied asportolio investments, as has Petrol although the energy segment othe company is exempt as an activity o strategic importance or thecountry. Te KAD and SOD unds and the SID export and develop-ment bank are to remain 100% state-owned.Te document will be available to the public ater the governmentsubmits it or debate and adoption in parliament. No deadlines or thesale have been set. Beside the price, the ratings o the buyer, the busi-ness plan, the number o jobs and long-term plans will be considered.

Ane Logar, Director o the Government Communication Oce

Just like any promotional activity, the marketing o a country alsorequires suitable promoters. Te successes o a responsible policyimprove the geo-political position o a country and open doors tobusiness. In this edition o Sino, Prime Minister Janez Jana talksabout this topic and the successes o the Governments rst year inoce. Economic projects create success stories and attract attention.A good business deal is requently the best guarantee o even morebusiness deals. More can be read about Slovenias plans in this eldin the article on action plan International Challenges 2013. Artstrengthens the diversity o what a country has to oer and placesit on the global map. Who were this years recipients o the highestnational awards or art? Find out in this edition o Sino.

Because it is winter, and because Slovenia is known as a countryor winter sports, we cannot overlook the snow-laden slopes,which have turned each and every citizen into a sports enthusiastdue to the great successes o ina Maze and the ski jumping team.Sportsmen and women are becoming recognised as trademarks intheir own right, something a smart country should be able to turnto its advantage. Anyone who ollows the success o our sportsmenand women probably agree that nothing is more pleasing than tosee Slovenian ags raised high in the crowd o enthusiasts whoollow winter sports and cheer on their avourites. I you knowthat a live television transmission o the skiing aces is at that pointbeing watched by millions o viewers around the world, you canconclude without a doubt that these sportsmen and women are thebest ambassadors o the country. And when the national anthem isplayed at an award ceremony, one can honestly and proudly say, Ieel Slovenia.

Te Best Ambassadors

Party presidents meet with the Slovenian President Borut Pahor

Finance Ministry State Secretary Andrej ircelj

Photo:DanielNovakovi/STA


Not Aspirins!Te Public Administration and Justice Ministry marked the begin-ning o the new legal year by saying that the Slovenian justice sys-tem needed strong and ecient medications not Aspirins somehad been eeding it with.

State Secretary Mojca Kucler Dolinar said that ineciency o thejustice system was one o the main obstacles to Slovenia becominga just and law-governed state. o improve the situation the courtspresidents eorts as well as the eorts o judges and other sta isexpected, she said. Te Public Administration and Justice Ministryadded that changes to several laws were in preparation in a bid toboost the unctioning o the rule o law.

State Prosecutor General o the Republic o Slovenia Zvonko Fier, State SecretaryMojca Kucler Dolinar and President o the Constitutional Court Ernest Petri

Photo

:TaminoPetelinek/STA

Te Government Communication Oce o the Republic o Slovenia beganpromoting the I Feel Slovenia trademark ve years ago, a well-chosen playon words which exploits the comparative advantage o the country on thesunny side o the Alps. Slovenia is the only country in the world which

contains the word love in its name.

UNDERLINED WHATS UP?


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WHATS UP? WHATS UP?

Slovenian President BorutPahor receives recipientso science awardsSlovenian President Borut Pahor hosted a reception or the recipi-ents o the Zois Award, the Zois Distinction, the Ambassador o Sci-ence Award, and the Puh Award or 2012. He congratulated the re-cipients on their outstanding achievements, and emphasised howtopical their work is or the country and or science. In his address,the president pointed out the necessity o being aware that withoutconstant research there will be no progress and improvement in hu-man development, be it in medicine, natural sciences, humanitiesand social sciences, the introduction o new technologies, educationor the business sphere, and added that this is why it is so urgent thatyoung people have adequate support and encouragement or theirdevelopment. President Pahor concluded by wishing all the recipi-ents o science awards every success in their uture work.

Saving a lie is humaneTe Minister o the Interior, Dr Vinko Gorenak, and the DirectorGeneral o the Police, Stanislav Veniger, awarded police medals orbravery and sel-sacrice.

Te police medal or bravery was awarded to ocers Mirela oriand Bla Zidanski, while the police medal or sel-sacrice wasawarded to Ana Glumac, Rihard Kova and Gregor Horjak, and alsoto two residents o Ajdovina, Evgen Vidmar and Dragoslav Brecelj.In his speech, Minister Gorenak highlighted that saving a lie hasa deeper meaning; it is an act o humanity and not everyone is ableto do it. At the end, he thanked the recipients or their acts andcongratulated them.

Double ax AvoidanceAgreementTe State Secretary at the Ministry o Finance, Marko Poganik,MSc, and Botimir Rahmatovi Parpijev, the President o the Stateax Committee o the Republic o Uzbekistan signed the Agreementor the Avoidance o Double axation and the Prevention o FiscalEvasion with Respect to axes on Income and on Capital.

Conventions on avoiding double taxation are international treatiesconcluded in order to encourage economic growth by eliminatingtax barriers in international trade and investments, and by reduc-ing the possibility o tax evasion. By means o various mechanisms,double taxation is being eliminated, the taxpayers security im-proved, tax rates lowered, the costs o meeting tax obligations re-duced, tax evasion and tax discrimination prevented, and the ex-change o tax inormation and resolution o tax disputes acilitated.

Slovenias net positionin the EU is improvingTe heads o EU Member States, Prime Minister Janez Jana amongthem, agreed in Brussels on a multi-annual nancial rameworkor 2014 to 2020. Te budget summit ended with a compromiseagreement on 960 billion euros or the next seven years. Tus theheads o the EU Member States succeeded to reduce the commonbudget or the rst time in history.

Te Slovenian Government is reasonably satised with the outcomeo the negotiations. Slovenias net position is set to improve. So ar,compared to its contribution, Slovenia has beneted to the tune o0.87 per cent o its gross national income. In the coming period, thisshare will amount to 1.03 per cent. In seven years, i.e. by 2020, Slo-venia will have acquired 5.3 billion rom the common budget and

2.5 billion euros with its net position.According to the Prime Minister, Janez Jana, the recent negotia-tions were very similar to those in 2005, the dierence being thatthey were not successul in 2005, while this time an agreement wasreached. No one was very satised, as the unds were reduced orthe rst time. Tis is an ideal compromise or all involved, esti-mated the Prime Minister, who added that the budget was not ideal,but considering the current state o aairs in Europe, it is a sub-stantially better approximation to the ideal than i the structurewere to remain the same as in the current nancial perspective.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor with recipients o science awards

Minister Vinko Gorenak with the policemen

The State Secretary at the Ministry o Finance, Marko Poganik, and BotimirRahmatovi Parpijev, the President o the State Tax Committee

Prime Minister Janez Jana with the heads o EU Member states

Slovenian President Borut Pahor and his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer

Photo:ArchivesoOfceothePresidentotheRepublic


Photo:ThierryMonasse/STA

Photo:NebojaTeji/STA

Photo:ArchivesotheMinistryoFinance

Slovenia will resolvethe crisis o governmentTe President o the Republic o Slovenia, Borut Pahor, visited Aus-tria at the beginning o February. He met the President o Austria,Heinz Fischer, the Chancellor o Austria, Werner Faymonn, and thePresident o the National Council, Barbara Prammer.

On his visit, the Slovenian President emphasised that Slovenia wouldnd a way out o the crisis, and open a new chapter o a politicallymore proound Europe together with Austria and other MemberStates which comprise the healthy core o the euro zone and Euro-pean Union. Another theme o the discussion was the progress andsuccess in seeking a solution to Ljubljanska banka issue. He stressed

that both parties were interested in nding a avourable solution.Te presidents also discussed the Slovenian minority in Austria.President Pahor said that both countries were obliged to protecttheir citizens, Austrian citizens o Slovenian descent and SlovenianGerman-speaking citizens, respectively. He added that responsibili-ties to minorities are not an obligation in a democratic society, buta privilege or them to deeply eel and live their identity. TeAustrian President said that he had the same or a similar opinion asPresident Pahor on several issues which have inuenced the posi-tive relations between the two countries.Relations between Slovenia and Austria are considered riendly andproound. Austria, rst among oreign investors in Slovenia, is one oSlovenias most important oreign trading partners. Regarding mu-tual relations, the Austrian President expressed his pleasure at theend o the meeting that President Pahor had chosen Austria or hisrst ocial trip abroad.


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Non-executive directorsnamedTe Slovenian Government has appointed Carl - Johan Lindgren,Msc, Andrej ircelj, MSc, Arne Berggren and Lars Nyberg as non-executive directors o the Management Board o the Bank AssetsManagement Company (BAMC) or the lietime o the company.

Te Management Board o the BAMC will have our non-executiveand three executive directors. Te Government appointed the aore-mentioned non-executive directors on the day the BAMC was estab-lished; they will hold their posts until the BAMC is wound up.Carl - Johan Lindgren holds a Bachelor o Economics rom theSwedish School o Economics and Master degree in Economics. Asan independent nancial sector policy advisor to international -nancial institutions, state administration and private sector since

2002, he has been dealing with nancial sector reorms, includingregulation and control, banks restructuring and search o appro-priate solutions. Andrej ircelj, MSc, graduated rom the Faculty oEconomics in Ljubljana and completed his Masters Degree at theFaculty o Law in Maribor in 2004. In 2005 , he was appointed StateSecretary at the Oce o the Prime Minister with a mandate at theMinistry o Finance. Currently, he is a State Secretary at the Ministryo Finance. Arne Berggren was proposed to the Government by theMinistry o Finance and supported by the International MonetaryFund. Dr Lars Nyberg was proposed as a non-executive director bythe Ministry o the Economy and Sustainable Development, and theEuropean Bank or Reconstruction and Development supported hisappointment.

Te Government agrees to theclassifcation o investments othe SSHTe Government o the Republic o Slovenia agreed to the classi-cation o investments o the Slovenia Sovereign Holding and pro-posed it or passage by the National Assembly

Te classication o investments was undertaken by the manage-ment o the Slovenia Sovereign Holding (SSH), and includes a de-nition and classication o all capital investments owned by the SSHat the moment o the transormation o the Slovenian Compensa-tion Company (SOD) into the SSH, and all capital investments that

represent a non-cash contribution to the SSH. Te classication alsoincludes all procedures according to which the SSH could dispose oits investments in the transitional period. Pursuant to Article 32 othe Slovenia Sovereign Holding Act (ZSDH), the classication o in-vestments is to be adopted or the period until the entry into orce othe strategy drated pursuant to Article 9 o the ZSDH. Te strategywill dene in more detail the objectives to be attained by the SSHwhen managing an individual investment.A drat o the strategy with an elaboration is to be prepared by the

management o the SSH and orwarded ater conrmation by theSupervisory Board o the SSH to the ministry responsible or nanceno later than at the end o the ourth month o the last year to whichthe strategy applies. Te Ministry o Finance will send a harmon-ised drat o the strategy to the Government. Te strategy, which isconrmed by the Government or a period o ve years, is subject toapproval by the National Assembly.

New Year reception or theDiplomatic CorpsAt the beginning o the new year, the President o the Republic oSlovenia, Borut Pahor, hosted a traditional reception or the Diplo-matic Corps. In his speech, he emphasised the signicance o eco-nomic diplomacy and Slovenias interest in oreign investment. Healso pointed out the signicance o the ratication o the treaty onthe accession o Croatia to the EU. Tis topic was also mentioned inthe speech o the Doyen o the Diplomatic Corps, the Apostolic Nun-cio, Archbishop Juliusz Janusz. Te diplomats were welcomed by thePresident o the Republic o Slovenia, Borut Pahor, and his partner,anja Pear, and the Slovenian Prime Minister, Janez Jana, and hiswie, Urka Baovnik Jana.

Handover o dutiesTe handover o duties due to the withdrawal o the Civic List romthe coalition took place in February at the Ministry o Justice andPublic Administration, and at the Ministry o Finance.

Te handover at the Ministry o Justice and Public Administrationwas perormed between the then Minister, Dr Senko Pliani, andthe Minister o Inrastructure and Spatial Planning, Zvone erna,who will temporarily undertake this job. Te handover was also at-tended by the new State Secretary, Mojca Kucler Dolinar, and theormer State Secretary, Helmut Hartman. Te Minister o Finance isreplaced by the Prime Minister, Janez Jana, while Andrej ircelj andAndrej Poganik have become state secretaries.

Meeting o Eurozonefnance ministersTe meeting was chaired or the rst time by the new head o theEurogroup, the Dutch Minister o Finance, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.Te meeting was also attended by the Irish Minister o Finance, Mi-chael Noonan, the State Secretary at the Slovenian Ministry o Fi-nance, Andrej ircelj, the Permanent Representative o the Republico Slovenia to the European Union, Rado Genorio, and the EuropeanCommissioner or Economic and Monetary Aairs, Olli Rehn.

At the meeting o Eurozone nance ministers

The handover between the then Minister, Dr Senko Pliani, and the Minister oInrastructure and Spatial Planning, Zvone erna

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jana, and his wie Urka Baovnik Jana

State Secretary at the Slovenian Ministry o Finance, Andrej ircelj at the pressconerence

Government meeting

Photo:ThierryMonasse/STA


Photo:TaminoPete

linek/STA



WHATS UP? WHATS UP?


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ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA Sandra Letica and anja Glogovan

Te Government Has a Plan for SlovenianEnterprises to Enter Foreign Markets

Te Government is planning theentry o Slovenian companiesinto the economic sectors o East-ern markets where positive syn-ergies with the Slovenian econo-my are possible.

Te economy is changing rapidly;thereore, globalisation is not a

question or Slovenian compa-nies, but more a necessity andreality. Patterns o global compe-tition and the business o enter-prises are changing; the balanceo economic activity is shitingto markets with high economicgrowth and markets that areopening to oreigners and de-veloping intensively. It is a actthat the crme-de-la-crme oworld growth will not be distrib-uted equally. Some regions willenjoy more benets than others,and some economic sectors willexpand more than others.

HE INERNAIONAL

CHALLENGES 2013 ACION PLAN

PARNERSHIP O PROMOE

INERNAIONAL BUSINESS OF

SLOVENIAN ENERPRISES

Many dierent organisations, inaddition to the Ministry o Eco-nomic Development and ech-

nology, were included in thepreparation o the InternationalChallenges 2013 Action Plan (MI2013) the Partnership to Pro-mote International Business oSlovenian Enterprises, drated bythe Slovenian Government. Telaunch o the project includedthe Ministry o Foreign Aairs,the Oce o the Prime Minis-ter o the Republic o Slovenia,the Oce o the President o theRepublic o Slovenia, the PublicAgency o the Republic o Slove-nia or Entrepreneurship and For-eign Investments (now known as

SPIRI Slovenia, public agency),SID Banka, the Chamber o Com-merce and Industry o Slovenia,the Chamber o Crat and SmallBusiness o Slovenia and the Slo-venian Chamber o Commerce.

Te achievement o goals ocuseson priority sectors which oreign

or international organisationsurnish with eatures o addedvalue, as well as on those sectorsthat have traditional signicanceor the Slovenian economy.

Key goals o the MI in 2013: harmonisetheoperationsofall

national institutions involvedin the international expansionand promotion o Slovenianeconomy,

increase growth in Slovenian

exports, increasethenumberofentries

o Slovenian enterprises into

new oreign markets and in-crease the share o overall ex-ports to selected priority mar-kets,

increasethenumberof ex-porters, especially to marketsoutside the territory o the or-mer Yugoslavia and EuropeanUnion,

increase the recognition of

Slovenia as a good locationor oreign investments andreduce obstacles to oreign in-vestments,

increasedirectforeigninvest-ments in Slovenia to 33 percent o GDP.

KEY MARKES

Te selected key markets whichwill receive special attention in

2013 are Azerbaijan, India, Ka-zakhstan, China, the RussianFederation and urkey. Tesemarkets have shown economicgrowth and are rising and devel-oping; at the same time, they haveeconomic sectors where positivesynergies could be achieved withthe Slovenian economy. Well-selected oreign markets will not

aect already initiated, anticipat-ed and planned activities in othertraditional markets (the EU andthe Balkans), since these activi-ties will also continue in 2013.

Slovenia should strengthen itsrole in the global economy, main-ly in the ramework o new globalmarkets; however, to achievesuch goals, it should support anopen economy. Te openness othe economy and guarantee oree competition (ree movemento goods, services, capital and la-bour orce) enables companies toincrease their competitive abili-ties due to simpler access to mod-ern technologies and knowledge,and also eases access to oreignmarkets, increases sales possibil-ities, enables the exploitation o

economies o scale and the searchor new opportunities in niches.

HE MOS PROMISING INDUSRIES

Te ollowing have been identi-ed as the most promising indus-tries in the Slovenian economy:biomedicine and biotechnology,energy and environmental tech-

nologies, advanced materialsand technologies, nanotechnol-ogy, inormation-communicationtechnologies, wood processingindustry, automobile manuactur-ing, transport and logistics, metalprocessing, tourism, and ood.

Promoting the competitiveness oSlovenian companies in selectedmarkets abroad in 2013 involvesthe stimulus to enter and do busi-ness in remote oreign markets,the stimulus o the rst appear-ance in a oreign market and thestimulus o enhanced orms ointernationalisation.

Te MI 2013 denes the guidelinesor direct oreign investment. Inthis eld, the ollowing activi-ties will be implemented in 2013:

improving the business environ-ment, investment projects, estab-lishing one-stop-shop agencyoperations, the resolution o prob-lems related to land and businesszones, improving Slovenias pro-le as a location or NI, nancialsupport or investments, promot-ing the expansion o existing or-eign enterprises in Slovenia.

It is a act that thecrme-de-la-crme oworld growth will notbe distributed equally.Some regions willenjoy more benets

than others, and someeconomic sectors willexpand more thanothers.

Slovenia shouldstrengthen its role in theglobal economy, mainlyin the ramework o newglobal markets; however,to achieve such goals, itshould support an openeconomy.

A Japanese-Slovenian technology meeting.

The Prime Minister Janez Jana duringhis visit in Azerbaijan with ShahinMustaajev, Minister o Economy.

Photo:StankoGruden/STA



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Polona Preeren

Jayakar Jerome

Indian Ambassador to Slovenia

Te Government o Slovenia should make aconcerted efort to attract Indian businesses

At the end o January SlovenianMinister o economic development

and technology, Radovan erjav,accompanied by a strong business

delegation, visited India. As Sloveniahas also become interesting or the

Bollywood lm industry which shota lm here last year, we asked H. E.

Jayakar Jerome, Indian ambassador toSlovenia, or an interview.

Photo:ArchivesoIndianAmbassy

DEBATE

RAISING AWARENESS ABOU

DEVELOPING WORLD MARKES

AND NEW OPPORUNIIES

o stimulate Slovenian enterprisesto do business in oreign mar-kets means raising the awarenesso companies about developingworld markets, and the opportu-nities and challenges o these mar-kets, in order to guarantee the pos-sibility o competitive operationsin oreign markets and the appro-priate security in accordance withinternationally agreed rules andconditions, as well as undertakingother approaches to stimulatinginternationalisation. Te Govern-ment is aware that Slovenian en-terprises require assistance whencompeting in oreign markets,and at the same time, the compa-

nies have to be enabled to exploitthe international expansion otheir businesses and the transero knowledge and technologies tothe best extent possible, since allo these attract investments in theRepublic o Slovenia.

Te Ministry o Economic De-velopment and echnology hasmade the conclusion o contactswith countries mentioned belowone o its core activities: Germa-

ny, India, Russia, urkey, Slova-kia, Hungary, France, Azerbaijan,the Peoples Republic o China,Croatia, Japan and Bulgaria.

In its economic review o Slovenia,the OECD recommendations em-phasise that in order to strengthenprogress in the eld o technol-ogy and eciency, reorms in theeducation system and policies orpromoting innovations, opportu-nities in the labour market and thebusiness environment should beimplemented.

GO INERNAIONAL SLOVENIA

Along with the decline in domes-tic demand, especially in invest-ment, Slovenia must pay moreattention to promoting and sup-

porting the internationalisationo the economy, especially smalland middle-sized enterprises.For this reason, the Chamber oCommerce and Industry o Slo-venia has been implementing theGo International Slovenia pro-gramme or the second year; itspurpose is to enhance the pres-ence o the Slovenian economyin oreign markets (increasingexport and the number o export-ers), to diversiy export markets

and, consequently, to strengthenthe competitiveness o Slovenianexporters. Te programme is in-cluded in the Partnership to Pro-mote International Business oSlovenian Enterprises, or the so-called International Challenges2013, which is being drated andcoordinated at the ourism andInternationalisation Directorateo the Ministry o Economic De-velopment and echnology.

Te rst part o the Go Interna-tional Slovenia programme liststhe activities planned or individ-ual markets to which the Cham-ber o Commerce and Industryo Slovenia will dedicate mostattention in 2013. Activities aredivided into ve groups: rapidlydeveloping markets, European

markets, SE European markets,other developed markets (em-phasis on technological coop-eration) and other developingmarkets. Te second part o theprogramme includes activitiesby individual topic: education,preparation o branch and marketanalyses, connection o exportersand legal aid, as well as support inthe internationalisation o Slove-nian enterprises.

Te selected key marketswhich will receivespecial attention in 2013are Azerbaijan, India,Kazakhstan, China, theRussian Federation andurkey.

Government gives special attention tothe regions and regional enterprises.

Photo:StankoGruden/STA

ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA


8/27


Recently, Slovenias Minister oEconomic Development andechnology, Radovan erjav, vis-ited India together with a largebusiness delegation. How do youassess the possibilities o cooper-ation in this feld among Sloveniaand India?Te visit o Mr Radovan erjavwas exceptionally well receivedin India. Important ministers o

the Government o India, theMinister or Commerce, Indus-try and extiles, the Minister orHeavy Industry and the Minis-ter or Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises received him, andthey had decidedly ruitul andproductive discussions. Veryproductive B2B meetings wereorganised by the Conederationo Indian Industry and the Fed-eration o the Indian Chamber oCommerce and Industry twohighly prominent organisations.As a ollow up, members o the

delegation propose visiting Indiaagain; thereore, we have issuedeach o them a six-month busi-ness visa.

Slovenia could be also a port oentry to European Union o Indi-an companies, with many areaso cooperation. Where do yousee the strong points or this kindo cooperation?

Slovenia is strategically very wellplaced, not only in respect o theEU but more particularly in re-spect o the Western Balkans. Itwould certainly be an attractivebase rom which Indian compa-nies could operate. However, thiswould require brand building oSlovenia in India. Te Govern-ment o Slovenia should make aconcerted eort to attract Indianbusinesses.

Some Slovenian companies arealready doing business with In-

dia. What would you recom-mend to Slovenian companiesthat would like to do businesswith India?India is a vast market, and manySlovenian companies have re-alised the opportunities it oersare limitless. Te demand in In-dian markets is so immense thatno Slovenian company wouldbe able to meet it. What I would

advise Slovenian companies isto enter niche areas. Sloveniancompanies should be open to setup joint ventures and transers otechnology, because that is whatIndia is looking or.

Regarding cooperation in scienceand technology, India and Slove-nia identifed 18 projects each orimplementation during 2010 and2013. Could you explain whatkind o projects these are? Andwhat are the prospects ater thatperiod?

Initially, eighteen projects wereidentied under the Science andechnology Cooperation Agree-ment. Ater joint deliberations,eight projects were selectedwhich are under various stageso implementation. Te areas ocooperation are in the elds ometal sciences and new materi-als, mathematics, health and bio-medical science, and alternate

renewable sources o energy, in-cluding solar energy. Tese proj-ects are being jointly researchedby eminent scholars rom Indiaand Slovenia in prestigious insti-tutions o higher learning and re-search in our two countries.

India-Slovenia bilateral relationshave always been excellent. Indiarecognised Slovenia as an inde-pendent state in May 1992. Soonater that, the then Foreign Min-ister o Slovenia Dimitrij Rupelvisited India. India granted sup-

port or Slovenian membershipat the UN and guest membershipo the Non-Aligned Movement.How do you assess these rela-tions, now, ater more than 20years?Indo-Slovenian relations havematured in the last 20 years.Tere are no open issues betweenIndia and Slovenia. Our countrieshave been mutually supportive o

each other. As a member o theNuclear Suppliers Group, Slove-nia supported India in the CivilNuclear Agreement. In many in-ternational bodies, such as theUnited Nations Security Council,Slovenia has supported us. Oneo our priorities is reorms in theUnited Nations that should reecttodays realities. Fortunately, Slo-venia has been extremely sup-portive o this move. Mr ErnestPetric (Yugoslavias last Ambas-sador to India and current Presi-dent o the Constitutional Court)

and his wie were guests o theGovernment o India or a week.Te State Visit o Prime MinisterPahor to India in 2011 establishedbeyond any doubt our respect orand riendship with Slovenia.

Last year in September a Bol-lywood production was flm-ing a movie Najak (Leader) attourist locations and signifcant

landmarks in Slovenia. Tis wasthe frst Bollywood movie to beflmed in Slovenia. What was therole o the embassy? What wasyour input?We acilitated the entire opera-tion. We maintained particularlyclose contact with the entire pro-duction crew which came andencouraged them about dierentlocations in Slovenia.

Do you have inormation whichSlovenian companies took partat the production and flming

process? Was this cooperationproftable?Te Slovenian company thatplayed an active role was RA.

Do you have any eedback o theimpressions o the team, whilethey were flming?Te team was extremely im-pressed with the locations in Slo-venia and the excellent coopera-

tion they received. Te act thatthe lm has grossed 25 millioneuros so ar speaks volumes.

Do you think this might encour-age Indian tourists to visit Slove-nia? How could we increase thenumber o Indian tourists to ourcountry? India is namely quiteexciting destination or Sloveniatourists who visit India in a sub-stantial number.Shooting Indian lms in Sloveniawill certainly promote tourism.Indian lm goers preer movies

that are shot on locations and notin studios. Te large Indian audi-ences that watch these on-loca-tion movies visit the countrieswhere the lms were shot. Indi-ans are now requent travellersabroad or holidays and tourism.Slovenia is certainly an extremelyexciting country that is small butextraordinarily beautiul. What isrequired is an aggressive tourist

campaign.

Slovenias entire populationcould easily ft in a suburb oNew Delhi. Te liestyles in ourcountries are remarkably dier-ent. How do you, Mr Ambassa-dor, see Slovenians?Yes. Our liestyles truly are re-markably dierent, not to men-tion the sizes o our countries, asyou have rightly pointed out. Myimpression in the last two-and-a-hal years is that Slovenians areriendly, warm and helpul.

Slovenia is strategically very well placed, notonly in respect o the EU but more particularlyin respect o the Western Balkans. It wouldcertainly be an attractive base rom whichIndian companies could operate.

What I would advise Slovenian companies is toenter niche areas. Slovenian companies shouldbe open to set up joint ventures and transerso technology, because that is what India islooking or.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor withrst lady Tanja Pear welcomed theIndian ambassador to Slovenia H.E. Jayakar Jerome and his wie at areception or the diplomatic corps

Filming at the Bled lake, main actorsRam Charan and Kajal Aggarwal (theBled castle in the background).

DEBATE DEBATE


Photo:ArchivesofRTA


9/27


Sandra Letica and anja Glogovan

An escape route from the crisis has been mapped out

A year has passed since the ormation o the Govern-

ment o the Republic o Slovenia under the leadership

o Prime Minister Janez Jana, which took place on 10

February 2012. At that time, the coalition consisted o the

ollowing parties: the Slovenian Democratic Party, Civic

List, the Democratic Party o Pensioners o Slovenia, the

Slovenian Peoples Party and New Slovenia. Te main is-

sue o the rst year o the term was the consolidation o

public nances. Te rst and crucial task o the newly-

appointed Government was the preparation o the most

urgent measures needed to overcome the difcult nan-

cial and economic situation in the country.

It was necessary to act quicklyand decisively. Te rst action othe Government was related tothe Government itsel.

By reducing the number o min-istries (by our), governmentservices (by six), organs underthe responsibility o ministries(by three), and by abolishing a

number o state bodies and o-ces, including those abroad, theadministration became slimmerand cheaper. At the end o 2012,the state administration hadabout a thousand o employeesless than at the beginning o theyear. Te number o employeesdecreased rom 33,343 to 32,336.Te total wage bill decreased by18 million euros in September2012 compared to May 2012.

Immediately ater being swornin, the Government o the Re-public o Slovenia (hereinater

reerred to as the Government),set the objective o reducingpublic spending. Ater lengthynegotiations with social part-ners, the Government managedto reach a consensus on theimplementation o the so-calledact on saving, which, togetherwith savings in material costs,substantially reduced the bud-

get expenditure by about 800million euros.

Tree packages were then ad-opted to stimulate the economy.With the rst package o mea-sures, investors received a clearsign that the Government sup-ports a society o developmentand knowledge (reduction ocorporate income tax to 15 percent, the introduction o un-limited 40 per cent investmenttax relies, increasing relie orresearch and development rom40 to 100 per cent). Te second

package o measures consistedo 75 measures to boost eco-nomic growth, including publicinvitations or tenders worth377.5 million euros. Te thirdpackage o measures to stimu-late the economy was adoptedlast autumn. It consisted o 155concrete solutions, amend-ments to the acts and executive

acts in the area o labour legisla-tion, rehabilitation o the bank-ing system, the broader businesssystem and agriculture and theenvironment.

With the help o numerous im-provements in the drawing oEU unds, the Government suc-ceeded in making signicantprogress in this area in compari-son to previous years. On aver-age, the state received 44 millioneuros on a monthly basis romEU unds (beore, the averagewas 22 million per month).

Te adoption o the SloveniaSovereign Holding Act estab-lished conditions or the com-prehensive, transparent andecient management o stateproperty, with the aim o trans-parent withdrawal o the staterom the economy. Te act onmeasures or the stabilisationo the banking system laid theoundations or the rehabilita-tion o the banking sector andthe elimination o the creditcrunch resulting rom inconsis-tent banking operations in thepast.

Te Government has inten-sied economic diplomacy,while changes in tax legislation(primarily the relie or invest-ments) improved the attractive-

ness o the domestic economicenvironment or oreign invest-ments. In particular, the 100 percent tax deduction or invest-ments in research and develop-ment allowed the higher edu-cation research sphere to gainopen opportunities to becomemore intensively linked with theeconomy, and to replace the re-duction o unding rom the di-rect budget through this mecha-nism. Te Parliament has alsounanimously passed pensionreorm which, unlike the previ-ous attempt, was not reerred toa reerendum by social partners.In one year, the Governmentsucceeded in laying the oun-dations or Slovenia to success-ully conront the consequenceso the crisis. Tis is thanks toall the ministers and their col-

leagues, who have persevereddespite the many obstacles theyencountered.

Due to successully executedGovernmental projects, macro-economic indicators started toimprove. It is also essential topoint out that interest rates ongovernment bonds in interna-tional markets began to slowlybut steadily decline.

Rating agencies are again close-ly watching developments inSlovenia, which makes it evenmore important that the workon key projects across ministriescontinues successully. Resultsare the only way to convince theinternational community o theseriousness o intentions to exit

the crisis.

Tereore, some o the key proj-ects o individual ministries othe rst year o the Governmento Janez Jana are highlightedbelow.

MINISRY OF FINANCE

Providing a strong and stablebanking and nancial system isa key starting point or all theactivities o the Ministry o Fi-nance.

Tereore, the ministry ocusedon medium-term consolidationo public nances and acceler-ated work on budget amend-ments or 2012, with the aim oreducing the budget decit to 3per cent o the gross domestic

product. Budget expenditureor consumption was substan-tially reduced by about 800million euros. Te Governmentachieved this by rst starting theimplementation o cost-cuttingmeasures or material costs, andsubsequently by amending thelegislation on budget expendi-ture and public unds.

In the light o the commitmentto reduce the budget decit be-low 3 per cent o GDP, the Min-istry o Finance also preparedthe budgets or 2013 and 2014.Te Government has incorpo-rated economic incentives inthe budget proposals and pro-vided 600 million euros o undsmore or investments alreadyin the proposed budget or 2013

than in the budget amendmentsor 2012. Tis is largely related tothe drawing o European unds.Te budget or 2013 consists oa combination o cost reductionand additional revenue genera-tion, all o which provides anopportunity or developmentincentives. Te Government canthus plan a scal decit o 2.8per cent o GDP in 2013, whilealso providing approximately800 million euros as incentiveor the economy, investmentprojects and tax relies.

In this context, it is also neces-sary to mention the systematicmeasures in the banking sectorto address the credit crunch andthe Measures o the Republic oSlovenia to Strengthen the Sta-bility o Banks Act. With the Slo-

One year ago, the tenthSlovenian Governmenttook oce. Coalitionpartners have signedthe Agreement orSlovenia 2012-2015. Ajoint commitment o thecoalition was to stop thenegative developmenttrend and improve thecompetitiveness andgrowth o the Slovenianeconomy. Tis is aprerequisite or ensuringthe welare state, thedevelopment o Slovenia

as a whole, and orgreater prosperity or all.

From let to the right: Dr iga Turk,Minister o Education, Science, Cultureand Sport, Dr Senko Pliani, Ministero Justice and Public Administration,Zvonko erna, Minister o Inrastructureand Spatial Planning, Dr Toma Gantar,Minister o Health, Dr Vinko Gorenak,Minister o the Interior, Dr Janezutari, Minister o Finance, Ale Hojs,Minister o Deence, Karl Viktor Erjavec,Minister o Foreign Afairs, LjudmilaNovak, Minister or Slovenians Abroad,Janez Jana, Prime Minister, Dr Gregor

Virant, President o Slovenias NationalParliament, Radovan erjav, MSc,Minister o Economic Development andTechnology, Andrej Vizjak, MSc, Ministero Labour, Family and Social Afairs,Franc Bogovi, Minister o Agricultureand Environment



IN FOCUS IN FOCUS

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janawith ormer Italian Prime MinisterMario Monti


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venia Sovereign Holding Act, theGovernment provided a stableand ecient ramework or themanagement o state property.

Last year, Slovenia success-ully took on a new debt, sinceit issued a reerence ten-yeargovernment bond worth 2.25billion USD in the Americanmarket. Te gradual changes inthe tax system have led to theestablishment o business termsand conditions, which will havea stimulating eect on the rapideconomic recovery.

A very important package omeasures or the consolida-tion o public nances consistso activities to reduce tax eva-sion. According to the Euro-

pean Commission, Slovenia hasa relatively high share o greyeconomy.

Te priorities o the Ministry oFinance include: ensuring thestability and consolidation opublic nances, the implemen-tation o the Measures o the Re-public o Slovenia to Strengthenthe Stability o Banks Act, theestablishment o a stable and e-ective ramework or the man-agement o state property, un-disturbed nancing o the statebudget, raising sovereign ratingso the country and continuationo the project o joining the axAdministration with the Cus-toms Administration o the Re-public o Slovenia.

MINISRY OF LABOUR, FAMILY

AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

Te greatest achievement othe ministry is undoubtedly thepassing o the pension reorm.Te Pension and Invalidity In-surance Act (ZPIZ 2) was passedunanimously in the NationalAssembly and was also almostentirely harmonised with socialpartners. Te ministry can alsobe proud o the passing o the ActAmending the Act Concerningthe Pursuit o Foster Care and theGuarantee and Alimony Fund othe Republic o Slovenia Act.

Te priorities o the ministryinclude: labour market reorm,the drating and adoption o theFamily Code, the drating and

adoption o the Parental Pro-tection and Family Benet Act,Agreement between the Repub-lic o Slovenia and the RussianFederation on cooperation inthe eld o child adoption, Acton Assistance or the Disabled,Scholarship Act, Act Amendingthe Social Security Act and theAct on Long-erm Care and In-surance or Long-erm Care.

MINISRY OF ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMEN AND

ECHNOLOGY

Under the watchul eye o theministry and in collaborationwith other ministries, the so-called second package o mea-sures to stimulate the economy

was ormed. Te ministry alsocoordinated the preparation othe third package o measuresto stimulate the economy. Temeasures that have been re-alised rom this package so arinclude the rehabilitation o thebanking system, changes in taxlegislation, changes in the eldo public procurement and pen-sion reorm. All o these have asignicant and positive impacton the economy.

Te ministry has carried outkey changes to the legislationor the relie o the economy,drated important strategicdocuments that are the basis orurther economic developmento Slovenia, and also helped theeconomy with very specic in-

centives. For example, 1.5 mil-lion euros were assigned in 2012to promote internationalisationand more than 13 million eurosto promote oreign direct invest-ments.

Te Government has set up apublic agency SPIRI, whichcombines the Public Agency othe RS or Entrepreneurship andForeign Investments (JAPI), theSlovenian ourist Board (SO),and the Public Agency or ech-nology o the Republic o Slove-nia (IA).

Te ministrys plan or drawingEuropean unds was exceededby 112 per cent, which makesthis ministry the most success-

ul in this respect, consideringalso that the absolute sum o EUunds drawn was also the high-est so ar.

Tis year, the ministry will con-tinue to remove administrativebarriers, and some strategicdocuments are already beingdrated (e.g. Action Plan o theSmall Business Act rom 2014 to2015 and the concept o a com-prehensive supportive environ-ment or entrepreneurship), aswell as new calls to stimulatethe economy (approximately467 million euros will be avail-able).

MINISRY OF INFRASRUCURE

AND SPAIAL PLANNING

In 2012, the Ministry o Inra-structure and Spatial Planningstrengthened public transportwith cheaper monthly ticketsor young people, acilitated ac-tivities in the eld o spatial sit-ing o inrastructural projects onational importance and drewtwice as much in EU unds orprojects than in 2011. And in thisyears budget, it is expected todraw six times more EU undsthan in 2011.

Among the projects in the ener-gy sector, most o the activitiesconcerned the adoption o regu-lations or hydroelectric powerplants on the lower and middleSava River. A contract or overthe billion euro South Stream

project was also nally signed.Te ministry is also continu-ing to build the otanj thermalpower plant. Te National Hous-ing Programme or the next ten-year period is also closing. Itspurpose is to provide long-termresidential care with the regula-tion o cost rent, promotion olegal renting o apartments, etc.2013 will be marked by a boostin economic growth througha number o investments andchanges in the regulations. Tebudget or 2013 made 408.5million euros available or in-vestment, which is almost twiceas much as in 2012, when 206.7million were available or thispurpose.

MINISRY OF JUSICE AND

PUBLIC ADMINISRAION

Te Ministry o Justice and Pub-lic Administration ocused pri-marily on the rationalisationand reduction o costly publicsector and on jurisdiction in thepast year.

Te Ministry o Public Admin-istration and the Ministry oFinance successully led nego-tiations with social partners andthus contributed to the adoptiono the Public Finance Manage-ment Act. In order to increasethe quality, availability and e-ciency o jurisdictional ser-vices, notaries ees have beenreormed, the proposal o theamendment to the Notary Act

has been prepared and judicialreorm has been drated. Some79 per cent o the measures toeliminate administrative barri-ers and improve legislation werealready realised in 2012.

Tis year, the ministry is ocus-ing on two main challenges:public sector reorm and reormo the judiciary.

MINISRY OF HEALH

In the rst year o this Govern-ment, the Ministry o Healthollowed the outlined tasksand priorities, among whichit is necessary to mention thecompletion o investments inhealthcare, work on the eHealthproject and the drating o pro-

posals to change healthcarelegislation that are required orthe improvement o the healthsystem.

Te general agreement or 2013was also adopted. It determinesthe scope and value o healthprogrammes covered by theHealth Insurance Institute oSlovenia. And so at the begin-ning o this year, prices o healthservices were already addition-ally reduced by 3 per cent anda change in the dynamics o thepayment o advances to hospi-tals was also introduced.

Te priority o the ministry is togenerally improve the qualityo healthcare services. Hence,

Te main issue o therst year o the termwas the consolidationo public nances. Terst and crucial task othe newly-appointedGovernment was thepreparation o the mosturgent measures neededto overcome the dicultnancial and economicsituation in the country.

Te Governmentadopted the SloveniaSovereign Holding Actand the Act on measuresor the stabilisation othe banking system.Te Parliament has alsounanimously passedpension reorm.

IN FOCUS IN FOCUS

Dr Vinko Gorenak, Minister o theInterior, Mojca Kucler Dolinar, StateSecretary at the Ministry o Justiceand Public Administration, Dr igaTurk, Minister o Education, Science,Culture and Sport, Andrej Vizjak, Msc,Minister o Labour, Family and SocialAfairs

State secretary at the Ministry oInterior Barbara Brezigar and DrVinko Gorenak, Minister o Interior




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the ministry will also strive torealise the emergency centresnetwork. Tis project is expect-ed to be completed by the end o2014. Signicant advances in thetreatment o patients are alsothe reerence amily medicineclinics, which increase the ac-cess o the population to qualityand sae healthcare.

In the rst year o the currentGovernment, the Ministry oHealth continued with the es-tablishment o an accreditationsystem or Slovenian hospi-tals. International accreditationmeans that the hospital or ahealth institution obtains a cer-ticate or standards o qualityand saety.

MINISRY OF EDUCAION,SCIENCE, CULURE AND SPOR

Changing the school calendarbrought about the reintroduc-tion o winter holidays distrib-uted over two separate weeks,starting with the school year2012/2013, while the adoptiono the School Meals Act led toa signicant increase in thenumber o school children whowill receive ree or subsidisedschool meals rom now on. Teministry has started a trial im-plementation o the rst oreignlanguage in the rst year o pri-mary school and supported theinitiative to introduce Chineseas an optional subject in pri-mary schools.

In the area o legislation, theAmendment o the Higher Ed-ucation Act was drated. Treeimportant documents in theeld o culture were reerred

to public debate: a drat pro-posal o the Act on Amendingthe Act Regulating the Reali-sation o the Public Interest inCulture; drat o the NationalProgramme or Culture 2013 2016; and the Drat o the Na-tional Programme or LanguagePolicy 2012 - 2016.A cultural project, Maribor, theEuropean Capital o Culture2012, was successully com-pleted, as well as the exhibitiono Slovenian Impressionists inParis, a European tour by theSlovenian Philharmonic Or-chestra, etc.

In the eld o cultural heritage,the ministry achieved its goalo placing Idrija and its techni-cal heritage on the UNESCO list,

with the joint nomination oTe creative synthesis o tradi-tion and the avant-garde thecontroversy o (the architect)Joe Plenik with rationalisttendencies in architecture andurbanism o the rst hal o the20th century (in cooperationwith the Czech Republic). Teministry can also pride itselon the declaration o the koaLoka Passion Play as a live mas-terpiece o national importanceand the opening o the Cul-tural Centre o European Spaceechnologies in Vitanje.

Much o the ministrys atten-tion is also devoted to the in-ormation society and sport.In connection with the latter,it is necessary to mention thatactivities or the European Bas-ketball Championship are al-ready underway and that therestoration o the Bloudek skijumps has been completed.

Tis year, the ministry will o-cus primarily on the ollowing:amending the acts on highereducation and religious ree-dom; care or culture and lan-guage; strengthening the roleo Slovenia in Europe and theworld; measures or quality, in-dependent and creative schools;actions or doctoral and post-doctoral programmes and theintroduction o broadband inevery Slovenian home.

MINISRY OF AGRICULURE AND

HE ENVIRONMEN

Ater a year o working as anew organisation, it is clearthat combing the agricultureand environment under oneroo makes it easier to trace

the principles o sustainability,multi-unctionality, protectiono nature and the environment,ood saety and integrated ruraldevelopment.

In agriculture, the ministrysought to promote a greater de-gree o sel-suciency, espe-cially with quality, locally pro-duced ood, and to improve theood security o the population.In the eld o the environment,the Decree on Waste Manage-ment is particularly notable.

Tis year, the ministry plansthe ollowing: eective imple-mentation o the measures othe Common Agricultural Policyand Cohesion Fund projects; thetransormation o the eld owater use and regulation; pro-motion o international year ocooperation on waters under theslogan Waters Connect; thedrating o the National Strate-

gic Plan or the Development oAquaculture 2014-2020; Opera-tional Programme or Fisheries2014-2020; the Rural Develop-ment Programme, and measuresto implement the Resolution orthe period 2014-2020.

MINISRY OF HE INERIOR

Te ministry has achieved clos-er contact between prosecutorsand the police, prepared newsystemic police legislation andadopted the Resolution on theNational Programme or thePrevention and Suppressiono Crime or the Period 2012 -2016. Te Strategy or control-ling economic crime and theproposal or the amendment tothe State Prosecutor Act have

also been adopted.

Te priorities o this ministry arethe rationalisation o businessand improvement and reorgan-isation o work.

MINISRY OF DEFENCE

Te ministry ocused its work onensuring the adequate prepared-ness o the Slovenian Army andsecurity system against naturaland other disasters.

Key achievements include:starting the procedure o trans-ormation which aims to urtherdevelop the deence system,which includes both the Slove-nian Army and the administra-tive part; adoption o the De-ence Strategy o the Republic oSlovenia; the participation o theSlovenian Army in internationaloperations and missions, withthe ocus on Slovenian Armys

activity in KFOR orces in Koso-vo and ISAF in Aghanistan.

Furthermore, the ministry willadopt a Medium-erm DeenceProgramme 2013-2018 and con-tinue transormation processes.In uture, the Slovenian Armywill continue to participate in in-ternational operations and mis-sions, and take care o the secu-rity o the Republic o Slovenia.Te objective o the ministry isalso the preparation o a newconcept o unctioning o civil-ian unctional experts and en-suring the adequate response othe system o protection againstnatural and other disasters.

MINISRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Key achievements include: in-tensive and productive coopera-tion with neighbouring coun-tries, also in resolving urgentissues such as the preparationo the deence beore the arbi-trational tribunal and the searchor resolutions to the issue oLjubljanska banka in Croatia.Te ministry devoted a lot o at-tention to economic diplomacy,and also ormed the StrategicCouncil or International Eco-nomic Cooperation.

Te Ministry o Foreign Aairsmainly stimulated activitiescontained in the strategic docu-ment International Challenges2013, in which the ollowingcountries are dened as the tar-get markets: Russian Federation,India, China, urkey, Kazakh-stan, and Azerbaijan.

In the past year, the ministerso oreign ministries o Slove-

nia, Austria, Denmark and Ire-land signed a public letter stat-ing that the case o Syria shouldbe reerred to the InternationalCriminal Court.

Te rst priority o the minis-try is to determine the maritimeborder between Slovenia andCroatia and a constructive solu-tion to the burning issue o theLjubljanska banka, which is aprerequisite or Slovenians rati-cation o Croatias EU acces-sion treaty.

OFFICE FOR SLOVENIANS

ABROAD

Last year, in light o the penetra-tion o the Slovenian economyin oreign markets, the oce

organised a number o eventsto strengthen economic ties andcooperation between the home-land and the Slovenians abroad.

Te priorities and objectives othe oce are to promote eco-nomic, scientic and culturalcooperation between Sloveniansabroad and the home country,the implementation o the ActionPlan o cooperation with Slove-nian scientists and other top ex-perts, and the implementationo the Action Plan regarding co-operation and support to youngSlovenians living in the neigh-bouring countries and abroad.

In the interests o preservingthe Slovenian language amongSlovenians living abroad, the o-ce will continue to co-organiseSlovenian language summerschools and conduct seminarsor teachers o Slovenian lan-guage and culture rom overseas.

Te Governmenthas intensiedeconomic diplomacy,while changes in taxlegislation improvedthe attractiveness othe domestic economicenvironment or oreigninvestments.


Photo:DanielNovakov

i/STA



Let: Prima ballerina Regina Kriaj,Mezzo soprano Bernarda Fink and Driga Turk, Minister o Education,Science, Culture and Sport

Right: Agriculture and EnvironmentMinister Franc Bogovi visits thePrimorsko region to assess damagecaused by drought.

Let: Minister o Interior VinkoGorenak receive Slovenian Olympicathletes

Right: Slovenian Deence MinisterAle Hojs receives his Chinesecounterpart Liang Guanglie.

IN FOCUS IN FOCUS


12/27


IN FOCUS INTERVIEW anja Glogovan

Janez Jana

Te President o the Government o the Republic o Slovenia

We are behaving responsibly

IN FOCUS INTERVIEW

Young people are right toseek experience abroad.But the important thingis to come back anduse the knowledge thusacquired to boost oureconomy.

Ater considerable eorts, theEuropean Financial Framework20142020 has fnally beenagreed on. Do you consider Slo-venia to have been a successulnegotiator?I certainly do. I am proud oSlovenias negotiating team. Wemade sure that Slovenia will re-main a net recipient o EU undsin the next European nancialramework. Moreover, we man-aged to improve our position,despite opposite expectationsat the start o the negotiations.We have reached an agreementwhich will bring us the grosssum o 5.4 billion euros in thenext seven years. O course,Slovenia will be a contributorto the EU budget as well. How-ever, in terms o net inows thismeans at least 370 million euros

o new unds per year. Tis isan important source o und-ing or the uture developmento the country and new jobs inthe ramework o the commonEuropean market. Particularlyworrying within the existingunemployment structure is theshare o young people, whichis critical in some parts o thecountry. Tis was also denedby the European Union, whichset 25 per cent unemploymentamong young people in a regionas a critical limit. We thereorewelcome the establishment o a

special und amounting to 6 bil-lion euros as a part o the newperspective; resources rom thisund will be earmarked or in-stitutions in regions that exceedthe mentioned limit and that areconcerned with the eliminationor mitigation o the problem oyoung people lacking employ-ment. It is in everybodys inter-est to create opportunities orthe young.

Te uture rests with the young.But they are the ones who aremoving abroad and expressingtheir dissatisaction with thesituation. What are the reasonsor this?Te nancial crisis has aect-ed all EU member states. As asmall market, Slovenia is evenmore susceptible to interna-

tional economic trends. But adeeper reason or dissatisac-tion is a result o long years ouneven development. Te EastCohesion Region with Mariborstands at 73% o the EU aver-age development rate, whilethe West Cohesion Region withLjubljana can boast 106%. Teliving standard in the east isthus lower by a third. And thisis conrmed by the unemploy-ment statistics. But despite this,as much as 60 per cent o stateaid went to the easily most de-veloped Ljubljana region last

year. All other eleven statisticalregions o Slovenia were grant-ed a mere 40 per cent o stateaid. Te situation was not muchbetter in previous years either.Tis is precisely why the undsrom the new European nan-cial ramework will be o keyimportance or the eliminationo discrepancies and enhancedwellbeing in the country.Young people are right to seekexperience abroad. But the im-portant thing is to come backand use the knowledge thus ac-quired to boost our economy. Inits history, Slovenia has too o-ten suered the loss o its mostcreative and capable people, orvarious reasons. Certain partso the country can still eel theconsequences o the brain drainin the past. International coop-

eration is o key importance orthe uture. Tis is precisely whythe Government is striving toadopt long-term measures tocreate an environment to whichthe young will be happy to re-turn.

Have the projects or whichSlovenia will draw the negoti-ated unds rom the next fnan-cial ramework already beendrated?It is clear, above all, that theseresources will be crucial or thenecessary inrastructural proj-

Raise your voice and expand thisnetwork, said Prime Minister Janato encourage the young to take partin active citizenship at the Tartini The-atre in Piran.

Photo:NebojaStoji/STA

Photo

:ArchivesofPrimeMinisteroftheRepublicofSlovenia


13/27


IN FOCUS INTERVIEW IN FOCUS INTERVIEW

render labour law more exible.Firstly, it will be easier or thedomestic economy to adjust tomarket conditions. And second-ly, this will improve Sloveniascompetitiveness as measured bythe international rankings thateach oreign investor rst looksat when considering invest-ments in another country.

Which particular marketspresent opportunities or theSlovenian economy and are atthe same time lucrative or or-eign investors?Every market, in my opinion, haspotential. We should always bearin mind that the small size o Slo-venia does aect its capacity, butstill, Slovenia can be more e-cient and competitive i it clearlydenes its objectives. Tis year,

special attention will be paid toselected oreign markets, suchas Azerbaijan, India, Kazakh-stan, China, the Russian Federa-tion and urkey. Tese marketsare recording economic growthin a period when the EuropeanUnions economy is stagnating oreven shrinking. Tis, o course,does not imply that these are theonly interesting markets or Slo-venia or that we are not consid-ering other markets as well.Te Government has denedthe areas where Slovenia excelsin know-how and has rich nat-

ural resources, which enables itto compete on the global mar-ket. With the recently adoptedIndustrial Policy o Slovenia,the Government has once againput the manuacturing sectorat the oreront. For the pur-poses o international trade,the ollowing economic sec-tors have priority: biomedi-cine and biotechnology, energyand environmental technolo-gies, advanced materials andtechnologies, nanotechnology,inormation-communicationtechnologies, the wood pro-cessing industry, the automo-tive industry, transport andlogistics, the metal processingindustry, and tourism.

It seems that owing to domesticpolitical unrest, the atmosphere

in Slovenia is, despite the win-ter, rather overheated: there areeven an increasing number ocalls or you to step down. Teloudest, however, appear to beincapable o oering an alter-native. What does the uturehold or us?Slovenia is a democratic coun-try with a constitution andlaws that acilitate a democraticchange in the Government. Mymandate, as I have pointed outseveral times beore, is availableto anyone who believes them-selves to have the potential to

lead the country better than Ican. Te Slovenian legal orderprovides or the mechanism oa constructive non-condencemotion enabling the new par-liamentary majority to institutea new government in a demo-cratic manner.Te Government that I lead hasadopted a series o measures,thus laying solid oundations orSlovenia and its economy to re-cover and regain its prosperity.Tose who are trying to bringdown the Government throughexcesses and media agitation willhave to take the responsibility ortheir actions. As or me, I will notseek a vote o condence in theparliament, because I do not be-lieve this would be good or thecountry. My predecessor did thisat the end o September 2011 and

ailed to win the vote o con-dence. Te result was that it tookSlovenia our and a hal monthsbeore obtaining a new govern-ment. Perhaps we could still a-ord this in 2011, but the pricewas nevertheless very high.Currently, Slovenia has a gov-ernment holding ull politicalpower. Tereore, we are mak-ing every eort to prevent thepolitical crisis rom blocking anormal unctioning o the pub-lic administration somethingwhich would usually happen insuch situations and rom mak-

Every market, in myopinion, has potential.We should always bearin mind that the smallsize o Slovenia doesaect its capacity, butstill, Slovenia can bemore ecient andcompetitive i it clearlydenes its objectives.

We are making everyeort to prevent thepolitical crisis romblocking a normalunctioning o thepublic administration something whichwould usually happenin such situations androm making peopleeel this vacuum. We arebehaving responsibly.

ects in the country. Our Gov-ernment is striving to promoteawareness o the importance othe EU unds or the develop-ment o less developed regionsthrough government regionalvisits. We started with the leastdeveloped regions, those thatwill nd their best opportunitiesin the new nancial perspec-tive. Insoar as they prepare theprojects with which to stand orthese resources well, o course.On his last visit to Dolenjska andBela Krajina, Zvone erna, theMinister o Inrastructure andSpatial Planning, brought goodnews by declaring that the Gov-ernment had accelerated theprocedures or obtaining loca-tion permits or the so-calledthird development axis and thatthe construction o the road is

scheduled to already begin atthe end o next year. O course,this road could not be builtwithout EU unds, which areexpected to cover a third o theinvestment. Te rest will have tobe provided by us, including bygranting motorway concessions.It is clear that oreign invest-ments are directly related togood inrastructural connec-tions. One may say that theseare projects o vital importanceor the less developed parts othe country. Until these areasare well connected, this envi-

ronment will be less attractive tooreign investors and the qualityo living in such regions will un-ortunately remain lower. .

When starting your term o o-fce, you said that, besides Eu-ropean unding resources, or-eign investments were the onlyresources available to Slovenia.European negotiations havebeen successully completed.What about the opening up othe Slovenias business envi-ronment to attract oreign in-vestments?Beore the end o last year, weadopted our out o ve reormsthat are the key to overcomingthe crisis in which Slovenia hasmired ater months o block-ades due to the collapse o theprevious Government. We suc-

cessully negotiated the bud-gets or 2012 and 2013 throughgovernment and parliamen-tary procedures and adoptedthe pension reorm without asingle opposing vote. I am par-ticularly pleased that the twomost important laws, that is thelaw setting up a so-called badbank and the law regulating themanagement o state-ownedassets, have successully navi-gated all the obstacles, even thereerendum threats. Te law onstate-owned assets provides thebasis or the establishment o

the Slovenia Sovereign Holdingand ensures a greater transpar-ency and eciency o the man-agement o state-owned assets.Dispersed state ownership is o-ten seen an obstacle or oreigninvestors who are interested inentering the Slovenian market.With the establishment o theholding company, we will en-sure a counterpart or potentialinvestors to discuss prospectiveinvestments. Te law governingthe rehabilitation o the bank-ing system, as the bank balancesheet restructuring mechanism,is also o crucial importance orthe recovery o the Slovenianeconomic sector. Currently, im-plementing regulations that arerequired beore this instrumentbecomes operational are beingbrought into line with the Euro-

pean Central Bank. Te momentthe so-called bad bank becomesoperational, the Slovenian -nancial system will enter a newera. A better nancial servicewill improve the productivity othe economic sector and createbetter jobs.Furthermore, the talks withsocial partners on the labourmarket reorm have recentlyreached their nal phase. Tisis the last o ve key measuresthat the present Governmentoutlined at the beginning o itsterm o oce. It is imperative to

In order to revive the economicgrowth, the government o the Re-public o Slovenia adopted numer-ous measures to consolidate publicnance, revitalise lending into theeconomy and improve the businessenvironment, Prime Minister Janaassured the Secretary General AngeloGurria in OECD Bled.


The Slovenian national interest isor good companies which create newjobs, said Prime Minister Jana at theopening o a Swiss investment proj-ect which will benet the Slovenianeconomy.



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ing people eel this vacuum. Weare behaving respo nsibly.

In recent years, reerendumshave turned out to be the singlegreatest problem or Sloveniangovernments. Can the state re-move the blockades?It seems that all political par-ties have reached a very broadconsensus regarding the imple-mentation o projects which arecrucial to Slovenia. One o theseprojects is to change the reer-endum rules. Frequent reeren-dums were an important causeo political instability in the past.A constitutional amendment will

make the institution o peopleslegislative corrective action moreup-to-date and practicable. Tetalks on the content o changesare already at an advanced stage.Te objective is to depart romthe current situation, in whichthe institution o a reerenduminitiative has become a politicaltool used all too oten. Te eecto this can be considered as par-ticularly harmul to our citizens,who are witnessing a constantobstruction o measures and,especially, deterioration in theirstandard o living.

A similar story is the inclusion othe golden scal rule in the Con-stitution o the Republic o Slo-venia. By ratiying the interna-tional treaty, Slovenia undertookto do this. And indeed this rep-resents an important assurancethat we will not spend more thanwe have. What is more importantis that as a result o resolving thisissue at the constitutional level,the young generation will not beobliged to pay our debts.

Will Slovenia ratiy Croatias EUaccession treaty?For the time being, things lookgood. Te only worry is in-

creased political instability anda resulting period without aneective government, a situa-tion which could prevent the lastbarriers rom being removed. Onthe other hand, Croatias acces-sion to the EU is certainly in theinterests o Slovenia.

In recent months there was abroad-based campaign in Slo-venia and across the world tosupport the nomination o Fa-ther Pedro Opeka or the NobelPeace Prize. Te nomination isalso supported by the Govern-

ment. How do you see the sig-nifcance o this nomination?Father Pedro Opeka deservesto be awarded the Nobel PeacePrize because o his longstandingcharitable activity in one o thepoorest corners o the Earth. InMadagascar, he helps those whoare most in need o charitable as-sistance. Pedro Opeka is a Slove-nian and a world gure o whomwe can be justly proud.Te campaign in support o hisnomination in recent monthshas indeed been broad-basedand intense. Te support articu-lated by several heads o stateand various respected interna-

tional institutions rom Europe,Arica and other continents isreally impressive. I am particu-larly pleased with the level ounity demonstrated in Sloveniaon this occasion. Te statemento support was signed by a num-ber o distinguished personsrom political, cultural and sci-entic walks o lie. Te nomi-nation was also supported byall national branches o power,including the President, severaldeputies rom various politi-cal parties, Slovenian MEPs andmany others.

For the time being,things look good. Teonly worry is increasedpolitical instability and aresulting period withoutan eective government,a situation which couldprevent the last barriersrom being removed. Onthe other hand, Croatiasaccession to the EU iscertainly in the interestso Slovenia.

Slovenia has all the conditions to becomea successul country again

I worked at the World Bank orover thirty years. Ater ten years,I moved to Slovenia or two yearsas the Chie Economic Adviser toSlovenian Prime Minister. At thattime, Slovenia had achieved polit-ical independence and economicsovereignty. We built state andeconomic institutions and imple-mented basic economic reormso transition. Ater two years, weachieved positive growth, surplusin the budget, a stable and con-vertible local currency (the tolar),and minimal external debt. I thenmoved back to the World Bank.Ater about twenty years, I re-turned to live in my home coun-try, Slovenia. Te successul initialeconomic reorms, which wereimplemented to achieve the in-dependence o Slovenia, and thesubsequent accession to the EUhad perormed miracles. I ounda much higher standard o living,well-built inrastructure, includ-ing highways, and much nicercities resembling those in de-

veloped neighbouring countrieslike Austria and Italy. However,I was surprised to nd out thateconomic reorms had stalled.Although Slovenia was the rst

transition country to join the eurozone, it has beneted remarkablylittle rom oreign investment andthe common market or capital,has had (until recently) a pen-sion system in the brink o goingbankrupt, has inexible labourlaws that keep young workersunder- or unemployed, has rulesthat curtail competition and repelnew investors and job creation,has poor governance, non-com-petitive tax legislation, a cumber-some and oversized bureaucracyand, above all, badly managedstate enterprises and state banks.

With all these limitations, Slo-venia was poorly prepared toace the global nancial crisisthat started in 2008. Te all ineconomic activity has been thesecond largest in the euro area,just below Greece. Unemploy-ment has been high and remainshigh because o the inexible la-bour laws. Te enterprises thatwere privatised (by semi-legalmeans), using loans rom the statebanks, went bankrupt, and can-not service their debts to the samebanks, as they had no real capitaland too much debt. Te banks andthen the government lost accessto global nancial markets, orc-ing the government to adjust itsnances in order to be able to rollover the stock o debt, pay or amoderate decit and recapitalisethe state banks that could not re-cover their loans.Te current government identi-ed key economic reorms thatwe all knew needed to be doneand that should remain a priorityregardless o who is in power: weneed them or Slovenia to growso that Slovenians can have jobs.Tese include more exible la-bour laws, a better investment cli-mate and business regulations so

that capital can come in and helpto start new employment, theprivatisation o many companiesthat are certainly not strategic(such as beer), a correction o thescal imbalances, pension reormand a clean up o the state banksto be able to sell them and havethe new owners instil a commer-cial culture in them.Tus ar, the government has suc-ceeded implementing pension re-orm, which is commendable, al-though this will need more workin the uture because o the rapid-ly ageing population. Te current

government has also been ableto substantially lower the budgetdecit. Tese eorts also need tocontinue in the same direction inuture years. Te external debt oSlovenia is relatively low, less than60% o GDP. Te rapid increaseo debt, which went or socialtransers and inecient subsidiesin recent years, was not sustain-able. Tereore, the implementedsavings plan and decrease in thebudget decit was necessary, andthis needs to continue. Te exter-nal debt may, however, increaseto 70% or more as part o neededbank restructuring and clean upo old debts.It seems that there is some po-litical consensus to continue withsome reorms, especially a changein labour laws and improvementin the investment climate. How-ever, there seems to be a deep re-sistance in some political circlesto clean up state banks, to bet-ter manage state enterprises andstate capital, and/or to sell badlymanaged state enterprises to theprivate sector. All this is hap-pening despite the governmentsappointment o three rst-classoreign experts as directors o thebank restructuring agency. Te

political situation is highly divi-sive, using irrelevant ideologi-cal arguments dating rom issuesrom World War II, attempting tosplit the electorate and continuewith the status quo, stagnationand increasing corruption. An-other stumbling block to reormsare the non-constructive lead-ers o labour unions, which donot want to accept best practiceso neighbouring countries likeAustria, Germany and/or Scan-dinavian countries. Tere is in-sucient constructive and pro-essional debate about substance

o reorms. Te needed reormswere reviewed by internationalnancial institutions and receivedstrong support rom them. What-ever constructive comments werereceived rom these institutionsare easy to ollow since they con-centrate on transparency and aproessional approach to the im-plementation o the reorms.Slovenia should be able to imple-ment the needed reorms by itsel,as it did so twenty two years agowithout the ocial help rom theIMF and the World Bank. Sloveniahas all the conditions to become asuccessul country again. It has awell-educated and hard workingpopulation, diversied industryand services, and an excellent lo-cation with a beautiul landscapesuitable or successul tourism.Whatever government will holdpower in the uture, it will haveto continue with well-consideredreorms. What is needed politi-cally is to nd consensus on thepriorities and their quick imple-mentation. Whatever delays mayhappen in implementing theneeded and essential reorms,they will be extremely costly andwill deepen and unnecessarilyprolong the economic crisis.

Dr Boris Pleskovi is the Presi-dent o the Slovenian WorldCongress. He graduated rom theUniversity o Ljubljana, receiv-ing a Masters Degree at Harvardand PhD at the MassachusettsInstitute o echnology (MI). Heheld several posts at the WorldBank in Washington: Vice Chair

o the Research Committee, Ad-ministrator o the Research De-partment or Development Eco-nomics, Research DepartmentManager, chie organiser andco-editor o the books or annualglobal conerences o the WorldBank on development econom-ics, conerences and books or

the Berlin Workshop Series andhead o the World Banks macro-economic consulting missions. In1991 and 1992, he served as ChieEconomic Adviser to the PrimeMinister o Slovenia. He re-quently lectures as a guest pro-essor at renowned universitiesin the US, Europe and China. He

has authored and co-authorednumerous books and scienticpapers. In 1998, he was decorat-ed on the occasion o the 650thanniversary o the Charles Uni-versity in Prague, and receivedthe Golden Order or Services in2006 rom the President o theRepublic o Slovenia.

IN FOCUS INTERVIEW IN FOCUS COLUMNDr Boris Pleskovi


Slovenia is a reliable partner, PrimeMinister Jana assured the SecretaryGeneral o NATO, Anders FoghRasmussen.

Photo:PersonalArchive


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Vesna arkovi

France Preeren poet, writer, thinker won a position in Slovenian societymore reminiscent o a natural phenomenon than o a person o fesh andblood. It is impossible to remove him rom the collective Slovenian spirit,since he is practically one with this spirit. Te presence o his name andimage everywhere on squares, streets, awards, bank notes, the theatre is

only a supercial maniestation o the poets infuence.

Nowadays, we can hardly imag-ine what the decision to writepoetry in Slovenian meant inthe rst hal o the 19th century.Primo rubar laid the ounda-tions or Slovenian literary lan-guage in the Reormation; how-ever, the rich tradition o olkliterature during the Enlighten-ment was joined by the rst, yetrail and artistically clumsy at-tempts at literary poetry. Protes-tantism contributed to the idea oa national state, and the Frenchrevolution 200 years ago con-tributed to the establishment othe Illyrian provinces in Sloveniain the age o Enlightenment. Andthis was also when the youngPreeren was schooled. Roman-ticism avoured the idea o a na-tional state, and Preeren with

his verses held a leading posi-tion in this movement. He was

the rst Slovenian whose writ-ing was good enough to competewith his contemporaries aroundEurope, where Romanticism wasourishing.

In that historical moment whenthe pressures on patriotismdangerously increased, FrancePreeren (1800-1849) took to thestage o European culture.He tookthe language o Slovenian peas-ants and elevated it to the levelo the European spirit and inter-national literature. Te languagewhich was not meant to sur-vive. Te language which passedthrough the eye o the needle ohistory, so that we can speak ittoday and on which we oundedour independent and democraticstate. Tereore, we celebrate this

historical miracle with great grat-itude and optimism.

he 19th century was very im-portant or the development othe Slovenian nation. Preerenand his circle o literates litedthe Slovenian language andliterary creativity to the high-est European level. Since then,the development o the Slove-nian nation has reached newlevels o culture, and inally,it reached the political devel-opment which led us to ourstatehood. Slovenian cultureand poetry accompanied allthe most important momentsin the development o the Slo-venian nation the rapturousand victorious moments, aswell as moments o uncer-tainty, and sometimes even otragedy and grie.Culture is acomprehensive system o val-

ues that merge us into a nation,community and state.

Tereore, a cultural holiday isnot only a holiday, but it also cel-ebrates our patriotism, our pa-triotic awareness and our state.Among all the national holidays,8 February is probably the mostsincerely elt by everyone, as itconnects us into a single cultur-ally dened amily. Independent,sovereign Slovenia was createdwith pen and weapon, thoughtand deed. In a symbolic way, thepath to Slovenian independencebegan in the village o Vrba in thebirth house o France Preeren on3 December 1800. 8 February isthe holiday when we rememberPreerens death, which presentsthe conclusion o his creative liebut also the beginning o his pathto immortality. Preerens workis a necessary, inevitable and

eternal part o Slovenian culturaltradition.

France Preeren was born 3December 1800 in Vrba in theGorenjska region, the third oeight children and the rst sonto Mina and imen Preeren.When he was eight years old, hewent to live with his uncle Joe,a priest. France was educated byJoe or the rst two years andthen entered the primary schoolin Ribnica. Preeren continuedhis schooling in Ljubljana. It wasthere that he realised that hehad not been born to be a priest,which was his mothers wish.Against his parents wishes,France applied to the Faculty oArts in Vienna. He graduated inthe spring o 1828, and soon a-

ter, ound his rst job as a lawyerin Ljubljana. He also worked probono as an apprentice; however,this work brought no success,since he was not regularly em-ployed. He gave up his careeras an ocial and started work-ing regularly as an apprentice.For a long time, he tried to be-come an independent lawyer,but his applications to practiselaw were constantly rejected.Interestingly, Preeren, who wasregistered in the golden book oexcellent students and passedall exams with honours, could

not get a job. It became clear tohim that honest

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