The Slovenia Times Spring 2013

The Slovenia Times Slovenian Magazine in English Language Winter Edition 2013, Spring 2012 Volume 10, EUR 4.90

European Union

Slovenia Opens the Door for Croatia to Join the EU Alpine Skiing

Super Tina Rockin’ The Slopes

Interview: Goran Klemenčič, Commission for the Prevention of Corruption

Photo: Shutterstock

Dear readers In March 2013, The Slovenia Times celebrated its 10th anniversary and it’s time to refresh and upgrade our media mix.

We have reorganised and reshaped our web page www.sloveniatimes.com which is your best source for credible daily information about Slovenia and the region.

You are now reading the „New“ The Slovenia Times Magazine with a New design, New format, This quarterly magazine will bring you More In-depth analyses, More interviews, More behind-the-scene stories, More information about Slovenia and the region.

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Editorial

Enough Pessimism!

Spring Edition 2013 www.sloveniatimes.com Published quarterly by

Slovenia is entering a crucial summer this year. With the first female prime minister, civil unrest, the bad bank and excessive pessimism. We have a new government, new faces.... but what we really need is to find our self-confidence!!!

Domus, založba in trgovina d.o.o.

Dunajska cesta 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Editorial office Dunajska cesta 5, 1000 Ljubljana phone – desk: +386 (0)1 520 50 84 fax: +386 (0)1 520 50 82

CEO and publisher

By Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc.

Brane Krajnik

Editor-in-chief

Instead of self-pity we should try something different. Recently the Washington Post published an article about Slovenia and speculated about the difficult situation in our public finances. Is this the same newspaper which in 1991 published the news that Slovenia would have big problems getting independence? Yes and the credibility of their journalism is more than obvious.

Maybe they should write about the quality of the health and social systems in the USA and then they could discover who really needs a bailout. We still haven´t heard from them about the Guantanamo bailout plan, maybe this theme is outside the US “freedom of speech” system. Obviously Slovenia is a topic because maybe somebody would like to profit from our next bond issue. The economy rules!

Nevertheless we are here in Slovenia. We have our problems, we have people on the streets (not on Saturdays, because they’re shopping) and we are stuck with politicians who are more or less guilty for the whole mess. There are some signs that they have discovered what the problem is. At the end of the day we must

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say that our situation is far from bad - in comparison with other EU countries our public finances are in a solid position, we can sell something if necessary, our health system is working as is our pension system, our roads are okay, beer prices are stable, the tourism sector is growing and on top of that we have world champions Tina Maze, Anže Kopitar and our hockey team qualified for the Olympics in Sochi.

So, instead of general pessimism we must enter the spring and summer of 2013 with optimism. I would like to hear from our new PM a realistic plan, for example five steps for 2013 solving banks, stabilising public finances, maybe something around the South Stream project and connected projects. I would like to hear our PM in Brussels saying a few real things about Slovenia, about our economy, our plans and not just talking about the problems.

Back to reality. At the Slovenia Times we are celebrating our tenth anniversary and we are entering a new phase of media. We have upgraded our web page which is a credible daily source of information from the region. You are reading the upgraded and redesigned The Slovenia Times magazine with more background stories and in-depth analysis. We want to be active, timely and bring you the stories behind the stories. 

Tilen Majnardi, tilen@solutia.si

Art director Marko Pentek, www.mgo.si

Marketing/Advertising +386 (0)1 520 50 84 marketing@sloveniatimes.com

Translations Alkemist d.o.o.

Printed by SINET, Cesta 1. maja 83, Hrastnik Circulation: 10.000 copies

Photo on front page by Source: www.slovenia.info Author: Tomo Jeseničnik The Slovenia Times is listed in the Media Register of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia under number 491.

All content - texts or pictures - with no author specified are exclusively created by contributors to The Slovenia Times or published in accordance with owner’s instruction.

All uncredited materials printed in the Slovenia Times are either created by the Slovenia Times journalists/photographers or acquired from the author/owner in accordance with the legal terms. ©DOMUS d.o.o., 2003. All rights reserved.

Business Partners

Contents SPRING SEMAPHORE 4 Restoring Credibility and Avoiding a Bailout 5 Preparing for Eurobasket 2013 5 Will Civil Uprising Produce an Alternative Political Force?

ECONOMY 6 IMF Report: How to escape the “downward spiral” 8 Interview: Peter Kraljič Ph D, Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Co. Inc & The Heir Apparent of »Project Government« Prime Minister

10 Interview: Matej Potokar, President of the American Chamber of

Commerce in Slovenia (AmCham) & General Manager, Microsoft Services, Central & Eastern Europe

12 The new Office has arrived 13 Professional Conference Organiser’s view of South East Europe: One on One with Michael Foreman

POLITICS 18 New Government: Positive Change or More Rhetoric?

20 Interview: Goran Klemenčič, Chief Commissioner, Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC)

EUROPEAN UNION 24 Slovenia Opens the Door for Croatia to Join the EU

EXPERIENCE&LIFESTYLE SLOVENIA

26 The legacy of Herman Potočnik Noordung 29 Only the Best is Good Enough 32 More Than a Pilot 34 Hemp industry boom?

36 All inclusive system for a healthy lifestyle 38 Pleasant Experiences in Ljubljana’s City Centre

SPORTS 40 Ice-hockey Sensation: Good Things Happen to Good People 42 Alpine Skiing: Super Tina Rockin’ The Slopes

EVENTS 44 The two different faces of rock guitar mastery: Joe Satriani and Mark Knopfler

45 The Phenomenon of Rammstein and Laibach 46 Event Guide Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA; Source: UKOM

Spring Semaphore

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Fighting the crisis

Restoring Credibility and Avoiding a Bailout The first task of the government in the weeks and months ahead will be to calm down speculation that Slovenia will be the next EU country to need a bailout package. Speculation about problems in Slovenia emerged again after the Cyprus crisis. The result of that speculation is that the 10 year bond yield on Slovenian bonds briefly jumped above 6%.

Nevertheless, we must be very clear that Slovenia is far away from Cyprus and a lot of speculation about problems in Slovenia is not connected to the economic situation but more to the political instability and unclear steps of the new government. If the new government will be transparent and bold enough in their plans this issue can be resolved very quickly.

Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek has already repeatedly rejected the comparisons to Cyprus as “unnecessary and inappropriate”. Slovenia can resolve our problems, including fiscal issues, itself. But the lesson for Slovenia is obvious: if we do not succeed in convincing financial markets by mid-May to lend the money to refinance debt, we will need to get ready for concessions from the troika. So, if Slovenia does not take key measures in the next two months, in particular finish setting up the Bad Bank, the probability of having to ask for a bailout increases.

According to the new PM, by the beginning of April all ministers of the new government

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will prepare detailed overviews of the situation in their particular ministry and after that the government will set up a list of crucial measures for further stabilisation of public finances.

A slight raise in VAT is very likely if estimated budget tax revenues will prove unrealistic.

Apart from that, a clear plan for stabilisation of the banking sector is expected very soon. This must only be to continue with the Bad Bank project or immediately establish an alternative solution by way of recapitalisation of the biggest state owned banks, Nova Ljubljanska banka, Nova Kreditna banka Maribor and Abanka.

In any case the new government has no “training” period available. 

01 Alenka Bratušek, Prime Minister

Process Color CMYK PRIMARY REFERENCE

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Spring Semaphore Photo: Yerpo

Event of the Year

Preparing for Eurobasket 2013 From 4 - 22 September, Slovenia will host the European Championship in basketball. The event represents a unique opportunity for the promotion of Slovenia. In the months ahead all of Slovenia and Europe will focus on the preparations for the event, especially ticket sales and venue preparations.

Tickets for the championships have been available in Slovenia since 18 March. The tickets are available on www.eventim.si and at sales points of ticket distribution company, Eventim. Individuals can buy up to four tickets per game, multi-game ticket packages are not available. Those left without tickets will be able to watch the games, broadcast live, in supporter zones in front of the arenas hosting the matches. Ticket sales for the group stage, being held from 4 - 9 September, are expected to be launched in the second half of April.

An important part of the preparations for the event is the upgrading and renovation of the infrastructure. While in Ljubljana and Celje the infrastructure is at the highest level, organisers in the coastal town of Koper and the alpine town of Jesenice are pushing hard to finish all the renovation work in time. The Economic Development and Technology Ministry has earmarked EU funding for the renovation of the sports halls in Koper and Jesenice, which will host the first round games. Almost half of the estimated EUR 10.8m cost for renovation, EUR 4.2m, will come from the European Regional Development Fund, the Ministry advised. The capacity of Jesenice’s Podmežakla hall will be upgraded from 4,500 spectators to 5,500, while Koper’s Bonifika will receive interior and exterior touch-ups as well as upgrades to the facilities and energy systems. 

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New faces in Slovenian Politics

Will Civil Uprising Produce an Alternative Political Force?

Winter in Slovenia was marked by record snowfall, the coldest March in the last 50 years and widespread civil unrest which first led to the resignation of the Maribor mayor and later, indirectly through reports of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, also a change in the government. The big question for the next few months is if the civil society who organised the protests have the energy and intellectual potential to form a real alternative to the current political establishment.

The biggest rally was held on 8 February when an overwhelming 20,000 people took to the streets. The first rally on 21 December saw some 5,000 participants; the second on 11 January about 8,000 and the last on 8 March around 5000 according to police estimates.

For now, the leaders of the protests are somehow unclear. Protesters voiced general disappointment with capitalism, the theft of state property and inequality in front of the law.

Some urged the protest movement to turn into a political entity and to do away with the present political parties at the next elections. Protesters stressed they were neither “left nor right but for a change united in the fight against corruption, greed and violence”. “We will not

allow various parties, the church or the capital to manipulate us. We can think with our own heads.” they said. Some called for a thorough overhaul of the system in Slovenia. “Early elections, a new government, a bad bank, these don’t matter if we stay in the current system which is structured to contain cyclical crises which must abuse workers for the benefit of the capital in order to maintain itself. What we want is a change of the system”.

So we wait to see if such a concept will get a face and credible programme. 

01 The crowd at the protest on Congress square, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy IMF Report

How to escape the “downward spiral” In late March, the IMF published their Staff Visit Conclusion Statement which very clearly revealed the current situation in Slovenia and could be a very efficient “plan” for the new government. It is very clear that “foreign experts” know and propose the same recipes as discussed in Slovenia´s economic circles and politics. There is just one big difference: the IMF is urging Slovenia to implement the already defined measures that Slovenian leaders were, until recently, just talking about. Nevertheless, some important steps in structural reform were made last year but Slovenia urgently needs quick action to prevent a total crash of the banking sector which could trigger new disasters in an already weak economy.

By IMF/Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc. A negative loop between financial distress, fiscal consolidation and weak corporate balance sheets is prolonging the recession. Real GDP declined by 2.3% in 2012 as domestic demand shrank severely. The mission expects the economy to contract further by about 2% in 2013 and projects that growth will turn positive in 2014, but this is predicated upon implementation of reforms and continued market access as well as a recovery in the eurozone. Against this background, the risks are mainly on the downside. Prompt policy actions are necessary to break the negative loop, to restore confidence and to address structural weaknesses. In recent months, Slovenia has implemented important labour market and pension system reforms. The Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) and the sovereign state holding company have been created. Building on this framework, the new government should promptly address bank restructuring, the corporate sector debt overhang and governance, and involvement of the state in the economy. A coherent and credible plan to address these issues is essential to restore confidence and access markets.

Urgent Measures in the Financial and Corporate Sector Banks are in severe distress. The share of nonperforming claims in total classified claims increased from 11.2% at the end of 2011 to 14.4% in 2012. The three largest banks saw their ratio increase from 15.6% to 20.5% in the same period with about 33% of non-performing corporate loans. In the meantime these banks repaid the bulk of their debt with foreign private creditors, while increasing their reliance on the ECB. Slovenia has made progress in setting up the BAMC, which is an effective way to clean up the balance sheet of troubled banks, while at the same time help restructure the highly in-

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debted corporate sector. This process should be carried out with the utmost transparency, avoiding any moral hazard arising from the close relationship between banks, corporates, and the public sector. For this reason, the mission sees favourably the appointment of international technical experts as non-executive members of the board of the BAMC. Banks need to be substantially recapitalised. Despite previous recapitalisation, the deteriorating loan portfolio continues to erode bank capital.

The transfer of assets to the BAMC is not a substitute for the need to increase capital (in cash) and actually could trigger upfront recapitalisation. The recapitalisation needs for the three largest banks is estimated at around EUR 1bn in 2013, also identified by the supervisor. Deteriorating economic conditions could increase the need for capital in future years.

Corporate sector balance sheets are under significant stress. The debt to equity ratio is amongst the highest in Europe. Cross ownership between large industrial groups, financial holding companies and banks, and lengthy bankruptcy procedures exacerbate the underlying problem of debt overhang.

Addressing corporate debt overhang is key to alleviate the financial sector distress and ultimately spur growth. The restructuring process will benefit from an enhanced bankruptcy regime and out-of-court settlement arrangements, areas where the IMF could provide technical assistance. For companies under severe financial distress, the BAMC has tools to convert corporate debt into equity. For other companies, the mission welcomes the initiatives undertaken by the Bank of Slovenia to facilitate debt restructuring. Viable publiclyowned undercapitalised companies should be recapitalised by the state or attract private capital. However, the mission cautions the authorities against taking action on debt restructuring or recapitalisation that could lead to an in-

effective use of public funds. Finally, Slovenia has to address corporate governance weaknesses. A Report of Standards and Codes on Corporate Governance by the World Bank and the OECD could help in that respect.

Slovenia needs to open up to foreign direct investment. The misconceived defence of “national interests”, including the reluctance to sell assets to foreigners, burdens the budget

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Economy

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State owned banks will be at the centre of government action in 2013 02-05 In spite of the fact that existing foreign companies are doing very well, Slovenian politicians are still talking about the irrational “national interest”

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and unduly prolongs corporate and financial sector distress. A prominent privatisation could convey a powerful signal to international investors.

Need For Further Fiscal Stabilisation The frontloaded, expenditure-based, fiscal consolidation strategy remains broadly on track in 2013. The reduction in public sector wages and in transfers to households is projected to translate into sizeable expenditure savings in 2013, while the bulk of the impact of the pension reform will be felt over the medium term. However, the deepening of the recession, and in particular the decline in domestic demand, is projected to significantly reduce revenues, raise

the deficit (excluding bank recapitalisation costs) to about EUR1.5bn in 2013.

Given the severity of the economic downturn, allowing full operation of automatic stabilisers is appropriate and hence corrective measures are not warranted. Fiscal consolidation should continue over the medium term at its current pace of about 1% per year in structural terms, in order to gradually bring the budget close to balance and keep the public debt dynamics under control. The structure of public expenditure should be improved, especially in the area of social spending, as reliance on one-off measures like wage cuts is not desirable and is probably not sustainable.

Financing needs are large for 2013. Financing requirements will be particularly pronounced in the summer, with bank recapitalisation needed soon and a large 18-month T-bill maturing in June. In all, financing needs for the remainder of the year (excluding bonds to be issued by the BAMC) could reach some EUR 3bn and possibly more, depending on bank recapitalisation needs. A large part of this financing need should be met via external borrowing, given the banks’ inability to absorb large amounts of government paper, but also to improve the maturity structure of government debt and reduce rollover risk. This highlights the importance of safeguarding market access in the near term.

Important Progress in structural reforms Recent labour market and pension reforms are steps in the right direction. Labour market reform somewhat reduces the rigidity of perma-

Slovenia has made progress in setting up the BAMC, which is an effective way to clean up the balance sheet of troubled banks, while at the same time help restructure the highly indebted corporate sector.

This process should be carried out with the utmost transparency, avoiding any moral hazard arising from the close relationship between banks, corporates, and the public sector. nent labour contracts and simplifies administrative procedures. With this reform, Slovenia’s Employment Protection Index, as measured by the OECD, will reach the OECD average. In parallel, the rules on fixed-term contracts were tightened to limit the segmentation of the labour market and encourage the use of permanent contracts. An important area not touched on by the current reform is the student work program. For entry level positions companies prefer to hire student workers, which leads to increased unemployment among young graduates and extended study periods. Pension reform raises the effective retirement age, which along with other parametric and regulatory changes, will lead to a stabilisation of pension expenditure as a share of GDP by 2020, but further reform will be necessary in a few years.

Both reforms are positive steps that are gradual rather than radical. Moreover, the changes have been thoroughly negotiated with social partners and were passed with near-unanimous support in the parliament, creating a stable and strong basis for further efforts.  Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy Interview: Peter Kraljič Ph D, Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Co. Inc & The Heir Apparent of »Project Government« Prime Minister

We Need Coherent Vision of our Future

After 4 years of crisis Slovenia is now at a crossroads: either we continue to muddle through or take all the necessary actions and reforms based upon a coherent vision of our future.

By Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc.

01

Q First, you were mentioned several times in Slovenian media as a candidate for the new PM, was this serious or just media speculation, were you prepared to take over in this ‘hot’ and unstable political situation?

A The truth is that I was approached with this question but not in any formal way. While you should ‘never say never’, such a commitment requires very clear support by the majority, if not by all, political parties and a freedom of choice for the government team. Given the existing moral and political crisis and the attitudes of some of our top leaders, I do not see such an ‘outsider’ solution as realistic. We do, however, need a new prime minister, not blemished by affairs and court procedures. I hope that the chosen democratic way will succeed.

Q It seems that generally, on paper, we know what to do; we talk a lot about solutions for our problems. Why we don´t realise projects in practice? What are the necessary steps to go from ‘talking to walking’?

A To move from ‘talking to walking’ calls for both a longer term vision, how the country should develop as well as for courage to exe-

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cute all the necessary – and obviously not popular – structural reforms and specific actions. In short, it calls for a statesman as prime minister, comparable to Chancellor Schröder and his agenda for Germany, developed in 2002. Alas, Slovenia is lacking such a statesman, as the priority of most of our top politicians is sticking to power, rather than act for the benefit of the country. The present moral and political crisis is a direct result of such behaviour.

Q In Slovenia many influential people, economists, politicians... think that the government in 2012 was too ‘savings’ oriented. As an initial step, do you think was any other option than to stop excessive public spending? After all, we still have around budget deficit around 4%, people obviously think this is a normal situation, how can we change that?

A The government acted correctly in 2012 to start with savings and first structural reforms.

However, it also neglected the growth side of the equation, as given the amount of our deficit it was clear that proposed savings – which by the way were less drastic than in most other countries – would not be sufficient.

The growth, however, calls for competitiveness which for a long time was not on the radar of our governments. Our competitiveness dropped to rank 52 in the world, far beyond some other Central and Eastern European states. Therefore a major effort is now needed to improve our competitiveness – both at the state and corporate level. However the present political manoeuvres don’t gives us much hope that the situation will improve soon. In fact, Brussels expects a 5% deficit and 2% negative growth for Slovenia in 2013 which implies that our crisis continues.

Last but not least, peoples thinking and understanding of the budget deficit and economic situation can only be changed by clear and consistent communication by the government and by constructive discussion with the opposition and population at large. Calling the opponents ‘zombies’ or ‘left fascists’ is not constructive and also damaging for the image of our country abroad. Here, we definitely need a more polite and consensual approach.

By the way, I have been asked in France who identified the ‘left fascists’ in Slovenia and my only explanation was: it takes one, to recognise one.

Economy Q Where do you see the biggest reserves in public sector? Unions usually say that there is no reserve, that the current ‘rights’ and budgets must be preserved? How can we transform the public sector into an effective service for the economy?

A Where the biggest reserves are in the public sector I cannot say as I don’t know the real numbers and budgets. It is up to the government to bring transparency to this question, also using some international comparisons and best practices which exist. However, everyone, including the unions, must understand that further changes and cuts are needed.

Q Banks are definitely our biggest short term problem. What do you think about the ‘bad bank’ solution? Do you see credible alternatives?

A Yes, our state owned banks are a real problem and a direct result of the wrong decisions of our past governments, for example regarding NLB. Now a bad bank is one possible solution, which the Janša government seemed to prefer. Is it the best one? For me this is difficult to judge, particularly as there still seems to be a lack of transparency - what is the real amount of the bad debt and who and how will it be tackled? However, I do hope that Janša’s government took the right decision; if not, this could become really costly and cumbersome, also in the context of the creation of the state holding which would, to my understanding, include the banks which must be sanitised beforehand as otherwise the holding might fail.

Q Recently you said that the government should have a maximum six, maybe seven, ministers. Is that realistic and how would you do it?

A Yes, I have proposed a lean government of a maximum six ministers a long time ago, to the then premier, Mr Rop. If you define the key resorts and have the freedom to put the best people in the country to run those ministries, it can succeed. For example, we need a strong ministry for competitiveness and growth, to include many departments and decisions which are today split across five or six other ministries, standing on each other’s feet.

By the way, given the exodus of his coalition partners, Premier Janša would nolens-volens have to deal with just seven or eight ministers very soon. At least one benefit of our political crisis.

Q In Slovenia and Europe there is a lot of talk about growth but nobody is sure what this new growth should and could be. Global conditions are changing rapidly; we cannot use the same recipe as 20 years ago! Where do you see the ‘new growth’ in Slovenia?

A True, growth is now a big topic, particularly within the European Union and Eurozone states. However, even here we have to differen-

tiate. On one side we have the countries which still have some –even if modest – growth, because they have done their homework and improved their competitiveness: Scandinavian countries, Germany, Austria and also Switzerland, are some examples. On the other side we have the ‘Club Med’ countries of Southern Europe, including now unfortunately also Slovenia, which are in recession, with negative growth between 1% (Italy) and 4% (Greece) with Slovenia stagnating at -2%. Our position is deteriorating as we did not have the wisdom and the will to adapt our economy in time. After succeeding to meet the criteria for the EU and euro entry, we came to a ‘mental standstill’ and did not prepare for the next platform of competitiveness and growth, fostering education, innovation, entrepreneurship and penetration of new growth markets, with the potential exception of Russia. We were surfing on the wave of EU growth before the crisis, instead of executing the necessary structural reforms in time.

Now, we have to face the new reality of a crisis situation and ‘business as unusual’. Can we do it and where is the ‘new growth’ for Slovenia? I am still an optimist, if our governments and politicians understand to resolve the existing quagmire, particularly the credit crunch and labour market rigidity. We should support our innovative and export-oriented small and midsize enterprises (SME’s) and revitalise the concept of our clusters, as proposed by Mrs Petrin years ago. Why did only the automotive cluster survive while the others went dormant?

Just look across the border, to Austria or Italy, where clusters play an important role in regional growth and job creation. We should focus upon market niches in growth markets, but also upon services – e.g. logistics or tourism, and attract new greenfield investments.

ent and pursuing the same objectives with different approaches. Just compare Russia and China, both starting from a communist heritage. Which one do you prefer in terms of economy, society and sustainability?

In Europe, an interesting approach is that of Germany, which is now adding to its economic growth model elements of sustainability.

If we apply this model to Slovenia, we can better understand in which areas we are falling behind (Exhibit A). However, this could also provide us with ideas, where to focus and improve our overall performance and progress.

Because, I repeat, I firmly believe that given the right leadership we have the potential to bring Slovenia back on to a positive growth track again. To achieve this we need, however, a coherent vision of our future – let’s say ‘Agenda Slovenia 2020’ – coupled with both targeted structural reforms – e.g. labour market, financial market – as well as with specific actions in the areas of education, innovation, productivity, growth and job creation. All this needs a broad consensus and constructive involvement of all stakeholders.

This ‘mental turnaround’ and moving from ‘talking to walking’ is therefore now the primary task of our politicians, employers and trade unions. So let us hope that our new government will be up to this task.  01-02 Peter Kraljič Ph D, Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Co. Inc & The Heir Apparent of »Project Government« Prime Minister

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Q Do you think that one of the problems is the current definition of growth which is more or less connected to GDP growth? Can we make a new definition of growth which can bring more sustainable development at the global level? We cannot just produce more and more stuff that we don´t need, the current economic system has obvious limits!

A Economic or GDP growth remains an important indicator of a sound and competitive economy. What is however important, is not only the short term growth and success, but also the longer term sustainability of the economy and society.

Slovenia was growing for a number of years, but this growth was obviously not sustainable, as among others, we lost our competitiveness, dropping 20 places to rank 52 worldwide.

Is there a right approach? Well, there is no clear answer, as countries are differSpring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy

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Interview: Matej Potokar, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia (AmCham) & General Manager, Microsoft Services, Central & Eastern Europe

Celebrate, also celebrate smaller things Matej Potokar has established a strong business and personal presence in Slovenia through multiple high-profile activities and awards. He is the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia and a member of the Council of the Central and Eastern European Management Development Association (CEEMAN). He was awarded the Primus award, a Slovenian award recognising excellence in internal and external communication. We talked with him about what Slovenia must do to find the path for success.

By Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc..

Q Firstly, how are you as a leading manager in Microsoft, dealing with the current economic situation in Slovenia and how is the whole situation influencing your business and strategy?

I´m in fact responsible for 32 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and definitely the economic situation in these countries is not very good with few exceptions, for example Russia which is growing very nicely with 4% GDP per

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year. But we have several countries, in fact 10 of the 32 countries, which are in technical recession. It´s not just about Slovenia, I would like to position Slovenia as a part of the global economy, there are also Western European countries in recession. There is a lot of instability in the market, political challenges driven by political instability which are then reflected in the “morale” and confidence of people. When

we talk about the consumer sector it´s mainly driven by confidence and morale, people are not sure what will happen in the future and are more cautious about spending and investment, companies are also more cautious about investment. In Slovenia we can say that the general instability is mainly driven by political instability but we also have a problem with the business models of companies which solely focus

Economy on Slovenia and which is not sustainable in the long run. We must definitely think more broadly. The recipe for success is definitely to go out of Slovenia and expand the market.

Q You are very active in AmCham Slovenia; you try to open the right questions, issues, public debates...... Do you think that these activities are influencing the opinion makers in a positive way or are the politicians just not listening to the right people and arguments? Could this be one of the main problems in Slovenia at this time?

A I do believe that we contribute to the progress with such activities. Why? In Slovenia we have a problem with the common vision, with what we would like to become. We have several documents like Slovenia 2020, Slovenia 2025, but when we review those documents we find that they are very general. We need to be much more focused and with that we will also get the agreement of the major stakeholders. Although it´s not just about the politics, the parties, the political elite, it is also about business because together we drive the social environment and country. Once again, we need one vision and then the strategy to implement the vision. I believe that when we will have that strategy we should present it transparently to the people, enterprises and at the end of the day to everyone and it will be much easier to improve general morale because people will believe.

Q In Slovenia it seems that we know very well what must be done in the economy, the public sector, required reforms we need..... etc. How can we transfer all that knowledge into credible political action?

A Yes, it´s all about execution at the end of the day. As I said, for now we don´t have a clear vision. When we will have a clear strategy then the next step is an action plan focused on execution. We have some general challenges that are not clearly resolved. For example what is the so called “national interest” connected to the state ownership of some companies? Is it that we must find EUR 100m - EUR 200m or more per year to recapitalise those companies from the pockets of the citizens? This is definitely not national interest! The other problems are definitely labour market flexibility, the tax system etc.... We want to be a knowledge based society, economy and at the same time we see that the young people, talent are leaving Slovenia. In fact it´s not bad that they are going out, they will get experience and knowledge, but it is important that they come back and this will not happen with the current tax system. And if we are talking about FDI´s we are definitely not an attractive country for foreign investors.

Q In recent weeks and months we’ve observed a number of huge achievements by Slovenian sports people. Why cant we have a successful

economy and government? Is the main problem that sports people compete in the global market but our politicians and managers are mentally stuck in Slovenia?

A We are really phenomenal how many world champions we have for such a small country in not only individual sports but also in team sports. Just for example, look at the national ice hockey team, we in fact have one club and only 150 registered players and we are going to the Olympics!!! I´m super proud when I talk about this outside Slovenia with my friends and colleagues. And you know why they are so successful? They do not look for excuses about the size of the country or the size of their budget, they have a clear vision - they want to be No. 1 in Europe or the world. It needs to be the same in business. If we do not have a clear goal, to be No. 1 in a specific business or some market niche we will never get there. We need to be focused, we need to have targets shared transparently in the company with people, employees, shareholders.... and only then will we get the positive energy to achieve it. People want to work in successful teams and companies. With clear goals you get people motivated, engaged, devoted, dedicated and it is much easier than just running the business and making excuses as to “why not” instead of “yes we can”.

Q So how can we change this mindset, some managers and the majority of politician’s obviously just don´t understand global thinking or approach or is there something else behind this?

A When the economy stops and when the business is not growing you are challenged by values, morals and mindset. At such moments it is important that the company doesn´t go into “survival” mode. One day this crisis will be over, unfortunately not in three months, maybe in one year, three years, 13 years...... But for the company this will be the moment of truth, as to what shape the company is in. So, it´s not just about survival but to invest into being in great shape when the crisis will be over and that means that during the crisis you don´t lose market share and on other side keeping your people motivated. To run a successful business you need top talent, if you don´t have them, your competitor will. How to motivate, attract and retain these people? This is the art of leadership, a leader should spend much more time with people in times of crisis than in other times. This means open communication, sharing optimism, being realistic and not just selling the flowers. And maybe a very simple hint for tough times: celebrate, celebrate the small things. When business is going in the right direction you celebrate the big achievements, projects...... however during a crisis the things, successes are smaller so do not forget to celebrate smaller things. We were talking about sport, Tina Maze was not the world champion

01 Potential of The Year 2012 event 02 Matej Potokar speaking at AmCham breakfast in Ljubljana

02

in the first race, she invested her life into the situation to be the world champion she is today. And “hats off” to her, she is one of the drivers that we need in this time.

Q So you think that with key moments, successes and also important events and national projects we can change the mindset, redirect from pessimism to optimism? For example, can we use this year´s biggest competition in Europe, Eurobasket 2013 which will be held in Slovenia in September, for some general positive spin in society?

A We should definitely use this as an opportunity for the whole country. At the end of the day, from the business point of view, it´s an event, we need to have a team which takes care of the profitability. On the other side this is an event for us, for the people and we know that we have a fantastic national team which will fight for the medals. We should be very happy that we host such an event in Slovenia, half of Europe will watch the games and this is a great opportunity for promotion and to attract people to come to Slovenia, to learn more about Slovenia. We know that in tourism the best marketing is sharing the experience with others. We should use this event as a business opportunity for the country and to have “one Slovenia” together celebrating. I hope for a great result, but nevertheless really to give our national team the feeling that the whole Slovenia is standing behind them.  Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy

The new Office has arrived New Office services for business users will be available in Slovenia in summer 2013.

Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft recently unveiled the new Office, delivering much improved productivity for both consumers and business customers. The new release features an intuitive design that works with touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard across Windows devices, including tablets. The fast and fluid experience lets you do more in less time, with minimalist styling and an intuitive touch and inking experience built into all the Office applications. The new Office user interface is also easy on the eyes, with a clean, functional appearance – less chrome and more touch friendly, more get-it-done.

With the new user interface, Microsoft included significant new features in familiar desktop applications such as the new Read Mode in Word. This feature provides a modern and easy-to-navigate reading experience that automatically adjusts for large and small screens. Also new is the ability to open PDF files: simply open a PDF as you would any other document and Word 2013 maintains the formatting of the file, which is fully editable. PowerPoint features a new Presenter View that privately shows your current and upcoming slides, presentation time, and speaker notes in a single glance. While presenting, you can zoom, mark up and navigate your slides with touch and stylus. Excel 2013 brings new templates and tools, like Quick Analysis Lens for converting data to a chart or table in a couple of steps and Flash Fill, which recognises patterns in your data and automatically fills cells accordingly. These and other new tools help you make modern docu-

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ments, lead productive meetings and transform data into insight in a matter of clicks.

First served: cloud service for consumers and desktop suites The new Office is delivered through traditional desktop suites such as Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013 and Office Professional 2013, and brand new subscription services. The new subscription offering was first made available to consumers with the January 2013 introduction of Office 365 Home Premium. Office 365 Home Premium represents a reinvention of the company’s flagship Office product line for consumers and includes the latest and most complete set of Office applications. It works across up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs and Macs and comes with extra SkyDrive storage and Skype calling.

New for businesses Soon there will be the global introduction of the new offer for businesses with brand new services including Office 365 Small Business Premium, Office 365 ProPlus and Office 365 Enterprise.

Microsoft Office 365 Small Business Premium is ideal for businesses with up to 10 employees. It is a set of enterprise-grade business tools that allows efficient work and a professional look in a simplified solution that can be managed without specialist IT resources. With Office 365 Small Business familiar Office applications can be accessed and the most recent documents from any Windows-based PC (Windows 7 or Windows 8 required). Also included

is a business-class email branded with the company name, multiparty HD videoconferencing, an easy-to-create public website and a place to share documents with customers and partners.

All the critical business data is backed up automatically and enterprise-grade security features help protect from spam and viruses. All this comes in an easy-to-manage solution that is hosted by Microsoft and requires no specialised technical knowledge to set up.

For larger or more demanding business environments Microsoft developed two new services: Office 365 ProPlus and Office 365 Enterprise. The first comes with enterprise-grade security, side-by-side support for previous versions of Office, streamlined update experiences and IT controls that let Office be managed on individual terms and by using the tools and processes of the individual business. Office 365 Enterprise packs even more powerful tools for more effective management, control and compliance with enterprise-grade security, data loss prevention (DLP) and rights management. 

“The new Office subscription is an entirely new way to think about the productivity experience with entirely new benefits. Over time, the majority of the billion plus people using Office will be using the Office 365 service.”

Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

Economy Professional Conference Organiser’s view of South East Europe

One on One with Michael Foreman 01 01 Conventa Official Reception attended by Mayor of Ljubljana, Mr. Zoran Janković 02 Conventa trade show at GR – Ljubljana exhibition and convention centre

airlift but many associations are looking for these kinds of destinations. In terms of the show, it was not the typical. Business was clearly being done and the format facilitated that. I was very impressed.

Q As an expert with many years of experience in Q You also sit on the advisory board of the UK organising events, how do you perceive South East Europe as a meeting destination?

A Due to my lack of knowledge of this region, my perception is that it is an emerging region with some very attractive destinations. My experience at Conventa has offered me the opportunity to experience the hunger of the region to host meetings.

Q How well known and popular is it among the UK organisers of events, congresses and incentives?

A South East Europe is largely an unknown destination for me. It is certainly not at the top of people’s list of favoured destinations.

Q It was your first time at Conventa, South East European exhibition. What were your expectations?

A I had no expectations but was very excited to visit Slovenia for the first time.

I was looking forward to being able to offer my experience at the academy and did expect to be quizzed extensively. In terms of “the show” I was expecting the typical trade show environment.

Meetings Show, a partner trade show. What would you say are the biggest difference between the two shows?

A That, I must admit is difficult to answer as the first UK Meetings Show is in July. The clear difference however, as a starting point, is the maturity of the markets. I therefore believe that the look and feel of the shows will be very different.

Q How do you see the future of Conventa?

A I would envisage that it will grow as the market does in the region. With the growth I am sure that the show will need to change and adapt. I would also envisage the educational programme associated with the show expanding.

In January 2013, Michael Foreman, Chairman of the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers, visited Slovenia for the first time. Michael has worked in business tourism for his entire professional career. He began working in the meetings industry in 1995 for one of the world’s largest professional congress organisers, Kenes International. Since then he has worked on congresses and exhibitions around the globe in various roles. We caught up with Michael at Conventa, South East European Exhibition for meetings, events and incentives, to talk to him about the trade show, the popularity of the SEE region among conference organisers and the future of the meeting industry in general.

02

Q Where would you say the meeting industry is

Q And what are you impressions now?

A In terms of Ljubljana I was extremely im-

heading? What new trends do you predict for 2013?

A We have all experienced a very tough few years so I believe that the market will start to recover. The British events industry survey has predicted slight growth and I tend to agree with this. There is still however concern that clients are expecting more and want to pay less.

This is a phenomenon that we are going to have deal with and adjust to. 

pressed. I think that the city is something special. It has all the requirements that one can expect from a second tier city. The main issue is

More about the Conventa trade show at www.conventa.info Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy Home Appliances

Incredibly fast, incredibly thorough The solution for animal hairs in the home: the Zoo’o ProAnimal vacuum cleaner Over 30 million homes in Germany share their home with a pet and its hair. One of the greatest stress factors of living with animals is dirt and hair loss in the home. Floors, upholstery and carpets are like magnets to hair and require more thorough cleaning. Of the many long-suffering pet owners, only a few have a vacuum cleaner that is specially developed for the needs of pet owners, though around 80% appear very willing to buy one. The Zoo’o ProAnimal from Bosch offers pet owners a sophisticated all-round solution. Three special features make work easier and achieve a thorough clean: first, the high-performance AirTurbo System, second, the universal Animal 360TM nozzle set with easy-to-clean nozzles and third, the modern filter system.

Even allergy sufferers, who find animal hair particularly challenging, can breathe easy. The Zoo’o ProAnimal is available with a bag, the BSGL5 ZOO or in a bagless version, the BGS5 ZOO.

It preys on dirt — up to 30% faster* The Zoo’o ProAnimal really can take on challenges of all shapes and sizes. The intelligent AirTurbo System with the new ProAnimal turbo brush cleans particularly thoroughly and quickly. Its long-life compressor motor and the large diameter of all the air routes creates a particularly powerful air flow, which is passed onto the turbo brush. So you clean up to 30% faster, all for low energy consumption.

With the Animal 360TM nozzle set you’ll barely miss a hair Animal hair gets everywhere, from carpets to upholstery, parquet and tiles. The Animal 360TM nozzle set features special nozzles for all surfaces that are easy to change. The turbo brush with TurboDrive works with two types of bristles: The hard ones collect the dust, while the soft ones pick up even the finest hairs. And the brush roller can be removed in one action, making the turbo brush extremely easy to clean. The ProAnimal upholstery nozzle has also been specially developed for use in pet households. Its extra-wide, 4x thread lifter adjusts to any type of furniture and makes easy work of cleaning cushions and upholstery. At-

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tach the special ProAnimal hard floor nozzle for delicate parquet flooring. Unlike many other floor nozzles, it is easy to clean without having to touch it.

No unpleasant odours thanks to the modern filter system The Zoo’o ProAnimal doesn’t just get to grips with dirt; the modern filter system also gets rid of unpleasant odours. An integrated HEPA filter cleans the exhaust air so that even allergy sufferers can breathe easy. To prevent the bag emitting unpleasant odours, the vacuum cleaner model with the bag also has an integrated Bionic Filter that eliminates odours the natural way. With an operating radius of 15 metres, the BSGL5 ZOO successfully hunts down dirt and hair.

The bagless version is the perfect choice for anyone who wants thorough vacuuming at home without the need to buy more bags. The dust container can hold three litres of dirt, and it is simple and hygienic to rinse it out under running water. The fully automatic self-cleaning provided by the SensorBaglessTM, which activates the SelfClean system when required, reduces the need for maintenance even further and ensures a high level of air flow, even after the vacuum cleaner has been used many times.  * Thread removal according to standard IEC 60312-1 compared with a 2200-W Bosch BSGL32225 and turbo brush. ** Bosch survey of 500 pet owners.

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Economy Smart Cities and Smart Infrastructure Are Prerequisites for Energy Efficient Municipalities

Smart Cities Are Effective When the environment itself proposes the best solutions and the best ways, when it understands our needs and wishes and responds appropriately, then we can talk about a smart city. It can be reached in three steps, while the foundation is the individual’s awareness of its necessity and usefulness.

By Simon Mokorel, CEO Envigence sumption and its forecasts, as well as an additional sensor system which enables a series of new services, from pollution control and traffic control to safety in the cities. With three major steps the introduction of these possibilities to the users is important.

Intelligence in Three Steps

01

It Starts With Interest Energy efficiency in any community starts with the energy efficiency of the individual, the system and its building blocks. The concept of smart cities, as well as smart infrastructure, is an important framework which obtains content with the individual’s awareness of the direct effects that lead to savings in a personal bank account or the municipality’s bank account. There are numerous cases of misguided practice, where the introduction of smart city technologies experienced failure mainly due to unexpressed basic interests.

However, technology is important. Without technology, consumption cannot be measured, predicted or optimised. Complex infrastructure cannot be managed. Without technology there are no synergies and no smart cities.

Not Only a System, But Also an Organism A smart city is more than just a system. It is an organism supported by state of the art technology with smart building blocks and artificial intelligence, as well as an organism, which is

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human, nature and technology friendly. It is an organism, which encourages innovation, new business and social solutions, and which builds symbiosis between man, society, nature and technology. This kind of city understands the complex processes in the environment, optimises the use of sources with the help of artificial intelligence, adapts to the individual and mostly takes care of sustainability by minimising any adverse impact on the environment.

Initiatives Are Born There are several initiatives and projects in Slovenia whereby individual subsystems for smart cities are introduced, from sustainable mobility to smart street lighting. It turns out that those with a comprehensive understanding of the matter are the most perspective. One such example is the introduction of the infrastructure for smart street lighting to municipalities.

Step by step, with manageable projects that instantly deliver results and show the meaning of smart cities to decision makers and citizens.

On one side there are smart street lights which are not just machines, on the other a comprehensive overview of the infrastructure, con-

The first step is to enable the user a complete display of the immediate effects, resulting from his or her actions, for example saving energy and drinking water, increased amounts of harmful car emissions due to improper tyres...

When we reach this awareness, the second step is to enable direct interaction between the individual and smart city systems, for example, route planning, development and marketing of the new service. The third step is made when a smart city starts to act intelligently. When the environment itself proposes the best solutions and the best ways, when it understands our needs and wishes and responds appropriately.

This kind of scenario is not distant, it is already here. Technology enables it. Concepts of smart cities predict it and a lot of companies are already developing products and services for smart cities. The only obstacle is people, our perception of the benefits brought by technology, our attitude toward nature and the common good as well as our eternal fear of change and open collaboration.

Initial Moves Made The first moves have already been made. Envigence and Hella Saturnus have developed a smart street light which is ready for the smart city. We offer an initial set consisting of 25 smart street lights and a program for monitoring and management. Together with Hella we attended the Golden Stone conference which took place on 13 March 2013 at Congress Centre Brdo and where we presented the operation of the street light and its involvement in the development of smart cities.  01 Smart street lighting

high energy impact

By integrating smart devices in the cognitive network capable of learning, memorizing and reasoning, we’re establishing a city, which is not only smart, but is also capable of understanding events.

A new public lightning lamp, jointly developed by Hella and Envigence represents a basic element of network.

modularity

remote management

environment awareness

capable of self-learning

e-solutions

ready for the smart city

The first step towards development of smart street lighting in Slovenia was made in Miren – Kostanjevica. We are currently establishing systems in other municipalities, which were among the first to recognize the potential for major savings in electricity consumption.

ENVIGENCE d.o.o.

Velika pot 15a, SI-5250 Solkan info@envigence.com www.envigence.com

Hella Saturnus Slovenija d.o.o., LetaliĹĄka cesta 17, 1000 Ljubljana Tel.: 01 520 33 33 info@saturnus.hella.com www.hella-saturnus.si

Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA, Source: UKOM

Politics

01

New Government

Positive Change or More Rhetoric?

The winter in Slovenia was marked by widespread civil unrest and protests which were generally aimed toward politicians, austerity measures and corruption. At half-time the result is that Slovenia’s second largest city, Maribor, has new mayor who has not been part of the political landscape before and that Slovenia has a new government - the youngest ever. For now it´s not clear if Slovenian politicians understand the people on the streets or whether they will just continue with business as usual in a different package and with presumably “fresh” faces.

By Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc.

Process to Cleanse Slovenian politics has started The “formal” culmination of the civil protests against corruption by politicians was definitely the report of the Corruption Prevention Commission that discovered that the leaders of the two most powerful political parties, PM Janez Janša, president of (at the time) the ruling democratic party and Zoran Jankovič, Mayor of Ljubljana and president of the leading (at the time) opposition party, Positive Slovenia, had “problems” explaining the source of their revenue in the previous year. The reaction of the coalition partners of the then ruling democrats (Citizen´s List, the People´s Party and the Pensioner´s Party) was quick and decisive: the PM must resign or they would leave the coalition.

PM Janša didn´t want to resign and the result was the end of the coalition. After that the political parties had only two options: agree to

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an early election or form a new coalition. MP´s were not keen on early elections and negotiations for a new government began. The only problem was that the president of the biggest opposition party and potential core of a new coalition, Zoran Janković, had the same problem as PM Janša. To cut the story short, after a painful process inside Positive Slovenia he stepped down and “removed” himself from state politics which opened the way to the new centre-left coalition.

Alenka Bratušek - first Slovenian female PM The National Assembly endorsed the new cabinet of Alenka Bratušek (52 for and 35 against) on 20 March 2013, completing the formation of the eleventh Slovenian government.

The 14-member cabinet was sworn into the National Assembly immediately and took over du-

ties from the ousted Janša government the next day. In her first statement following the vote, the 42-year-old Bratušek, who heads the Positive Slovenia (PS) party, said she would lead the team “on a path of positive change and progress”.

Slovenia’s first female prime minister also called for bipartisanship, saying that “those who think that we succeed divided...are dead wrong”. “I hope the parties can work together and achieve an understanding that the time for politicking is over. The only way for us to overcome the crisis is through hard work and cooperation.” Built around Positive Slovenia and the fellow left-leaning SocDems, the new government also includes two former partners from the Janša coalition, Citizens’ List (DL) and the Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS). Together, the coalition controls 49 seats in the 90-seat National Assembly. The new opposition is formed by Janša’s Democratic Party (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi) and the People’s Party (SLS).

Politics

It is more than clear that everything was not so “bad” with the ousted government of Janez Janša. Definitely his government had big PR problems and because of that, any good and positive decisions were lost due to the typical negative and pessimistic approach combined with unpopular ideological issues from the past and widespread political staffing in state owned companies. Nevertheless, Janša´s government passed reforms of the pension system and labour market and significantly lowered the deficit. The main issue for the new government will be how to stimulate growth and reduce unemployment. For now we have heard a lot about a new, positive approach, more friendly austerity measures, more money for the public sector but without the crucial answer: how will the new government do it all.

Three difficult tasks before summer Despite all the fresh and friendly rhetoric from new PM Bratušek she will need to continue with the stabilisation of public finances which means that a lot of promises about a “friendlier” austerity process will have to be

Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA, Source: UKOM

Positive thinking but with an unclear programme

02

forgotten very soon. The two toughest issues for the next three months will be to firstly end the catastrophic credit crunch which means cleaning up the mess and filling the EUR 4bn hole in the banking sector and secondly, to find the solution for critically undercapitalised Slovenian companies. Probably there will be no time for long philosophical debates about the already adopted concepts of the Bad Bank and the centralised system of state owned assets which could enable transparent privatisation of non-strategic parts of state owned companies. Privatisation will definitely be one of the toughest issues for the new PM because some of the coalition members strongly oppose any

01 New Government in Parliament 02 Old and new PM Janez Janša and Alenka Bratušek

withdrawal of the state from the economy. If the new government will tackle the abovementioned problems with a realistic approach and at least moderate success and is able to combine all this with greater transparency and credibility, this will be a big step for Slovenia.

But after the initial decisions of the new government - new non-critical political staffing and daily empty rhetoric - we can only hope that those were just teething problems of a new, young government. 

LI VE

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Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Politics Interview: Goran Klemenčič, Chief Commissioner, Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC)

We can´t solve the problem without first recognising it Goran Klemenčič was in the spotlight of Slovenian political life in the past few months. He publicly pointed out one of the crucial problems of current Slovenian reality. He definitely is no stranger to fighting “unhealthy” practices and abuse of powers. Before taking office as the Chief Commissioner of the CPC he was the State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior from 2008 to 2010, where he in the past also worked in the Bureau of the Supervision and Management of the Police. A graduate of Ljubljana and Harvard Law Schools he has also been a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security. He had worked abroad for several years among others at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris and has been involved in various criminal justice, rule of law, anti-corruption and human rights reform efforts in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia, China, and Latin America. Until the end of 2012 he has been a member of the UN Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture and is a member of the Group of Expert on Corruption of the European Commission.

By Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc. 01

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Politics

Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Politics

02

Q You are somehow “guilty” for the current political “cleansing” in Slovenia. Did you expect that your work, reports on corruption in politics, would result in a change of government?

A First, I wouldn’t call it “cleansing”. Yes, the two leading politicians, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, whom we both found in serious violation of anti-corruption legislation, were forced out – one as the head of the government, the other as the head of the party; the latter, however, remains Mayor of Ljubljana. And both still remain highly influential in Slovenian politics. In addition, the coalition agreement of the newly formed government hardly speaks of strengthening the legal and institutional framework against corruption. It remains to be seen if the political elite will subscribe to the new found sense of integrity, accountability and greater respect for the rule of law.

As for your question. I was, naturally, painfully aware that the publication of our findings would result in a political storm and would be a testing stone of the political and legal culture in the country. We didn’t ask for, nor did we expect, the change of government. That was an indirect outcome. For me the change of government has no value if it doesn’t also bring first, the acknowledgement that Slovenia has a seri-

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ous problem of high level corruption with a lack of accountability, transparency and weak oversight and regulatory institutions. And second, a resolve to address this problem and not just talk about it…

sense we are, in many ways, now behind in making the institutional and legal framework against corruption efficient.

Q Some think that the current situation is bad publicity for the country, do you share their opin-

Q Is Slovenia really so different from other EU ion or is this in fact good news for future developcountries or are we just more »clumsy« in reacting to corruption?

A Corruption in EU countries is not a one size fits all phenomena. Levels and typology of corruption varies significantly from country to country. Corruption is a serious problem is most member states. The EC published last year a report that approx. EUR 120bn gets lost due to corruption in the EU area. In some countries you have endemic problems with so-called administrative, street corruption, like bribing a traffic police officer or having to pay for different licenses and permits; in other countries problems are more related to corruption in political party financing, illegal lobbying, conflict of interest, big procurement projects, etc.. Slovenia falls into the second category. One of our main problems has been that, for years, we were considered the “good pupil of new Europe”, the model of transition. We lived in denial that reforms were necessary and that corruption was undermining the system. In that

ment in Slovenia?

A Sure. Its not good “press” for any country when a PM or head of the opposition are burdened with charges of systemic violations of anti-corruption legislation. On the other hand, the really bad news would be if nothing happened, if there were no consequences following such reports. One cannot solve the problem without first recognising it and then acting upon it. Naturally, you would expect I will have such a position but I sincerely believe the work of the Commission has been good news for the rule of law and the credibility of the country in the long run. For any country, the proof that the rule of law is working and nobody is untouchable should be good news for its citizens and for foreign investors. Plus, one should not confuse the cause and the effect. It was not the CPC that is responsible for the government crisis, it was the actions of the politicians who broke the law and failed to take responsibility for it.

Politics Q Was your courage to present your findings owned banks. The majority of the facts from your very clearly to the Slovenian public also a consequence of widespread civil unrest and pressure from the citizens?

A It’s not about courage. I get this a lot. People send us tonnes of emails and stop us in the streets to congratulate us on our courage. I don’t want to sound naive, but in what country does an anti-corruption agency or its Chief Commissioner need courage to do the work for which he is paid and has a legal mandate and responsibility to do? This just shows how deeply we got into the problem of lack of accountability of the political and economic elite in this country and how weak the institutions to control them are.

As for the link between our report and the public unrest that started at the end of 2012. You know that the people of Slovenia are prone to conspiracy theories but in this case there was none. We started the investigation in early 2012 when there was no sign of public protest. The investigation took its course and when the results were there and confirmed, we published them. There was no good or bad time to do it. I do admit, however, that as a citizen and anticorruption chief, I look with sympathy at the awakening of the civil society in the country.

Q Do you think that the politicians received your message? It seems that after a few months of “political” disturbance they want to return to “business as usual”. They somehow forgot the main issue of your report? Even more, the most exposed politicians in your report are trying to discredit you by all possible means?

A I’m highly doubtful that the main players got the message and understood “the winds of change”. Not our message, the message of civil society and people on the streets or on social media. People demand accountability, transparency and the rule of law. It remains to be seen what happens in the long run. In the last three months, since the publication of our report, the Commission, my colleagues and myself have been the target of unprecedented attacks and pressures – some purely slanderous, other political and some legal; there were also attempts to close us down through legal action.

We expected that and for now, we’ve won all cases in court – there were five of them in the last three months. But we are not complaining, some of it was expected and has opened the wounds of our rather rotten political and legal culture or the last of it. From now on we believe it will only get better.

Q Did you receive any comments or suggestions about your work from your colleagues in the European Union and from other parts of the world?

Sure. Words of support.

report are common knowledge but nobody reacted in the past. What is the reason for this tolerance toward corrupt behaviour?

A Systemic and political corruption, undue political influence and conflict of interest linked to state owned enterprises and the state owned financial sector is rather high. It is, in effect, a result of the transition, the Slovene cultural and historical realities and the long term systematic underestimation of the importance of the rule of law, transparency and accountability. Throughout the years of transition we created a system in which the risk of the CEO of the state owned enterprise or a member of a supervisory board to be held accountable, either in a criminal or civil court, politically or by his/her peers, was zero. While Slovenia, among all transition economies in Europe, has the biggest share of state owned enterprises and banks, we didn’t have a single case – until recently -that somebody in charge would be prosecuted or liable for damages… We let the system of impunity and undue political influence into business be created.

Q Do you think that the problem is also in the general public? After all, for more or less everybody it is usual to “use” small gifts to get a better seat at a football match or better service in restaurants, hospitals etc....!

A Again, Slovenia has a weird attitude toward corruption. It’s not common to bribe a police officer or pay your way into a university. On the other hand, it is a national sport to get something by using connections and people you know.

Slovenia, due to its small size, is a complex network of favours and back scratching. In the sense of general ethics we are closer to our Mediterranean neighbours than to the protestant north.

Q Do you think that this process of cleansing in Slovenian politics would have happened without the economic crisis?

A Not likely. Honestly, people were not bothered with high level corruption until recently, they didn’t even notice it. The quality of life in the country was rather high for most people, not only for the elites, social equality was one of the highest in Europe. The crisis changed that… people started looking back and noticed that we started this race with other transition economies more than 20 years ago and then we had a huge advantage in most respects, while now we are being overtaken… What happened?

Who stole our transition and our dowry that we brought into the democracy and free market economy twenty years ago…

Q How do you see the role of the media in presenting the right issues and questions? Are they

Q A few weeks ago you also published a report in some way also infected with the same virus as about “unhealthy practices” in Slovenian state

politicians?

01 Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) 02 Goran Klemenčič, Chief Commissioner

A I feel uneasy to speak of media in my position. Media, as a watchdog of politics and government, should be a natural ally of the anticorruption watchdog. It often is, not always. It suffers from many similar things as the society in general. Much of media, while free, is shortterm, scandal oriented, some of it is more or less openly politically biased and most lacks depth and follow up. There are exceptions, sure, but …

Q How would you improve the effectiveness of the Corruption Prevention Commission in the future?

A The office I currently hold was established 10 years ago. I’ve been in this position for two years. Until recently it was often only a paper tiger and we also suffer institutional and legal deficiencies now. In April we are sending to the government and the parliament a package of suggestions to improve the legal and institutional framework against corruption and for the strengthening of transparency and integrity of public service. We’ll see how it goes. As we know, the prerequisite for any government and parliament to adopt effective anti-corruption legislation that the politicians and its “shadow” elite are not afraid of it..

Q Are you optimistic that Slovenia will turn in the right direction in the next few months?

A I’m a realist and an optimist when we speak about the long term future of the country. It’s at a junction. We have a window of opportunity to make historical changes in the direction of the rule of law, transparency, integrity and accountability. I’m a generation which is tired of old political divisions that have burdened Slovenia since WWII, and see the country as a place that could and should enable a spread of ideas, creativity, openness and progress. The changes for that happening are here. But it’s not a given conclusion that we will know how to seize the moment.  Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA, Source: UKOM

European Union

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Slovenia Opens the Door for Croatia to Join the EU Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003 and was in negotiations from 2005 until 2011. On 9 December 2011, leaders from the EU and Croatia signed the Accession Treaty. Subject to its ratification by all EU countries and Croatia, then the country will become the 28th EU member country on 1 July 2013. The whole process of Croatia´s accession was threatened by unsolved issues from ex-Yugoslavia, primarily the unresolved issue of the border with Slovenia, which was solved by an arbitration agreement a few years ago however the question of the old deposits from the defunct Ljubljanska banka remained open until this March.

By Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc.

Signed Memorandum First Step to ratification Slovenia and Croatia pledged to resolve the Yugoslav era savings deposit issue as a matter of succession as the prime ministers, now already ex-PM Janez Janša and PM Zoran Milanović penned a memorandum on Ljubljanska banka (LB) savings deposits, clearing the way for Cro-

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atia’s entry into the EU. Addressing reporters after the signing at Mokrice Castle near Slovenia’s border with Croatia, Janša said that the memorandum resolved the last remaining issue standing in the way of the ratification of Croatia’s EU accession.

The countries pledge to solve the issue of transferred LB deposits pursuant to Appendix C of the 2001 agreement on succession from

the former Yugoslavia set forth that five successor states should resolve the issue of guarantees for old savings deposits in talks sponsored by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel. The English language memorandum binds Croatia to suspend all legal proceedings against LB and its successor, Slovenia’s largest bank NLB, with the authorisation of the Croatian government over the

Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA, Source: UKOM

European Union

savings deposits that Croatia transferred into its public debt in 1991; no new action shall be launched. Slovenia, on the other hand, pledged to immediately launch proceedings in parliament to ratify Croatia’s EU Accession Treaty, the goal being to complete the procedure as soon as possible.

Unanimous support

by Slovenian Politicians The government quickly ratified the SloveniaCroatia memorandum on the LB savings deposits issue and confirmed a bill ratifying Croatia’s EU Accession Treaty and referred it to parliament for passage. The memorandum was also ratified by the Croatian government on the same day. The countries now need to exchange the instruments of ratification. The memorandum becomes effective with the acceptance of the last notification by both countries. The implementation of the memorandum will be overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance in cooperation with the High Commissioner for succession from the former Yugoslavia. With the memorandum, both countries committed to finding a comprehensive solution to the issue of the Yugoslav-era savings deposits.

After the government sent the treaty to the parliament, the parliamentary Foreign Policy

Committee endorsed ratification of Croatia‘s EU Accession Treaty in a unanimous vote, which assured safe passage at the plenary session of the National Assembly. Foreign Minister, Karl Erjavec, lauded the launch of the ratification process by noting that today was a „happy day“. This was echoed by committee members who pledged their support for the bill ratifying Croatia‘s treaty at the plenary.

Slovenia was the last EU member to start the ratification process for Croatia’s accession which is scheduled for 1 July. Ratification procedures are still ongoing in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, while the process has been completed by 22 member states.

Good Vibrations from Brussels The agreement between Slovenia and Croatia was also welcomed by Herman Van Rompuy, the President of The European Council. He said: “Let me congratulate you on your decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at finding a solution on the Ljubljanska Banka issue. The ceremony marks an important moment in the relationship between Croatia and Slovenia as well as in your relationship with the European Union. Politics is about confronting changes and European politics is about confronting them together. By choosing the path of dialogue, tenacity and compromise,

Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA, Source: UKOM

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03 01-03 The memorandum resolved the last remaining issue standing in the way of ratification of Croatia’s EU accession

you have been able to turn the page as Member States of our Union. Your constructive approach to solving bilateral issues like the maritime sea border dispute and now Ljubljanska Banka is a sign of maturity. The way you handle them serves as an example for the whole region”.  Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Slovenia&Universe

The legacy of Herman Potočnik Noordung Herman Potočnik Noordung is considered one of the fathers of space flight technology but his name has not always been synonymous with space exploration and was shrouded in a cloud of enigma.

By Rok Podgrajšek

Life and work Potočnik was born in Pula, Croatia however both his parents were Slovenian. His mother’s family came from a small town called Vitanje while his father’s side came from Slovenj Gradec. Potočnik spent most of his youth in Maribor and later went to study in Austria. He was an officer in the military and fought in World War I where he contracted tuberculosis which shortened his life significantly. He spent the period after the war in Austria, dedicating his life to rocket science and always on the verge of starving to death.

It is universally believed that the three most important names in early space flight discoveries are the Russian, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; the German, Hermann Oberth; and American, Robert H. Goddard. All three had published works prior to Potočnik and Potočnik was aware of all three and included their ideas in his own work, The Problem of Space Travel which was released shortly after his death in 1929, by the publishing house, Richard Carl Schmidt.

The Problem of Space Travel contains every aspect of space travel – gravity, the conception of a rocket ship, its launch, fuel, the design of a space station, the geostationary orbit and visiting other worlds. Some of his concepts have proved to be farfetched, whilst others have proven not only feasible but very realistic and futuristic.

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Of greatest importance is the space station, where Potočnik not only described the workings and design of his station but also calculated (very precisely, even by today’s standards) the geostationary orbit of objects revolving around the Earth. His space station design was very original atthe time and also inspired writers of science fiction such as British author Arthur C. Clarke.

After many years of oblivion for Potočnik’shis profile was raised when Arthur C. Clarke’s fiction became associated with Potočnik’s name.

Clarke was not really aware of Potočnik’s book but saw Potočnik’s drawings for a space station in a magazine and immediately took a liking to it. He decided to use the concept of the space

station in his own science fiction work, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Arthur C. Clarke is one of the best known science fiction writers and one would think that the space station design in his book being based on Potočnik’s schematics would have been enough to propel the Slovenian’s name into the limelight but it was not. Despite the popularity of Clarke’s book and the subsequent film Potočnik contribution was quickly forgotten.

Slovenian translation The Problem of Space Travel was published in its original German in 1929 and reprinted in 1938

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia and was translated into Russian in 1935 It was only in 1986 that Slovenska Matica publish a translation of the work into Potočnik’s mother tongue, Slovenian. Although this did cause renewed interest in Potočnik’s work it failed to bring him forward asthe hero and pioneer he undoubtedly was.

NASA Potočnik might not have achieved the recognition of the likes of Tsiolkovsky, Oberth and some other early researchers into early space flight but he was recognised as an important author, particularly for his space station design and orbital distance calculations.

The leading rocket scientist for NASA (and previously for the Nazi regime), Wernher von Braun, was complimentary about The Problem of Space Travel. He said it was a textbook for him, Dr Ernst Stuhlinger and all the other space vehicle engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, USA. He also said that Potočnik was one of the space flight pioneers who had contributed the lion’s share to the realisation of the space programme.

As is evident, certain people at NASA were aware of Potočnik’s work. Work was done on a translation in the 1960s but there were always problems and hiccups along the way and it did not come to fruition until 1999 Frederick I. Ordway III, who started the project of translating Potočnik’s book, stated in his foreword to the NASA translation: “By the time of the Apollo announcement, five years had passed since I had begun thinking about having Noordung translated into English. A couple more years went by until, during the spring of 1963, Harry O. Ruppe who was deputy director of NASA Marshall’s Future Projects Office and I began to bring the project back to life. Our first step was to write to Willy Ley in Jackson Heights, New York, an old friend and colleague from my Long Island days.

In a letter of 22 April, I told him that Ruppe had begun planning the translation and that we had discussed the introduction (which we both hoped Ley would write). I added that ‘One thing that puzzles him [Ruppe] is the almost complete absence of information on Noordung.

Apparently he made every effort to conceal his identity. He had no history of publications prior to this book and made no effort to publish further after it appeared.’”

In the 1960s, efforts were made by Ordway in particular to put out an English translation of the book, but all of a sudden, the matter was dropped and was only revived again in the 1990s, when, as Ordway puts it: “I learned that Ron Miller had obtained a copy of Noordung’s book in the original Slovenian! Noordung, it seems, was not Czech as Ley had surmised but rather the Slovenian Her-

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man Potocnic born on 22 December 1892 in what is now Croatia; his mother though also Slovenian had Czech ancestors. I quickly persuaded Miller to provide a short write-up of the appearance of Noordung/Potocnic in Slovenian for a special issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society being edited by Frank Winter and me. This he graciously consented to do.”

Dragan Živadinov and Miha Turšič While many Slovenians were still oblivious to the identity of this early space flight engineer, Potočnik played a big part in the life of Neue

The leading rocket scientist for NASA (and previously for the Nazi regime), Wernher von Braun, was complimentary about The Problem of Space Travel. He said it was a textbook for him, Dr Ernst Stuhlinger and all the other space vehicle engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, USA. He also said that Potočnik was one of the space flight pioneers who had contributed the lion’s share to the realisation of the space programme.

01 Building of Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies 02 Herman Potočnik – Concept of Space Station 03 The Problem of Space Travel Book Cover

Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

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Slowenische Kunst artist, Dragan Živadinov, who had been searching for a way to present Potočnik to the Slovenian people. His search led him to become a cosmonaut himself, training in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. In 1995, he unveiled a 50-year theatrical project called “Noordung 1995-2045”, a style which he named telecosmism. The first reprise of this project came in 2005 and will supposedly be repeated every 10 years.

However, there was still something missing. While Živadinov could present elaborate projects about Potočnik’s life and work there

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was still the matter of presenting this hero to a larger Slovenian audience, who remained more or less in ignorance of this magnificent explorer of space topics. There had been articles in newspapers but much too seldom and much too little. So, something still had to be done.

The solution came from the residents of Vitanje in Slovenian Styria. While Potočnik was born in Pula, Croatia, he spent most of his childhood in Slovenia before being sent to school in Austria. Živadinov met the officials from the municipality of Vitanje and they were delighted with the idea of building a permanent monument to Potočnik’s memory. This centre would be called Kulturno središče evropskih vesoljskih tehnologij (KSEVT) or “Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies” in English.

The designs for the building were made by Slovenian architect, Miha Turšič, who devised a clever concept, making the KSEVT building look like Potočnik’s design for the space station, creating the ultimate tribute to the Slovenian space technology pioneer.

To fund the the Municipality of Vitanje applied for European funding and eventually received help for the project. Thus, it was ensured that Potočnik’s name would forever be embedded into the history and future of Vitanje.

Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies - KSEVT Recently, Potočnik has been revered by American and Russian astronauts alike. Even before the completion of the KSEVT building, Russian cosmonauts went to Vitanje to visit the temporary exhibition and speak about him. In 2012, the KSEVT building was completed and a permanent exhibition was established to commemorate the life of Herman Potočnik Noordung. The exhibition is built around the author’s 100 drawings from his book, The Problems of Space Travel.

The exhibition is intended for school children, families and those interested in space technology and its development, of which Potočnik was a large part.

Herman Potočnik Noordung was a visionary who was ahead of his time and it is time to pay respects to the man, his vision and his wisdom. He may have been left on the sidelines of space technology development but as time went by, his designs proved to be realistically feasible and almost prophetic. The Slovenian prodigal son returned home!  04 Dragan Živadinov

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia Photo: Courtesy of Esimit Europa 2

Sailing

Only the Best is Good Enough The term “hidden champion”, coined

by German marketing expert Hermann Simon, stands for highly successful, yet rather unknown businesses. When applied to sport, Igor Simčič’s Esimit Europa project would without doubt qualify as a hidden champion. Relatively unknown to the public at large it has brought together some of the most prominent business, political and sports figures in Europe.

By Simon Demšar

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If Simčič hadn’t named the project after his company from more than 20 years ago (Esimit is the acronym for Esportazione Importazione Italiano) he could well have called it One for One Vision, one project, one boat, one team, one flag and one Europe. With Europe lacking a common identity and sport being one of the most powerful identity factors, the idea was for a sport representing the European continent.

Esimit grew from uniting two cities, Slovenian Nova Gorica and Italian Gorizia, and now represents all of Europe. Its crew is comprised of 18 outstanding sailors, currently coming from six EU countries plus Croatia and Russia. Together they share an impressive record of sailing victories at the most prestigious events in

the world such as the America’s Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Olympic Games. Esimit Europa 2 skipper, Jochen Schümann, is one of the most outstanding sailors of all time. He is a two time America’s Cup winner, three time Olympic champion and holds several world and European titles in different sailing classes.

The next “one” stands for one boat. The 30 metre yacht is one of the most technologically advanced boats in the world. Its main features include high technology, clean energy, team spirit, cooperation, innovation and competitiveness.

However clichéd as it may sound, these values have convinced the highest circles of European politics and the economy. Russian gas

company, Gazprom, became the title sponsor joined by German car manufacturer, BMW, amongst others. Such giants are on the wish list of many projects but just how did Simčič convince them to join his endeavour, “You need to follow your vision, work hard and be audacious more often than not. What I have in mind is being different from other projects. Fresh and innovative ideas are successful and I believe that a good idea will always find an investor to support it with seed capital. In my case, this is the result of 20 years of systematic investments and a lot of sacrifice. Thanks to good instincts, a professional team behind me and sometimes a bit of luck, I have been able to make Esimit one of Europe’s key projects, playSpring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Photo: Courtesy of Esimit Europa 2

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

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ing an important role also in terms of cooperation between the EU and Russia,” says Simčič.

This may be a bold statement but not after looking at some facts. Esimit Europa 2 is the only boat in the world to sail under the European flag. It has won the patronage of the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso and official support of the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

At the sporting level, Esimit is also in a class of its own, winning every single race it has entered since 2010. She has been described as one of the fastest and technologically most advanced sailing yachts in the world with a maximum speed of over 38 knots (60 km/h). It was originally built in 2005 in Sydney, Australia as Alfa Romeo II for Neville Crichton, the Alfa Romeo car distributor for Australia and New Zealand. Şimčič bought it in 2010 and rechristened it.

The roots of the project go back to 1995 when Simčič got an idea to symbolically erase European borders. His first successes came with smaller competitive yachts. Growing in size and importance, the need for more advanced yachts arose. He bought a 19-metre yacht in 2002, sailing under the name Esimit

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Europa. Pat Cox, the then President of the European Parliament, joined the project as a supporter, officially allowing the boat to sail under the European flag. “Our endeavours to reinforce sporting and diplomatic integration between Europeans and sports achievements at regattas in the Mediterranean were crowned in 2006 when we won the patronage of José Manuel Barroso and when Gazprom joined us in 2009 as the title sponsor, I knew that there was only one way to represent the excellence of the European flag and one of the most successful businesses in the world – to purchase the best yacht in the world, now known as Esimit Europa 2,” explains Simčič.

At the sporting level, Esimit is also in a class of its own, winning every single race it has entered since 2010.

She has been described as one of the fastest and technologically most advanced sailing yachts in the world with a maximum speed of over 38 knots (60 km/h).

America’s Cup not Impossible

ing able to observe the yachting lifestyle back then deeply impressed me,” recalls Simčič.

“Saint Tropez was the meeting point of international celebrities and meeting Brigitte Bardot, a well-known film director or a musician was nothing special. As a teenager I would visit my uncle during the holidays and become a crew member of Helisara. This was a surreal world for me but at the same time I realised that the celebrities were very ordinary and accessible people. Performing their role on the yacht, they

Simčič originally does not come from a yachting environment. With his Medot sparkling wine brand he is one of the most successful Slovenian winemakers, continuing the 200 year tradition of his ancestors. He only became interested in yachting through his uncle Boris Trpin, the skipper of the well-known yacht, Helisara, owned by Austrian conductor and yachting enthusiast, Herbert von Karajan. “Be-

Photo: Courtesy of Esimit Europa 2

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

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were working towards the common goal. There I learned about team functioning, how to choose it, the sense of belonging to a team and a yacht, which has been of great assistance in my current project,” says Simčič. Although winemaking has no direct connection with yachting, he learned through it that values such as cooperation, trust and innovation are the key elements of success in both winemaking and yachting.

Simčič’s achievements have not gone unnoticed. In 2008 he presented his project to Albert II, Prince of Monaco and the President of the Yacht Club de Monaco. They remained in contact and when the decision was made to purchase the new yacht, the Prince said that he would be honoured if such an advanced yacht became a member of his club, one of the most prestigious yachting clubs in the world. “I agreed as their values are the same as ours,” explains Simčič. He himself became a member in 2011 which is another honour as the criteria are very strict. In December last year Simčič was awarded the “Yachtsman of the Year” award for winning the Palermo – Monte Carlo regatta, the Bernetti Lombardini Cup, Barcolana, the Rolex Middle Sea Race, as well as for

setting lapsed time records between Trieste and Valletta and Monaco and Porto Cervo, respectively. His boat also became the unofficial world champion in the maxi yacht class.

This year’s plans include regattas in Germany, Sweden and Great Britain, where strong international competition and different conditions are expected. Despite winning every race they have entered, Simčič takes nothing for granted. “Sailing is one of the most complex sports, where success is down to teamwork, technology, cooperation between architects, engineers, suppliers,” says Simčič. His goal for the future is to improve more time records.

And the holy grail of sailing – the America’s Cup or the Volvo Ocean Race? “They have always been among my long-term goals. For the time being, the Ocean Race is out of the questions due to current restricting regulations and restrictions are not in our philosophy. The America’s Cup is closer to our vision but these regulations will also have to change for it to be of interest. The existing catamaran concept does not interest us, returning to mono-hull yachts is a precondition for us to consider the race. And if we do go for it the only objective will be to win. We have two America’s Cup win-

01 Esimit Europa 2 – the fastest sailing yacht in the Mediterranean.

02 Sailing is about teamwork. In Esimit’s case it has a literal and a symbolic meaning.

03 Albert II, Prince of Monaco (left) on board Esimit Europa 2 in the company of Igor Simčič (right).

ners in our team and many of our team members have taken part in it. The organisation of the Esimit Europa project is also similar to that of the participating teams,” answers Simčič. 

Esimit Europa 2 is the only boat in the world to sail under the European flag. It has won the patronage of the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso and official support of the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

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Photo: Courtesy of Matevž Lenarčič

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

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Adventure&Techology

More Than a Pilot Matevž Lenarčič is one of the best known Slovenian adventurers. In 2004 he circumnavigated the globe in an ultralight aircraft and repeated the feat again in 2012. This recent flight, known as the Green Light World Flight was also for scientific purposes. Lenarčič himself is however much more than just a pilot.

By Simon Demšar For the recent flight, Lenarčič opted for a Pipistrel designed Virus SW 914, a highly modified version of the successful Virus range and the most economical and fastest aircraft in its category. While the standard SW can reach altitudes of up to 4,500 metres, this aircraft needed to manage twice the altitude in order to fly over Mt. Everest, one of the highlights. The fuel tank also required greater capacity and was increased from 100 to 350 litres to enable a 15 hour, 3,700 kilometre non-stop flight over the Pacific Ocean between Chile and Easter Island.

The aircraft had to endure both extreme cold and extreme heat using as little fuel as possible

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- weight being the main enemy of small aircraft. Low fuel consumption was one of the priorities. Total fuel consumption for the 91,000 kilometre flight was 6,679 litres or 18.1 litres per hour, the lowest ever recorded for such planes. In addition to achieving top speeds close to 300km/h, the aircraft had to remain stable below 80km/h. achieving these objectives required the ideal combination of weight, drag and lift. Lenarčič chose the Pipistrel for practical reasons, simply because it is the only aircraft which met his requirements, setting new standards in environmentally-friendly and utility flying. Pipistrel provided the

Looking from above gives you a different perspective. It is my belief that there are enough resources.

I am not worried about the planet; it lives its life regardless of what we think.

Mankind is not a threat to the world, it is a threat to itself.

Photo: Courtesy of Matevž Lenarčič

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

ground support for the flight however they refused to reveal all the modifications as adventure pilots could be an interesting market niche for them.

A scientific objective was to measure black carbon and light absorbing carbonaceous aerosols. The aircraft included an aerosol inlet and an aethalometer to measure aerosol optical properties at different wavelengths to apportion carbon concentrations to two major sources: biomass and fossil fuel combustion. A small idea developed into a major project in cooperation with the aerosol company. The measurements, for example, showed that the real reason for air pollution in India is not industry but private fossil fuel fireplaces. When Dr Griša Močnik presented the results at a symposium in India they were appalled.

Lenarčič himself is not a typical adventurer.

He remains humble and seems to play down the significance of his achievements. At 53 years of age he has developed his own view of the world and likes to contradict established beliefs. When he was nominated for Delo’s Slovenian Personality of the Year award, his response was: “Why should I be better than other people? Why should I feel superior if I circumnavigated the globe? Our society is searching for heroes and successful people. Winning is

given its meaning only when looking down at the pyramid of losers and that is wrong.”

He also hates his achievement to be called “extreme”. “The term is abused for media purposes. For a non-pilot it could be extreme but for me it is not.” He has his own rather radical opinion on various issues His view on the society today - “We have put ourselves on the throne of life. In my opinion, humankind is a cul-de-sac in development; it will be the first species to exterminate itself,” he said in an interview.

He is equally sceptical about other popular beliefs, such as charity, raising livestock for food, electric propulsion systems and overpopulation. “Flying over India and Africa I saw vast expanses of empty land. However, as long as food is a tradable good it is big business. And we, as ordinary people with no insight, become the victims of propaganda. Looking from above gives you a different perspective. It is my belief that there are enough resources. I am not worried about the planet; it lives its life regardless of what we think. Mankind is not a threat to the world, it is a threat to itself.” Despite these seemingly pessimistic views he considers himself an optimist: “I try to live each day to the full exactly because of the grim fate that we face as humankind.” 

Photo: Courtesy of Matevž Lenarčič

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03 01 Small but highly sophisticated cockpit of Pipistrel-made Virus SW 914 aircraft.

02 Matevž Lenarčič is a modest man, often downplaying his achievements.

03 Landing at Totegegie Airport in French Polynesia.

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Taboo

Hemp industry boom?

Hemp is one of those plants which often brings up associations with hippies, drug addicts, communes, reggae, laziness, etc. – mostly negative connotations. Some people consider this plant to be dangerous and highly addictive.

While the addictive part is (partly) true (psychological addiction) for varieties with high amounts of THC, nothing could be further from the truth when talking about industrial hemp. So, let’s try to destroy some myths and common misconceptions about hemp. In the past, hemp was used to produce clothes, rope, paper, medicine and many other things. It is not known exactly why hemp was pushed aside. The fact is that for many years hemp had been out of favour in just about every aspect of life and the economy, yet it is now making a remarkable comeback.

By Rok PodgrajĹĄek

Properties One of the best properties of hemp, especially in comparison to other agricultural products, is that it veryeasy to grow, Once you plant it, you can pretty much leave it - it requires almost no pesticides or fertilisers, it is more or less immune to drought and bad weather (storms) unlike products such as wheat.

Hemp can be used in many different areas, these are just a few.

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relatively renewable, it still takes a long time for trees to grow to their optimal size, with hemp the story is different. A hemp plant matures in one season, it does not drain the earth like so many other crops and so it can be replanted again and again with a new harvest each season.

Additionally,more paper is made from one acre of hemp than from one acre of trees. Therefore, it can be a useful product in a world where paper is used and discarded.

Paper

Food

Until 1883, 75-90 percent of paper in the USA was made from hemp. These days paper generally comes from wood. While forests are

Not many people are aware that hemp can be a great source of nutrition. Its seeds and oil are particularly popular in the organic community

The Slovenian Times | Spring Edition 2013

and with people searching beyond standard culinary practices.

Hemp oil, for example, is rich in essential fatty acids and hemp is also full of protein.

Snacking on hemp seeds or putting hemp oil on a salad has great nutritional value and some consider hemp to be one of the most up-andcoming food products today.

Cloth It is a well-known fact that in the past items of clothes and rope were made predominantly from hemp. At one point, rope for sailing boats and other uses was made out of hemp .

Today there are stores which sell hemp clothes but the prices are usually very high in

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia comparison to cotton. Considering the ease of growth of this plant, the fault for this must fall on the manufacturing and processing, which are still in their infancy as far as this plant is concerned and not as widely spread as some other materials.

Medicine While standard industrial hemp is rich in protein, real medicinal value can supposedly be found only in cannabis with high amounts of THC (from now on referred to as THC cannabis). THC cannabis was used in the 19th and early 20th century as standard homeopathic medicine before the arrival of allopathic medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. One of the benefits of THC cannabis is that when compared to other drugs, even legal ones such as cigarettes and alcohol, it does not damage brain cells it only causes immediate effects such as short-term memory loss. This has been proven in several studies.

Some of the effects such as curing insomnia, migraines and a lack of appetite, are well documented however, there is a lack of scientific research in the healing properties of cannabis for more severe illnesses. While some claims have been made that it may even cure cancer, this has not been substantiated by the mainstream scientific community.

One of the most interesting cases in terms of the healing properties of THC cannabis is Rick Simpson. This Canadian supposedly treated his skin cancer with THC hemp oil and treated several of his friends as well. His quest to bring forth cannabis as a healing drug is documented in his film, Run from the Cure. Rick continues to be a spokesperson for cannabis and has had many run-ins with the law but his claims have remained largely unanswered and are not taken seriously by the mainstream scientific community.

In the past, hemp was not something to be feared and vilified but was in fact revered and appreciated for all of its qualities. One man who saw the potential of hemp was the automotive industry giant, Henry Fordwith the creation of a hemp / soybean car in 1941. The car ran on ethanol which was derived from hemp or alcohol. Henry Ford had his own fields of hemp to supply the hemp cars. He considered hemp to be a very favourable alternative to other products: “Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the fields?” (AZ Hemp (2001). “The forgotten history”. Arizona Industrial Hemp Council.)

As hemp became illegal and the oil industry took hold of the world, hemp was no longer sought as a source of fuel or as material for the

bodywork of a car. With oil reserves dwindling it may be prudent to re-examine hemp as a fuel source of the future.

Modern use As it was in the past so it can be in the future.

With modern technology, the historical use of hemp can be developed and improved and other uses should be found for this resilient plant.

The modern use of hemp is extremely varied.

Hemp can be used in the construction industry as a replacement for concrete – it has already been named hempcrete. It may also be used as insulation material, with similar insulation quality as sheep wool. There is also plastic made from hemp which is easy to produce and a lot more biodegradable than the regular plastic products we know today.

Hemp was used as a material for producing paper in the past, with today’s ecological concerns for the preservation of forests, hemp could be a good alternative source of paper.

As mentioned, Henry Ford powered his hemp car with hemp fuel and there is no reason not to do so again. With oil supplies running out, hemp oil could provide a cleaner and more renewable source of energy, not only in the automotive industry, but also elsewhere.

As long as Slovenian legislation keeps hemp on the list of illegal substances, Slovenian agriculture will remain robbed of this eclectic plant. This is not an appeal to legalise all forms of hemp but only the industrial kind which basically has no THC. It could boost greatly the Slovenian economy, countryside and restore Slovenian farmers to their former glory. It would also function to reduce pollution drastically, as it requires no pesticides, and so it could boost Slovenian eco farming as well.

Hemp might be a plant of the past but it could also be the plant of the future. It is eco friendly, easy to grow, doesn’t need much care and attention and can be produced for low prices.

There is simply so much variety in just one single plant, from food, clothing, paper, fuel, building material and so on. Most people’s association when the word hemp is raised is of course drugs but this must be made a thing of the past, as hemp’s primary uses lie elsewhere.

It is such a versatile plant that it would be a shame to let a few negative connotations bring down such a potentially significant economic product which could pave the way for a brighter future, not only for Slovenia, but for most of the world. 

Hemp in Slovenia Unfortunately, Slovenian regulations are still very strict towards hemp. All, including industrial hemp, is regarded as an illegal substance and farmers can only grow it if they are register.

The laws in Slovenia still state that hemp cannot be processed but only grown. Therefore, Slovenian hemp growers still face with many obstacles. They can grow it but if they want to make something they can sell out of it, like oil, cloth, fuel, insulation, etc., they need to go abroad. What starts out as a very low-maintenance and low-cost venture suddenly becomes a trickier proposition. Therefore, the costs of hemp products on the Slovenian market and the markets in general remains very high.

Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

01

All inclusive system for a healthy lifestyle Have some time off? Why not spend it in a fitness centre, working out in a gym or swimming in a pool and after a fulfilling workout, relax in a sauna where you can indulge yourself in the fresh aroma of eucalyptus and reach a state of absolute relaxation in a jacuzzi before having a bite to eat in the Japanese restaurant just above the sport centre or ordering your favourite cappuccino in a next door café. The good news is that you don’t need to go to at least three different places in order to find all that and spend extra time or money for that matter. ŠUS Eurofitness in Ljubljana has it all in one place available for one price.

It has been established on the basis of partnership cooperation between the Catalan organisation UBAE from Barcelona and the Sport Union of Slovenia. The idea of expansion and integration started developing 15 years ago and with a long-term exchanging ideas and upgrading our vision about a mutual project, we finally realised it two years ago. ‘Some years back we were facing similar problems in Barcelona; what to do with the sport centres, how to manage and maintain them and at the same time realize one of the main aims, which is to make sport centres available to everybody who wants to be engaged in leisure activities. So we developed the all inclusive system which was brought to Slovenia with ŠUS Eurofitnes’, said the director of UBAE Barcelona, Mr. Toni Llop.

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The Slovenian Times | Spring Edition 2013

All inclusive offer In comparison to other sport centres in Slovenia where different services or sport activities/ classes have to be paid separately, Eurofitness is the first sport centre in Slovenia with a system (developed by the mentioned partners) based on a membership. Once you register in the club Eurofitness, you get the unlimited usage of all services provided by the sport centre: indoor fitness, guided exercise classes like cycling, pilates or yoga, sport games and a SPA centre with a swimming pool, Turkish sauna and jacuzzi.

The members get more activities for a very favourable membership price, which is also the main marketing advantage at the fulfilment of

Once you register in the club Eurofitness, you get the unlimited usage of all services provided by the sport centre: indoor fitness, guided exercise classes like cycling, pilates or yoga, sport games and a SPA centre with a swimming pool, Turkish sauna and jacuzzi.

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

02

03 01 In the Spa Center you can swim in the pool or relax in the sauna and jacuzzi 02 The English language sports programs are lead by our Catalan, Noemi.

03 Alex Kubanec is always smiling and ready to lend a hand in swimming classes.

04 The new cycling hall.

05 Everything you need for a healthy lifestyle, all in one place.

the project’s aim, which is to offer the qualitative recreation possibilities to a large number of active population. ‘I think that in such a variety of offers everybody can find something for him/herself ’, said the director of ŠUS Eurofitness, Mr. Gregor Pečovnik.

International group of instructors Eurofitness centre offers its members more than 300 hours of guided group exercise classes for people of all ages in an entirely renovated building with contemporary equipped exercise studios and modern facilities in Vodnikova 155, Ljubljana. One of the features of Eurofitness centre is that you will be guided through the exercise classes by an experienced team of international instructors who you can talk to in English or even Spanish language. To mention at least two of them; if you decide on taking up the guided recreation swimming, you will meet always smiling Cuban instructor, Mr.

04

Alex Sarria and if you choose cycling, pilates or yoga, you will be guided by a very likeable Catalan, Ms. Noemi Rodrigez. ‘I like working in Slovenia and I am slowly getting used to living in Ljubljana, I only miss a bit of more sun and hugs’, said Noemi with a laugh, who has become popular among the members because of her openminded character.

The sport centre is opened from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. on working days and from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. on weekdays. For the programme of guided exercise classes please check our web page: www.sportnahisailirija.si/sus-eurofitness/.

For a single entry in Eurofitness with the all inclusive offer (fitness, guided exercise classes, SPA) you will be charged 15 euros and for a monthly ticket 59 euros. There are also monthly half day/morning tickets available and a special monthly ticket in Happy hours (from noon until 2 p.m.) for 32 euros.

If agreed in advance the booking of a SPA centre is also possible. ŠUS Eurofitness is placed in Športna hiša Ilirija (Sport house Ilirija) in Vodnikova 155, Ljubljana where you can also find a massage studio, a dancing school and a mentioned Japanese restaurant. Everything in one place for your healthy lifestyle and well-being! 

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Address: ŠUS Eurofitness Vodnikova cesta 155 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia E-mail: sus@clubeurofitness.com Telephone: +386 1 518 1662 Web: www.sportnahisailirija.si Opening hours: Monday - Friday: 6:00 - 22:00 Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 - 21:00 National holidays: closed Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Photo: Alenka Rebec

The Capital

Photo: Vita Kontić

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Ljubljana is among the four finalists for the title of European Green Capital 2015.

Since 2007, the pedestrian zones in the city centre have been increased by as much as 550%.

You can reduce your travel time in the city centre using the two Kavalir electric vehicles and Bicike(LJ) bicycles.

In the first year of operation, Bicike(LJ) users have circled the equator 57 times, thereby contributing to reducing CO2 emissions by 500 tonnes in one year.

WiFreeLjubljana provides unlimited free access to the online content of MOL public corporations and institutes.

In Ljubljana, people drink high quality water straight from the tap (and street drinking fountains).

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The Slovenian Times | Spring Edition 2013

Pleasant Experiences in Ljubljana’s City Centre

These days, when walking around the city centre – the open, renovated, green, bustling and vibrant public space that can now breathe with cleaner “lungs” in the absence of motor traffic and beat with a more vital “heart” – you will occasionally hear statements along the lines of “Ljubljana’s truly beautiful now!”, or a tourist saying “Oh my, what a fabulous square!”, or a child exclaiming “Mom, come see the ducks!” or teenagers suggesting “Man, let’s go get a drink at the ‘beach’!” It is words like these that testify to the fact that spending time in Ljubljana is an enjoyable experience. It is therefore not surprising that Ljubljana ranked among the four finalists for the title of European Green Capital 2015.

The quality of life in the city is rising thanks to the numerous efforts of the City of Ljubljana (MOL), its colleagues and partners, NGOs, citizens, and last but not least the financial resources from European and national projects, programmes and bodies. Some of the measures that in recent years contributed to this progress the most include, for example, expanded pedestrian zones, new bridges connecting renovated embankments and rearranged squares that make outdoor socialising possible. Following the expansion of pedestrian zones in the city centre, we also introduced two electric vehicles called Kavalir – which can be ordered via phone and are free of charge – for people who have trouble travelling greater distances on foot or are simply not in the mood for walking.

Another option to quickly and easily move around the city is the Bicike(LJ) bicycle rental system, which allows free travel for the first hour of rental. While lounging in the landscaped green areas or the neat urban furniture, city centre visitors or residents can also explore the internet. We have recently implemented the WiFreeLjubljana wireless network that allows users to browse the Web for one hour free of charge (browsing the websites of the MOL and its public corporations and institutes is free at all times). And for those in need of refreshment after spending a whole day experiencing the city, Ljubljana boasts high quality water that is available at any of the drinking fountains in the street.

Attractive Pedestrian Zones In 2006, when Zoran Janković became Mayor of the City of Ljubljana, the city centre began

transforming into a space for pedestrians, cyclists and outdoor events. Ljubljana began to breathe in a completely new rhythm – healthy, green, relaxed and attractive for citizens as well as for all visitors.

The City of Ljubljana established the ecological zone in the city centre as early as in 2007, which is closed to motor traffic, and which is still being gradually expanded and renovated.

More than 30 streets are included in the ecological zone, which now equals as much as 79,671 m2. This means that pedestrian zones in the city centre have expanded by 550% during this time.

The happenings in the city centre are varied throughout the year, peaking in the spring and summer months, when the centre becomes flooded with various outdoor events, ranging from the Ana Desetnica festival of street theatre to the June in Ljubljana event, when high culture is freely available outdoors to visitors, and to the Nights in Old Ljubljana and other events taking place in the centre of the city.

The changes carried out in the city centre have not gone unnoticed. Namely, last year in Barcelona, the City of Ljubljana received the European Prize for Urban Public Space, which was awarded by international experts for the project called Rearrangement of the Embankments and Bridges over the Ljubljanica; a few months later, the renewal project for the Kongresni trg square, formerly a large parking lot and now a magnificent platform and pedestrian zone dedicated to various cultural and social events, received the prestigious international architectural award Gubbio.

All of that, and especially the positive experiences and responses of citizens and visitors, is giving us impetus for further work.

The Capital Kavalir, the Two “Gentlemanly” Electrical Vehicles

Photo: Vita Kontić

From early April to late October, the two electrical vehicles called Kavalir drive around the pedestrian zone in the city centre, giving free rides to people who have difficulty walking or want to see the centre from a different perspective. Up to five people can ride in a Kavalir at the same time and you can even stop them during driving on account of their low speed. Since there are no special stops for the two Kavalir vehicles, they stop anywhere the passengers want them to.

The two vehicles are in operation from early April to the end of October, every day from 8 to 20. You can also order a ride at +386 (0)31 666 331 and +386 (0) 31 666 332.

Photo: Volker Hoffmann

03

Getting Around in Ljubljana Quickly and Effectively with Bicike(LJ) In May 2011, Ljubljana introduced the Bicike(LJ) self-service bicycle rental system whose 31 stations and 300 bicycles represent an excellent complement to the city’s public transport scheme. Ljubljana residents and visitors can ride the bicycles around the wider area of the Ljubljana city centre practically free of charge – the annual registration fee for bicycle use is just €3 and counts as credit. Weekly use of the system is primarily intended for visitors to Ljubljana, with the application fee being just one euro. The first hour of hire is free of charge for all users of the Bicike(LJ) system.

Bicike(LJ) operates 24 hours per day, all days of the year. The Bicike(LJ) self-service bicycle rental system was established by Europlakat, d.o.o. within the framework of a publicprivate partnership with the City of Ljubljana.

The system was designed by JCDecaux and has been in use for several years in over 20 cities in Europe and globally, with JCDecaux receiving numerous awards for it.

Bicike(LJ) has more than 40,000 users who have together done more than a million rides.

On average, each of the 300 bikes in the system is hired at least six times per day.

As an interesting side note, Bicike(LJ) users have circled the equator in the first year of operation 57 times, thereby contributing to reducing CO2 emissions by 500 tonnes in one year.

WiFreeLjubljana Wireless Network at Every Step In early February, the first stage of the Wi-Fi network called WiFreeLjubljana was launched

05 01 Pleasant walk along Ljubljanica.

02 Refurbished Breg welcomes pedestrians and cyclists.

03 Spacious Congress Square.

04 »Gentlemanly« Kavalir vehicle.

05 Popular bicycle-sharing system Bicike(LJ).

06 Refreshing water from drinking fountains.

07 Enjoy web browsing with WeFreeLjubljana.

Photo: Kristina Ina Novak

Photo: Miha Fras

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in the centre of Ljubljana. There are currently eighty access points available, which cover sections of the wider city centre with wireless signal. WiFreeLjubljana allows users with modern portable communication devices (laptops, smartphones, tablet computers, PDAs) to browse the Web. Access to the websites of the City of Ljubljana and the public institutes and corporations operating within it is free all the time, while access to other websites is free for the first 60 minutes.

The City of Ljubljana has built and commissioned the wireless network in the MOL area in public-private partnership with the companies Telekom Slovenije, d.d. and NIL, d.o.o.

Refresh Yourself at the Drinking Fountains In Ljubljana, we are justifiably proud to be able to drink quality water straight from the tap.

The city centre thus offers worry-free refreshment at drinking fountains from April to October, when there is no danger of frost.

The drinking fountains are connected to Ljubljana’s central water supply system. With them being located in places in direct vicinity of the public water supply network, the residence time in which water reaches the drinking fountain tap is short, preventing overheating of water in most cases. This is very important, especially during the summer heat.

The drinking fountains in the city centre are hard to miss as they are located in sequence from the Pogačarjev trg square all the way up to the Gornji trg square. The drinking fountains are also located at the recreation grounds at Tivoli and Navje, and at Koseze Pond and Cankar’s Peak.

The public drinking fountains are not just an urban decoration of the city, but a daily reminder that the people of Ljubljana can drink high quality water. The public accessibility of drinking water through these drinking fountains carries a symbolic message: water is a natural resource that should be accessible to all, but with the awareness that drinking water does have a price. Let a refreshing sip of natural drinking water fill you with respect for the environment providing this privilege.  Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Photo: Courtesy of the Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia.

Sports

01

Ice-hockey Sensation

Good Things Happen to Good People Slovenia likes to pride itself on big sporting successes relative to its small size. There is more than enough evidence but the story of ice-hockey is difficult to beat. Okay, so the Jamaican bob sled team still has the edge, but Slovenian icehockey is not far behind after qualifying for the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014.

By Simon Demšar Consider this: every seventh out of 150 registered players in Slovenia (of which only 50 are serious professionals) is a national team member; there are seven ice-hockey venues in the country; one professional team and no proper national championship. Yet, this infrastructure has yielded a team that beat hot favourites Belarus and Denmark at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Denmark and secured their first participation at the Olympic Games for Slovenia in a sport that is widely regarded as the most prestigious winter Olympic event.

And what could be better than playing an Olympic match against the host country on their home turf? This is exactly what will hap-

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The Slovenian Times | Spring Edition 2013

pen in February next year, with the USA and Slovakia being the other two teams in the Slovenian preliminary group.

On previous occasions, qualifying tournaments went rather unnoticed, but this year was different. Coach, Matjaž Kopitar (father of NHL star Anže Kopitar) openly announced that qualifying for Sochi was his goal and that he would resign if his team failed to do so.

“You have to aim high when you begin doing something. Qualifying for the Olympic Games is a great thing. Most of all I am happy for the guys, they did it with supernatural power - I don’t know where it came from. This is a great reward for them and they deserve every re-

spect. We had been close on several other occasions but we probably didn’t have the guts to win. We are now more experienced and we took advantage of being the underdogs at the qualifying tournament. Everything was seemingly against us: the home crowd, turf and strength.

But we have a team with character and good leaders,” said Kopitar.

Team captain, Tomaž Razingar, 33, who had already hung up his skates but made a comeback after securing a professional contract halfway into the season, could not choke back tears when the national anthem was being played to honour Slovenia’s qualifying for Sochi. “Generations were dreaming about what

we have done. Many people did not believe in us but we did. These guys are just great; modest, honest and proud to play for Slovenia.

Good things happen to good people.”

Rudi Hiti, the first Slovenian ice-hockey super star in the 1970’s, attributed the result to a few facts: Robert Kristan is a great goal-keeper, the national team members play key roles in strong European teams; the defence did a brilliant job as did the forwards; and on top of that Matjaž Kopitar’s excellent management. Kopitar himself admitted that in ice-hockey you sometimes have to be lucky that the puck rebounds in your favour. It indeed seems that on this occasion everything fitted together: technical skill, motivation, management and a bit of luck.

Despite words of praise, Kopitar remains with his feet firmly on the ground: “In sport you always need to prove yourself again and again.” The first test will come in May, when Slovenia will play in the Pool A World Championship in Sweden. They will play without the two Slovenian NHL players, Anže Kopitar and Jan Muršak, who were also absent in Denmark due to their NHL commitments. But Sochi will be another story. Even the mighty NHL will take a break to allow its players take part in the Olympic Games.

Photo: Courtesy of the Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia.

Sports

A Bit of History The history of Slovenian ice-hockey officially begins with Slovenian independence in 1991 but the team itself has a much longer tradition within the former Yugoslavia. Ice-hockey was a Slovenian domain, with only one or two players coming from other parts. “There were even occasions when up to 17 players came from one village, now part of Jesenice,” says Rudi Hiti, who was close to becoming the first Slovenian NHL player in the 1970s, had he not suffered a serious injury. You could argue that there was little competition but these guys were nevertheless highly regarded throughout Yugoslavia and even President Tito attended the Pool B World Championship, played at a packed Šalata venue in Zagreb in 1966. And what has proven even more important: they sowed the seeds that continue to bear fruit.

Playing in Sochi will be the first participation of a Slovenian ice-hockey team at the Olympic Games however the Yugoslav team took part in all games from 1964 and 1984, except in 1980 and finished in positions between 9th and 14th. One of the most memorable events was in Sarajevo in 1984 when Yugoslavia played against the Soviet Union. Slovenia lost 9 – 1 but when Ivan Ščap scored the only goal it was also the only goal that the legendary Soviet goalie, Vladislav Tretiak, conceded at that tournament. Although he wasn’t in goal form for every game, the fact remains. Ščap himself

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01 History in the making: one seventh of all Slovenian professional ice-hockey players have qualified for Sochi.

02 As the underdog, Slovenia surprised hot favourites Denmark and Belarus.

rushed to pick up the puck and keep it as a souvenir.

Ice-hockey national championships used to be one of the most watched team sports in the late 1980s and early 1990s in both Slovenia and other parts of Yugoslavia. The finals attracted as many as 8,000 people. Jesenice used to dominate the sport in the early times, followed by Ljubljana’s Olimpija in the 1980s. The golden era of ice-hockey in Yugoslavia was just before the country broke up. Teams from Croatia and Serbia (Medveščak, Partizan, Crvena zvezda, Vojvodina) formed strong teams (mainly around Slovenian players) and Medveščak and Partizan even became champions on two occasions. With two teams only and for other reasons, the public gradually lost interest in ice-hockey after 1991. Joining the Austrian championship in 2006 (Jesenice) and

“Generations were dreaming about what we have done.

Many people did not believe in us but we did. These guys are just great; modest, honest and proud to play for Slovenia.”

Tomaž Razingar, Team captain

2007 (Olimpija) came as a blessing although it means that there is no proper national championship. However, observers agree that this is the best way for Slovenia to keep in contact with quality ice-hockey.

The tragic irony is that while Slovenia is celebrating its biggest international success, icehockey in Jesenice is virtually dead with the professional team dismantled in 2012 due to lack of money. There are plans to restore it but a budget of around EUR 1m will first have to be secured.  Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Photo: Goran Antlej

Sports Alpine Skiing

Super Tina Rockin’ The Slopes A girl from a small town in the north of Slovenia made skiing history this year. Tina Maze didn´t just “win” the FIS World Cup season but she showed unbelievable strength, dedication, concentration and focus. Skiing is not her only pastime, she also found time for some “lighter” show business projects when, just before the season, she recorded her first song and video in which she literally predicted the course of the season.

By Tilen Majnardi, M. Sc..

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The story of the legend started on 2 May 1983, she then learned to ski at the age of three in her home town on the surrounding hills and slopes. Maze made her World Cup debut at age 15 in January 1999 and after that her career was full of ups and downs. In 2003 she won her first race in the Alpine Skiing World Cup in giant slalom in Sölden and from 2004 it was more than clear that her potential was somehow not being fulfilled despite a solid number of different podium places at the Olympics, World Championships and the World Cup. She had many good moments but she lacked stability and consistency and it was clear that Tina needed a special training programme. The result was her team “Team to aMaze” which laid the foundations for her improving results from 2009.

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The Slovenian Times | Spring Edition 2013

Legendary Record Breaking season Tina started the 2012/2013 season with a convincing win at Sölden in October. After that the show went on the road. She then won her second giant slalom in Aspen, USA, followed by two wins at St.Moritz, Switzerland, in giant slalom and super combined. She then won again in the giant slalom in Courchevel, making it four wins from four races in giant slalom.

She managed 11 podiums by the beginning of 2013, five wins, two seconds and four thirds and gained a sizable lead in the overall standings. It would be tedious to go through all results that followed.

In addition to the World Cup, she was also the most successful women racer at the World

Championship in Schladming with three medals, gold in the super combined and silvers in the giant slalom and super combination.

Tina finished the season in the same style she began her 2012/2013 “ski show” at Sölden with a win in the giant slalom in Lenzerheide at the final World Cup. As the first ever Slovenian overall World Cup winner, Maze also far exceeded Austrian Hermann Maier’s record of winning 2,000 points in a season by securing 2,414 points, a record that will be hard to break, and broke Maier’s record of 24 podium results in a season. Furthemore, she won 11 events in the season putting her third in the history of women’s alpine skiing, after Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider (14 wins in the 1988/89 season) and Lindsey Vonn of the US (12 wins in the 2011/12 season).

Photo: Jurij Žurej

Photo: Karo Media

Sports

Ljubljana?????

Interview with Matjaž Jelen, cowriter of the Tina´s song »My Way is My Decision«

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Q When was the idea for the song and video «My Way is My Decision» born?

A The idea was born after Tina mentioned to me a few times that she would like to have her own song. It seriously all started last summer when my friend Raay joined me on this project as co-writer and producer.

02 01 Tina Maze with Crystal Globe in hand 02 Photo from Official Tina Maze Music Promo 03 Live performance by Tina Maze with the Feel Slovenia Band on the main stage in Schladming.

Slovenia’s national anthem was played three times for Maze at the World Cup final in Lenzerheide, first for her giant slalom victory, then for the small giant slalom crystal globe, and then when she was presented with the great crystal globe as the overall World Cup winner.

The President of the International Skiing Association, Gianfranco Kasper, hailed Maze as the definitive queen of this season: “It is incredible what she has managed to do, Slovenia can be proud to have such a successful athlete.”

Q The song was released just before the 2012/2013 season but somebody outside the skiing fraternity could think that the song was written after the season due to the really self-confident lyrics about the win and the winning spirit. Were you so optimistic about Tina winning or was there something else behind it - was it a kind of motivational project?

A I’ve known Tina and Andrea for a long time and at the end of the 2011/2012 season I knew that the next step in her career was to be No1 in World Cup alpine skiing. So it was in that direction that we started to write the lyrics and I know, for sure, that the song also motivated her many times this season.

Q Where did you shoot the video and who made the scenario?

A There was no scenario, we just knew that we would like to show the world that Tina is also a modern casual girl, not only the classic sporty girl, so we rented an old factory in the centre of Ljubljana and the shooting was done in half a day. Special thanks to the director, Niko Karo, he did a great job in such a short time.

Q Tina performed live for the first time at the end of the World Championships in Schladming with the Feel Slovenia Band. Did she rehearse for that?

A No rehearsal at all. But I’ve been in the music business for more than 30 years and with Raay’s

The Queen of Slovenian hearts

help, we prepared Tina so that her performance would be like that of a professional musician.

Tina Maze returned to Slovenia from Lenzerheide after her record-breaking season directly to her home town Črna na Koroškem which was for the day renamed to “Tina na Koroškem”. Her fans were thrilled to welcome the ski champion home, a welcome party was held in the centre of the town. Despite catastrophic weather with heavy rain and snow, 3,000 people gathered to welcome Maze and her team. Fans flocked from across the country and also from neighbouring Austria. She thanked her coach and partner, Andrea Massi, for starting the Team to aMaze and the remaining members of her team. Massi thanked the people who hired him to be a part of the Slovenian national skiing team and also the sponsors who made it possible for him and Maze to start their own team a decade ago. The following day a large open-air party for Maze and other Slovenian winter athletes was held in Ljubljana where almost 15,000 people gathered at Congress Square. 

Q Do you have any plans to develop Tina’s music career in the future, next year?

A It all depends on Tina because we all know that “Her way is her decision”. 

The records of Tina Maze Record

Tina Maze

Previous record

Most Points (Women)

2414

Lindsey Vonn - 1980

Most Points (Women & Men)

2414

Hermann Maier - 2000

Most Podiums (Women)

24

Hanni Wenzel, Pernilla Wiberg - 18

Most Podiums (Women & Men)

24

Hermann Maier - 22

In the top 5 (Women)

31

Pernilla Wiberg - 24

In the top 5 (Women & Men)

31

Hermann Maier - 24

Biggest difference in overall World Cup standings (Women)

1313

Lindsey Vonn - 578

Biggest difference in overall World Cup standings (Women & Men)

1313

Hermann Maier - 743

677

Katja Seizinger - 643

Points after 10 races in season Percentage of all points

69%

Pernilla Wiberg - 61% Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Events Rockin´ Slovenia

The two different faces of rock guitar mastery:

Joe Satriani and Mark Knopfler

Slovenia has seen its fair share of majestic rock guitarists lately: Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Eric Sardinas, Steve Morse and Slash, to name a select few. But there are more, two of the biggest names in rock guitar are making an appearance in Ljubljana, demonstrating two very different and contrasting styles. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame is an old school guitarist, playing with subtlety and finesse, while Joe Satriani comes from a “new breed” of guitarists, where speed and technique are predominant.

By Rok Podgrajšek

Mark Knopfler

Then in 1978, along came a young guitarist called Eddie Van Halen. Although it was still the 1970s, he disregarded some of the old concepts and the rock guitar rulebook was forever changed. It became more about speed and flashy playing and less about feel. Then, a whole new generation of guitarists followed in Eddie’s footsteps like Steve Vai, Axel Rudi Pell, Yngwie Malmsteen and of course, Joe Satriani. More than ever, the guitar became a competition in speed. Rock and metal guitarists alike were trying to break their fingers on the fingerboard and also work on new techniques to further complicate playing and gain an edge over the competition. It took a lot of emotion out of guitar playing and placed it into the category of an Olympic event. For them, the whole song could occasionally be only about technique.

Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani

1960s and 1970s guitarists vs. modern guitarists In the 1960s and 1970s there were guitarists like Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi, Brian May, Steve Howe, Steve Hackett, David Gilmour, Gary Moore, Pete Townshend and Mark Knopfler. Their first priority was to convey the emotion of the song through the guitar.

Any technique that went into the song was there for a reason and not just for show. For them, technique served the purposes of the song and was rarely overdone.

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Of all these so-called “shredders” or fast and technical players, Satriani is known to be one of the least annoying, meaning that he doesn’t need to impress with lightning fast notes every step of the way. Satriani chooses his moments wisely. Throughout his career, on his many studio albums and live shows, he has proven that he is, without a doubt, one of the fastest players out there, yet he is also the picture of restraint when he wants to be. If you listen to an album like Flying in a Blue Dream, you will hear both sides of his playing – the immensely challenging technical side and also the more personal and touching interludes.

Mark Knopfler Although the first Dire Straits album was released in the same year as the first Van Halen album (1978), Mark Knopfler undoubtedly be-

longs to the classic rock school of playing. He has shown us that he is able to rock with the best of them (Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing), but he also created some of the most tender moments in rock, with pieces like Why Worry, Romeo and Juliet and Brothers in Arms. Aside from being a great song-writer, Knopfler is also famous for his smooth playing and his fingerstyle guitar playing which is seldom used in rock.

Naturally, the generalisation about older and modern guitarists doesn’t apply to all guitarists. Some modern guitarists do play in a more classical style, faithful primarily to the emotional element in the playing. However, Mark Knopfler and Joe Satriani (at times) are very good examples of these two contrasting playing styles. Satriani often encompasses both speed and emotions into his playing, making him one of the few who is able to muster enough self-restraint to achieve this balance, whereas Knopfler relies all of the time on making the listener “feel” the music.

In a live setting, there are again major differences between the two styles and the two individuals. On one hand, Satriani, who has a very flashy performance with lots of fast, flickering bright lights. On the other there’s Mark Knopfler, who creates a very intimate atmosphere also in large venues and will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up not with bravado, but with the emotions he is able to pour out of his instrument.

So, we have vastly different players and performers, both being able to offer something unique to the concert-going crowds. You cannot say one is better than the other. It would be like comparing apples and oranges. At the end of the day, both concerts should be a treat for the senses and highly enjoyable. 

Events Alternative

The Phenomenon of

Rammstein and Laibach Since their formation in 1994, Rammstein have been gaining more and more popularity throughout the world and are now one of the most popular artists around, with more than 15 million albums sold and sold-out shows in huge concert halls. Still, their success might not have been the same were it not for a little Slovenian band called Laibach

By Rok Podgrajšek Laibach

It is no secret that these bands are somewhat connected. Were you to listen to them separately, you might say that they really don’t have that much in common, Rammstein have a much heavier sound. The industrial element prevalent in both bands, however, shows that they do share quite a bit of common ground and only the arrangement and performance make them sound so different. Both bands often employ marching militaristic beats in their pieces, they both feature male vocalists with big, booming bass vocals and they are both industrial bands at their very core. Therefore, the foundations for the music are very similar.

Laibach present their music dramatically and artistically, while Rammstein pack more of a punch and get straight to the point with their grinding riffs and infectious melodies. Therein lies the biggest difference between the two. To experienced artists, this is all a matter of what choices you make when writing, arranging and producing the album. Do you make an artistic and sometimes difficult choice or do you go for a more straightforward sound?

The two bands are aware of these connecting points and parallels, but also of the differences. Laibach themselves say that “Rammstein seem to be a kind of Laibach for adolescents and Laibach are Rammstein for grown-ups” and Rammstein themselves have admitted to being influenced by Laibach.

Stage shows When both of these bands take the stage, it is an impressive sight. They make good use of screens, light shows and costumes. Rammstein’s shows are more elaborate and lavish, and yet Laibach’s are perfectly indicative of their artistic vision. Whereas Rammstein use the visual element to add to their music, which is relative-

ly simple in its form, and for entertainment, Laibach use the stage show to emphasise the music, highlight certain sections, but they certainly never overuse effects that would distract the listener from the music.

Right wing sympathies Another matter which draws parallels between their careers is the controversy they have had to deal with, mostly accusations of right wing philosophies. This came to the attention of the musical world first of all due to the militaristic marching beats used by both bands, however, several other elements have also played a part in this misconception.

Because of their imagery and lyrics, Rammstein have often been accused of sympathising with right wing movements. The band themselves have refuted such claims, saying that if anything, it was quite the opposite, with them being more to the left side of politics.

Like Rammstein, Laibach have also often been the subject of controversy, being linked to the Nazi philosophy and the like. The artwork for Opus Dei, for example, features a Swastika, so the association became obvious. Laibach have also been known to dress in Nazi uniforms. However, going deeper into their music and into Neue Slowenische Kunst, it becomes clear that Laibach actually attack Opus Dei (the Catholic institution) and the Nazi regime with their twisted take on a symbol like the Swastika.

While both have been the subject of controversy with people misunderstanding their art, Laibach have undoubtedly pushed harder in this respect and upset more people. This could be one of the reasons for Rammstein’s greater popularity. Rammstein have made just enough allusions to such topics to gain respect without

Rammstein

drawing the wrath of any particular group, whereas Laibach have always taken it further, sometimes perhaps even a step too far, in order to point out the mistakes of certain institutions, philosophies and morality.

While Rammstein have gone on to garner huge fortune and fame, Laibach are still a cult band, albeit with quite a big following for a supposed “cult” band. Rammstein play in much bigger venues than Laibach, even in Laibach’s home country. From a commercial point of view, it’s understandable. Rammstein are a much more attractive and “saleable” product than Laibach, who have spent most of their career building a cult following on uncompromising aesthetics and have, unlike Rammstein, not pulled any punches.

If you’re going to see Rammstein on their current tour, remember that without Laibach they might not sound the way they do. So, next time Laibach are in town, do yourself a favour and see their show and listen to the original.

Even though their music might not sound as appetising as Rammstein’s, Laibach have shown that their vision is not hindered by popular culture and they go their own way no matter what, even at the risk of their own careers.  Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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Event Guide Electronic

White Invasion Feat.

Hardwell Sat 6 Apr, 9pm, Cvetličarna, Ljubljana, EUR 25–35 At the age of only 23, Hardwell, hailing from the Netherlands, is considered to be one of the world‘s most popular DJs. He holds the enviable sixth position in the DJ Mag chart, which he only entered last year. The only DJ’s ahead of him in the chart are Deadmau5, David Guetta, Avicii, Tiësto, and Armin Van Buuren. Support will come in the form of two other Dutch DJ’s, Dannic and Dyro.

Ballet

Sleeping Beauty Motocross 

Masters of Dirt Mon 1 Apr, 6pm, Stožice Sports Park Arena, Ljubljana, EUR 11–220 Masters of Dirt is one of Europe‘s biggest freestyle motocross shows, featuring two and fourwheeler riders performing loops 10 metres above the ground, extreme jumps of over 23 metres, reverse jumps, and many other breathtaking tricks. The categories include FMX, 50‘s, BMX and MTB. The Masters of Dirt show is performed by some of the bravest and most skilled freestyle motorcyclists and bikers from Europe, the United States and Asia.

Thu 11 Apr–Sat 13 Apr, 7.30pm, Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ljubljana, Ljubljana Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, first performed in 1890. The music

by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (his Opus 66) was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets. The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky and is based on Charles Perrault‘s La Belle au bois dormant. The choreographer of the original production was Marius Petipa. The premiere performance took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890. The work has become one of the classical repertoire’s most famous ballets.

Dance 

Grupo Corpo Wed 24 Apr, 7.30pm, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, EUR 14–28 This electrifying Brazilian dance company captivates with stunning, sexy physicality, dynamic ability and rich visual flair. Grupo Corpo creates a vibrant and seamless blend of ballet grace, modern dance verve, and the hip-swivelling exuberance of Carnival sambas and their Afro-Brazilian roots. Founded in 1975, Brazilian contemporary dance company Grupo Corpo and choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras have attracted high praise from both critics and audiences for colourfully reinventing classical ballet as an exuberant and rhythmic dance form, infused with Brazilian dance rhythms

Classical Classical 

Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Fri 5 Apr, 8pm, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, EUR 30–65 Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia was the first in Italy to devote itself exclusively to the symphonic repertoire, promoting the premieres of important 20th century masterworks. Founded in 1908, the Orchestra has been conducted by some of the major musical figures of the 20th century, from Mahler to Gergiev. With Sir Antonio Pappano, Musical Director since 2005, the stature of the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has enjoyed extraordinary success, building an international reputation.

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Metal 

Rammstein Tue 30 Apr, 9pm, Stožice Sports Park Arena, Ljubljana, EUR 39–90 The Ljubljana concert by the cult German band, Rammstein, whose music has, to some extent been influenced by the Slovenian group Laibach, will be part of the band‘s tour promoting their greatest hits album, Made in Germany 1995-2011. Rammstein, active since 1994, rose to fame with their controversial videos, unconventional clothing style and behaviour, and spectacular concerts. The band usually sing in German and present themselves as a distinctively German music group, but some of their lyrics are in other languages. Their latest hits include Du hast, Keine Lust and Mann gegen Mann, amongst others.

Event Guide Rock

World music

Mark Knopfler

29th International Druga Godba Festival

Sat 4 May, 9pm, Stožice Sports Park Arena, Ljubljana, EUR 35–70 The Ljubljana concert by the famous British singer and guitarist Mark Knopfler, who made a name for himself as a member of the group Dire Straits, will be part of the tour promoting his new album Privateering. Mark Knopfler is considered to be not only one of the most successful rock musicians of all time, but also one of the world’s best guitarists. His eighth solo studio album, Privateering, was recorded with an eightpiece band with whom Knopfler has been collaborating successfully for the last eight years.

Knopfler’s concert repertoire includes the best known hits by Dire Straits, such as Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing, Romeo and Juliet, etc.

Classical

Fri 10 May–Sat 11 May, various venues, Ljubljana Druga Godba, being held for the 29th year running, is a festival of world and, to a lesser extent, contemporary jazz music. It ranks among Europe‘s best festivals of slightly alternative music difficult to fit neatly into musical categories. Druga Godba is well known for bringing to Ljubljana leading artists from different backgrounds and musical traditions who draw inspiration from different traditional folk music and are committed to creative musical exploration. The Druga Godba line-up is sometimes ahead of world trends. The influential British magazine, Songlines, ranked Druga Godba among the world‘s 25 best international music festivals of 2009, 2010 and 2012.

Bouffes du Nord Mon 6 May–Tue 7 May, 8pm, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, EUR 13–26 The production A Magic Flute (After Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) presents Mozart‘s famous opera in a modern staging by the legendary director Peter Brook, who stripped down the usual operatic glamour in order to explore Mozart in a new way. The production, premiered in 2010, is the latest major work by the theatre and film director, who tapped into the European classical repertoire again after many years. Rediscovering Mozart with the help of young opera singers performing on a chamber stage and following his distinctive authorial vision, Brook created a production that enthuses audiences and critics around the world.

Rock 

Joe Satriani Sat 25 May, 9pm, Cvetličarna, Ljubljana, EUR 25 Joe Satriani is appreciated as one of the technically most accomplished guitarists in the history of rock music. Satriani rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s with a series of brilliant instrumental albums which left an indelible mark on guitar rock music of the time and spawned numerous imitators. Over the course of his career, which he began modestly as a local talent and guitar teacher, Satriani has collaborated with many superstar artists and bands including, amongst others, Deep Purple and Mick Jagger on his first solo tour.

Ballet

Giselle Thu 30 May–Sat 1 Jun, 7.30pm, Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ljubljana, Ljubljana The renowned British choreographer David Dawson presents the classical ballet Giselle in a new light, giving an air of freshness to its romantic story about love beyond death. Dawson sees Giselle, Albrecht and other characters in the ballet as people adorned with youth, whose lives can easily be compared to the lives of the dancers portraying them. The production is remarkable for its perfect fusion of dance techniques of the past and present, and David Coleman’s excellent reworking of the original score

by Adolphe Adam.

Recreation

Recreational March Around Ljubljana and Threesomes Run

Pop 

Pop

Depeche Mode

La vie en rose

Thu 9–Sat 11 May, Path of Remembrance and Comradeship (The Green Ring), Ljubljana Those participating in the march along the 35km path around Ljubljana will be able to choose from several tracks of different lengths.

Those wishing for strenuous exercise will be able to join the Run of Threesomes. The recreational Path around Ljubljana is a unique cultural monument, it runs along the course of the barb wire fence which surrounded Ljubljana during World War II. The fence was built in 1942 in order to prevent contact between the city and its hinterland.

Thu 23 May, 8pm, Maksimir, Zagreb, Croatia, EUR 47–67 Depeche Mode are set to embark on a world tour and the gloom-pop icons will have a new album to take with them. The English synthrockers announced that their 13th studio album will be out in March 2013 via Columbia Records. The new album, Delta Machine, will hopefully serve up some more great dark pop, in the style of Personal Jesus, Master and Servant, I Feel You, Just Can’t Get Enough, People are People, It’s No Good and Enjoy the Silence.

Tue 4 Jun, 8pm, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, EUR 16–32 The Chanson Festival will be dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Jure Robežnik. Is there anyone who is not familiar with the songs such as Lastovka, Na vrhu Nebotičnika, Pegasto dekle, Ti si moja ljubezen and many more? Fresh adaptations of Robežnik’s chansons and pop songs will be performed by a younger generation of brilliant artists, as well as legendary musicians, whose musical careers have long included this masterly songwriter’s creativity Spring Edition 2013 | The Slovenian Times

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