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REAL ESTATE SPECIAL: Survival of the Fittest

Borderline Syndrome A sea border dispute pushes Slovenia and Croatia into dangerous waters

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February 2009

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OFFICES WITH THE VIEW

CONTENTS

February 2009

4

Panorama

POLITICS

6

A Thorny Issue of the Middle East

6

A Word From the Editor: The Wet Veto

7

Slovenia-Croatia Dispute: Drawing the Line

10

Security: Effectiveness of Military Missions Abroad

ECONOMY

12

Facts and figures

13

Opinon: Tourism Enters the Crisis

14

Energy: The Winter of Our Discontent

16

Corporations: Overstretched

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

18

A Good time to buy Low

20

Interview: Gerain George, real estate expert

20

Ljubljana Housing Market Slows Down

22

Interview: Csaba Tóth, Emonika d.o.o.

23

Mátjás Gereben on Ljubljana’s offer of office spaces

24

Real Estate in Ljubljana: Getting a Facelift

28

Logistics: The Komenda Business Zone

28

Logistics: Ljubljana Airport’s expansion

31

Sledding: Discover your inner child

CULTURE

34

Remembering France Prešeren

35

Cultural ties of Slovenia and Czech Republic

36

Events

38

Guest Star: Retrospectives and Perspectives

SPORTS

40

Basketball: Zdovc Sacks Milič

42

Every Picture Tells a Story

Partners

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February 2009

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PANORAMA

source: STA, Slovenian Press Agency

A Crisis for National Unity that similar measures had been implemented in the entire world. “No government is able to say today it is satisfied with the adopted decisions, because it is clear that the crisis has not been overcome in any country, including Slovenia. Janez Janša, the head of the opposition Democrats, said that the agreement was beneficial as it largely represented what the party had proposed recently in the initiative for a bipartisan development partnership. Gregor Golobič (Zares) said the fact that the agreement is restricted only to finding solutions for the crisis does not mean that dialogue with civil society and expert public is pushed aside.

Other parties as well expressed positive comments on the initiative.

Tourism

Hospital drama

Walk-by shooting

A 3 % rise in the number of guests and a 2% rise in overnight stays at the Slovenian Tourist facilities stays was recorded in 2008. The rise can mostly be attributed to domestic guests. Amongst the altogether 67 % foreign guests, Italians (19 %) are the most numerous. UK contributes 6 % to the total. Slovenian tourist facilities registered a total of 164,993 guests in December, which is 6 % more year-on-year.

Dr. Erik Brecelj, a surgeon at the Ljubljana Oncology Institute, who has accused his employer of mobbing and is filing a lawsuit against the Institute, has collected hundreds of signatures of support from doctors and patients of the clinic.

Brecelj, who chairs the commission that examined irregularities in the construction of the new Oncology Institute, has become subject to different pressures after speaking out on several occasions about faulty construction of the building housing the institute and many other irregularities. The head of the surgery department at the Ljubljana Oncology Institute, Marko Hočevar rejected the accusations of mobbing, saying that he had given Brecelj a low halfyearly mark because his work has changed to the worse in comparison to the last three years. Brecelj however believes that the negative mark is a consequence of him “spoiling certain businesses” of some people at the clinic.

The police apprehended the man who shot at a bus driver at the Ljubljana bus station on 11th December. A 23year-old Bosnian citizen, who admitted to the crime, seriously injured the 49-year-old driver as he fired a gun at the windshield of his bus after the driver horned at him to get out of the way. The driver was taken to the Ljubljana UKC hospital, where he underwent two operations and is still being treated. The suspect admitted to the crime, saying he was drunk.

The suspect is facing betw een five and ten years in prison for attempted murder.

Death on the snow The weekend of January 10-11 was an extremely tragic one as two Slovenian kids lost their lives while skiing. A 13-year-old boy died on a skiing trip in Austria after crashing together with his best friend, who was seriously injured and is being treated at the Klagenfurt hospital.

The next day a six-year-old girl died after she was run over by a snow groomer at the Stari vrh ski resort.

The accident was caused by a combination of unfortunate circumstances, involving mishandling the groomer and a wrong reaction by the ski lift operator.

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The dawn of men The first Slovenian resident born in 2009 is a baby boy named Svit (meaning “dawn”). The boy was born only four minutes after midnight in Ljubljana. A total of nine children, of which eight were baby boys, were born in the first seven hours of 2009 across Slovenia. Slovenia’s second largest city, Maribor, welcomed first twins in the new year. The only baby girl to be born meanwhile was delivered in Nova Gorica.

Editor-in-chief: Marko Vuković marko.vukovic@sloveniatimes.com

Marketing/Advertising

Managing editor Jaka Terpinc editor@sloveniatimes.com

Irena Kržan irena@sloveniatimes.net

Culture editor Ana Šinkovec Copy editor Terry Troy Jackson Art director Maja Kaplan design@domus.si

Cinema box-office favourites in 2008

Photo: S. Sršen

The heads of parliamentary parties reached a verbal agreement on cooperation in dealing with the financial and economic crisis. Prime Minister Borut Pahor says meeting that this was a practical response from Slovenian politicians to the current challenges. He said that the agreement would enter into force immediately and would first concern a package of fundsaving measures, adding that the parties would coordinate their views only on measures for tackling the crisis. “The government wants to demonstrate its willingness to stick to the verbal agreement”, said the prime minister. Asked to comment on the criticism that the measures adopted so far have proven to be insufficient, Pahor said

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Domestic: Rooster’s Breakfast

34,208*

Estrellita

5,775

Landscape No2

3,500

* all together 113,107 viewers including year 2007

International: Mamma Mia

91,244

Kung-fu panda

67,851

Sex and the City

55,060

Marko Stijepić marketing@sloveniatimes.com

Iztok Červ iztok@sloveniatimes.net Subsciptions/Distribution subscription@sloveniatimes.com Circulation: 10,000 copies. ©DOMUS d.o.o., 2003.

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UNDER THE PRESS “It would make sense for us to discuss the need for balance in the resolution if the ratio of [Israeli to Palestinian] deaths were 14 to 14. We could discuss it even if it were 14 to 140. However, at 14 to 910, the academic consideration of a balanced response is hypocritical. Where do we draw the line? At 1000? 2000? 10,000? Slovenia has joined the countries that are willing to condemn the aggression only if the condemnation includes the explanation that the Palestinians are at fault for the violence. Or, at best, that ‘both sides’ are equally to blame.”

Slovenia started a three-year term in the UNICEF executive board. The membership will be dedicated to the promotion of children’s rights and full implementation of the UN’s recommendations to fight violence against children. This will be the second time on the executive board after the term between 2002 and 2004. The executive board is the governing body of UNICEF. It consists of 36 members elected for a three-year term. It meets three times a year.

Virtual reality

group memberships, 22 Jan count Groups on Slovene – Croatian relationships: Red Light for Croatia (the biggest Slovenian group supporting the veto): 13,965 members Boycot Slovenian products (the biggest Croatian group reflecting on the veto for Croatian EU accesion): 48,801 members Slovenia+Croatia=Best friends, fuck the politicians (a common initiative for friendship) : 14,762 members

Reporter Ervin Hladnik-Milharčič about Slovenia’s decision to abstain from voting on a UN resolution condemning Israel’s operations in Gaza. Slovenia and a number of other countries argued that the resolution was not sufficiently balanced. (Dnevnik) Photo: BOBO

We are the world

All users with location listed as “Slovenia”: approx 188.000 All users with location listed as “Croatia”: approx 385.000 The unpopular politician:

Woman of 2008

Fictitious Insults Slovenian police have sparked controversy after they questioned an author about negative statements about the police made by a lead character in his novel, describing life of a second-generation Bosnian immigrant teenager. The summons said writer Goran Vojnović would have a chance in the interview “to prove that calling police officers names like...’asses’, ‘blockheads’, ‘retards’...is not an insult”. Vojnović insisted that the statements in question were fiction and were not based on actual facts or persons. Slovenian literary circles are appalled, saying that the case reminisces of those from years long gone. Literary authorities in Slovenia have been quick to condemn the investigation as an attempt to stifle freedom of speech.

The Slovenian Writers’ Association said it was “stunned and appalled” that the police “cannot make a distinction between real life and literature”. It added that it expected institutions charged with protecting the rule of law “to end this absurd tale”.

Interior Minister Katarina Kresal has tried to contain the fallout from the story.

Photo: BOBO

United against Dimitrij Rupel (a group protesting against Dimitrij Rupel’s appointment for a special foreign affairs envoy): 18,435 members

Slovenian protesters against Israeli violence in Gaza: “Spare the children”

Neža Maurer a 78-year-old poet is the Slovenian Women of 2008 accoding to the readership of Jana, one of the most popular women’s magazines. Her joie de vivre is one of the things that prompted the nomination for the award. Maurer, who writes poetry and fiction for children, youth and adults, is about to publish a new collection of love poems. Maurer has also translated extensively from Slavic languages and German.

Job advertising A TV series will be used to promote professions which are not very popular in Slovenia, but offer great job opportunities. EUR 700,000 worth project presenting 32 jobs, was entirely financed by the European Social Fund. Its first episode, aired by public broadcaster TV Slovenija, recorded 34,000 viewers.

“What is happening is no more a question about texts, or a question about opposition. It’s a question about Janez Janša.

It is the “Janša case”. What’s going on with him? Something is happening in relation to politicians and publicists versus Janez Janša. The question arising is whether there’s something wrong with Janez Janša, not with the text concerned.”

Vlado Miheljak comments on the request by the former PM’s lawyer, to apologize for writing in a column that Janez Janša left behind financial devastation. (vest.si)

“For ‘balancing’ the 80-minute show with SD president Borut Pahor on TVS (the national broadcaster), the SDS president is offered the same amount of time, as leader of a smaller parliamentary party, one-fifth the size of its opponent.

The chances for presentation of opinions by the main oppositional party are therefore worse than before 2004.”

Anonymous columnist for the SDS website comments prime minister’s unbalanced privileges at the national broadcaster. (www.sds.si)

“…the critical thoughts of our students don’t reach beyond their peristaltic. That’s why we can equal the effects of their engagements with a vegetarian fart, the smell of which fades away even before it could disturb somebody.”

Columnist Miha Šalehar for weekly Dobro Jutro, commenting on the opportunist nature of student protests against rising prices of meal vouchers.

POLITICS

A WORD FROM THE EDITOR

The Middle East

A Thorny Issue In stark contrast to Slovenia’s often-heated domestic politics, the country’s foreign policies are typically based on a broad, cross-party consensus.

However, the latest violence in the Middle East has exposed somewhat of a political divide.

By Jaka Bartolj

O

verseas events rarely i n f l a me publ ic pa s sions in Slovenia, so a small gathering of protestors, condemning what they see as excessive force used by Israel in its crackdown of Hamas in Gaza, was somewhat unusual.

The peaceful protest in front on Slovenia’s parliament in midJanuary urged the Slovenian government to take a tougher line on Israel. The protestors argued that the official silence in response to Israel’s military operations amounts to a de facto approval of violence. In their eyes, Slovenia, along with most of the Western world, effectively tolerates Israel’s excesses.

Indeed, Slovenia’s policy towards Israel is firmly in line with the rest of the EU. Despite voicing concern about civilian deaths in Gaza, Slovenia chose to abstain from voting on UN Human Rights Council resolution condemning Israel for violating the human rights of the Palestinians. Other EU members also abstained, arguing that the resolution wasn’t sufficiently balanced.

Nevertheless, several coalition MPs criticized Slovenia’s abstention during a meeting of Slovenia’s Foreign Affairs Committee, even though they were quick to portray the matter as a mere disagreement rather than a major political divide. This time, it was the opposition MPs who generally approved of the government’s handling of the vote.

A number of Slovenian commentators, particularly on the centre-left, also urged Slovenia to take a tougher stance on Israel and condemned Slovenia’s abstention on the Israel resolution.

On January 17, a few days after the original protest in front of Slovenia’s parliament, the Slovenian Muslim Community The Slovenia Times

organized another protest, this time on Ljubljana’s Congress Square. The protest’s organizer, Osman Đogić, even compared the situation in Gaza with the Srebren ica massacre. Slovenia’s human rights ombudswom a n Dr. Zden k a Čebašek-Travnik and Janez Kozamernik of Amnesty International joined others in addressing the gathering.

A number of Slovenian media outlets, including the daily Delo, also took a line firmly critical of Israel during Israel’s military operation. Some observers, including Jewish-Slovenian Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, argue that the instinctively anti-Israeli positions taken by much of the Slovenian public have its roots partly in the pro-Arab policies of Communist-era Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned Movement. Others strongly deny the charge that criticism of Israel amounts to leftist anti-Semitism.

Whatever the motive behind the criticism, it appears unlikely that Slovenia’s attitude towards the Middle East crisis will change in the near future.

Slovenia is unlikely to break from the common EU policy on the matter, and even many voices sharply critical of Israel acknowledge that little Slovenia is in no position to make a substantive difference. The debate is therefore primarily symbolic.

Besides, Slovenia and Israel enjoy good relations, and Slovenia is a popular tourist destination among Israelis.

What Slovenia may do, however, is send its forces to the region. Defence Minister Ljubica Jelušič, citing the humanitarian catastrophe caused by what she sees as Israel’s asymmetric response, announced that Slovenia is ready and willing to participate in a possible peacekeeping mission in Gaza.

The Wet Veto

Jaka Terpinc

Slovenia has decided to block Croatia’s EU

accession negotiations because of some maps. Well, not just any maps: those that our neighbour has put on the negotiating table and that put the maritime border between the countries in Piran Bay in a place Slovenia doesn’t want. Slovenia claims that the bay falls under Slovenian jurisdiction in its entirety, while the Croatian maps split it in half.

The reaction from the south was disturbing. Croats announced a boycott of Slovenian products, politicians reached for the worst rhetoric, and the media was almost unanimous and sometimes funnily imaginative when criticizing the Slovenian decision.

To them, Slovenia is the enemy. Very few seemed to have questioned the logic of the veto or at least the bizarre nature of a dispute over a few gallons of salty water. But this can be understood: Slovenia has decided to frustrate a country brimming with patriotic pride as the winner of the last Balkan wars, which considers itself a moral, economic and military superpower of the region. That pride and sense of superiority, at least in Slovenian eyes, too often hides the less pleasant face of nationalism - a useful Balkan remedy for patching the wounds of poverty, wild privatisation, corruption and crime. The proud Croats also don’t have a reasonable answer to the question of why evidently far less developed Romania and Bulgaria are already in the EU. When their happy moment finally came, Slovenia vetoed it and the EU dream went down the drain. Let’s get it straight: this doesn’t mean that Slovenia is some bright example for all the anomalies mentioned; playing with the extreme importance of this issue in the uncertain times is a very good way for channelling popular discontent in both countries.

So, some distance from the emotionally twisted and manipulated reality of Piran Bay, we can just keep wondering whether Slovenes were too ambitious in their demands or the Croats were just too stubborn in their belief that our act can only be seen as evil and threatening invasion of some holy land with an indisputable owner. However, one thing is for sure: Slovenia has made a legitimate decision; if it was really so outside of the established rules, it just wouldn’t have gone through. Furthermore, the European reaction was not nearly as outrageous as Croatian media wanted to present it, quoting the same few Eurocrats who express sympathies for their side of the story.

Much has been said and written on both sides. Sober heads mostly agree that the issue, which should have been solved amongst gentlemen behind closed doors years ago, shouldn’t have entered the vicious circle of media and politicking. Each political party thinks it will lose the next elections if it goes a bit softer on the border problems. Paradoxically, most would also agree that there can be no winner, just a compromise, but every step the politicians make, the media just blows it out of all proportion. The path towards the compromise is therefore a little longer once again.

Democracy, at its present stage in the region, just doesn’t seem to be in favour of solving international disputes. And let’s not forget: most borders in this area were negotiated by mostly foreign gentlemen behind closed doors mostly after some wars had ended.

But beside the political games, there’s an individual aspect to the hopelessly strained Slovene-Croat relationship. It has spoiled the communication between us, who used to be great friends and firmly on the same side throughout history; the last time being when we needed to stand against Serbian autocrat Milosevič’s crazy ideas. But it seems that as soon as we lost our common liberation cause, the conflict erupted over what seems an insignificant issue.

It used to be friendly all the way, but today it feels somehow unpleasant approaching a Croat, wondering whether he or she is cool with the issue, or maybe, regards an individual Slovene as someone who is intent on keeping him or her out of Europe, destroying his or her pride and living standard. It just feels unpleasant to receive, as happened years ago to the writer to this column, at an Adriatic tourist resort, a message attached to the windshield saying “go home to your Piran Bay and be lucky I didn’t cut your tires.” Simple, daily interpersonal relations are actually the biggest victims of the dispute.

POLITICS

Slovenia-Croatia Dispute

Drawing the Line For years, the border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia has been a source of off-and-on tension between the two countries. But in the wake of Slovenia’s decision to block Croatia’s EU accession talks, it has suddenly become a European matter.

Now, a Nobel laureate may even get involved.

By Jaka Bartolj

No Longer a Local Thing The details of Ahtisaari’s mediation effort are still unknown. The Commissioner’s office stressed that both countries have to agree to broad terms and conditions before any names are discussed. The EU is still very much in favour of continuing an approach based on “quiet diplomacy”, which enables emotional issues to be discussed behind the scenes, and prevents either country from backing down publicly.

The announcement came amidst speculation that Slovenia may even decide to block the NATO Accession Protocol for Croatia.

The parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee had asked more time to review the documents submitted by Croatia, but Prime Minister Borut Pahor said that none of the documents appear to predetermine the border. A move to block Croatia’s NATO entry does not appear to have broad political support. That is in sharp contrast to Slovenia blockade of Croatia’s EU talks, which has been supported by all of Slovenia’s parliamentary parties.

Photo: BOBO

O

n January 23, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn announced that he had asked Maarti Ahtisaari to chair an expert group that would help to resolve the dispute between the two countries. The Finnish Nobel Peace Prize laureate has helped to resolve a number of international conflicts over the years; he most recently served as a UN Special Envoy in Kosovo. Now, he may help Slovenia and Croatia find common ground in the territorial dispute that may otherwise end up delaying Croatia’s EU accession. Foreign Minister Samuel Žbogar has indicated that Slovenia may give a green light for Croatia’s EU talks to continue within weeks if an agreement of mediation is reached.

FM Samuel Žbogar showing the map that blocked Croatian way into the EU

The EU insists that the border dispute remains a bilateral issue and that its resolution is not a prerequisite for Croatia’s EU membership. Many Slovenian analysts, however, argue that Ahtisaari’s involvement just highlights the fact that the dispute is now finally seen as a EU matter. The daily Delo says that the EU gas given up on its demand that the issue be solved bilaterally and that Slovenian diplomats should be aware to the extent that Slovenia can “cash in” its membership in the EU. The shift in the EU’s approach represents a turn away from Croat ia’s prefer red posit ion.

Croatia had maintained that the dispute is a purely bilateral matter, that it should be resolved in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and that it has absolutely no bearing on Croatia’s EU membership talks. In fact, even after Slovenia’s decision to block Croatia’s talks, many EU officials raised the same argument. Slovenia’s move was received fairly coolly from many quarters of the European Parliament and the European Commission.

The Lobbying Starts Now Almost as soon as Pahor’s new, centre-left government announced its decision to block Croatia’s accession talks in midDecember, concerned that documents submitted by Croatia may predetermine the disputed order, intense lobbying got underway at the EU. Both countries sought to

win as much support as possible.

Slovenia suffered a serious obstacle: In the eyes of many European politicians and officials, it was jeopardizing European expansion because of what was often seen as a minor border dispute.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, for instance, raised considerable ire in Slovenia when he expressed surprise that such a major dispute could centre on just 25 kilometres of seacoast. Kouchner’s remark led the daily Večer to publish an editorial sharply critical of Slovenian diplomacy: “It seems that since October 2005, when Croatia started accession talks, the foreign ministries of key member states and the European Commission have not been explained why these 25 kilometres are vital and why Slovenia cannot allow Croatia to move the border towards the north.” The paper added that Croatia, in contrast, “seems to have presented its position with sufficient persuasion long ago.” Indeed, Croatian media outlets gleefully reported that the EU applicant has considerable support within the EU. However, Slovenia’s subsequent lobbying appears to have borne fruit. According to Slovenian MEP Lozje Peterle, more and more EU Commissioners are beginning to understand Slovenia’s position and its reasons for blocking Croatia’s accession talks. No longer is Slovenia viewed primarily as an obstructionist party, but increasingly as a country merely de-

fending its national interest. Peterle emphasized that the “blocking was not a goal, but a consequence of unilateral actions by Croatia.”

Slovenia’s support in the European Parliament, on the other hand, remains weaker, as evidenced by the recent report from European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, in which the body “deeply regrets that the negotiations have been blocked.”

Back and Forth Still, the EU has criticized Croatia’s demand that EU representatives be present at the next meeting between the two countries. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader had recently declined Pahor’s invitation to a meeting, since Sanader would only meet Pahor in the presence of EU representatives, while Pahor objects to the presence of any third party. The European Parliament’s rapporteur for Croatia, Hannes Swoboda, was unambiguous: “My message to the Croatian side is: please have a meeting without demanding that representatives of the European Commission or the EU Council participate.” At the same time, Swoboda emphasized that “both sides have done certain things wrong” and argued that the EU should treat Croatia as the weaker party in the dispute because of its current status as a non-member, an argument that displeased Slovenian negotiators.

The tensions resulting from the dispute have inflamed emoFebruary 2009

POLITICS tions on both sides of the border.

Newspapers and television stations continuously report the latest details, with the tabloid media in particular relishing in the emotionally charged atmosphere.

In Croatia, calls for a boycott of Slovenian goods has apparently not had much of an impact, but Croatian President Stipe Mesić raised the temperature considerably by stating that Slovenia wouldn’t even have access to the sea had it not been from Croatian troops’ role in the final days of World War II. Just as the fury over Mesić’s comments began to subside in Slovenia, the president of Slovenia’s National Council Blaž Kavčič stated that Croatia has never properly distanced itself from the Independent State of Croatia, a World War II-era Nazi satellite.

The comments triggered outrage in Croatia, both in the media and in political circles.

Still Hot After All These Years The border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia has dragged on since the two countries became independent. Much of the debate focuses on the maritime border in the Bay of Piran, which was never defined in Yugoslav times. Croatia maintains that the

bay should be split in two, in line with its interpretation of common international practice, while Slovenia insists that most of the bay has historically been Slovenian, that it exercised de facto control over it in 1991, and that it has always had direct access to international waters. Parts of the land border are also disputed, including three small settlements in Istria, some territory in eastern Slovenia, and the exact location of some border crossings, which Croatia built on territory claimed by both countries.

The 2001 Drnovšek-Račan Agreement, negotiated by then-Prime Ministers of both countries, attempted to settle the dispute by giving most of the disputed land territory to Croatia, while Slovenia would get most of the Bay of Piran, along with access to international waters. However, the plan was rejected by the Croatian parliament.

Sloven ia decided to block Croatia’s EU accession talks in December because a number of documents submitted by Croatia had indicated the border in accordance with Croatia’s claims. Slovenia argues that the move was necessary to prevent Croatia from predetermining the border, while Croatia views Slovenian actions as a form of international blackmail.

Slovenia : Croatia

The Great History of Small Disputes Since the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991, good neighbourly relations between Slovenia and Croatia have been strained because of several unresolved questions. The main issue has always been the question of the border, which finally led to Slovenia blocking Croatia’s EU accession process.

By Barbara Štor

S

lovenia and Croatia are, in fact, friendly countries; they are important trading partners with mutual investments.

Therefore, solving open questions – with the border issue being the most important one – would be beneficial to both countries. Thus far, pleasing both sides has proven to be mission impossible, as neither side wants to withdraw their pretensions; i.e. both sides claim sovereignty over some pieces of land or houses and neither side wants to relinquish them. The most problematic border agreement bet ween Sloven ia a nd Croatia are the maritime areas and fishing rights in the Adriatic Sea: for years the Bay of Piran has been a place of conflict for fishermen, police and politicians from both sides. For Slovenia, the maritime border is not only of a national but also of a strategic nature. Slovenia’s direct access to international waters depends on the settlement.

The Controversial Dyke Although it is the most problematic one, the sea border is not the only territorial issue that Slovenia and Croatia have been unable to agree on. Disagreements also occur along the Mura River in the northeast part of Slovenia. For example, in August 2006 Croatia unilaterally started the reconstruction of the flood protection dyke, which had been maintained

by Slovenia since 1945. At the same time, Croatians started to

construct a road in an area where the border had not yet been established, but the land is in Slovenian ownership. This dispute ended constructively: it was later resolved that the two countries would jointly reconstruct and finance the dyke on the river.

Diluted Agreement Slovenia and Croatia had been struggling to resolve their border issues for more than a decade, and in 2001 it seemed that the two countries finally reached consensus. In July 2001, the prime ministers of Slovenia and Croatia, Janez Drnovšek and Ivica Račan, developed the so-called DrnovšekRačan agreement. It defined the entire border between the countries, including the maritime border. According to the agreement, Croatia would get approximately one third of the gulf and a maritime border with Italy, while Slovenia would get a corridor to the international waters. However, Croatia later withdrew from the agreement.

The Power Plant The two countries are also locked in a quarrel over the mutually-owned Krško Nuclear Power Plant. The facility was the first nuclear power plant in the former Yugoslavia; currently, it is jointly owned by Slovenia and Croatia.

The leaders of the two countries agreed on equal ownership in January 2001. The joint management

Public Opinion Says Yes Despite the recent disagreements between Slovenia and Croatia, the Slovenian public remains inclined to Croatia’s membership of the EU - nearly two-thirds believe Croatia should become a member. According to a poll, published by daily Dnevnik, the share of Slovenians favouring Croatia’s bid to join the EU stands at 63.4%, while 30.9% are against. Half of Slovenians blame the recent rise in tensions between the countries on Croatia, while a little less than a half say that both countries are to blame. Another poll published in Delo daily displayed similar results. (STA) The Slovenia Times

POLITICS A Small Glossary of the Slovene-Croatian Territorial Dispute Brioni Agreement

A document that formally resolved the Slovenian War of Independence, signed on July 7, 1991 between Slovenia and SFR Yugoslavia under the political supervision of the European Union. Its Article 4 affirms the border situation as it was before the declaration of independence, when federal state of Slovenia had jurisdiction over the entire bay.

Dragonja

A river entering Piran Bay, which represents a natural border between Slovenia and Croatia. However, a strip of land on the left bank of Dragonja, extending into the beach of Piran Bay is recorded in the Slovenian land register. An additional problem in negotiating the border direction comes with many different unstable channels that enter the delta of the river.

Drnovšek-Račan Agreement

An agreement reached on July 20, 2001, when the prime ministers of Slovenia and Croatia, Janez Drnovšek and Ivica Račan, defined the entire border between the countries, including the maritime border.

According to that agreement, Croatia would get approximately one third of Piran Bay and a maritime border with Italy, while Slovenia would get a corridor to international waters. However, the Croatian parliament has not voted to ratify the agreement.

Zmago Jelinčič

Nationalist politician, chief of the party SNS, known for provoking Croatia, claiming that Croatian politicians are “cattle” and that entire region of Istria should belong to Slovenia.

They agreed - former presidents Drnovšek and Račan.

was to begin on January 1st 2002, and the plant was expected to start supplying Croatia with electricity by July 1st, but the connection was only established in 2003.

Since then Croatia has been suing the Slovenian side for damages during the period when Krško was not supplying the power.

Disappointed Depositors Another issue that remains unresolved is that of the claims by the Croatian savers of the defunct Slovenian Ljubljanska Banka. Some 130,000 Croats lost their savings in an estimated amount of EUR 170m after Yugoslavia disintegrated; Croatia holds Slovenia responsible for repaying the money. The bank was later renamed and recapitalized as Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB); presently, the biggest Slovenian bank.

Slovenia wants the matter dealt with as part of Yugoslav succession agreements between the independent states that emerged from the former federation. The disap-

pointed savers also sought their justice on the European Court of Human Rights, but it threw out their case.

No Mercy for Homes Demolished More than one hundred Sloveneowned holiday homes were demolished in the Croatian region of Istria. These houses had been built illegally, but in 2002 Croatia started drafting new zoning legislation and Slovenian owners optimistically expected that they would be able to legalise their buildings; they even started registering their property at the land registry. According to the owners, they were paying real estate tax, but it seems that they were misguided. When the law was finally adopted two years later, their presumptions turned out to be wrong and around 3,000 owners of holiday properties received demolition orders. Most buildings were demolished by the owners themselves in order to avoid paying for the demolition.

Croatian Skiers are Bad Boycotters Despite the cooling of relations between Ljubljana and Zagreb, Slovenia remains a top ski destination for Croats. According to Croatian media reports, there were some 15,000 Croats spending the New Year holidays in Slovenia, mostly at the Kranjska Gora ski resort. However, the media also reports cases of Croats boycotting Slovenian ski resorts because of political disputes between the two countries.

Franco Juri

Politician, Zares member of parliament and cartoonist, who takes the softest stance on Croatia, claiming there is no judiciary or political arguments for the veto, just a nationalist demagogy

Joško Joras

A Slovene national activist whose house is situated on the left bank of the Dragonja, a disputed zone currently under Croatian jurisdiction. Fighting for his rights, Joras is known for his sometimes eccentric actions, which have led to his arrest by Croatian authorities several times. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Slovenian parliament.

Mura

A river passing eastern Slovenia, a segment of which represents natural border to Croatia. The meandering nature of a current in flatlands causes occasional changes in its flow, making certain nationally registered lands appear on either side of the river, depending on the time of the year.

The June 25 Society

A group of hard line “patriots”, named after Slovenian Independence Day, associated with SLS party and led by Marjan Podobnik, former deputy and poultry businessman. Their major concern is not giving up an inch of Slovenian land. They are hell-bent on ejecting Croatian police forces from the property of Joško Joras, provoking border guards and organizing rallies in front of Croatian embassy.

Piran Bay

A 19-square kilometre bay, a part of Trieste Bay, represents the southern end of Slovenian territorial waters. The bay is divided between Slovenia and Croatia at a yet undetermined and disputed line.

Croats call the bay Savudrijska Vala (Savudrija is a Croatian town facing Piran on the other side of the bay).

Trdinov Vrh

A peak with the Croatian name of Sveta Gera (1178 m) is the highest hill of Gorjanci range with a telecommunications and an army facility. The hill represents a natural border. Currently held by the Slovenian Army, it is claimed by Croatia.

February 2009

10 POLITICS

Security

Greater Effectiveness of Missions Abroad

The Minister of Defence reviews the involvement of Slovenian troops in crisis areas and calls for upgrading the national system of sending police and military abroad.

By Adriana Dvoršak, Institute for Applied European Studies

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alls for additional forces in Slovenian missions abroad are coming from EU and NATO, yet public opinion does not support sending stronger police or military missions abroad. Minister of Defence Ljubica Jelušič does not rule out possibility of future involvement of military troops in Gaza and, therefore, calls for effective coordination in peacekeeping missions and civilian and crisis management on the national level. As international strategies for Gaza and Afghanistan have proven to be wrong, clear political guidelines and a proactive attitude must become the credo of the international community.

At the end of January 2009, the EU called upon its member states to increase their presence in Gaza, provoking much debate among politicians. They all agreed to improve the security situation of geographical-economical region, i.e. the Middle East; however, the resources available and public opinion make a consensus about a stronger Slovenian presence in Gaza less than self-explanatory.

The Slovenian government made a decision not to send additional policemen for the time being.

In Slovenia, there is no extensive knowledge about the EU Border Assistance Mission to monitor the operations at the Rafah crossing point (Gaza), code-named EU BAM Rafah. The mission mandate has been extended by a further year, until November 24, 2009, and Minister Jelušič recently pointed out that existing national system of sending police and military abroad does not really match the complex international security situation. She expressed the need for the appropriate coordination of national policies in terms of national defence, security and foreign policy at the first Conference on the Cooperation of Slovenia in the International Operations and Missions Abroad, which was recently held at Brdo.

The government has agreed to promote European visibility, the use of soft power, and best practices in conflict resolution, while The Slovenia Times

UNIFIL: Our peacekeepers in Lebanon

at the same time it struggles with the means to fulfil its promises under various guarantees that had been given to different international bodies, be they the EU, the UN or NATO. Conceptually, it has to contribute to European security policy, having in view regional responsibility of European institutions and building their credibility.

War in Afghanistan lost The situation in Afghanistan is closely related to counter terrorism by cutting its access to the sources of funding. Instead of a war against terror, the development and promotion of civic programmes and activities that aim at preventing terrorism must take place, thus improving security situation of a neighbouring geographical-economical region. As told heard at the Conference on the Cooperation of Slovenia in the International Operations and Missions Abroad, the Slovenian police has already cooperated with the IPTM– the International Police Training Mission Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004. For the moment, there are no Slovenian police officers in Afghanistan; this might change in the future.

The reason for such a change lies in a fact that the mission of Kai Vittrup, the EuPol Head of Mission in Afghanistan, expects strong reinforcements. Following the Council Decision November 2008, the number of mission personnel will double so that there will be 400

staff members in the field; this will be implemented progressively from December 2008. That will enable the mission, on the basis of a renewed mandate, to reinforce its activities in support of the Afghan national police.

At the same time, NATO is assisting the Afghan Government in extending and exercising its authority and influence across the country, creating the conditions for stabilisation and reconstruction through the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Slovenian presence is to be enhanced by three civilian instructors acting within ISAF in the near future. However, opinion polls show week support for international missions: in 2007 only 8.7 % of respondents supported involvement of Slovenian military in Afghanistan and even fewer (6.8 %) of them supported involvement in Middle East.

EU and NATO stumbled over irrelevant international strategies The crucial question is how the country can interact more effectively with multinational and regional organizations to improve their international cooperation. In the end, it is all about achieving greater effectiveness in conflict management internationally; no individual country is a mere national actor at this point. All must rethink their national policies, response mechanisms to internation-

al crisis and true motives for effective international organizations.

Ferocious critics of NATO tell its Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that the organization evolved into the harmless bureaucratic debate club after the USA handed over the matters in Afghanistan to NATO. Truly, the system that came into being during cold war with a clear mission cannot serve the ill-defined tasks of bringing democratic institutions in Afghanistan to life. Simple political guidelines for action are needed in this case for institutions like NATO and the EU, which are both dense bureaucratic patchworks with a plethora of particular interests and countless stake-holders.

To achieve greater international impact, the international community will have to be proactive with a clear determination to manage the crisis, having in mind possible future developments in the region instead of sticking to the poor decisions made in past. What went wrong can be described as shaping inadequate international strategies for arriving at desired responses to the specific situations of individual countries and regions. Later, inflexible programming of the priorities took place leading to the complete irrelevance of action for international players in the battered region.

Consequently, new partnerships with non-member countries in the fields of justice, freedom and security will have to be developed.

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12

Economy

FACTS AND FIGURES

source: STA, Slovenian Press Agency

Photo: BOBO

Government Debt to Rise by 30 percent in 2009 The government is to raise EUR 2.8bn in debt in 2009 to finance the national budget, plans adopted by the cabinet recently show. The government debt is to rise to EUR 9.3bn as a result. Increased spending will be geared towards measures to fight the economic slowdown. Finance Ministry estimates show that the government debt will rise by EUR 2.2bn or 30.3

percent in 2009 due to the new borrowing. Government debt as a share of GDP is therefore expected to rise by 4.8 percentage points to 23.9 percent. The general government deficit in 2009 is likely to slightly exceed the Maastricht criteria threshold, with projections putting it at between 3.5 percent and 4 percent.

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Finance minister France Križanič, left, with Prime Minister Borut Pahor: Will Slovenia be able to rise huge amounts of new debt on the moribound financial markets?

Slovenia’s second largest mobile phone operator, Simobil, saw a 14.7 percent rise in user numbers in 2008. The company said it had 570,600 users at the end of 2008.

The number represents a 27.7 percent share of the Slovenian mobile phone market.

Revoz Makes Almost 200,000 Cars in 2008 Car maker Renault’s Slovenian assembly plant, Revoz, put out 198,096 cars in 2008, the company’s second-best result ever.

Two-thirds of the cars produced were Twingos, while one third were Clios II, the company said.

Revoz is Slovenia’s biggest exporter.

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European Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani thinks the Slovenian motorway toll sticker system could be acceptable for the European Commission if a EUR 5 weekly vignette were introduced. While a yearly vignette costs EUR 55, a half-yearly one can be bought for EUR 35. The European Commission thinks this is too much for the EU nationals that are just passing through the country and demands of the government to introduce shorter-term and cheaper vignettes.

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Industrial Output Drops by 12.8 percent

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Industrial output in Slovenia in November 2008 was 12.8 percent down on October, and dropped by 12 percent compared to November 2007. In the first eleven months of last year, industrial production was 0.6 percent down compared to the same period in the year before. The biggest drop was observed in manufacturing, where the output fell by 13.7 percent, followed by mining and quarrying, where it was down 4.9 percent. In a sign that industry is starting to feel the bite of the economic downturn, the Statistics Office said that industrial revenues fell by 16 percent year-over-year in November. Orders were down by nearly 40 percent.

Mercator Among World’s 250 Biggest Retail Chains Slovenia’s biggest retailer, Mercator, has made it to the list of 250 biggest retail chains in the world, compiled by auditing and consultancy firm Deloitte as part of its annual Global Powers of Retailing 2009 study. Mercator takes 230th place, and has also made it among 50 fastest growing retailers for 2002-2007 period, taking 35th spot with average growth of 21.1 percent.

Industrial production

growth, year-on-year, in %

Photo: Mercator

Simobil Sees 15 percent Rise in Users

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Siemens to Close Maribor Plant

The Slovenia Times

German industrial group Siemens announced that it would shut its plant in Maribor by the end of September after talks on the sale of STS to the Slovenian rail operator failed.

Barcaffe the Strongest Brand in Slovenia

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Barcaffe coffee remains the most recognised brand in Slovenia for the fourth year in a row, according to a survey by Valicon agency. Similar to the previous years, Slovenia’s favourite coffee blend is followed by chocolate Milka and pasta Barilla.

13

OPINION Moving to Slovenia for Work In 2007, some 29,193 persons moved to Slovenia; 27,504 or 94 percent of them were foreigners and 1,689 were nationals. Some 55.1 percent of them moved to Slovenia to find a permanent job, while 22.5 percent came for seasonal work.

About 17.4 percent migrated to Slovenia to reunite with their families.

Gorenje Workers on Shorter Week Gorenje, the Velenje-based household appliance maker and the country’s second biggest exporter, joined the growing number of companies in Slovenia which are switching from 40- to 36-hour working week to cope with dwindling demand.

Net migration rate per 1000 inhabitants ¡¥

By Martin Schaffer Managing Partner Kohl & Partner Vienna

Current developments in the global economy,

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such as the decline in business activity, the looming recession and the banking crisis, do concern the national as well as the international tourism industry and pose major challenges to entrepreneurs, hotel operators, proprietors and investors in 2009.

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Tourism Enters the Crisis

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Source: Eurostat

Lahovnik Says Slovenia Can Afford Istrabenz Going Bust Commenting on the situation in holding Istrabenz, Economy Minister Matej Lahovnik told business daily Finance that Slovenia can afford Istrabenz going under, dismissing any notion of a government bailout.

“If bankruptcy is declared, the supervisors and management will have to take responsibility, while new owners will be found for individual companies within the holding.” (see pages 16-17)

Lending Activity Lowest Since March 2005 The lending activity of Slovenian banks came almost to a halt at the end of last year, a government thinktank highlighted in the latest edition of its monthly publication. “After a gradual slowdown in the first ten months of last year, the credit activity of domestic banks all but stopped in November due to turbulence on international inter-bank markets,” the Institute for Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD) said.

EU: Minimal Growth in Slovenia in 2009 The European Commission has forecast economic growth of 0.6 percent for Slovenia in 2009 in a revised economic outlook for the EU. This is a significant downgrade from the autumn 2008 forecast. The Commission also slashed the outlook for the entire EU, whose economy is expected to shrink by 1.8 percent this year. While Slovenia’s growth outlook has also been cut significantly - from 2.9 percent in the autumn report - its economy is one of only a few in the EU that is expected to expand.

Russian Gas Supplies Dry Up Slovenia was among the countries that had to grapple with a total cut in supply of Russian natural gas due to the dispute over pricing between Russia and the Ukraine. The gas supplies resumed two weeks after they had been cut in the beginning of January. (see pages 14-15)

Oscillating SBI 20 index, in points

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Basically, the tourism industry is dependent on economic cycles: the winter season a bit more, the summer season a bit less. Forecasted economic growth leaves no doubt that the malaise will lead to a demand crisis in tourism and to restriction of expenses. Newspapers are full of crisis reports and we face at least two to three difficult years.

International business tourism, i.e. convention, congress, and incentive tourism will especially be affected – and as a result so will the hotel industry, gastronomy and trade in the cities. Business destinations in central and south-eastern Europe, such as Ljubljana, Bucharest, Moscow or Warsaw, which are especially dependent on international investors and project developers, will be facing weaker demand for tourism services.

Since large banks are under pressure in the current situation, it has to be expected that some projects will be delayed or will be cancelled due to more difficult financing, which is also caused by high interest rates, ranging between 12 and 14 percent. It can be assumed that banks will make capital available in the second quarter of 2009 at the earliest.

In order to fulfil the requirements of banks, equity rates of 45 percent can be demanded.

Concerning hotel investment on the European market, volume of investment has already collapsed in the second half of 2008 and will still remain below the level of recent years. Especially with operatorled hotel properties, better coordination and cooperation between proprietors and operators will be necessary. Due to the expected declines of the total revenues, especially in the city hotel market, which is focussed on business tourism, operators will have problems fulfilling last year’s high expectations of investors and proprietors. Investors will have to get used have to lower returns.

On the part of hotel operators, several budgets for 2009 have already been revised downward; well-known international hotel operators such as Rezidor, Accor, Hilton, Intercontinental and others have announced saving measures for 2009.

Of higher importance during the times of crisis is the question of operator contracts. While hotel operators increasingly focus on lowrisk management-and franchise contracts, investors, developers and banks prefer lease or hybrid contracts. Especially critical are management and lease contracts that have been closed with no guarantees and contracts with particularly high requirements to the operator. These contracts should be re-evaluated and adapted to current circumstances.

In difficult times the wheat will be separated from the chaff, and professional management is an absolute must. Half-empty hotels will fulfil neither the investor’s nor the proprietor’s expectations. Information and a good knowledge of the sector and the market are essential.

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Finally, a crisis is always also an opportunity. The middle-sized or budget hotels, which will not be hit by the crisis to the same extent than the business segment of the market, can be confident to weather the turmoil relatively unscathed. The crisis, it seems, does not only bring forward losers, but also winners.

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14 Economy

Energy

Control over pipelines has emerged as one of the most important issues in the energy security debate

The Winter of Our Discontent Ardent skiers might rejoice in it, but the snowy and unexpectedly cold winter has laid bare some of the inconsistencies in Slovenia’s energy policy. Things were brought to a head when the Russian energy giant Gazprom cut off the supplies of gas to the country at the beginning of January, citing an unresolved pricing dispute with Ukraine. Although the gas is flowing freely at the moment, the episode should give a jolt to Slovenian policy makers negotiating with Russian energy tsars.

By Marko Vuković

T

he thought that a dispute over the price of gas between two faraway countries such as Russia and Ukraine should worry the average Slovene might have seemed far-fetched a decade ago when Russian influence in the ex-Soviet region was still relatively uncontested.

However, as a number of the socalled colour revolutions have established market democracies and brought western-sponsored The Slovenia Times

leaders to power on its borders, Russia has obviously decided that it is time for the former satellites to put their money where their mouth is, i.e. to start paying market prices for the gas they buy from Gazprom, Russia’s stateowned energy giant.

At the beginning of January, when Ukraine, a transit country for 80 percent of Russian gas exports to the European Union, started diverting some gas des-

tined for European consumers to its own gas distribution system, nobody was surprised. That had happened in 2006 and again in 2007, with authoritarian Russia demanding too high a price for its gas in order to punish the country for its pro-Western leanings; Ukrainians are doing the only thing they can to keep their homes warm, fumed the commentators. This year, however, Russians called their neighbour’s

bluff and cut off the gas to Eastern and Central Europe, putting a couple of countries in a tight spot.

Righteous indignation gave way to fear.

Southern comfort Although natural gas accounts for only around 14 percent of Slovenia’s energy needs, industry depends on it for a little more than a third of its final energy consump-

tion. When Geoplin, the operator of the gas transmission network and the country’s biggest gas importer, announced that Gazprom had stopped supplying gas to Slovenia, industrial facilities were first to suffer reductions. There was no talk of cutting off the supply of gas to private households, but the gas reserves could have lasted only a few weeks. The lesson was clear: Slovenia depends on Russian natural gas; energy security should therefore be the top priority of the country’s energy officials.

Coincidentally, Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s boss, was in Slovenia just at the time when nervous government officials were assuring the public that the country had enough gas reserves to keep their homes warm and dry. Miller came to discuss the possibility of Gazprom’s planned South Stream pipeline crossing Slovenia on its way from Russia to Italy. The pipeline will start on the Russian shores of the Black Sea, cross underwater, then continue through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary and will reach Italy either through Austria or Slovenia, perhaps both.

By agreeing to establish a joint company with Gazprom to build the Slovenian section of the pipeline, Slovenia would arguably settle the gas issue once and for all.

South Stream will bypass Ukraine, so abstruse pricing disputes far to the east would no longer be a concern of the Slovenes. Furthermore, the security of supply would be greatly enhanced by the country being one of the transit countries for gas destined for western European markets.

Fault lines within It thus came as a surprise when Matej Lahovnik, the minister of the economy, appeared to be less than enthusiastic about the prospect of quickly concluding talks with Gazprom. He said that it had to be certain that Slovenia’s strategic interests are safeguarded and that the project would have to be checked for conformity with EU law before it could proceed. Miller did not succeed in persuading the new government to continue the negotiations from where the previous government had left them.

One may conjecture that this is just a clever negotiating tactic on the Slovenian side. Miller is known for his hard bargaining style, evidenced by the favourable terms obtained for Gazprom in joint ventures with national companies in two other transit countries, Bulgaria and Hungary.

Perhaps Lahovnik wants to obtain better terms for Slovenian compa-

Photo: BOBO

Economy 15

nies than the standard 50-50 joint venture and is holding out for a better offer from Gazprom. But since none of the negotiating parties wanted to comment on the talks, there is no clarity on this issue.

What is clear, however, is that Lahovnik’s way of negotiating with Gazprom provoked Slovenian president Danilo Türk to warn publicly that the country cannot afford to drag its feet on the issue of South Stream for much longer.

“This pipeline will enhance Slovenia’s energy security,” read the statement issued by the office of the president.

The big game Inadvertently, perhaps, the president may not have exposed only different views within the Slovenian politics on the negotiating tactics to be employed in talks with Gazprom, but also differences within the government itself. Well-in formed sources say that Vlado Dimovski, whom Prime Minister Borut Pahor proposed preside over the government’s strategic energy council, is a staunch supporter of South Stream. But after Zares, Pahor’s junior coalition partner, demanded that Lahovnik chair the council in his ministerial office, Pahor backed down.

Dimovski was not present at talks with Miller. Observers say this may be a sign that Lahovnik has warmed up to the Nabucco option, an EU-sponsored pipeline that is supposed to bring gas from Central Asia to Western Europe

via Turkey, circumventing Russia but following more or less the same route as South Stream after hitting the Balkans.

Slovenia could connect to the Nabucco pipeline that is planned to cross Hungary on its way to the Baumgarten gas hub in Austria, supplying several EU countries.

Energy experts state that this would reduce the country’s dependency on Russia’s gas, while proceeding with the South Stream option would certainly increase it.

To tap the huge LNG terminals on the Croatian island of Krk that are due to come on line after a few years would also be a step in the direction of an ideally diversified gas supply.

The energy business, however, deals with hard money rather than ideals. While you may not have noticed it, next winter is literally around the corner, global warming notwithstanding.

Alexei Miller, the boss of Gazprom, ponders his options with recalcitrant Slovenes

By agreeing to establish a joint company with Gazprom to build the Slovenian section of the pipeline, Slovenia would arguably settle the gas issue once and for all.

South Stream will bypass Ukraine, so abstruse pricing disputes far to the east would no longer be a concern of the Slovenes.

Dependent imports of natural gas by country, in %

Algeria

Russia

Algeria

February 2009

16 Economy

Corporations

Overstretched The year 2008 was truly a turbulent year for the stalwarts of Slovenian corporate world. As the world stock markets tested new depths and uncertainty about the impact of the financial crisis on emerging markets spread, the country’s blue chips were feeling the pain. Having taken on significant amounts of leverage in good times to finance takeovers and buyouts, their shares were battered as investors fled to the relative safety of cash and government bonds.

Photo: Mercator

By Marko Vuković

Mercator, Slovenia’s biggest retailer, is a cash cow that keeps Pivovarna Laško afloat

After all, the money was cheap and, with the stock market in an excellent shape, the banks were more than happy to accept shares as collateral. But the good times are no more.

I

n the halcyon days of 2006 and 2007, it seemed that companies such as Istrabenz, a holding with interests in food processing, energy and tourism, and Pivovarna Laško, a brewery, which owns a controlling stake in Slovenia’s biggest retailer, Mercator, had grown too big for the small home market. Major players from all sectors of the economy fell over each other to present their plans for venturing into the emerging markets of the western Balkans. With the industry consolidation endgame almost over in Slovenia, the argument went, ambitious companies had to enter countries where growth rates exceeded those at home.

While the expansion strategy looked very promising, especially as the region in question was booming, the fact that it had to be financed by taking out increasingly large loans was overlooked.

After all, the money was cheap and, with the stock market in an excellent shape, the banks were more than happy to accept shares as collateral. However, it is not the financing of their perhaps overly ambitious expansion plans that are today the main source of trouble for some of the best-known companies in Slovenian corporate world. It may well be that the ambitions of their managers to engineer financially risky management buyouts will prove to be the cause of their demise.

Sprawling Igor Bavčar’s Istrabenz is perhaps the best example of what happens when the management spends too much time on financial engineering rather than on the business’ core activities. For the past two years, Bavčar, a former politician with excellent connections to all political parties, has been engaged in a management buyout of the company he leads.

The MBO, however, has gone off the rails, forcing Bavčar to start selling large chunks of the holding to pay off the debts. His plan was ambitious, but feasible; if only he had gotten his timing right.

After he had taken over as the company’s chairman in 2002,

The burden gets heavier

Still on track

Istrabenz’s financial liabilities, EUR m

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Economy 17 Photo: BOBO

Bavčar, looking over his shoulder while bankers circle around his indebted company

The first to go were a couple of respected brands from Istrabenz’s food division, followed by the company’s stake in Petrol, a fuel retailer.

Bavčar set out to transform the sleepy provincial gas and fuel retailer into a sprawling holding.

First, he sold the fuel retailing business and used the proceeds to buy a couple of hotel chains on the Slovenian coast. His next step was to arrange for a merger between the country’s two biggest food processing firms, Droga and Kolinska, thus establishing Istrabenz as the pillar of Slovenian food industry.

Taking on a significant stake in Mercator, Slovenia’s biggest company by revenue, in 2005 was perhaps Bavčar’s most surprising coup. He demonstrated his political savvy by persuading the government to sell its stake in the grocer to its suppliers, although many economists voiced competition concerns, fearing such an arrangement could lead to higher food prices. This duly happened a year later.

Unravelling By then, however, Istrabenz was already a minority shareholder in Mercator, having sold a part of its stake in the retailer to Boško Šrot’s Pivovarna Laško. Bavčar was focusing on the takeover of the holding, buying Istrabenz’s shares and forging alliances with investment firms who were, in effect, building up stakes in Istrabenz in Bavčar’s name. At the end of last year, together they held almost half of the holding.

The problem was that everybody had spent huge amounts of borrowed funds on clearly overvalued stocks which also served as collateral for loans. As the stock market peaked in August 2007 and began its long down-

ward slide, the banks grew restless and demanded additional collateral. Bavčar has been trying to raise the money by selling bits of Istrabenz’s empire. The first to go were a couple of respected brands from Istrabenz’s food division, followed by the company’s stake in Petrol, a fuel retailer. A buyer has yet to be found for an approximately 10 percent stake in Mercator.

To add insult to injury, Bavčar’s erstwhile allies in the takeover of Istrabenz now demand that he honour the agreement and cough up EUR 130m for the 24 percent stake in the holding (now worth less than half of that) they bought to help him with the MBO. With over EUR 900m of financial liabilities, EUR 300m of them short-term, in the first nine months of 2008, Bavčar just cannot afford that. Petrol, which recently bought a third of Istrabenz, will probably step in as the buyer of above-mentioned stake. As Petrol’s management has unsuccessfully tried to depose Bavčar on more than one occasion, it seems that his days at the helm of the holding are numbered. So are Istrabenz’s: bankruptcy and liquidation have already been discussed in banking circles, as the firm’s paltry profits and weak cash flow do not hold much promise of debt repayment.

stake in Pivovarna Laško, acted as a vehicle for the management buyout of the latter. It is controlled by Šrot himself. Now Infond Holding is proposing its creditors debt-toequity conversion to get rid of at least a portion of the EUR 430m debt used to finance the takeover of the largest Slovenian beverages producer.

One certainly cannot accuse Šrot of lacking ambition. As the boss of Pivovarna Laško, he managed to buy himself a position in Mercator, the perfect venue for the sale of the wide assortment of drinks, from beer to fruit juices, to Slovenian and regional markets. It also rarely happens that a brewery owns the two biggest newspapers on its home market, but Pivovarna Laško pulled that off, too.

Now Šrot is facing the biggest challenge of all: not the competition watchdog or the financial markets regulator who both filed charges against him, but the bankers who are already circling his empire. Recently, Šrot announced

COMpEtE

that he was selling 48 percent of Mercator, a company with solid cash flow and competent management. The money from the sale would suffice to pay off the debts incurred in the takeover process, but is there really no other way for Šrot than to part with the jewel in the crown of his vast holding?

The endgame It seems that Slovenian tycoons, of whom Šrot and Bavčar are certainly the most infamous, have picked the wrong time to go ahead with their buyouts. Gorging on cheap money to buy at the top of the market, they forgot that the only way they could pay back their loans was from the profits of the companies they lead. If they had engineered their buyouts three or four years earlier, matters might not have come to a head today. But with sluggish economic growth, the banks in a bad mood and stocks battered, the tycoons will have to face the consequences of their imperious overstretch.

FOr

“sLOVENiaN start-up OF 2009”

R T : U P S LO V E N I

JA

and CEED TOP CLASS for the winner

Beer et al.

Pivovarna Laško, led by Boško Šrot, who together with Bavčar bought the government’s stake in Mercator back in 2005, is not in such dire straits as Istrabenz.

Nevertheless, it is plagued by similar problems. Infond Holding, the company that owns a controlling

S TA

NAJDI.SI KAPITAL award for best web start-up

www.startup.si February 2009

18 14 Days

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

Photo: Emonika

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

A Good Time to Buy Low With real estate bubbles popping all over Europe, hurting sun clad Spanish coastal towns and dreary Scottish suburbs in alike, Slovenian homeowners can feel a bit smug. It is true that the real estate market in the country has been cooling down for the past few months, but it seems the growth of housing prices is merely levelling off. A housing bust does not seem likely; however, a palpable drop in prices remains a possible, if distant, prospect.

By Marko Vuković The Slovenia Times

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL 19

Safe as houses?

However, the times when homeowners could rest assured that the value of their assets will continue to grow unabated are definitely over. Hunting for holiday homes on the Slovenian coast, the Karst or in the mountain-ringed Carniola region does not seem to be a favourite pastime of wealthier Slovenes and foreigners anymore.

As the housing boom slowly peters out, the coastal region in particular is bound to take a hit.

If housing prices in the municipality of Piran, one of the most popular spots on the coast, rose by a whopping 19 percent in the first half of 2008, the third quarter already saw them fall by eight percent, albeit from a level not far below the capital’s. The region had seen the biggest increases in housing prices in the past couple of years.

Judging by anecdotal evidence, some developers overestimated the demand for flats in larger Slovenian cities. In Ljubljana, for example, one of Slovenia’s biggest construction and real-estate development firms had to go cap in hand to the municipality, which agreed to buy, at discounted prices, more than a hundred apartments for which the company could find no buyer. Things are not much better in Maribor, the country’s second biggest city, where empty apartment blocks weigh heavily on their developers’ balance sheets.

Too much of a good thing There are actually 70,000 more apartments than there are households in Slovenia, but the problem is the former are in the wrong places. Generally, Slovenes are unwilling to accept long commutes, being unwilling to spend a good portion of the day negotiating traffic. Living in areas where real estate prices are reasonable means you are a long way from work. So, if you have to live in a city, one solution would be renting an apartment, but this has not caught on in Slovenia. Instead, the proportion of directly-owned apartments in Slovenia is very high by European standards. A large portion of the

apartments in Ljubljana, for instance, are actually a form of safe long-term capital investment.

However, real estate brokers say that the number of real-estate transactions has been falling steeply for the past few months.

This might be a sign of homeowners clinging to their property, unwilling to accept the reality of lower prices. Sooner or later, the reality will set in and the prices will continue on their downward trend.

Construction boom Rising inventories of unsold homes and the unwillingness of banks to roll-over their debts are squeezing companies in the construction sector, which only months ago was one of the main engines of Slovenian economic growth. In the beginning of 2004, construction’s share of GDP stood at 5.5 percent, but it rose to 8,5 percent in the third quarter of 2008.

This may not seem excessive, especially if compared to countries that were once held up as examples Slovenia should follow. In Ireland, for example, the share of residential construction alone in the nation’s GDP stood at 15 percent in 2007. The fact that Ireland has one of the most severe housing busts in the European Union on its hands has not been lost on policy makers around the world.

Sometimes having the skylines of your cities dotted with cranes can be a curse rather than a sign of a healthy economy.

Although Slovenia seems to have escaped the worst of the real estate excesses that pushed other countries over the brink, construction industry bosses expect a couple of lean years before things return to normal. With the state-financed project of building the national highway network slowly drawing to a close and the comparable undertaking of railways modernization not yet in the pipeline, builders are looking to the commercial real estate market to provide some impetus to their business.

Of malls and offices That may seem a tad too optimistic, but real-estate experts say that the office stock in bigger Slovenian cities is old and of low quality. While companies might be interested in moving into new premises, this is not high on their list of their priorities at the moment. Paltry revenue growth and falling profits have dented their enthusiasm for investment, including new offices.

Still, the prices of commercial real estate in Slovenia are rising.

In 2007, the prices stagnated, but

they rose in the first half of last year, according to the Slovenian spatial planning authority. The retail segment grew faster than the office segment, but because the data is not representative of broader trends, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions.

Judging by anecdotal evidence, things are not as good as developers would have them seem. Some experts have been warning that the supply of commercial real estate has long outstripped demand in Ljubljana. Looking at the projects coming on line in the next few years, it is clear why. Taking into account only the three biggest business centres under construction in Ljubljana, TriGranit’s Emonika, IMOS’s Tobačna City and GH Holding’s Gemini, over 100,000 square meters will be added to the office space stock in the city.

Happy ending?

However, the recent decision of TriGranit to split the Emonika project in two stages, first building the office tower and only then the shopping centre, may be symptomatic of another problem the developers face: consumer spending. As consumers retrench, fearing unemployment and stagnating wages, retailers suddenly start thinking twice about setting up another shop in yet another mall.

With banks increasingly stingy with credit, developers and con-

sumers alike will have to change their spendthrift ways. But that still does not mean that Slovenian commercial and residential realestate markets will have to go through a bust. The country has been spared financial innovations such as mortgage-backed securities and collateral loan obligations.

This has reined in credit growth, resulting in a slower appreciation of real-estate prices as compared to elsewhere in Europe. The prices, alas, are likely to stagnate or even fall a bit – a good reason to take a look at some bargains on the market.

There are actually 70,000 more apartments than there are households in Slovenia, but the problem is the former are in the wrong places.

Real-estate experts say that the office stock in bigger Slovenian cities is old and of low quality.

That will certainly change when new projects are put on the market.

Halcyon days are over (house price growth, in %)

25 20 15 10 5 0 ¢ªª¥

¢ªª¦

¢ªª§

¡¾©ê¢ªª¨

Source: Surs

Levelling off (house price index, 2005 = 100)

160 142 124

Rest Total

106

Ljubljana

88 70 x¡êª£

x£êª¨

Source: Surs

February 2009

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

F

ollowing in the steps of their European peers, Slovenian homebuyers and real-estate developers have taken on huge amounts of debt, pouring the money into all segments of the market. Contrary to wide-spread opinion, in the past few years the prices of apartments and houses have not shot through the roof only in Ljubljana and in the region around the capital, but also in other parts of the country (see chart).

20 Real estate special

Interview

Lessons for Slovenia?

Coming from a country that has been grappling with the fallout from the real-estate bust for almost a year, Geraint George has a somewhat different perspective on the Slovenian market than local agents. He has been matching British and Slovenian buyers and sellers of property for nearly four years, making him well-placed to comment on recent developments in real-estate on both sides of the Channel.

Has business slowed since the onset of the financial and economic crisis?

The financial climate changed much earlier in the UK than in Slovenia and therefore the number of enquiries from the UK has slowed up for some time. Timeconsuming enquiries from the small number of property speculators that were looking at Slovenia as a possible place to invest have practically stopped.

We are currently working with the traditional overseas client looking for a holiday home and others seeking a better quality of life by moving permanently to Slovenia.

Commercial enquiries still remain as companies see the benefits of locating in Slovenia. Slovene buyers and sellers increasingly seek our advice regarding future property values based on the fact that we have experienced the effects of the economic slow down on the UK real estate market.

Do you see any business opportunities opening up in the crisis?

The changing economic climate is creating opportunities, especially for the cash rich client. There are now Slovene sellers who may have been over-exposed to the stock market and are looking to quickly

sell real estate in order to balance the books. We are now selling British-owned Slovene properties cheaply to Slovene and other buyers; owners can still make a 30 percent profit based purely on the exchange rate, which may not be subject to capital gains tax!

What are the similarities and differences between the UK and Slovenian real-estate markets?

The similarities between the markets are that both countries have an unusually high percentage of owner-occupiers unlike France, for example, where property rental is the norm.

The biggest difference, I believe, is that in the UK lawyers do much more of the paperwork whilst in Slovenia much of this work may be done by the real estate agent.

There are good and bad points to both systems and we use the best of both.

The best aspect of the Slovene system I believe is the pre-contract. The built-in financial penalties virtually eliminate last minute threats by buyers to pull out of a purchase (common in the UK) unless the seller drops the price. I can never understand why this has not been introduced in the UK.

Ljubljana Housing Market Slows Down in 2008

T

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

he growth of advertised prices of flats in Ljubljana fell to 3.4 percent in 2008, as the prices fell in the third and fourth quarters by 0.7 percent and 2.3 percent respectively, according to the real estate website www. slonep.net.

The main reasons are the reduced ability of potential buyers because of the high prices, the vast offer of new flats and worse borrowing terms.

Buyers started delaying the purchase when they saw the prices are going down, which in turn meant further decrease in demand.

Prices around Ljubljana rose by 10 percent and were also falling in the second half of the year.

The average growth of listed house prices in Slovenia varied The Slovenia Times

between 4.9 percent at the coast and 34.8 percent in the Koroško region. The price of houses went up by an average of 10.1 percent in Ljubljana and 13.7 percent on its outskirts.

The price of building land increased in most of the regions - by 90.7 percent in Koroško, by 78.4 percent in Dolenjsko, 65.4 percent in Posavje, 34.8 percent in Ljubljana and 32.2 percent on its outskirts - while falling in the northern part of Primorsko and in Pomurje.

Offices in Ljubljana were 3.8 percent more expensive and finished the year at 1,733 euros per sq. metre, while the prices of commercial facilities fell by 3.3 percent and the price of bars and restaurants rose by 1.4 percent.

Apartment rents in Ljubljana

also rose considerably, as they finished the year 11.8 percent higher with an 8 percent growth in the second half of the year alone.

The advertised rents grew the most for two-bedroom flats (18

percent), rooms (14 percent) and four-bedroom flats (13.5 percent).

The growth was slowest for flats with more than four bedrooms (0.5 percent) and flatlets (1.5 percent).

Not so perky anymore house prices growth, in %

15,5 9,1 Štajersko

11,8 7,2 Gorenjsko

17,5 4,9 Coast

13,1 10,1

2007

Ljubljana

2008

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22 REAL ESTATE special

Interview

Photo: Emonika

Slovenia is Small, but has a Huge Potential

Although real-estate markets all around Europe are cooling down, Emonika, the country’s most ambitious real-estate project to date, is on the schedule, says TriGranit’s Csaba Tóth, Managing Director of Emonika d.o.o. and the director of the project. He thinks that Slovenia does not get the treatment it deserves from real-estate developers. In the minds of foreign investors, the country’s diminutive size often overshadows its indisputable strengths such as sound economy, low country risk and the location that calls for the establishment of regional headquarters, explains Mr Tóth.

By Marko Vuković

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

Real-estate markets in quite a few European countries have taken a battering in the wake of the financial crisis that spread from the US to Europe. Do you think Slovenian market can escape the fallout from the crisis?

I do not think so. The situation will not be so much different in Slovenia, as the country cannot avoid the financial crisis. The banks are the biggest problem.

They are plagued by serious liquidity concerns and are sitting on their money, not willing to lend it.

That makes it pretty difficult for the developers to get financing.

As for the real-estate market, the housing segment will see stagnating prices, while the outlook for the commercial real estate is more promising. We have not seen oversupply or overheating of the commercial real-estate market in Slovenia.

The Slovenia Times

You do not expect the realestate market bust on the lines of Ireland or the UK, do you?

No, the market will definitely not be hit that seriously. When we talked a few months ago, I pointed out the relative underdevelopment of Slovenian commercial real-estate market as one of the disadvantages that foreign as well as domestic companies face when doing business in the country. But after the crisis hit and the extent of problems in real-estate markets became known, we can say that this underdevelopment is a lucky

circumstance. It is true that the Slovenian market has not seen so many new projects as elsewhere, but on the other hand this means that the banks are not so exposed to the real-estate sector. In any case, we will see slower business in the future.

Your company, TriGranit, is a prominent developer in major cities of the Western Balkans. How do you assess the situation in the emerging markets of the region?

Contrary to the widespread opinion, commercial real-estate market is better developed in Zagreb than in Ljubljana, for example. However, developers present in Croatia or Serbia will be reassessing their investments not just in terms of growth prospects of a particular market, but will also take into account factors such as country risk and foreign exchange risk. We do not have to worry about that in Slovenia. Thank God for the Euro.

Real-estate market will grow slower across the region, however.

Returning to Slovenia, when do you expect the things to be back to normal?

The bank bailouts will have to come and work through the bank-

ing system, so that the latter can start functioning again. As for the real-estate market, the housing segment will see stagnating prices, while the outlook for the commercial real estate is more promising.

We have not seen oversupply or overheating of the commercial real-estate market in Slovenia. TriGranit competes on quality and we are confident that our Emonika project conforms to the highest standards.

Emonika project includes a business tower, a shopping centre, bus and train station as well as a residential block. You recently decided to split the project in two stages. For the moment, only the construction of the business tower is certain. Why? Because of the financial crisis.

Banks are very reluctant to lend and have imposed strict limits as to the volume of the loans they can approve. In order to go ahead with the whole project we would need EUR 220m to EUR 250m and as things stand at the moment we would have to go to 15 to 20 banks to secure the funds. There is no syndication market at the moment, so that would be pretty difficult.

REAL ESTATE special 23 Photo: Emonika

We have therefore decided to go ahead only with the business tower, for which the financing can be obtained. We are talking about EUR 30m to EUR 40m and a couple of banks are already interested in providing loans for the project.

So the shoppping centre together with the bus and the train station are on hold for the moment?

For the time being, yes. Still, the business tower itself will be a major development in its own right and will reshape Ljubljana’s skyline. It will offer new solutions and services that will conform to the highest environmental standards. The new business tower will be a symbolic, iconic building, the highest of its kind in Slovenia.

Emonika’s business tower is set to become one of Ljubljana’s highlights

Photo: Emonika

“Quality attracts more interest“ As the economic malaise spreads, we wanted to know whether the downturn could cause a drop in demand for office space in Ljubljana. We talked to Mátyás Gereben, the Office Leasing Manager, who says that Ljubljana lacks the highest-quality offices that the tower will provide. for example, Zagreb does. It is true that there are banks, insurance companies and other businesses present in the city centre, but there

is no leasable office space to speak of. The Emonika business tower will remedy; we are confident the project will prove to be a success.

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

Photo: Emonika

„As far as office space is concerned, it is wrong to say that there is an oversupply in the commercial real-estate market in Ljubljana. At least until 2000 there was not enough high-quality offices to go around. The projects that are now in the pipeline will only remedy this lack of supply.

When talking about the project pipeline, one has to bear in mind that a lot of projects, I would say at least a half of them, if not more, have been cancelled or postponed. This is a consequence of the financial crisis. The latter has sped up the process of natural selection of the projects in the pipeline with only the most promising remaining.

The Emonika business tower will provide high-quality office space for businesses. Here, more quality means more interest. The expressed interest in the Emonika offices already exceeds the available supply of office space by more than two times. This is understandable. Ljubljana does not yet have a central business district as,

Ljubljana does not yet have a central business district as, for example, Zagreb does. It is true that there are banks, insurance companies and other businesses present in the city centre, but there is no leasable office space to speak of.

Contemporary design for Ljubljana’s central business district February 2009

24 Real estate special

Real Estate in Ljubljana

Getting a Facelift Photo: STO

Although Ljubljana no longer feels like a provincial capital, many visitors to the town come away with the impression that, apart from the romantic old town by the river and some art nouveau architecture, the Slovenian capital does not have much to offer. By 2025, when the real estate projects described below will hopefully have been finished, Ljubljana will rightfully take its place as a cosmopolitan and modern European city.

Ljubljana, the Old Town: Architectural jewel in the heart of Europe

Photo: KID

A new concert and opera hall will be built at the place of the old Kolizej, in the centre of Ljubljana

Emonika

Definitely Ljubljana’s flagship project, the plans foresee the construction of a new travel centre that will feature a new bus and railway station, an entertainment-shopping mall as well as residential and business buildings. In a 100-m high business tower (with 23,000 m2 of business premises), guests will be able to relax in an upscale hotel, while enough space will be set aside for high-quality office facili-

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

ties. A 60-m high residential building will house 90 luxurious apartments of various sizes with 2,500 parking spaces under the new bus and railway station. The entertainment-shopping mall, offering retailers 60,000 m2 of gross leasable area, will feature 250 shops and bars, a multi-cinema complex, recreational spaces and restaurants.

The construction, now divided on two phases (first phase being the 100-m business tower and second phase everything else) will break ground in the middle of 2009; the business tower should be completed by the end of 2010.

It will enliven the town centre and promote new infrastructure and indirect investments, as well as providing state-of-the-art 21stcentury travel services.

The project is being implemented by the Hungarian-Canadian company Trigranit; if everything goes as planned, the entire development will be completed by the end of 2011. Interestingly, just before the construction kick-off, archaeologists discovered rich finds at the site. The investor has already confirmed that it will endeavour to properly display the precious finds in Emonika.

Kolizej A new concert and opera hall will be built at the place of the old The Slovenia Times

Kolizej, in the centre of Ljubljana, now a decaying edifice, which functioned as a kind of a motel for the officers of Austro-Hungarian army and their horses in late 19th century. The new complex, which will be built by 2012, will be a multi-functional complex featuring a central concert and opera house with an 18-storey residential and business tower, a 5-storey residential villa on the southern side and a business facility on the northern side. There will also be six subterranean levels for parking and maintenance.

The new concert and opera hall will be shaped like a horseshoe; featuring a large stage and an orchestral shell with room for up to 100 musicians. The hall will consist of a main level, boxes and three balconies – 1,811 seats in total. The main level will seat 900 people, while each of the three balconies will have 300 seats. Above the hall will be an enclosed garden with restaurants and open space for minor events, offering marvellous vistas of the city and the two towers.

The hall’s shape and size will be comparable to some of the worldfamous halls, such as the Vienna State Opera, the Covent Garden Royal Opera House and La Scala in Milan. The entire project will cost around EUR 180 million, the hall alone costing EUR 70 million.

Ljubljana will thus receive an iconic modern building covering 83,900 m2, of which more than half will be underground. With minor modifications, the hall will also be used for conventions, fashion shows and other similar events.

Stožice Sports Centre The Stožice sports centre will feature a stadium with 16,000 seats and a multi-functional hall with 12,000 seats. Both complexes will have separate access to a commerce-business part that will be placed between the hall and the stadium. The commerce-business complex will cover 80,000 m2 and offer around 5,000 parking spaces.

Delta Group, a Serbian company, was awarded the contract to build the shopping centre.

The hall and the stadium are primarily intended for sports, but

Real estate special 25 concerts and other similar events certainly will also be held there.

The mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, who is the driving force behind many new projects in the city, maintains that the sports hall will be opened to most sports – basketball, handball and volleyball. Ice hockey, however, will remain in Hala Tivoli, which will be renovated.

T he delegat ion com m it te e looked at a number of modern stadiums in Europe to decide which would be the most appropriate for Ljubljana. The hall will, in terms of content, resemble the three-part hall in Helsinki. The lower part right by the court will have 6,000 seats, with VIP boxes just above that offer 1,000 seats, and there will be additional 5,000 seats above the VIP boxes. It will be possible to close the last part of the hall with curtains in case attendance is relatively low.

Tobačna City The British Imperial Tobacco Group announced in January 2004 that it would suspend operations at Tobačna Ljubljana by the end of May 2004, which followed relatively quickly and caused a major public outcry, linking the lay-off of workers to the entry into the EU. The premises remained vacant for some time. In 2005, real estate developers purchased the premises and in 2006 the first plans were presented to the public.

The most recent plans now include using the location for building new residential areas that will include 500 new apartments. The renovated buildings of the old tobacco factory will be used for public program and business quarters, cultural and museum activities, with the possibility of also building an underground garage.

The new minister for higher education, Gregor Golobič, supports the popular opinion that the plans for the new library, now over twenty years old are unsuitable for modern needs; in particular, the interior design predates the common use of computers and multimedia in libraries. It is estimated that the new architectural tender will delay the project for at least two years.

According to original plans, the new library is to be built in separate stages; the first stage, completed by mid-2011 (the date is now pushed back), will cost around EUR 50 million taken from the state budget and European funds.

The government also included the construction of NUK II among 35 major national projects in Slovenia for the period 2007-2023, and said it would preserve the old library (NUK I) in agreement with all involved parties.

The newly-designed library building will feature a multifunctional hall, more lecture rooms and specialised classrooms; there will also be many more seats and cubicles for anyone wishing to study in silence. The new building will undoubtedly be one of the central Slovenian institutions and the one that will further facilitate the development of the information society. NUK II is thus an extremely important national project that will be a source of many developmental possibilities in various areas in the future, such as culture, education, science, research and economy, all of which form the foundation of a society based on knowledge.

Northern City Gates Two office and residential buildings are to be erected in the middle of what will become a cluster of skyscrapers in a few years time.

The Northern City Gates will be the tallest buildings allowed inside Ljubljana’s inner ring road.

The two towers will represent a gate to the centre of the city, which people will enter via Dunajska cesta, the busy thoroughfare connecting the city centre to the north. Each building will be 72m tall, but they will not be identical and will not be built at the same time. The beginning of construction is scheduled for 2009; however, that is becoming increasingly unlikely due to the current financial crisis.

The design for the east tower, dubbed City Tower Ljubljana, was awarded to renowned architects Boris Podrecca and Sandi Pirš.

Immorent Ljubljana, the developer financing the construction, wants the building to stand out and show its own unique identity. The tower will have 21 storeys above ground, amounting to 16,000 m² of office space and five underground parking levels to be used by the building’s users. The value of the project is estimated between EUR 25m and EUR 30m.

The west tower was commissioned by the Bavarski dvor d.o.o.

Investment Company. Although the building pit for the west tower has already been already dug, less is known about the future of this building.

This project has a lot of historical significance as well. It continues the historical aspiration dat-

New sports stadium, a part of the project that also includes other sports facilities and a shopping centre

The most recent plans for Tobačna City now foresee the construction of new residential areas that will include 500 new apartments. High-quality office space will also be on offer, increasing the attractiveness of the premises for buyers

The newly-designed national library will feature a multifunctional hall, more lecture rooms and specialised classrooms; it will certainly figure among the most important Slovenian cultural institutions

Tobačna City: From a cigarette factory to a business and residential centre

February 2009

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

The first National and University Library was intended to house no more than 240,000 books and have a tenth of users than it has today. The need for a new and bigger building became apparent two decades ago. In 1989, the first public tender was issued, yet since then everything seems to have worked against the new library. The start of construction has witnessed numerous setbacks in terms of getting the proper licences and coordinating all the required aspects of the construction, with the location of the new library itself resting on remains of the old Roman town of Emona, necessitating decade-long archaeological excavations that will end later this year.

Photo: IMOS

National and University Library II (NUK II)

26 Real estate special ing back to the Roman Empire and the settlement of Emona forbear of Ljubljana, when the major city gates were the northern gates of Emona. The road north through the gates still exists today.

Gemini On the edge of Ljubljana’s rapidly expanding shopping district, where presently there is only an old abandoned warehouse, GemiThe Šmartinska ni, a new twin tower businessPartnership is similar commercial project, is about to to the now famous be built. The investor, GH HOLDd.d., envisions two 18-storey revitalized area of the ING towers with business floor area of London Docklands, 17,000 m2, a 5,200 m2 commercial where a large area of area and 850 new parking spacthe city was redeveloped es underground. The two ovalshaped buildings will be linked on KVADRATprincipally G. GLAS 28/1/09 12:49 Page 1 for commercial the first three floors where shops C M Y CM MY CY CMY and residential use. and restaurants will mostly domi-

The Slovenia Times

nate. The rest of the floors are intended for business use. This will be one of the first big projects in an ambitious revitalization plan for the warehouse district of the city. The whole project, due to be completed in 2010, is worth EUR 60 m, creating 2,000 jobs. As with many others, this project is also affected by the financial crisis and may be delayed.

According to those responsible, there will be no shortage of customers as they will mostly move to newer better-equipped offices while, at the same time, enjoy privileges they did not have before, such as a recreation area, day-care centre, beauty salons, shops etc. Another advantage will be low costs for heating and cooling as the buildings are designed K be energy efficient. to

Šmartinska partnership The Šmartinska Partnership is similar to the now famous revitalized area of the London Docklands, where a large area of the city was redeveloped principally for commercial and residential use. The area in question here is the eastern warehouse and production district of Ljubljana, once a crucial transport hub of western Balkans. Once it ceased its storage activities and moved industrial facilities to the outskirts of Ljubljana, the area started to quickly decay. However, like the London Docklands, it has an unquestionable potential with large areas of unused land inside the city just waiting to be exploited.

In 2008, the decision was made to revitalize the entire area. At the international tender, organised by the city of Ljubljana together with the seven biggest land owners (BTC, Gradis, Droga-Kolinska, Špar, Žito, Velana and Kolosej), the first prize was awarded to the Hosoya-Schaefer architectural firm. Tender requirements included the need for a holistic approach in the solution for the area. That meant that the area would be dealt with as an interlinked whole. It also meant that plans and designs would need to cover over 200 hectares of prime real-estate; ten times the area of Emonika.

The main attributes of the winning project are: established links with the city centre and the suburbs, a big park in the middle of the area in the fashion of Central Park in New York City and a cluster of skyscrapers (one 150m tall) on the edge of the park. The architectural plan also suggests a multimodal boulevard that would link all the areas together. The press dubbed the project “mini Manhattan”. The Šmartinska Partnership will likely be the focal point of urban development in the near future, promising to drastically change the visual look and feel of Ljubljana.

Miran Gajšek, the Ljubljana municipality’s spatial planning boss, says that Šmartinska partnership is an example of how the government’s, municipality’s and European funds can be put to good use. “The new development will be linked to the travel centre with the bus and railway station, integrating the whole project into the wider public infrastructure network of the city,” explains Gajšek.

The green credentials of the Šmartinska partnership will not be boosted only by the project’s focus on enhancing access to and attractiveness of public transport, but also by the development of a park.

28 REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

Logistics

Excellent Location, Dedicated Service Serving as the crossroads of major European rail and road corridors and boasting close links with the emerging markets of the Western Balkans, Slovenia is well-suited for the establishment of companies’ regional headquarters. The Komenda Business Zone, in the heart of Slovenia and close to the capital, offers highquality infrastructure to firms doing business in the region.

Photo: PC Komenda

By Marko Vuković

Karmen Škufca, the CEO of Komenda Business Zone

As the economic crisis spreads, do you expect a fall in demand for the real-estate you are offering in the Komenda Business Zone?

We have already sold the majority of the available lots in the zone. The investors are aware that this is a long-term investment and that their success depends on increasing their competitiveness by lowering the costs of doing business and increasing investment in research and development. We are talking about firms who provide services with a high added value, thereby contributing to the development of the local environment.

As the managers of the Komenda Business Zone, we are committed to offering our companies the services of the highest quality, allowing them to focus on their business more efficiently. We plan to establish long-term cooperation between the key customers by fostering their business and social relationships.

How successful were you in attracting buyers to the zone?

The Komenda Business Zone is situated between Vodice and the settlement of Žeje in the southeastern part of the Kranjsko Polje field, about 15 kilometres from Ljubljana. The municipality of Ko-

Logistics

In Bad Times, Prepare for the Good As economic growth slows down in European Union and some of Slovenia’s main trading partners slip into recession, trade flows and the demand for logistics services are likely to subside. Aerodrom Ljubljana, the operator of the country’s biggest airport, however, is pressing forward with its plan to build a state-of-the-art multimodal logistics centre, so that the airport will be ready when the tide turns.

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

Photo: Aerodrom Ljubljana

Ljubljana Airport: Becoming a regional logistics hub

The Slovenia Times

M

ultimodality as a concept in logistics services management that has become increasingly popular in recent years. Bundling different modes of transport into a seamless transport network helps companies move goods

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL 29

faster and allows for just-in-time delivery to reduce the costs of inventory.

Taking, for example, of a load of cargo arriving in the port of Koper on the Slovenian coast, one can see just what Aerodrom Ljubljana is trying to do. When additional railroad tracks are built, the cargo will travel to the airport either by road or by rail. A multimodal facility near the airport will allow for the quick and efficient throughput of cargo from trains to lorries, and vice versa, as well as between trains.

A large area of four to five hectares will be reserved for cargo planes, with a dedicated logistics centre of 20,000 to 30,000 square metres. Once all the facilities are built and operating, the abovementioned load of cargo could be transported from the port to the airport much faster than is presently possible.

The Airport City project is to be completed in 2015. It will not just have logistics facilities, but also retail, recreation and hospitality venues. The contract for the building of a hotel that will be operated under a respected Residor Group brand has already been awarded.

The hotel will open its doors in September 2010 at the latest.

dor, the zone will offer businesses high-quality infrastructure that will allow them to expand further into southeast Europe.

We hope that the zone will develop into an urban centre over time, combining excellent facilities with an unspoiled environment.

We are talking about firms which provide services with a high added value, thereby contributing to the development of the local environment.

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General sponsor

Organizers

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Know -how partner

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL

What advantages does the Komenda Business Zone have over other similar projects in the country?

Our zone will be the biggest and the greenest business zone in the country. Its size, 930,000 square meters, and its location in the heart of the most-developed region in Slovenia, also make it one of the most attractive zones in the wider region. Located only a few kilometres from Slovenia’s biggest airport at Brnik and sitting right on the fifth European transport corri-

Komenda Business Zone offers high-quality services with the location to match

Photo: PC Komenda

menda started buying the land for the zone in 2003, with the aim of kick-starting local economic development. The area is also seismically stable.

The first 18 hectares of the zone were sold almost overnight. The sale of remaining 75 hectares has been managed by a company established by the municipality. The majority of the lots were sold by the autumn of 2007, with around a fifth still up for sale. Many of the investors booked their slots well in advance as they realized the opportunities of doing business from the Komenda Business Zone.

At the moment, we are in the process of building the necessary communal and technical infrastructure as well as acquiring the necessary permits, so that the investors can proceed with the construction of their premises as soon as possible.

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February 2009

Your sights are guided over the edge of bedewed freshness,

taking a moment to play in the green rustle of the channel at the end of the velvety wooden terrace.

Like a gentle poem it slowly drifts further across the green carpet that is your neighbour’s roof and sinks into the golden glitter of the eternal sea’s vast melody.

Your body experiences tranquillity while the view and the sounds merge in the rhythm of comfort. Meanwhile your spirit soars under the heavens like a seagull, taking in this beauty.

The design of the Nokturno estate follows the natural rhythm as a melody follows notes - of the ambiance spreading across the bank. It extends over the mirror of the sea, complementing and improving it with its ingenuity and detail, and, despite giving the impression of compactness, creates a truly highquality and individualised living environment. Such values ennoble the wider area.

The estate is situated in an excellent location and features innovatively designed housing units, quality materials, comfortable lifts connecting the storeys, only a small number

of flats per individual communication hub and two basementlevel parking spaces for each flat. All these guarantee a comfortable and pleasant life.

With all flats being nicely connected to their surroundings through loggias or terraces, their clever layout provides enough space between units, thus ensuring the highest possible level of privacy for everyone. The flats have green roofs serving to incorporate them even further into the daily beat of Istria’s green environs.

The estate has access ramps leading to the underground parking lots. The tenants can access the parking spaces directly through the internal stairway hubs and lifts.

With an ear for the country and its tradition, the friendly Nokturno estate shall reflect the beauty of peace and the sensuality of moments spent in a Mediterranean ambiance and, through its values, enrich the time and space we live in.

As a result, the estate shall find its identity along with its residents’ purpose and happiness.

Sensuality, a noble character, tranquillity, comfort, privacy.

31

Sledding:

Discover your Inner Child After two winters in a row without snow in the lowlands, this winter seems friendlier to those who love nature’s white mantle. With the first snowflakes, the child inside me goes to the attic and brings down the rusty sled.

By Marjan Žiberna Photos: Boštjan Majcen, Marjan Žiberna and the Selnica country club

A

nyone who has children knows that parenthood is not an easy task. The obligations are endless; as a parent, you have to take care of at least a little million things. And just when you think that you see the end of the tunnel, you find yourself right back at the beginning.

Fortunately, there is also another side to it; children can be a great source of joy and if you are ready to be led by them, you can sink into their world almost without noticing, a world of fairytales, a world of imagination and the unspoiled pleasure of discovering the real world around us, which

sometimes looks boring and even unfriendly if you’re an adult.

Winter, if it deserves to be called that, covers the landscape with soft snow, is associated with skiing, snowboarding and ice-skating, but my two favourites and most basic are making a snowman and sledding. Piling and rolling snow is fun and hard work for all the family members (to beat the size of the neighbour’s snowman) who are willing to participate, as is fighting your wife over which pot is old enough to serve as a hat.

Sledding is even more exciting – rushing down the hill, you

Homemade semi-automatic snowmobile A uniquely Slovenian way of sledding is the “pležuh” or “plejžuh”, which supposedly dates back to the 18th century. Its origins are in the Drava valley in the region of Styria (Štajerska). The pležuh is a sled, once made from a part of useless stave (a curved wooden board, a part of the barrel), with two small wooden columns, a simple seat and a stick, which served for steering. It was a traditional mean of winter transport for local people for ages. Since the middle of the’90s, the Selnica country club in the Drava valley has been successfully preserving and presenting pležuh as a part of Slovenia’s national heritage and an ethnological treasure. Many sled-riding parties and races have been organized and well-attended in recent years, sometimes with up to 200 competitors, usually wearing old-fashioned clothes, and over thousand visitors enjoying a fun event. The 13th annual traditional pležuh dow n h ill was held on January 31st at Snežni Stadion, a ski resort on the outskirts of Maribor.

Sledding in Slovenia When the snow covers the lowlands, many hills around Slovenian villages and towns have sled tracks. If you have your own sled or if you can borrow it, you can simply join them and share the pleasure.

There are also several ski resorts where sledding is part of their programme. Some tourist agencies organize sledding for individuals, families and groups, using some impassable local mountain roads as sled tracks; this can be an exciting way of discovering hidden corners of the nature in the vicinity.

This type of organized sledding includes renting a sled (quality varying from simple classical type to competition type) and the lift to the starting point. Some of these organizers also offer night sledding, where the flames of torches near the track add to the excitement.

Amateur sledding is not a difficult “sport”, so it is a good winter choice for those growing up as well as for those who haven’t tried it yet. So, if it is your first time, don’t worry! You’ll quickly find out how to steer and brake with feet, hands and shifting your weight.

No special equipment is needed, but don’t forget to take warm clothes, gloves and boots with you. It’s also a good idea to take some additional clothes (i.e. trousers) to change after sledding in case you get wet.

Think about your safety! Since it is such a merry activity, some people like to make it even merrier with a little (or more) help of alcohol – this is certainly not a good idea. To really and safely enjoy sledding, you need to stay focused and stay in control of the ride.

When you’re rushing down the hill, you probably won’t reach the speed of the luge or skeleton competitors who sometimes exceed 130 kilometres per hour, but a collision with a tree or another object can be a serious danger, all the same!

February 2009

32 SLEDDING forget all your worries (you may only have to fight with your wife later whether the speed was too much for your son’s infected eyes and why you forgot to take the glows/hat/comforter) and if you have a small child on the sled in front of you, shouting all the time, partly from fear and mostly from pure pleasure, you simply have to leave your adult world and share that pleasure.

Children can help, but they are not necessary – I remember having great fun sledding from all periods of my middle-aged life.

Alone or with my sister as a child, sometimes even on icy roads; later in school with friends, inventing all kinds of approaches to this otherwise simple sport, sometimes resulting in minor injuries; in high school, when I discovered the charm of sledding with girls, and then with one girl; as a young man, discovering more sporty individual sledding and now teaching my children and learning from them at the same time.

Recent winters’ lack of snow and repeating illness were reasons why Peter, the second of my three children, who will be four in the spring, knew sledding mostly from the stories about “good old days when the winters were winters …” So, his imagination was fully occupied with sledding when the first snowflakes begun to fall this winter. This was also a great time for Urban, his eightyear-old brother, who never misses a chance to show his younger brother how much he knows about the world and how experienced he is. When they stood in front of the window, looking at the whirling snowflakes, Urban told Peter the stories of his sledding in the winters “when you were a baby, Peter, and before you were born.”

He was telling him how bravely

he avoided people and the trees that crossed his path when he was rushing down the hills on his sled.

The snowflakes were falling persistently enough and Peter was also – to our pleasant surprise – persistently healthy, so this year he finally experienced sledding.

We drove to Logatec a couple of times, a small town 20 kilometres from Ljubljana, and joined the happy crowd of children, some alone and some with their parents, sledding on Skirca Hill on the town’s outskirts.

I immediately forgot the advice of my doctor who is treating my painful vertebrae and who had warned me against lifting burdens and jerky movements – I only fixed a thick pad to the sled to help me absorb shock on the frozen molehills sticking out of the snow. So up to the top and – unquestionably the best part – down. Urban who went his own way, quickly found his own company of peers.

Peter was suddenly quiet (an almost unknown state); he was firmly holding my arm wrapped around him and we started slowly, carefully and gradually faster.

We were gaining speed every time and he was also gaining confidence.

“Make way! Make way!” he shouted when we were quickly approaching a group of children on their way up pulling sleds behind them. “Make way!” he shouted right from the moment our sled started moving the next time we went down – just like that, out of pure pleasure.

Then louder and more excited each time we went down, so much so that people started giving us strange looks. It was great, we fell and rolled in the snow once when a molehill was simply too high.

Sled If you decide to buy your own sled, you will find that the lowest price you’ll have to pay is about EUR 25, but its quality can’t compare to those costing around EUR 100 or more. One of the manufacturers of such good quality sleds is Teodor Kališnik from Podljubelj.

One of the first such manufacturers, he started manufacturing top quality recreational sleds in 1998.

“A good quality sled has to be made from ash wood,” explains the master, “it’s the best because of its soundness and elasticity.”

A good quality sled also does not have a wooden seat but it is tightly woven from strips of fabric to protect your spine from shock when being tossed around on the way down.

There were a few tears, but we were back on the track soon.

Yes, going downhill is always exciting, but going up is the more boring part of sledding, as every child knows: a good opportunity to learn that one has to work hard to earn pleasure (I leave to your own judgement whether this lesson is still fully applicable to modern real life, but it is certainly true for sledding). Peter was slow and unwilling to run uphill so I simply put him on the sled – never mind the spoiling – and pulled him up; that way I was able to sink into the child-like excitement as many times as possible and hopefully also started using the fat reserve I’d acquired during the festive December.

It was already dark when we came home and made a snowm a n b e h i nd t he house. The honeysweetened tea

tasted divine. There was no reason to dream of the good old days when winters were still winters.

And the next day Alina, our nine-month-old daughter, had to listen to Peter’s stories about his heroism – how skilfully he avoided the other people who were sledding and also the trees, although I remembered no trees. Alina, whose cold stopped her from enjoying the sledding herself, didn’t doubt her brother’s heroism one bit. Not even when he added deer and bears...

Luge, bobsleigh, skeleton…

In the distant past, a sled was a means of transport in the countries with harsh, long and snowy winters. Different types of sleds were used by different nations across Europe, by North American Indians and Inuit, and in Asia. The sled was either pulled by humans or various animals were harnessed; dogs, horses or caribou, among others.

Later, sledding also became entertainment, especially for children; the first records of this kind of use date back to the early 16th century.

The luge, skeleton and bobsleigh developed from sled. They all originate from St. Moritz, Switzerland, from the mid-to-late 19th century.

They are a kind of “side-effect” of the endeavours of the local hotel owner, Caspar Badrutt, who successfully managed to develop the idea of winter resorting. Some of his winter guests, Englishmen, adapted delivery boys’ sleds for recreation. At first, there were many collisions with pedestrians as they sped down the lanes of the village, but they began devising methods of steering the sled. So they invented the luge (feet first, supine), skeleton (head first, prone), and the two- and four-men bobsleighs. In the interest of pedestrian safety, Badrutt built a special track for his guests’ activities. A track, built around 1870, has been used as a venue in two Winter Olympic Games (1924 and 1948) and remains in use today.

The first organized sport meeting of the various sled riders took place in 1883 in Davos, Switzerland. The men’s four-crew bobsleigh was introduced at the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924. The luge was included in the 1964 Olympic Games, held in Innsbruck, with men’s and women’s events and a doubles event. The only two times the skeleton was included as an Olympic event, before its permanent acceptance in 2002, were in 1928 and 1948 when the Games were held in St. Moritz. The luge, skeleton and bobsleigh use the same artificial track. There are also luge competitions on natural tracks, but that is a non-Olympic sport. In alpine countries, there are several recreational competitions, national, continental and world championships.

You can also slide down icy slopes on inflated tubes; while in recent years a sled on small wheels makes summer riding down grassy slopes possible. There are also sleds on rail tracks and dog harnesses competitions.

www.sankanje.com, www.sloveniaski.info, www.plezuh.net The Slovenia Times

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Slovenia Only a Step Away Though spanning only about 20,000 square kilometres, with less than a three-hour drive along motorways between opposite corners, Slovenia is crisscrossed with nearly 10,000 kilometres of waymarked walking routes.

Slovenia can only be explored on foot bit by bit, never whole, and here lies the greatest charm of hiking in Slovenia.

Usually our attention is first captured by the high-elevation mountain areas – the Julian Alps, Kamnik and Savinja Alps, and Karavanke Alps – affording captivating views of distant reaches that draw us closer. And so we get to know the mid-elevation areas: Idrija and Cerkno hills, Škofja Loka Hills, Polhov Gradec Hills, Posavje Hills, etc. We head for the Pohorje Hills, roam the hills and slopes of the Dolenjska and Bela Krajina regions, and keep fit on the Nordic walking routes in the otherwise quite flat Pomurje region. Not to mention the tasteful synergy of hiking and gastronomy in the Štajerska region, or the magnificent scenery and other features of Primorska. A challenge in its own right is interconnecting long-distance walking trails, which cross Slovenia in multiple directions and can take up to a month of walking.

Well, it’s time to hit the track.

Choose between the Slovenian

Mountain Trail, Via Alpina, E6, E7, Sub-Alpine Trail.

Slovenia is just the right size to be fully explored and experienced on foot.

Hiking in Slovenia possible year-round The best time to head for high-elevation areas is summer and autumn. Normally, weather conditions in the mountains are the most stable at the end of August and in autumn. Mid-elevation mountain areas are the most attractive in spring, autumn and winter. The same seasons, particularly winter, are a perfect time to go hiking in the Primorska region.

Waymarks and markers Most of Slovenia’s mountain trails and other walking routes are marked with waymarks and round markers in the form of a red circle

with a white centre. Also used are red arrow signs, as well as lines and inscriptions on rocks and tree trunks.

Each trail is graded in terms of difficulty, and the grade is included on signposts at departure points. Hard trails are denoted by a red triangle, and extremely hard by a red triangle with exclamation mark, while the easy ones bear no indication of the level of difficulty.

A large number of theme trails have special signposts showing the way.

Detailed information is available from the local tourist information centres and Pohodništvo giz, the Slovenian Hiking Association.

Spending the night Specialised hiking accommodation is provided by 40 hotels, guesthouses and self-contained units.

In low-lying as well as high-elevation areas, you can spend the night in a large number of mountain huts, which are open during the summer months high in the mountains, and elsewhere year-round or weekends only.

Information, promotion, marketing

POHODNIŠTVO giz, Slovenian Hiking Association, Ljubljanska c. 7, 4260 Bled, tel. +386 (0)41 646 566, e-mail: info@hiking.si In the framework of a strategic partnership with the Slovenian Tourist

Board, the Slovenian Hiking Association has started 16 specialised hiking hotels and guesthouses with the aim to develop and promote a quality tourism hiking product and to ensure its consistent marketing.

Together with 25 partners – local tourist boards, Alpine Association of Slovenia, Slovenian Nordic Walking Association, Triglav National Park and a number of companies – the Slovenian Hiking Association steers dedicated marketing efforts to achieve better results.

For more information, visit www.slovenia.info/hiking.

Nordic Walking in Slovenia In Slovenia, Nordic Walking started to develop in year 2003, following Finnish example of implementing this healthy outdoor physical activity into daily life of Slovenian population. Educated by INWA-International Nordic Walking Association based in Helsinki, Slovenian NW instructors will carismaticaly guide Finnish tourists to natural beauties of culinaric, enology and ethnology by nordicwalking through the gentle landscape of Slovenian wineyards regions. Typical local domestic hospitality of wine producers, together with tremendeous variety of Slovenian local cuisines, will bring you into the world of Nordic Walking in a way which canot be experienced in Finland –home of Sauvakävely.

www.slovenia.info Book ONLINE Or call: +386 4 280 30 30

34 CULTURE

France Prešeren

A Man Who Turned Literacy into Art Every Slovene and even those in touch with Slovenia for only a short time have an image of Prešeren. He cannot be described merely as a poet, or a writer, or even a person; he is a legend, a man of greatest historical importance.

By Ana Šinkovec

T

he presence of Prešeren’s name and image surrounds us: on the squares and streets, his visage marked the former currency, the tolar banknotes, and when a tourist travels back home from Slovenia, he can take home Prešeren in the form chocolates and spirits. His rather sad visage is on all kinds of things; non-Slovenes surely ask themselves, “Who is this Prešeren?”

Who in fact is Prešeren? That’s like asking what air is. Prešeren is like air: mandatory and self-evident.

Slovenia’s Goethe France Prešeren’s life was far from ideal. In his twenties, he was desperately, and unsuccessfully, trying to establish himself as a lawyer. By the time he was thirty, he started to write more and more poems and became more self confident as a poet. His friendship with Matija Čop, perhaps the most educated Slovene of that time, greatly helped him when it came to his creative process.

Prešeren is generally acknowledged as the greatest Slovene classical author. Being a classical author means that the works contain all the elements of the literary canon: the highest aesthetics, recognisable and other literary characteristics that serve as norms in grammar, genre, artistic and ethical values. Prešeren cast a new light on the Slovene language and raised it to the level of true poetic speech. In this sense, he belongs to the group of the greatest European authors: France’s Charles Baudelaire, Britain’s Lord Byron, Poland’s Adam Mickiewizc, Germany’s Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Croatia’s Miroslav Krleža.

The dark and “undesired” image of Prešeren There are several anecdotes about his wayward thoughts and less-than-flattering public image.

His contemporaries described him The Slovenia Times

as a social butterfly, who was never out of jokes, who liked to sing and flirt with women. These details bring out the tragic Prešeren as opposed to the more “normal” middle-aged man that schoolbooks wish to pass on. After being disappointed in love, the anecdote goes that he and his friend from Bled wrote various unfavourable facts and jokes about Ljubljana’s bourgeoisie in Slovene, Italian and German on small pieces of paper and took them to parties and secretly dropped them on the floor.

Then, all of Ljubljana could laugh at the conceited “worthies” and noble citizens of the city. Janez Trdina wrote that Prešeren knew all the secrets in the city and was a kind of poet-chronicler of scandalous local events.

Recognition His death marked the start of a much brighter era for Prešeren’s public image. Janez Bleiweis, a canny politician, sensed that the poet’s name might become famous one day, so he arranged a solemn funeral and organised the erection of a monument, with which the Slovene nation could honour Prešeren’s memory. The story of collecting money for this monument is an excellent illustration of the then attitude to the poet as well as certain attributes of the Slovene character. Suffice to say, contributions were rather modest, but the monument today stands on Prešernov trg square in Ljubljana. France now has an eternal view on his unrequited love, as the bust of Julija Primic was erected on the house opposite to his statue on Wolfova ulica.

Omnipresent Cultural Icon As one of the translators of Prešeren, Erika Johnson Debeljak once commented on Slovenes and Prešeren: if you gave a quiz in an elementary school in the USA on

the “founding fathers of America”, only few would know the names Jefferson The way we imagine him: Prešeren’s most famous and Washington. If only portrait was made two years after his death. few in a Slovenian elementary school knew who Prešeren various cultural events praise was, it would be proclaimed a na- his memory, throughout Slovenia and abroad. Slovenian embassies tional scandal, an outrage.

Slovenes did not sculpt faces and Slovene expatriates around into a mountain, but they have the world celebrate this Slovene succeeded in building a cultural national holiday by organizing icon, and today Prešeren is as nat- different kinds of events: reciting his poetry in different languagural as the air that we breathe.

Prešeren’s physical image, which es, singing the national anthem somewhat resembles Beethoven’s in different languages and other with wavy black hair and a stern ways of remembering Prešeren’s look, adds to his intriguing charm. work and life.

In his life, his behaviour was far from an exemplary.

Today, however, that does not really matter: it is not important what Prešeren was, but what Prešeren is and there is no doubt: Prešeren is t h e g r e at e s t Slovene poet.

On February 8th, the anniversary of his death in 1849,

Listen to Prešeren In 2000, the publishing house Sanje issued a CD of Prešeren’s Sonnets of Unhappiness and Other Poems, presenting the best selected translations of Prešeren into English, interpreted by world famous theatre artists, including Vanessa Redgrave, Simon Callow and Katrin Cartlidge.

The CD also contains songs in German by world renowned Slovenian mezzo-soprano Marjana Lipovšek with the guitar accompaniment by Anthony Spiri.

The warring clouds have vanished from the skies; The war of men has ended with the night.

The morning sun gilds the three heads that rise Supreme above Carniola’s snowpeaks white.

The lake of Bohinj calm in stillness lies, No sign of strife remains to outward sight; Yet in the lake the fierce pike never sleep, nor other fell marauders of the deep.

(An excerpt from Prešeren’s epic poem The Baptism at The Savica; translated by Alasdair MacKinnon)

CULTURE 35

Cultural ties

A History of Firm Relations with the Czechs As the rest of Europe observes the Czech Republic lead the EU, it’s worth taking a look at why Czechs and Slovenes share more than just a few historical similarities.

By Ana Šinkovec

S

lovenia has a long tradition of excellent relations with its Czech “Slavic brothers”.

At the beginning of this year, the Euro-sceptic Czechs took over presidency of the EU, just as the very pro-EU Slovenes had done a year previously. However, this article is not about politics and differences, but about the similarities and superlatives that bind the two countries together. Slovenes and Czechs have many giants in common both claim as their own; the implementation of our mutual history and cultural connections is evident on different fields, including in bilateral political relations, mutual economic exchange and rich cultural cooperation.

Prague was a popular place alongside Vienna in the era when a few Slovenes were privileged to study there. Many Slovenian students attend Czech universities, particularly FAMU, the worldfamous Academy of Performing Arts.

As the Czech government actively supports Czech studies so the popularity of studying in the Czech Republic is once again increasing.

Several scholarships are available to Slovenian students to study at Masaryk University in Brno and the University of Ostrava.

Plečnik’s Remarkable Influence in Prague However, it was not only Slovenian students in Prague and other cities; Jože Plečnik, the pride of Slovenian architecture, worked as a professor at the university in Prague, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Plečnik moved to Prague in 1911 to teach at the College of Arts and Crafts. His teachings emphasized both classical architectural principles and folk-art traditions, and influenced a generation of architects who would help define the avant-garde Czech Cubist movement of the 1920s.

In 1920, he began work on Prague Castle – Hradčany, a medi-

eval monument that dominates the historic capital. The president at the time, Tomáš Masaryk, sought to renovate the ruined castle after war and appointed Plečnik chief architect. From 1920 until 1934, Plečnik completed numerous projects at the castle, including renovation of numerous gardens and courtyards, the design and installation of monuments and sculptures, and the design of numerous new interior spaces. He had great relations with Masaryk and his daughter Alice. One of the main streets in Ljubljana is named after Masaryk.

In 1997, an important exhibition on Plečnik was on display at Hradčany, and a movie about Plečnik in Slovene-Czech coproduction Dragi mojster (Dear Master) was filmed by Pavel Koutecky, based on the letters that Plečnik and Alice Masaryk exchanged during the renovation period.

Czechs’ marks As Plečnik left his mark on Prague, several Czech architects designed some of the beautiful sights in Ljubljana. The University of Ljubljana is nestled in the building of a former Deželni dvorec (Provincial Mansion) designed by the Czech architect Jan Vladimir Hrasky and later revised by Josef Hudetz, also Czech.

Another jewel in the crown of the city’s architecture since its opening in 1892, now under controversial renovation, is the magnificent Opera House, a true workof-art by Czech architects Jan V. Hrasky and Anton Hruby. Some other achievements by Hrasky can be found outside Ljubljana as well. In 1897, the National Hall in Celje was built and immediately became a symbol of Slovenia, as well as the cultural, political and social centre of Celje.

Literature The history of cultural connections goes back to 14th century

Hradčany, Prague: A fairytale place with a significant Plečnik touchup.

and during Renaissance with Trubar and Jacobus Gallus; however, the wide philological spread started at the end of the 18th century, with the so-called awakening of nations.

A few names have to be mentioned here: Marko Pohlin published Slovenian grammar in 1768 under the influence of the Czech national movement; Josef Dobrovsky was the father of Slavic philology and a very influential thinker on the Slovenian historic and philological question.

Dobrovsky maintained contacts with various Slovene intellectuals. Čelakovsky was the first to translate Prešeren’s poetry into the Czech language. From the Spring of Nations in 1948 until the end of Austrian monarchy, the Slavic spirit of mutual cooperation grew stronger and together stood opposed to German rule. After the end of the monarchy, cooperation was established in the fields of science, music, translation, mountaineering and university studies.

The significance of contemporary bilateral literary activities is shown in public meetings of Slovene and Czech literary authors; particularly valuable here is the Vilenica Festival. The ambassadors of Slovene literature in Czech are the translators Oton Berkopec and J. Hiršal who

translated Prešeren. The most frequently translated Slovenian authors into Czech are Ivan Cankar and Dragi Jančar. Needless to say, Slovenes highly appreciate literature intelligent humour of Čapek and Hašek, or the philosophy of dissident Milan Kundera, whose literature was, unlike in Czechoslovakia, available here during his dissident times.

Returning to the common European present, at the beginning of their presidency, the Czech Ambassador, Ivana Hlavsová, opened a photography exhibition on two breaking periods for the Czechs in the 20th century.

The opening was implemented by a speech on Hrašek’s humour and his character Švejk. Humour and cunning tricks are constant elements in the Czech arts. We should not forget the film Češky Sen (The Czech Dream), which was the biggest marketing manipulation hoax in Czech history and the infamous Europe-mocking project Entropa, by David Černy, who is famous for his artful and provocative projects.

The sculpture showed that stereotypes still define an “open” Europe and that in future we have to overcome them in order to remove barriers in Europe itself.

The field of cultural cooperation is the first to push and break those boundaries.

February 2009

36 EVENTS

The Slovenia Times Recommends

Vlatko Stefanovski Trio The Balkan’s greatest jazz-rock guitarist returns to Ljubljana with his band.

Vlatko Stefanovski is an ethnorock jazz fusion guitar player from Macedonia. Many view him as one of the greatest guitarists in the world. Stefanovski was one of the founding members of the group Leb i sol, with whom he recorded 13 albums between 1978 and 1991. His distinctive guitar style soon became a global trademark. The influence of ethnic and folk music of southeastern Europe and, more specifically, of the music of Macedonia are recognizable in his occasional use of odd meters (5/4, 7/8) and non-traditional scales.

After Leb i sol faded away in the late ‘80s, Stefanovski focused his efforts on his solo career and on collaborating with other artists and musicians. We can find names such as Allan Holdsworth and John McLaughlin playing alongside Stefanovski. He currently divides his time playing with his VS Trio, in an acoustic partnership with Miroslav Tadić or composing for film and theatre.

C

M

Y

CM

The Trio which is used to play both in front of a giant stadium audience as well as in small halls and clubs, performs both Leb i Sol standards as well as Stefanovski’s later compositions.

MY

CY CMY

Feb 8, 10 and 14 at 7.30pm, Cankarjev dom, Lj

K

Electronic

Punk legends

Music Therapy 1605

UK Subs, Scheisse Minnelli

For the occasion of the Cultural Holiday, the lovers of electronic music will have the chance to enjoy the active participation at music therapy 1605. This event is only a pre-premiere to the traditional Day of Electronics on May, 16th in Ljubljana’s Križanke Summer Theatre. Music therapy of this kind is unique. It physically and psychologically stimulates the individual and the masses. Its dynamics has positive effects. Music is the media that vibrates through ear into human body. Vibrations bring changes of human’s current state of being, mental state and conscience. The vibrations also balance human’s natural energy potential. After music therapy, the individual is visibly more relaxed, content and receptive for positive energy.

Sat, Feb 7 at 10pm, InBox club, Lj The Slovenia Times

Thursday, Feb 19 at 9pm, Cvetličarna Mediapark Hall, Ljubljana

a variety of bands and styles. He will commemorate Slovenian National Holiday with a rock concert, featuring various guests, among them Vlado Kreslin, Zoran Lovšin, Jani Kovačič, Globoka grla, Drago Mislej. On the Feb 10, he will perform another concert in Balkan rhythms, featuring Magnifico. On the day of love, Feb 14, he will traditionally give concert in celebration of St. Valentine’s Day. Continuously developing his musical style, Predin has been flirting with world music and lighter jazz for the last few years. He is one of the few Slovenian artists whose concerts are conceived to be friendly to the numerous foreigners living in Slovenia.

UK Subs, who started their career back in 1977, were one of the first bands to emerge from the initial wave of British punk, along with celebrated punk stars such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Unlike most of the punk bands of the time, who later switched to other musical styles, the UK Subs have remained faithful to their career as a classical punk rock band until the present day.

Pop rock

The Rasmus The Rasmus (Finland), who refer to their style as “death pop”, achieved worldwide fame in 2003 with their album Dead Letters. Due to their gothic image and melodious hit songs such as In the Shadows, Funeral Song and Liquid they became one of the most recognized European rock bands on MTV. To date they have sold 2.5 million copies of their albums. Their latest (seventh) album, Black Roses, was released in the autumn of 2008.

Mon, Feb 9 at 8pm, InBox club, Lj

Techno

The Black Dog (Uk)

Zoran Predin

The Black Dog trio are British ultra techno veterans. Ken Downy, Ed Handley in Andy Turner are placed among the top UK electronic masters, mixing techno, breaks and ambiental music. This year the group celebrates 20 years since the release of their first hit “Virtual” and symbolically coincides with the 20th anniversary of the K4 existence.

They released twelve albums and cooperated with Björk, Radiohead, Laurent Garnier in Claude Young.

The legendary chanson singer Zoran Predin announces a concert trio with

Fri, Feb 20 at 11pm, K4 Kersnikova street 4

Sat, Feb 7 at 10pm, Gala hala Metelkova mesto alternative culture centre

Chanson / Rock / Swing

EVENTS 37 Classical

Vineesse All Waltz!

For the first time, Vienna, the world’s capital of classical music, is dispatching one of its greatest traditions for international duty. The original “Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra”, is going on an extensive concert tour for the first time with members of the “Vienna Opera Ball Ballet”. Until now, only very few music lovers have been able to fulfil their wish of being a part of the most famous classical music event in the world; the wish of immersing oneself in this incomparable and glittering ‘fairy tale event’, the role model for all musical and festive elegance. With the completely unique sound of the orchestra, and the noblesse of the ballet dancers of the Vienna State Opera, for the first time, it will now be possible for the public to experience the unique and incomparable musical glamour of the most famous ball in the world in a few selected cities worldwide.

Wed, Feb 11 2009 at 8pm, Tivoli Sports Hal, Lj

Musical

Grease Thirty years after the premiere on Broadway, Slovenia hosts one of the most successful musicals ever written. New York’s musical Mecca Broadway saw 3,388 repetitions of Grease. Already in last December, the Slovenian version of Grease by choreographer Mojca Horvat lifted the spirit of the spectators in Hala Tivoli Sports Hall. A movie featuring John Travolta and Olivia Newton was filmed and inspired by the musical.

In February, the Šentjakob Theater, which is currently in a battle for its own preservation, will feature the splendid event four times (Feb 14, 21, 27, 28) Sat, Feb 14 at 7.30pm, Šentjakob Theatre, Lj

Classic

Mozartine Pleasent classical concer t on Sunday mornings in the Slovenian Philharmonics started new season.

This cycle brings five concerts from January to May and from 2009 the new artistic director of Mozartine is Mate Bekavac. The Sunday matinees cycle started to enliven Sunday

mornings in 2002. The practice of weekend matinees is very traditional in Germanic countries, when people really have time to attend a concert. The February concert is titled Mozart and Love and features Mozart’s Overture Cosi fan tutte, selected Mozart’s arias and “Linz” Symphony no. 36.

Sun, Feb 15 at 11am, Slovenian Philharmonic, Lj

Classic

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra One of New York’s cultural treasures for the past 35 years, the ensemble was founded in 1972 by cellist Julian Fifer and a group of fellow musicians. The unsurpassed energy that emits from this tight-knitted creativity bonds the ensemble with its listeners. Orpheus has been noted by critics for the liberating intensity with which these musicians listen to one another. Through the Orpheus Institute, the musicians share their experience, methodology and skills with students at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music.

Together with pianist Jonathan Biss, they will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.22 in E-flat major. Just in time of the tour, EMI Classics has released Jonathan Biss’ new CD with Mozart’s Piano Concertos no. 21 and no.22.

Festival

Prešeren’s Fair in Kranj If you wish to go back in time, then Prešernov “Smenj” in Kranj is the place to be. The streets of Kranj will enliven the nostalgy from Prešeren’s time with a variety of cultural events and presentation of clothes from 19th century. On the pre-evening, several choirs will commemorate his holiday with songs and reciting of his poems. The Kokra canyon is about to witness the interpretation of Prešeren’s epic River Man which the spectators can enjoy the from the Kokra bridge. Last year’s great number of spectators and the quality of the event brought Kranj to nomination for the European destination of excellence in 2008.

Sun, Feb 8 at 10.00am, Kranj town centre

Exhibition

May 68’ in Paris This exhibition, set up in collaboration with the Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image imprimée in La Louviere, Belgium, features posters created as part of the tumultuous French student movement of 1968. It also brings together newspaper covers and articles from Delo, Slovenia’s

major daily newspaper of the time covering student unrests in Paris, as well as Slovenian posters and other visual materials shedding light on the student protests held in Ljubljana between 1968 and 1972.

Fri, Feb 8 until Mar 22, LjInternational Centre of Graphic Arts, Feb

Exhibition

Zoran Mušič Spanish vision is a documentary exhibition marking the 100th birth anniversary of the Slovenian painter and print artist Zoran Mušič (19092005) is one of the most renowned Slovenian fine artists. He lived and worked in Venice and Paris. After the Second World War he made a name for himself as one of the most prominent artists of the Paris School. His work is characterised by a distinctive mixture of images from concrete reality and fantasy motifs.

Particularly well known are his paintings of Venice, the landscapes of the Slovenia region of Kras and the scenes of suffering at the Dachau concentration camp, where he was interned during the Second World War. Thu, Feb 12 until Mar 8, National Gallery

Tue, Feb 17 at 8.00pm, Cankarjev dom, Lj

Ballet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare’s play. The ballet was thought to have been composed around 1935 or 1936, on commission by the Kirov Ballet. The original version had a “happy” ending, but was never publicly mounted, partly due to increased fear and caution in the musical and theatrical community in the aftermath of the two notorious Pravda editorials criticizing Shostakovich and other “degenerate modernists”. SNG Ljubljana first staged Prokofjev’s love ballet at a premiere in 2006. This extremely difficult ballet demands an exquisite dancing technique and outstanding acting skills. The work implements three important things – life, love and death.

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 7.30pm, Cankarjev dom, Lj February 2009

38

VOTE N OW

! www.gu eststar. org

Retrospectives and Perspectives

By Ana Šinkovec

The Guest Star Awards for the selection of the most popular foreigner in Slovenia was launched by The Slovenia Times and Radio Slovenia International in 2004, two media opening Slovenian space to expatriates living in Slovenia and everybody else who do not yet understand the Slovenian language.

T

he only event of its kind, the Guest Star is campaign with solid goals, positive purposes and effects. Its aim is to award and put into the spotlight those foreigners who live and work in Slovenia and who have important and positive influence on Slovene society with their work. Guest Star has been successful since its beginning. The basic concept behind the event was warmly welcomed by everybody involved and further confirmed by the excitement of the invited attendees at the first event back in 2004.

Premiere The first edition of Guest Star 2004 was a huge success. In the beautiful setting of the Grand Hotel Rogaška, the magnificent background of the Crystal Hall was complimented by distinguished foreigners, the guest stars of the evening. Out of a total nine nominees, the organisations awarded Guest Stars in three categories: Politics & Diplomacy, Economy and Sports. The award in the category of International Relations went to the head of the Austrian Institute in Slovenia, Christine Okresek, the Economy award was granted to the former director of the Sava Tires Richard Allen Johnson and the sports battle was won by the athlete Marlene Ottey, competing against handball player Siarhei Rutenka and basketball player Vladimer Boisa. The sports winner, however didn’t come to get the award herself, as the unveiling of her statue was taking place in her native Jamaica at the same time.

Cristoph Steidel Porenta, a gentleman who is very successful in his small business (the Zlato Runo jewellery shop in Ljubljana) received enough votes to make it The Slovenia Times

among the finalists in the Economy category. Porenta did not wish to compete in this category alongside managers of large companies as he did not consider himself to be a business man but an artist. The organisation committee respected his decision and granted him a special award. The organisers promised to establish a new category next year: the award for the category of Arts and Culture.

The event saw various eminent guests, including former Economy Minister, Andrej Vizjak.

The fourth star The next Guest Star 2005 brought a new category, bringing the total to four, a new location, new and more nominees than preavious year. The choice of candidates was not only larger, but also richer in variety. Despite the so-called “westernization”, all the winners came from the places east of Slovenia. The brand new Vitranc Hall in Kranjska Gora hosted an event that surpassed its previous edition in various ways. Many nominees and invitees from first ceremony decided to attend the event once again and enjoy a splendid evening

and pleasant atmosphere, to which Perpetuum Jazzile, Mojca Horvat’s dance group and Austrian harpist, Monica Stadler added the charm.

The opening started with a speech

by Brane Krajnik, The Slovenia Times CEO and Austrian ambassador Vladimir Inzko, and was successfully led by hosts Mojca Mavec and Michael Manske.

The award in Culture went to Huiquin Wang, a Chinese painter who impressed many with her fine art creations. Sports were the only category where the winner was unfortunately absent: Edouard Kokcharov couldn’t be missed by the Russian national handball team, preparing for the European championship.

The category of business seemed to have seen the fiercest battle among the candidates, but Andreas Maierhofer from Si.mobil was the victor. Diplomacy award was won by Balkan Kizildeli, the former Turkish ambassador, who came to Slovenia with the first flight on Turkish Airlines: a flight that was a fruit of his endeavours.

After the award ceremony ended, the social gathering began with a post-event dinner, where diplo-

mats, business people and other guests enjoyed fine food and one another’s company.

During the dinner, Mitja Meršol, a legend in Slovenian journalism, invited the guests to an auction of three pictures: by the winner Huiqin Wang, the Japanese artist Sangawa Noriaki and Terry Milk, the president of the Slovenian International Ladies Association SILA. Two of the three paintings were sold and EUR 438 were raised for the new paediatric clinic in Slovenia at the event, bringing a total of EUR 996 together with money raised with the greetings cards published in New Year’s edition of The Slovenia Times.

Surprisingly, the only work of art that was not sold, “The Intangible Woman” by the Guest Star winner in Culture, Huiqin Wang, remained on auction through bids by email.

The money from its sale was also transferred to charity purposes.

Music, Fashion and Fun Nova Gorica’s Hit Perla Conference Center was the host of Guest Star 2006.

If 2005 was dominated by the Eastern stars, 2006 was taken over

GUEST STAR 39

by Francophones. In the category of Culture, the winner was Michel Obenga from Gabon, the Director of French Language Institute in Ljubljana. The Diplomacy winner was Jean-Louis Mignot, former Belgian Ambassador to Slovenia, who was one of the most active ambassadors also on the cultural field as well. The Economy award went Andreas Meirehofer for the second time as well as Sports category to then already-Slovenian citizen Marlene Ottey. The special guest of the event was the Slovenian skier and businessman Jure Košir, who invited all the guests to attend his annual Ski Legends Hit Challenge project. Hit’s classy musical accompaniment of Big Band Nova and jazz singer Kristina Oberžan made the evening an unforgettable musical experience.

Back to Ljubljana Guest Star 2007 at the glorious, 450-year old Fužinski grad (Fužine Castle) was undisputedly the most solemn of all. The red carpet, the champagne, strawberries and delicacies satisfied the refined tastes of all the invitees.

The evening started with a warm

welcome by Ljubljana’s Mayor Zoran Jankovič and the showing of an elegant tribute video to previous winners. The year’s winners were: Russian Ambassador Mihail Valentinovič in Diplomacy, managing director of Harvey Norman Blaine Callard in Economy, Australian musician Kate Hosking in Culture and volleyball player Delano Vanneto Thomas in Sports.

Although all are from different fields of work and backgrounds, all the awardees were excited to receive such an honour.

The four successful years of the Guest Star campaign testify to its importance and significance on the Slovenian diplomatic, economic, sport and cultural scenes. The efforts of the organisers are increasingly validated each year. In relatively young Slovenia, a campaign of this kind has proven to be extremely valuable for establishing further successful international relations and open-minded cooperation between people of different cultural backgrounds. Above all, building a multi-cultural and cohesive society is one of the priorities and the Guest Star campaign will continue to hold its meetings and continue to draw attention to the people who are making a positive contribution to Slovenia and its society.

Guest Stars Today: Christine Okresek is still successfully leading the Austrian Institute in Slovenia, promoting German as a foreign language.

Balkan Kizildeli, a former Turkish Ambassador to Slovenia retired immediately after receiving Guest Star Award in 2005. He remained in Slovenia, living in an idyllic village near Kranj.

Jean-Louis Mignot, a former Belgian Ambassador to Slovenia also retired from his work but, in contrast to his Turkish counterpart, returned home to Belgium. He remains active on different fields, particularly culture.

Mikhail Valentinovič Vanin is still maintaining good relationships between Russia and Slovenia as the Russian Ambassador in Ljubljana.

Richard Allen Johnson, a former director of Sava Tires and President of American Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia retired and now lives at his home in England.

Andreas Maierhofer, continues his career at the Austrian Mobilkom group, as a board member for market in Bulgarian Mobiltel. He still successfully cooperates with his former employer Si.mobil as a member of the board of directors.

Blaine Callard remains a managing director of Harvey Norman. He is in the middle of new projects, as Harvey Norman decided to expand and will open new superstores in several places around Slovenia.

Marlene Ottey is still active in track and field. She is currently on her way to Florida, where she keeps herself in form every year in February, for three weeks. After she will return to Slovenia.

Eduard Koukcharov remains an important team member of the Pivovarna Laško handball team, where he is currently training for the national championship and the Championship League.

Delano Vanneto Thomas, is still a member of ACH Volley and in the middle of preparations and training, as the team just entered the second round of Championship League.

Christoph Meidel Porenta, the “golden” artist, is working on new projects that have to remain secret. His atelie Zlato runo (Golden Fleece) in the Ljubljana city centre remains an active and tranquil place.

Huiquin Wang, a very successful Chinese artist continues to create pictures. She participates in workshops for children, promotes the Chinese language and culture; she occasionally translates from Chinese to Slovene and focuses on the art of calligraphy.

Michel Obenga, has successfully finished the managing of works during the French Presidency to the EU. The French Institute in Ljubljana under his leadership is in full bloom and he says that he has to find balance between his work and time for family and friends.

Kate Hosking, an Australian musician of many talents, unexpectedly decided to quit Slovenia this year and return home. Before the Christmas holidays, she went back home just to visit; after a month at home, she decided to stay there.

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The most recent Guest Stars at Fužine Castle award ceremony

years ÈOLNIÈEK SADNO ÈOKOLADNIH UŽITKOV

Our company, Vivo Catering, has participated Sestavine: TESTO: 45 dag moke, 5 dag mletih orehov, 25 dkg margarine, 2 žlici sladkorja, 1 rumenjak, pecilni prašek, 2 dcl kisle smetane at Conventa Meetings ÈOKOLADNA KREMA: 50 dag jedilne èokolade 0,5 l smetane za stepanje, and Incentive Travel 15 dag sladkorja v prahu 10 dag orehov, 0,5 dcl ruma show for the region of Priprava: Moki dodamo mlete orehe, pecilni prašek v sredino naredimo Europe, held jamico , dodamo na košèke natrgano margarino sladkor , rumenjak in Southeast kislo smetano. Vmesimo srednje mehko testo , ki mora malo poèivati v hladilniku. in Ljublana. We served Nato testo razvaljamo na nekaj milimetrov debelo in testo previdno položimo dishes from various v pomašèen pekaè. ( oz. razliène oblike malih modelèkov – ladice). Speèemo countries, v segreti peèici na 175 c, da je testo zlato rjavo zapeèeno. Pustimo da European se trying ohladi. Èokolado nalomimo v skledo in jo postavimo na lonec v katerem vre to connect the voda, èokolado mešamo, da se raztopi. Poèakamo, da se èokolada malo Mediterranean, the ohladi. Dodamo ji na sladkorju popražene grobo mlete orehe, sladkor in rum.

Balkans, Scandinavia Nato rahlo stepemo smetano in jo umešamo v èokolado. S kremo napolnimo and Slovenia. Another èolnièke in postavimo v hladilnik, da se èokoladna krema strdi. Na koncu dekoriramo z svežim ali vloženim narezanim sadjem. Po želji lahko delight in our offer for this èokoladne sadne èolnièke postrežemo tudi s stepeno sladko smetano. occasion was a black and white themed banquet at Gospodarsko razstavišče, which hosted the event.

Accompanied by music and a painting exhibition, we managed to present the best Slovene and EU dishes.

MESNI CMOÈKI V LEŠNIKOVI PANADI

Fried crispies

Sestavine: 20 dag mlete govedine, 20 dag mlete svinjine, 2

žlici olivnega30 olja, 6 dag èebule, 2 stroka èesna, 6 dag riža, 2yolks, Ingredients: dag flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 egg jajci, drobtine, 1 dclsugar, juhe, sol,6poper, majaron, peteršilj 1 tablespoon icing tablespoons white wine, 1 TESTO: 2 jajci, sol, 2 dcl piva, 8 dag moke, 4 dag mletih tablespoon lešnikov rum, 1 tablespoon sour cream, caster sugar, oil for deep-frying Priprava: Na oljènem olju prepražimo drobno sesekljano èebulo. Ko èebula malo ovene, dodamo strta stroka èesna in

nato opran riž. Prilijemo juho, premešamo in pustimo, da se Procedure duši toliko èasa, da je riž na polovico Takekuhan. a large bowl, and stir together Mletemu mesu dodamo ohlajen dušen riž, zaèinimo, še jajci in dodamo drobtin, da lahko salt,primešamo egg yolks, icing sugar,toliko wine, rumoblikujemo and sourkroglice. cream until they blend.

Za testo razžvrkljamo jajca, dodamo sol in pivo.

Knead well primešamo and let rest for half an Na koncu še moko in mlete hour.

Roll out thepomakamo dough asv pivsko thin as lešnike.

Kroglice testo in jihdough. ocvremo.Cut Zraven noodle intolahko rectangles janeževo majonezo. and ponudimo make 3-4 slits into them. One corner should be pulled up and the other corner down. Drop into hot oil.

Sprinkle with caster sugar while still hot.

40 SPORTS

Basketball

Zdovc Sacks Milič In a shock move, Slovenian basketball champions Union Olimpija and veteran forward Marko Milič prematurely terminated his contract, which originally ran through the 2009/2010 season. The 31-year-old fan favourite and team captain pledged at the beginning of 2008 to stay on for another two years, but head coach Jure Zdovc, who took over in early December, did not see him as a long-term solution. “We don’t share the same philosophy,” Zdovc was quoted as saying. “I have no hard feelings towards anybody, but it hurts how it happened,” was Milič’s reply.

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ccording to Zdovc, Olimpija is rebuilding the team and Milič was not a part of his vision of Olimpija becoming a serious competitor in the Euroleague, the most competitive basketball association in Europe. Slovenia’s sole representative in the Euroleague recently wrapped up its worst ever performance in the competition as it managed to squeeze out only two victories from ten games. Olimpija is also struggling in the regional NLB league.

The news came as a shock to fans as well as Milič himself. At an emotional press conference, he said that he had no plans at the moment, but he would very likely not play for another Slovenian team again.

“I would like to thank my teammates for choosing me the captain, which – together with being the captain of the national team – was the greatest honour in my

By Simon Demšar career. I would also like to thank the fans because they were also an inspiration for my best performances. And thanks to the media who were vey supportive in difficult times when the team was on the brink of bankruptcy,” said Milič.

But this is where the sweet words ended. He refused to be drawn into argument with Zdovc, while admitting that, except for a few everyday phrases, they hadn’t spoken for three weeks prior to the decision, stating, “I thought that he had been giving me time to recover after the injury but I was not given a significant role, neither in practises nor in matches. I am aware that the young guns are waiting in the wings but after a couple of harsh statements I went to see him and his position. Regarding the philosophy, we didn’t even talk about it so he does not know my position,” Milič said.

According to him, he was willing to share time on the court with the younger players, functioning as a mentor to them.

Milič saw the biggest problem in how the situation was handled.

He had organized his life around Olimpija.

“The kids have started going to school and my wife launched her

What experts say Dušan Hauptman, former Olimpija player: “The coach has the first and the final word. I have known Zdovc for a long time and I know that he is not a negative person. He must have taken the decision after serious reflection.

Zmago Sagadin, former Olimpija coach: “It is not good neither for Olimpija nor Milič. I believed that Milič was going to be what Zdovc was to me – his voice on the court. A new concept is obviously being built and I sincerely hope that Jure Zdovc is the right man.”

Mik Pavlovič, basketball expert: “It was a logical thing to those who followed the situation more closely. What I am more concerned about is the (dis)organization of the club because nobody knows what’s going on. Regarding Zdovc, I am not sure whether he is the man to reorganize the club.”

Franci Pavšer, Jr., radio commentator: “Milič was an icon of Olimpija and Zdovc is risking a lot because the team will likely lose some of its attractiveness. The move strengthened Zdovc’s position within the team, showing that he will spare no one.”

Fans: In a recent poll, over 60% of fans disagreed with Zdovc’s decision while around a third supported it.

own career with a beauty salon.

I have settled down here, but the fact is that nothing is steady for a basketball player or coach. After 15 years abroad and adapting to me, it is probably time for me to adapt to the family. My wife was shocked by the news while the daughters were happy, because they prefer that I play against them. It is possible that an offer should come up in a week or a month, but I might also not play competitive basketball again.”

He also revealed that former ski star, Jure Košir, who had suffered similar fate after being dropped from the Olympic team, gave him a call of support. Milič also drew attention to the cases of Deja Doler (former Krim handball captain) and ice-hockey player Dejan Kontrec, who was not even given a call after breaking two vertebrae.

“Such things should not happen. I am aware that I might be getting bald and slower, but one would expect a little respect.”

Milič in Brief Marko Milič, a native of Kranj, first made headlines after the slam-dunk over a Honda car at the age of 17. The move, shown on CNN, together with an undisputed talent, earned him a place in the NBA league with Philadelphia and later Phoenix between 1997 and 1999. Without achieving major success, he returned to Europe where he first played for Fenerbahce (Turkey) before moving to Real Madrid, where he enjoyed his glory days. He spent his recent years in Italy, playing for Fortitudo, Virtus, Roseto and Scavolini. In the meantime, he had several stints with Olimpija but, mainly due to financial difficulties, none of them lasted more than one season. Interestingly, as a national team member, he played a few matches together with Zdovc.

A party for business partners of BTC in Atlantis water park: Damjan Kralj, general manager of BTC Ljubljana branch and the host Jasna Kuljaj address the guests.

Savitra recital: A prominent young pianist Ana Šinkovec receiving applause from a sold out hall of the Slovenian Philharmonic.

Prelo in Adlešiči: Reviving the old tradition of flax spinning. (Photo: Kolpa park)

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45th anniversary of Ljubljana Airport: Transport minister Patrick Vlačič, Aerodrom Ljubljana CEO Zmago Skobir and Austrian Ambassador Valentin Inzko. (photo: Aerodrom Ljubljana)

Humanitarian campaign “Donate a Smile”: Bosnian children on rehabilitation vacation in Kranjska Gora.

Snowboarder Jure Hafner competing in Korea (photo: FIS)

Croatian rock group Let3 shooting corks off their bottoms at the presentation of their concert DVD in Ljubljana. (Photo: The Slovenia Times)

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