The Slovenia Times Autumn Edition 2018

SPECIAL INSERT: Mercedes Benz

The Slovenia Times Slovenian Magazine in English Language Autumn Edition 2018, Volume 15, EUR 4.90

www.sloveniatimes.com

Thomas Greminger, OSCE Secretary General: "We have to get back to rule-based security"

Equilibrist: Marjan Šarec, Hiša Franko entered the list of the new Slovenian prime minister the World’s 50 Best Restaurants

Douglas Rushkoff: "Apple built the so-called e-world, now it’s about 'I' "

Report: 13th Bled Strategic Forum: Bridging the divide

Investment Forum

Register online https://esic-2018-east-slovenia.b2match.io/signup Registration deadline October 15th, 2018

East Slovenia Investment Compass

www.esic.si October 23rd and 24th 2018 Maribor, Slovenia Hotel City Maribor ESIC 2018 – East Slovenia Investment Compass is a business oriented event.

The aim of the event is to gather investment potential of East Slovenia cohesion region in one place and to attract potential investors to a common venue in order to meet, discuss concrete investment opportunities and finally to make deals.

We expect:

50+ 30+ 10+ 10+

real estate projects, projects in tourist infrastructure, projects for new production, other projects.

Who should attend?

- Private companies (whatever their size) with investment projects, - Public companies with investment projects, - Municipalities with investment projects, - Business / industrial zones, - Liquidators, insolvency administrators, - Business consultants and Site selectors, - Developers - Investors, business angels, investment funds.

Organizers

Co - Organizers

Partners

Contacts Registration: Stefano Guardati E: stefano@stp.si T: +386 (0) 70 681 449

General information: Božidar Pučnik E: bozidar.pucnik@mra.si T: +386 (0) 2 333 13 14

East Slovenia Investment Compass

www.esic.si

Editorial Welcome to the new business year and the Autumn magazine where, as always, we explore the daily topics of conversation in the business and political circles in Slovenia.

Autumn Edition 2018 www.sloveniatimes.com

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Contributors Tonja Blatnik, Jan Bratanič, Simona Drevenšek, Saša Fajmut, Silvija Fister, Kaja Komar, Jasmina Kozina Praprotnik, Boštjan Lajovic, Ivona Victoria Moro, Kaja Sajovic, Institute of Macroeconomic Analyses and Development - IMAD

AD & D Marko Pentek, www.mgo.si

Cover Photo Padna, photo by Jaka Ivančič

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Specialist in Business English for when you need to ‘talk-the-talk’

"I am not optimistic", somewhat confronting words and the headline for an interview with Douglas Rushkoff, the father of the terms digital native, social currency and viral media, and whose first book, Cyberia, was considered not viable to publish in the early 90’s as the 'the internet was doomed to die'. As we face the next wave of technological innovation 'There is no doubt AI has the potential to change the world, but it depends on us in what way' concludes the article Brave New World, a salient point!

The Bled Strategic Forum is over for this year and the organisers can be complimented on the well-rounded program and speaker line-up.

The full wrap-up of another successful forum can be found in this edition. A personal highlight of the forum was hearing from Mr Michel Barnier, the EU Brexit negotiator who outlined the progress and stumbling blocks in the negotiation process, although the UK Ambassador to Slovenia, HMA Sophie Honey disputes Mr Barnier’s view that the negotiation is lose-lose, highlighting that the democratic process is the winner. Ambassador Honey discussed a range of areas in an interview with The Slovenia Times, with the view that 'Today we need to think creatively for the future of the EU-UK relationship'.

As we head into the busy time of year, it is important to remember that life should not be all work. The organisers of the 23rd Ljubljana Marathon, to be held at the end of October, share their motivation for the continuous development of the event and why this marathon is special. I encourage you to read the profile of Helena Žigon, who ran 19 consecutive Ljubljana marathons and the Istrian half-marathon at 86 years of age! A little known fact is that Slovenia is amongst the most active of the EU nations and running isn’t the only option available for active Slovenes.

Finally, congratulations to Ana Roš, the World’s Best Female Chef of 2017, whose restaurant, Hiša Franko, entered the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. I have yet to try the esteemed establishment and as it’s booked out a year ahead, it seems I will have to wait a little longer.

Brane Krajnik CEO The Slovenia Times

Contact: Louise Chatwood, louise.chatwood@gmail.com, +386 (0)40 424 850

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Contents Page 4

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

4 Interview: Thomas Greminger, PhD, Secretary General of the Organization for Security and

Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)

ECONOMY

6 Economy Overview: Two Slovenian infrastructure projects win EUR 15m in EU funds; Sava moves to

take over Bernardin hotels; Mercator to sell some malls to Supernova

Page 12

8 IMAD: Economic growth will remain high, although it will moderate somewhat this year and next

10 Interview: Douglas Rushkoff, the prize-winning American media theorist 12 A brave new world 13 European management strategy development, conceived in Slovenia 14 How Not to Develop Leaders–and How to Do It Right 15 '16+1' is becoming a beneficial cross-regional cooperation platform

POLITICS 16 Political Overview: Coalition willing to tackle Swiss franc loans; Delo says pay rises won’t bring

social peace; New minister looking at healthcare from different perspective now Page 20

18 Equilibrist 19 Comments: What are your expectations of the new government?

20 13th Bled Strategic Forum: Bridging the divide 22 Interview: HMA Sophie Honey, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Slovenia

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PARTNERS 24 TOPIC: What should be on the priority list of the new government?

Page 22

American Chamber of Commerce – AmCham Slovenia, British – Slovenian Chamber of Commerce – BSCC, The German-Slovene Chamber of Commerce and Industry – AHK Slowenien, Advantage Austria, Luxembourg-Slovenian Business Club (LSBC), Italian Trade Agency (ICE), French-Slovenian Business Club – FSBC

LEADERSHIP CORNER 28 I love people.

30 A scent of the leadership of tomorrow

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The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

Contents

Special insert after page 28:

Mercedes Benz GLOBAL PITCH

Page 35

32 Interview: Luigi Amati, President of Business Angels Europe

EDUCATION PERSPECTIVE 34 Manifesto: Changing the Course of Management Development - Combining Excellence with

Relevance 35 Interview: Professor Roger Martin, Thinker, Author, Adviser, Speaker 36 Interview: Paul Walton, Principal, British International School of Ljubljana 38 Interview: Professor Metka Tekavčič, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana and

Tilen Balon, MSc, Secretary General at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana

Page 42

EXPERIENCE & LIFESTYLE SLOVENIA 40 Ana Roš on top of the world 42 Ljubljana, the City of Sport 44 Interview: Gojko Zalokar, Organising Committee Director of the Volkswagen 23rd Ljubljana

Marathon and Andrej Razdrih, Organising Committee President of the Volkswagen 23rd Ljubljana Marathon 46 Helena Žigon and the Ljubljana marathon 47 Beyond mere promotion – a story about falling in love 48 33rd Vilenica: Mature, in a different world

Page 52

50 Maribor: The first Slovenian municipality with an approved circular economy strategy 51 Interview: Toni Llop, Partner Director, Eurofitness

CULTURE Photo: Nebojša Tadič

52 Interview: Nina Peče Grilc, Director of Kinodvor 54 EVENT GUIDE Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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In the Spotlight

Thomas Greminger, PhD, Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA

Interview: Thomas Greminger, PhD, Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)

In the long term we have to get back to rule-based security

By Tina Drolc, M.Sc., MBA

Ambassador Thomas Greminger, appointed Secretary General of the OSCE on 18 July 2017 for a three-year term, visited Slovenia for the 13th Bled Strategic Forum. As part of the forum’s special panel he discussed the prospects for multilateralism and the EU’s power. He explains the need to extend, reinvent and reform the multilateral approaches and communicate them better because "we have come to a stage where political military issues are back on the European security agenda – who would have thought this some ten years ago", highlighted Mr Greminger.

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The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

Q The global security environment has become unpredictable; violent extremism, cybercrime and the considerable movement of people fleeing war. To prevent crises from turning into conflicts and to confront transnational challenges, you have said that, "Trust is the glue that holds international relations together". How would you define trust within the larger vision of the OSCE as the guardian of European security?

A The vision is that we all get back to rulebased security. In order to get there, we need to rebuild trust. We need to identify areas where the interests converge and then gradually rebuild trust. That is something we can do in the short term. In the medium term, we will need to resolve the crisis around Ukraine. In the long term, we will need to go back to the common understanding of the principles and commitment around rule-based security.

Q What exactly do you have in mind for the long term?

A There have been serious violations of the principles and commitments, and it is obvious that we have a diverging understanding. If you access the recent history of how we have come since the cold war into the current situation of

In the Spotlight distrust between the key stakeholders of EuroAtlantic Security, you will identify at least two, if not three, different narratives. In the short term it is important to acknowledge that we have different narratives and now we need to try to come out of this current impasse. Again, in the long term, we will have to come to terms with these different narratives that we need to somehow reconcile.

Q We often hear that sometimes it seems we do not learn from history…

A There is the challenge over the risk of sleepwalking into a crisis and indeed, we have come to a stage where political military issues are back on our European security agenda – who would have thought that some ten years ago.

We thought this had gone! So, these issues are back, we have conflict back and more and more military risks again, and these are signs of alarm that we should take seriously.

Q How do you see the regional cooperation among the Balkan countries and what is the imperative for Slovenia and its role in the region, particularly with regard to Slovenia’s central geographical position "in the heart of Europe"?

A Slovenia is in a way a role model and a strong promotor of regional cooperation; I would very much hope that Slovenia continues on this path. Slovenia has just successfully chaired the forum for security cooperation, is contributing to the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, is supportive of my "fit for purpose" reform agenda at the OSCE and has been a champion in terms of promoting gender mainstreaming.

I hope this commitment will continue with the new government.

Q The crisis in Ukraine is widening the rift between Moscow and the West, raising significant questions about both European security and Russia’s place in the world. The OSCE responds to the crisis in and around Ukraine with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), deployed on 21 March 2014. What has been the main progress of the mission so far?

A We have been fairly good in managing the conflict, making sure that the conflict does not

We have come to a stage where political military issues are back on our European security agenda – who would have thought that some ten years ago.

Slovenia is in a way a role model and a strong promotor of regional cooperation; I would very much hope that Slovenia continues on this path. escalate and spin out of control; the ceasefire violations and the victim figures have never been lower since the beginning of the conflict than in this summer. This, as such, is good, but it is not satisfactory because at the same time we are not moving towards resolving the conflict and there is the matter of political commitment by the parties to implement all of the provisions of the Minsk Agreement. Here, the margin for manoeuvre by the OSCE is quite limited if there is not enough political will.

Q How many people participate the SMM? A Right now we have 714 monitors. 80% are active in the Donbas. The entire mission is 1,250 staff mission and it is by far the biggest operation of the OSCE. Q According to Chatham House (London), "The challenge of transforming Ukrainian institutions requires a smarter, more flexible and more differentiated approach to using EU assistance for individual projects."

How do you approach it? Do you see it as a challenge?

A We are a much smaller actor when it comes to the building of institutions in Ukraine. In a way, yes it is true, EU projects are not enough, but then again it is important that we bring in the technical know-how and then this needs to be combined with political messaging and the political commitment of the Ukraine to government push the reform through.

Q What have been the main achievements by the OSCE in the area of cyber/ICT security in recent years?

Q Britain decided to leave the EU when the Union already faced multiple challenges. The remaining EU member states will now have to work closely together and define common strategies to tackle the challenges of migration, economic and financial uncertainty and of Euroscepticism.

Could the challenge to maintain a strong EU voice within the OSCE context increase in the post-Brexit EU? A I would not applaud Brexit. Should Brexit come about, the EU will face a number of challenges; one is to continue security cooperation with the UK. The good news is what EU negotiator, Mr Michel Barnier, recently told us at the Bled Strategic Forum, that we will be able to maintain a high degree of coordination and cooperation in the fields of internal and external security. I am confident that the EU will manage to maintain a very strong and compelling voice, in particular, in the OSCE after Brexit.

I would say there is a set of issues that go beyond Brexit as there is the more fundamental question of multilateralism. We need to extend, reinvent and reform the multilateral approaches and consequently communicate these approaches better; maybe to get an inspiration from the populists, how they communicate politics. We need to get better in explaining to the audience how we, as a multilateral institution, matter; why we make a difference for him or her. In addition, we need to be self-critical about our instruments and tools, do they have an impact or not and here comes the OSCE 'fit for purpose' agenda of which the main purpose is that our organization stays effective and efficient.

I am confident that the EU will manage to maintain a very strong and compelling voice, in particular, in the OSCE after Brexit.

A I would see cybersecurity as one of those issues where the interests converge and indeed, the OSCE is the only regional organization that has managed to come up with confidencebuilding measures. We have identified 16 confidence-building measures and the focus is on preventing misperceptions and miscalculations regarding ICT use by states. If you suspect an attack by another state, you need mechanisms to identify whether you are right or wrong. The challenge now is to implement these measures in a climate of distrust, but I do believe there is a common interest by all 57 members to do that.

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy Overview

Two Slovenian Sava moves to take over Bernardin hotels In October, tourism company Sava published an intent to takeover the coastal infrastructure hotel chain operator, Hoteli Bernardin, after acquiring 38% of the shares from a projects win EUR 15m bankruptcy estate. in EU funds Brussels, 1 October - Two Slovenian infrastructure projects were among the 49 projects that the European Commission has chosen to finance under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a key EU funding instrument promoting growth, jobs and competitiveness.

The two projects will receive EUR 15m of the EUR 695.1m in EU funds available for distribution.

The energy company, Petrol, will receive EUR 12.9m for its project promoting electricitypowered mobility. Multi-E envisages a regular electric bus connection between Italy’s Trieste and Slovenia’s Port of Koper, and the construction of infrastructure for cross-border electric mobility. The EU will finance 20% of the project.

Slovenia Control, provider of air navigation services will receive EUR 1.9m for their project, Slowam, 50% of the funding. The Commission has allocated EUR 232.2m for the implementation of the Single European Sky ATM Research, a collaborative project aimed at completely overhauling European airspace and its air traffic management that is running in 25 countries, including Slovenia.

The projects to be funded by CEF aim to improve the infrastructure for the use of alternative fuel, to modernise air traffic control in Europe and to develop inland waterways and railways. The CEF investments are expected to encourage some EUR 2.4bn in public and private investments, the Commission stated in a press release.

European Commission, Brussels; Photo: Stephane Mignonderivative / wikimedia.org

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The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

Sava chairman, Gregor Rovanšek, said Sava was acting in unison with other state-run shareholders of Hoteli Bernardin: Bank Assets Management Company, insurer Triglav and Pension Fund Management (KAD). Rovanšek described the takeover as an important step in consolidating ownership of hotel managers Sava Turizem, Hoteli Bernardin and Istrabenz Turizem. This should create the conditions for operative consolidation that would create synergy and thus increase the companies’ net value. To finance the takeover, Sava owners - Slovenian Sovereign Holding, KAD and the Luxembourg-based York Fund - recently endorsed a capital injection of EUR 4.7m. Sava initially held a 9% stake in the hotel chain, increasing it to around 38% after obtaining shares from the receivership of NFD Holding.

Having published the takeover intent in Dnevnik, Sava needs to also publish the takeo-

ver bid within 30 days. The process will be handled by Alta Invest.

Grand Hotel Bernardin, Bernardin; Photo: Kaja Kraljevič/STA

Mercator to sell some malls to Supernova The retailer Mercator is to sell some of its shopping centres in Slovenia to Austrian company, Supernova, in a sale and leaseback deal published in Dnevnik in early October.

The retailer, which is owned by Croatian conglomerate, Agrokor, could sell the shopping centres for around EUR 200m, the newspaper reported, citing an unofficial source. Mercator launched the sale of some of its property holdings, among them 17 shopping centres in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, at the end of 2017, according to Dnevnik. In December, it signed a EUR 49m agreement to sell the shopping centre in Belgrade, Serbia. Thus, Mercator wants to obtain funds to build a logistics and distribution centre in Ljubljana and to repay part of its loans.

The group’s liabilities at the end of last year totaled EUR 882m, with its net financial debt decreasing by EUR 8.5m to EUR 828m. Mercator Chairman, Tomislav Čizmić, said in April the company hoped to raise some EUR 300m with the monetisation of real estate and sale of non-essential assets. Dnevnik did not report how many shopping centres would be sold to Supernova, adding that the contract could be sealed very soon.

Mercator Chairman, Tomislav Čizmić; Photo: Anže malovrh /STA

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Economy

IMAD: Economic growth will remain high, although it will moderate somewhat this year and next Economic growth is expected to be 4.4% this year and remain at a relatively high level next year (3.7%). Export growth is expected to be somewhat more moderate this year and next, yet still strong. Investment growth will remain high; employment growth will remain high this year, before moderating in the coming years, mainly due to the impact of demographic changes. The main risks to the autumn forecast are possible changes to conditions in the international environment than assumed in the baseline scenario, which could lead to lower economic growth.

Further growth in private and government consumption will contribute more to economic growth than last year. Growth will continue to be underpinned by private sector and government investment, which will increase only slightly less than last year. Export growth will also remain strong, yet somewhat lower than last year, consistent with more moderate growth in foreign demand. The lower growth rates of investment and exports will thus be the main reasons for lower economic growth than last year (4.9%), and than in the Spring STARTING POINTS forecast of this year (5.1%). In the next two years, economic growth will slow further, due - A continuation of relatively to gradually weaker growth in foreign demand strong economic growth in main and increasingly, the consequences of demotrading partners, but with a slight graphic factors, i.e. a decrease in the working moderation. age population.

AUTUMN FORECAST OF ECONOMIC TRENDS 2018

- A continuation of high expectations of consumers and enterprises in the Export growth is expected to be somewhat service and construction sectors. more moderate in 2018 and in the next - Favourable borrowing conditions. two years, although still strong. Economic - A further improvement in the growth in Slovenia’s trading partners will ease general government balance.

somewhat this year according to the latest forecasts by international institutions. After last year’s extraordinarily high rates, SloveRISKS nian exports will see more moderate growth this year, associated with slower growth in The risks to the autumn forecast foreign demand and the absence of one-off include possible different conditions factors in the automotive industry, which in the international environment than significantly increased exports particularly assumed in the baseline scenario, in 2017, but also in 2018. Since, at the same which could lead to lower economic time, the moderation of growth will also be growth. Domestic risks to the forecast affected by gradually higher growth in labour are still broadly balanced in the first costs, we expect no further improvement in two years. export competitiveness in the coming years.

Amid the continuation of relatively strong growth in domestic consumption, growth in Higherslowly growth than in imports will ease more the growth investment and private of exports. The contribution consumptionof external trade to GDP growth will therefore be lower, yet still positive.

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ECONOMIC GROWTH real growth in %

4.9

4.4

3.7

3.1

2016

2017

After last year’s acceleration, a slight moderation of economic growth this year and next.

2018

2019

Private consumption,

Government consumption,

real growth in %

real growth in %

3.9 2.7

2.6

2.7

2.7 2.0

1.9 0.5 2016

2017

2018

2019

Gross fixed capital formation, real growth in %

2016

2017

2018

2019

Exports, real growth % External trade balance, contribution to GDP growth, in pps

10.7

10.7 9.0

8.5

8.2 6.6

6.4

0.5

2016 2017

2018

2019

2016

1.3 2017

0.9 2018

0.3 2019

-3.7

Investment growth will remain high in LABOUR MARKET 2018–2020; private consumption will also Employment, growth in % make a significant contribution to growth.

2.9segments of investGrowth is expected in all 2.8 1.8

ment activity, not only in construction (housing and infrastructure investments), but also Furtherand growth in in investment in machinery equipment; employment in most amid rising demand, this will continue to be 1.5

The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018 Rising

upward pressures

A continuation of strong growth in exports and investment; growth in private consumption will accelerate this year.

2016

2017

2018

2019

activities, but it will ease owing to the decreasing pool of

n ht

ions the s. ns.

ons than , mic ecast rst

ising pward ressures n wage rowth

Economy 2016

boosted by high capacity utilisation and good business performance. The growth in private consumption will strengthen this year under the impact of favourable labour market condiFaster-thanUncertain tions andexpected moderate optimism among consum(economic) tightening of of Escalation ers, then fall slightly in theofnextpolicies two, for the monetary some EU tariff measures countries most partpolicies owing to slower growth in employment. Growth in government consumption is also expected to strengthen somewhat this ECONOMIC GROWTH year amid growth in employment in the general government sector and then ease gradually real growth in % in the following years.

4.9

4.4

2017

2018

INFLATION Annual average, in % 1.4

1.8

2017

2018

2016

Stronger wage growth is also expected in the After notably last year’snext year general government sector, acceleration, with the foreseen relaxation of the aremaining slight moderation wage cost containment measures.

3.7

-3.7

LABOUR MARKET Employment, growth in % 2.9

2016

2.8 1.5

2017

2018

2019

Number of registered unemployed, average in ‘000 103.2

2016

INFLATION

88.6

2017

2.1

-0.1

Employment growth will remain high this of economic growth 3.1 moderating in the coming year, before this year and years, mainly under the impact of demo- Inflation will slightly exceed 2% next. by 2020. graphic changes. Employment will continue Price growth, which rose somewhat last year to rise across most activities, but given the following a period of prolonged very low growth increasingly limited pool of labour, its growth and deflation, will be slightly higher this year 2019 2016 2017 2018 will gradually slow down despite slightly high- (1.8%), mainly owing to strong oil price rises er labour force participation and the hiring of and a gradual strengthening of growth in the continuation Private consumption, Government consumption, foreign nationals.

The number of registered prices of services. WithAfurther growth in dereal growth in % real growth in % of strong growth unemployed will continue to fall. Amid further mand and the strengthening of cost pressures, 3.9 in exports and steadily growth in economic activity and employment, price growth will continue to increase 2.7 this will also be due factors in the2.7 next few years. investment; 2.7to demographic 2.6 growth in private 2.0 (hiring to replace 1.9 the rising number of retirees, consumption will in the outflows from unemployment into retirement). The surplus of the current account accelerate this year.high 0.5 balance of payments will remain very Wage2016 growth will 2018 be strengthening in the 2017 in 2018–2020 (6%–7% of GDP). The persis2017 2019 2016 2018 2019 2018–2020 period, reflecting favourable tent high surplus relative to GDP is attributable economic developments and the increas- to strong private sector savings amid the still Gross fixed supply capital formation, Exports, growthlow % level of investment and moderate ingly limited of skilled labour.

The real relatively real growthpopulation in % External trade working-age will continue to shrink privatebalance, consumption. Slovenia will continue to to GDP growth, in pps and enterprises will find it increasinglycontribution diffi- have a surplus in the balance of trade in goods 10.7 10.7 cult to find appropriately skilled workers. All of and services and deficits in the balance of pri8.5pressure on wage mary this will put further9.0 upward and secondary incomes.

8.2 growth. Wage growth will nevertheless remain 6.6 6.4 more or less in line with productivity growth, In the estimate of the position of the econparticularly in the export sector, as companies omy in the business cycle, some indicators will try to maintain competitiveness. However, point in 1.3 0.9the same direction as the output 0.5 2016 cost competitiveness could deteriorate gradu- gap, which 0.3 has been positive since this 2017expected 2018 wage 2019 and productiv2016 2017 2019 is not corroborated by most ally, given the year, 2018 but this ity movements in Slovenia’s trading partners. other indicators, which remain moderate.

1.8

2019

78.5

73.9

2018

2019

Further growth in employment in most activities, but it will ease owing to the decreasing pool of labour.

Inflation will be gradually rising, but it will remain moderate.

2019

Indicators pointing in the same direction as the output gap include, for example, the (rapid) growth rates in the property market (in the volume of transactions and prices) and extraordinarily, in some activities historically, high values of the indicators of labour shortages and capacity utilisation. On the other hand, financial and price indicators, particularly inflation, bank lending activity and the current account surplus – where positive trends have started to strengthen only recently and should mostly continue at a moderate pace – indicate only modest rates of growth or change.

The main risks to the autumn forecast are possible changes to the conditions in the international environment than assumed in the baseline scenario, which could lead to lower economic growth. The predominantly negative risks in the international environment have strengthened notably since the spring. In the still favourable cyclical economic conditions, they are mainly associated with: i) protectionist measures and the unpredictability of economic measures in the US in general, ii) the consequences of tightening monetary policy in the US and, in the medium term, also in the euro area, iii) high valuation of assets on financial markets (especially in the US), and iv) political changes and uncertainty regarding the economic policies of some countries in the European Economic Area.

In the domestic environment, risks to the forecast are still broadly balanced in the first two years. The possibilities for higher economic growth (in the short term) are related to i) relatively high consumer and business confidence and ii) rising pressures on wage growth in the private and public sectors. Were favourable borrowing conditions and positive external developments to continue, this could lead to even higher growth in investment and private consumption and in the short term, higher economic growth. The risk that GDP growth will be lower than forecast are associated with increased uncertainty about tax policy and in the coming years, higher-than-predicted wage growth and greater uncertainty about policy measures for dealing with demographic change.

Institute of Macroeconomic Analyses and Development - IMAD

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

9

Economy

Douglas Rushkoff; Photo: Seth Kushner

Interview: Douglas Rushkoff, the prize-winning American media theorist

I am not optimistic

By Simona Drevenšek

Douglas Rushkoff, the prize-winning American media theorist, author of 15 bestselling books on media, technology and society, including Program or Be Programmed, Present Shock and Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, says he never liked talking about the future. However, his view is very much valued.

Rushkoff’s first book, Cyberia, dealt with the early psychedelic roots of digital technology. He was thinking about the digital society, stressing that the internet will play a leading role. Publishers back in 1993 disagreed and refused to publish the book, saying that the internet was doomed to die. When Cyberia came out in 1994, Douglas Rushkoff established himself as one of the major experts in the area of the new technology. He is the father of the terms - digital native, social currency and viral

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The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

media. In 2013, MIT anointed him the sixth most important thinker in the world.

done with the written word was to list people’s possessions and to keep track of slavery. While it seemed at the dawn of internet that we were going to use it to enhance communication and connectivity between people in order to really create a global brain of some kind, we now use digital technology to accelerate corporate capitalism.

Q Do you think that the technology, social media, smart algorithms, AI that we have at hand is benefitting us or exploiting us?

A In the short term we are benefitting, but in the long term we are using technology that have been intentionally designed to make us more automatic. The hate and polarisation that you see in the USA right now is the direct result of the media environment in which we live.

Q What has been the major shift in technol-

Q What are then the biggest challenges we are facing in the digital era?

ogy since the dawn of the internet in the 1990’s?

A We are facing challenges as individuals

A We have yet to see. The birth of technology is as big a deal as the invention of the alphabet, the written word. In the beginning of the written word, for many centuries, the only thing

rather than collectively. Individualism is a part of the problem; what we took from the enlightenment, how liberalism married too well to individualism and consumerism and competition and "go it alone" and bad interpretations

Economy I don’t feel like the social media base is real.

I feel it’s something else, like reality TV. of how evolution works. The main challenge right now is to realise that being human is a team sport, that it is a collective enterprise and it’s going to be harder and harder for people to insulate themselves from reality. Instead, they may actually have to look at making reality a better place.

Q Collective consciousness has died according to social scientists. In an era of modern technology, is there a chance to revive it?

A I don’t know if there’s a big chance, but any chance we have, we should use. Now our multibillion-dollar technology businesses are programmed to do the opposite; to prevent that kind of realisation. In the beginning, Apple built the so-called e-world, now it’s about 'I'.

And that is a fundamental difference.

Q Is social media also to blame for the changes or is it perhaps the stepping-stone for change to happen?

A I don’t feel like the social media base is real.

I feel it’s something else, like reality TV. However, I believe you can make a change regardless of what social media is saying at a certain time. We can take back the real world.

Q But Facebook was blamed for contributing to the election of Donald Trump.

A Facebook is running on a business plan, its technology wasn’t hacked but its business was.

They looked at how Facebook is making money and realised they have to create things that help this platform make money, and algorithms promoted their propaganda. That’s pretty easy.

I don’t know how responsible for Trump’s election Facebook really was. Just because it was an engine of Trump and Russian propaganda doesn’t mean it shifted the election. I feel the cable news networks did that – they were so hungry for ratings and covered Trump whenever he did something. Trump was funny, he was a comedian running for president and they covered the comedian, and they covered him 30 times more than anyone else. What did you expect? This is what the Frankfurt group wrote in the 40’s and everyone laughed at them saying that your entertainment culture and political culture become the same.

Q Do you think that with the rise of augmented reality (AR) it’s going to be even harder to be present in this reality and to take is back? Or, are we going to be com-

pletely alienated from reality once AR and VR become a part of our everyday lives?

A I don’t know. I think it is easy to overestimate the quality and pervasiveness of some of these fantasy technologies. I am not worried about human beings being sucked into an entertaining matrix simulation that then leave everyone behind. If that happened, it would be just for people that get to be there. Maybe Elon Musk and Peter Thiel might live in that world, but you can’t maintain the fictions of that on that level – you still need food and water, and soil to walk on. I think that the carrying capacity of the planet would get overwhelmed long before we could build enough servers for virtual reality devices.

Q Do the tech gurus inflate the stories of

we realise that the entire employment economy is based on the false premise of economic growth? When you get there, you realise let’s just stop that economic growth, because is killing us. But how do we then get food to people, if they don’t have jobs? And there’s more than enough work to go around – there’s ill people that need to be taken care of, old people that need companions to walk with them, children that need education, …

Q What kind of future do you see in regards to everything you’ve said?

A I am not optimistic. I feel the event is coming; be it a nuclear war, environmental collapse or economic collapse, social upheaval. But I think that we can try and push this event as far into the future as possible and to get ourselves as resilient as possible between now and then.

Douglas Rushkoff; Photo: Rebecca Ashley

AR and AI and make them bigger than they actually are?

A The whole thing is hype. The best VR developed so far were the forums and bulletin board system (BBS) in the early 90’s. Since then, it has all become less intimate and humane. The internet is just an advertisement for the stock of the companies that really don’t make money. If you’ll talk to the venture capitalists, some will say the AI is the next big thing, others will say its language processing or VR or AR or robots.

The amount of time it actually takes to develop these things in any realistic compelling way are decades out as far as I can tell. And people’s problems are getting more severe. There’s not enough cash for people who pay these things.

Photo: Penguin Random House

Q Aren’t you afraid of the forecasts of the studies that by 2025 we are going to lose a lot of jobs due to automation and robotisation? That we won’t need journalists or writers as algorithms can write better?

A Sure I am. But it’s not that we won’t need jobs, it’s that the corporations that run the planet won’t need humans. How do human journalists serve corporatism? They don’t. Real journalist might see something, feel something, might be said that children in Africa are affected by the exploration of rare earth metals that we need to make smartphones. Algorithmic journalists don’t care about that. What’s the purpose of employment right now? It’s to produce things, but that the individual can participate in this world of capitalism. There’s enough food, houses and other things that you need to justify getting them by having a job.

The job doesn’t have to actually contribute to anything. You just have to have a job. What if Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy

Photo Source: www.pexels.com

A brave new world

By Jan Bratanič

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the future; there is no doubt in the minds of many, even Russian President, Vladimir Putin. "Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world," said the Russian leader in one of his speeches, in which he also conceded that although AI comes with colossal opportunities, the threats are difficult to predict. Elon Musk has predicted that AI will be at the core of World War III.

But there is still no need to fear for John Connor. "Terminator stories or real possibilities of them ever happening are at least several hundred years in the future," according to Jamshid Alamuti, co-founder of Pi School, where creativity and technology meet. He believes that people tend to think of AI development happening faster than it really is. "We have been talking about AI for more than four decades, but we haven’t yet seen a real breakthrough." Until now!

Slovenia, as stated in Forbes, was one of the countries to first embrace AI, research at the Jozef Stefan Institute started in 1972. After almost five decades, AI is poised to change the global labour market, the way companies make products, do business and the way we live our everyday life. People are already having conversations with their smart assistants from Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon), Bixby (Samsung), Cortana (Microsoft) to the rather boringly named Google Assistant. They can transform a living room into a cinema in a word. Soon,

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smart fridges will automatically order food from stores and maybe even suggest smart stoves cook food from those ingredients that are approaching their expiration date.

In Potsdam, Germany, people can now commute on trams operated by AI. Yes, some tram drivers may lose their jobs to AI, other workers from different industries surely will, but in the long run most stand to gain. That is at least what Robert B Cohen from the Economic Strategy Institute in Washington thinks, writing for the Financial Times that: "While AI-based robots will displace jobs, innovative cloud-computing-based software will open a wealth of new opportunities."

And it is already happening. According to Cohen’s estimates, from 2015-2018, the use of such software contributed between 140,000 to 520,000 new jobs to the US economy. It has also likely added somewhere between US $200bn and US $1.5tn to US GDP. AI is increasingly being used in medicine, where AI robots help operate and AI algorithms

help to diagnose. The use of AI is enabling review and translation of mammograms 30 times faster with 99% accuracy, reducing the need for an unnecessary biopsy. By listening to what a person says, the tone of voice and background voices, algorithms realise that someone is having a heart attack in 93% of cases. People guess only 73% of the time. Via optimisation, AI is also helping in the financial world - Boston Consulting Group estimates that AI could help the top ten banks generate an additional US $150bn to US $220bn in annual operating earnings. British company, DeepMind, for instance, developed an AI system to autonomously manage the cooling in Google’s big data centres, delivering around 30% in energy savings. Think of the impact that a 30% reduction in energy use would mean for humankind facing extreme climate changes? AI is the future, investors realise it, funding for global AI startups has grown at a 60% compound annual growth rate since 2010 and it isn’t going to stop now.

There is no denying the opportunities that AI presents, yet it also poses a few challenges.

"Despite the hype, tech often gravitates toward the safest and most commercially short-term ideas: creating personalised soda drinks when half a billion people don’t have access to clean water or new ways to order food when more than 800 million people are malnourished. We need new incentive structures that encourage technologists to take on society’s gravest challenges, and to do so with ethics at their heart," wrote Mustafa Suleyman of DeepMind for the Economist.

There is no doubt AI has the potential to change the world, but it depends on us in what way. It can either save the millions from hunger, disease and poverty or it can increase inequality. Will it bring prosperity or WWIII? Time will tell.

Economy CEC connects 16 partner organisations from 14 countries CEC is an independent and autonomous European Association of Managers which promotes the managerial voice and management as the link between employees and workers. It is a European social partner advocating European integration, establishing a balance between the business success of companies and income, and the social protection of employees. The organisation has been operating since 1951.

Photo: Matej Družnik / Delo

European management strategy development, conceived in Slovenia At the invitation of CEC European Managers, which connects one million European managers, the Manager’s Association of Slovenia hosted six representatives of the professional European Associations in Slovenia.

Discussing the further development of European management, they emphasised the emergence of management as a strong interlocutor with European social partners, the empowerment of managers and the strengthening of their role in dialogue with governments.

During a two-day visit to Slovenia, representatives of the Danish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Slovenian management associations exchanged views and practices on topical issues in the individual countries such as the development of the working environment, socio-economic policies at the EU level and the development of European management.

Among the key challenges that managers have been facing, they highlighted constantly increasing demands and expectations at all business levels and the changes related to globalisation. Paolo Scarpa, the representative of the Italian private and public sector management association, CIDA, which has more than 70 years of tradition and connects 150,000 members, explained that today’s globalisation

eliminates both geographical and functional boundaries. "This requires managers to reflect and to adapt to the change, especially in the organisation of work itself and the working environment.

Managers must be able to make the environment appropriate for the situation and its employees."

Among the objectives is the establishment of management in dialogue with the social partners at the European level. Development of European management has been defined through three main objectives: establishment of management as a strong interlocutor in dialogue with European social partners, empowerment of managers as individuals, and the strengthening of the management role at the state level in dialogue with governments and the general public. "We want to illustrate the importance and role of management in both

the private and the public sectors, the role it has in the successful functioning of the European Union, communities and businesses. Management has a great responsibility to employees and owners therefore, as an agent of both, managers must be actively involved in shaping the European economic environment", said Torkild Justesen, Director of the largest Danish Association of Managers, in Lederna, which has 116,000 members.

Development Strategy by May 2019 A meeting was hosted by Saša Mrak, Executive Director of the Managers’ Association of Slovenia and a member of the working group to develop the European Management Strategy within CEC. She highlighted the importance of networking in the large European network.

"It is important that we are part of the European network and that as part of this European association, we will be more strongly involved in the social dialogue and the shaping of European policies in the future, which have a significant impact on the economic environment, employees and ultimately, society. Our working group will complete the European Management Development Strategy by May 2019, when the entire network will be presented."

Among the participants at the meeting were Christophe Lefèvre, CFE-CGC, State Secretary for European and International Affairs with the French Federation of Managers, which has more than 170,000 members; Thomas Sauer, ULA, Vice-President of the German Association of Managers, which connects 15 professional associations and 60,000 managers; Paulo Marcos, SNQTB, President of the Portuguese National Association of Personnel and Technicians in Banking, which connects more than 17,500 members and Tomas Oskarsson, Ledarna, Secretary of the Swedish Federation of Managers, which connects 23 industry associations and 93,000 members.

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Economy

How Not to Develop Leaders– and How to Do It Right A failure to execute on strategy and change organizational behavior is rooted not in individuals’ deficiencies but, rather, in the policies and practices created by top management.

–Professor Michael Beer, Harvard Business School

Companies spend big money on employee training and education–nearly $356 billion globally in 2015–but it’s mostly wasted, according to an alarming study in the Harvard Business Review: "Why Leadership Training Fails–and What to Do About It." Harvard’s Michael Beer, a worldclass expert on organizational effectiveness, and his associates reveal an alarming secret: Despite all the money spent on it, training does not impact performance. He calls it the "great training robbery."1 What are the primary factors that make training ineffective? The Harvard study points to: • Unclear direction on strategy, leading to conflicting priorities among business functions.

• Senior leaders who "don’t work as a team" and create a "top-down" culture where obstacles to effectiveness go unacknowledged.

In other words, a lack of strategic clarity and support from leadership renders training useless. You might as well inject yourself with inert saline solution in hopes of preventing disease–it won’t work.

How is this so? Because of this typical scenario: An employee is identified as a potential leader. She is scheduled to attend a leadershiptraining course, where she is inspired and motivated by new ideas and learns about new skills. Afterwards, she returns to her unit. No one asks her about her training experience. No one is interested in the new ideas she picked up. No one expects her to practice the new skills she learned about; in fact, her few halting attempts backfire: "That’s not how we do things around here."

Because her new knowledge has little or no relevance to the organization’s priorities, it quickly evaporates.

Strategic Clarity Is Essential for Training to Be Effective

FC Adria d.o.o.

Prešernova cesta 5 1000 Ljubljana Marko Mlakar, General Manager 041 747 051

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For training to be effective, there must be strategic clarity across the organization. Training must support goals that are specific, clearly understood, and universally shared. FranklinCovey research shows that only about 15 percent of workers know the top goals of the organizations they work for.2 Also, leaders must fully buy in to the behavior change expected from the training. They must account to their own line leader and hold their team members accountable for change.

They must coach their people "so that they can practice the new attitudes and behaviors

required to meet organizational goals," as Professor Beer puts it.

In a scenario like that, our potential leader doesn’t just "attend a training seminar." She and her boss are crystal clear on top organizational priorities and how the training supports them.

The boss regularly and frequently coaches her as she practices her new, highly relevant skills.

Is that kind of strategic approach to leadership training worth the investment?

Absolutely. In that scenario, training becomes one of the most potent steps you can take in reaching your most important goals.

Organizational Commitment to Strategic Leadership Development Correlates Directly With Business Performance Chief Executive magazine commissioned a study to determine the value of this approach to leadership development. This was their conclusion: "Study data over a decade shows that firms ranked highest among the best companies for leaders generate greater market value over time, suggesting that an organizational commitment to leadership development correlates directly with business performance. The top 15 percent of study companies grew market cap by 122 percent, while the bottom 15 percent grew market cap by 37 percent," as this chart shows.3 This research clearly shows that organizations that invest in strategic training enjoy much more market power than those that don’t.

How do you get to that place?

Who Can Help?

You need a partner who can help you make the entire journey from strategic clarity to change at the level of the individual contributor.

The criteria for selecting a leadershiptraining program vary. Some courses are more interactive or more competency based or more blended. But without the proper strategic context, none of these considerations make much difference–the training won’t work regardless of the medium or the method. Rather than weighing one leadership course against another, senior leaders should not be thinking about "courses." Instead, they should be thinking about business results, and which partner can help them get those results and develop their leaders at the same time.

1 Beer, Michael, Magnus Finnström, Derek Schrader, "Why Leadership Training Fails–and What to Do About It," Harvard Business Review, October 2016.

2 FranklinCovey xQ data, available on request.

3 The Fifth Annual Global Leadership Research 2015, Chally Group Worldwide, 13.

Economy

'16+1' is becoming a beneficial cross-regional cooperation platform

By Silvija Fister

The seventh annual gathering of the 16+1 Cooperation platform was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 7 July. Leaders of 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, and the People’s Republic of China met to discuss investment opportunities. An economic forum was held alongside the summit with more than 1,000 business people from China and CEEs seeking deals in trade, technology, infrastructure, agriculture and tourism.

Participants in the summit issued the Sofia Guidelines for Cooperation between China and CEE with "Deepening open and pragmatic cooperation for inclusive prosperity" as its theme.

They stressed that the 16+1 Cooperation constitutes an important part of and a positive complementary to the relationship between China and the EU: The Participants … are ready to work together … to ensure that China-EU relations continue to develop in a balanced way. …are ready to actively implement the Belt and Road cooperation MOUs… to bring more results to this cooperation while maintaining its openness, based on market rules and international norms which, on the part of EU

Member States would also complement relevant EU policies and projects.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reassured that China will stay on the path to deepen economic reforms and adhere to international free trade rules and regulations: "We will lower overall import tariffs to the Chinese market … for foreign products which meet Chinese consumer needs, we will open the door wider to them to come into the Chinese market."

In line with the stated aim of advancing practical cooperation in trade, investment and connectivity, a proposal for a possible extension of the connection between the BelgradeBudapest railway and the Albanian, Croatian,

Airview of Port of Koper; Photo: Luka Koper, d.d.

Montenegrin and Slovenian ports was accepted. Hungary finalised the construction timetable with Beijing for the rail link in June.

The proposal is part of the overall strategy to build infrastructure in the region to develop routes for a China-Europe land sea express line and container block trains services. Road and rail projects funded by China were high on the agenda at the summit, as well as talks on joint ventures in industry, the hi-tech sector, agriculture and tourism. A need to foster synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Trans-European Transport Network as well as coordination on economic cooperation and connectivity between initiatives, including 16+1 Cooperation, the EU-China Connectivity Platform and EU Eastern Partnership, was acknowledged.

Slovenia’s Miro Cerar stated that the Slovenian port, Luka Koper, is determined to play a considerable part in the Belt Road Initiative of which the main ambition is building connectivity and cooperation across Asia, Africa and Europe for mutual economic benefits. Cerar is convinced that the initiative is in line with the common interests of all participants. He also expressed satisfaction with the signing of an agreement on scientific and academic cooperation between the Capital University of Physical Education and Sports from Beijing and the Faculty of Sport from Ljubljana. The cooperation is part of Beijing’s preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The next annual 16+1 summit will be held in Croatia. The country has recently started the construction of the Pelješac bridge, a deal which combines Croatian, EU and Chinese efforts.

The deal was signed in Dubrovnik this spring between the Croatian Roads Public Company and the China Road and Bridge Corporation.

The EU co-finances the project providing about 85 percent of the estimated cost.

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Political Overview

Coalition willing to tackle Swiss franc loans New minister looking Ljubljana - The government coalition indicated in early October that it will try at healthcare to resolve the stand-off between the banks and Swiss franc savers over their outstanding loans, but it is likely to seek different solutions than the most recent from different proposed by an association of savers. perspective now "Evidence and case law indicates there was something wrong in the approval of franc loans ... Moral and financial damage is occurring month after month," said Robert Pavšič, a deputy in the ruling Marjan Šarec List. His statement came

after a regular meeting of coalition factions where it was concluded that the last proposal by the Franc Association, made in December 2017, was not appropriate and did not enjoy support in the coalition. Pavšič said the Franc Association would now draw up an alternative proposal.

The Association’s previous proposal involved converting loans taken out in Swiss francs into euro loans at the exchange rate valid as of the date of the franc loan agreement. The proposal would apply to loan agreements dated between 28 July 2004 and 31 December 2010 and to all Swiss franc loans, including those that have already been paid off. The Association submitted the bill to parliament through an independent MP however, any unfinished legislation automatically expires when a new parliament is elected. The bill had been strongly criticised by the banks as well as the European Central Bank.

Outgoing Slovenian PM Miro Cerar shakes hands with new Slovenian PM Marjan Šarec as he hands over the government files in Ljubljana on September 13, 2018 ; Photo: Tamino Petelinšek /STA

Delo says pay rises won’t bring social peace Simply raising salaries won’t bring social peace, what the new government will have to do as it enters pay talks with public sector trade unions is "find the right proportion" among pay rises for different groups within the public sector, according to Delo’s October commentary.

The fact is that the new government is faced with a police strike and expectations of three groups of employees who suspended their strikes in March. Police officers managed to negotiate pay rises ranging from 8% to 20% in 2016 and the government "admitted" they are not comparable with other uniformed professions.

But since the government later also raised salaries for soldiers, customs officers and judicial police, the police went back on strike.

Doctors had also been on strike and the Health Minister had shown a great deal of understanding for their demands, thus upsetting public sector employees in comparable professions, for instance university teachers. There

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are several interpretations as to why there is so much dissatisfaction, even if Slovenia is out of recession and the public sector wage bill rose by 10% in the previous government’s term.

The Marjan Šarec government, which features three parties from the Cerar government, should analyse the decisions of the Cerar government to see what consequences they have had. "The task for the new government is particularly hard because simply raising salaries will not bring social peace. The government will have to show a great deal of sensitivity to tackle the pay proportions so that the majority - in both the public and private sectors - consider them fair," Delo concluded in the commentary, Fight for Social Peace.

When Samo Fakin was the head of the public health insurance company, ZZZS, he called for the exclusion of doctors from the public sector pay system.

As health minister, he now believes this will not be an easy task. If doctors are to be paid according to their efficiency, legislative changes will be needed.

As the caretaker of the public health insurer, Fakin made several austerity proposals during the crisis. He proposed cutting the tax on medicines, lowering compensation for sick leave and co-payment of drugs. Now he says these measures should be revised. "In the longterm, GDP must be increased and the money spent efficiently, then maybe no painful measures will be required," he told STA in an interview in September, but he insists on raising excise duties on tobacco and alcohol and the introduction of a tax on sugary drinks.

The coalition agreement envisages the abolition of supplementary health insurance and a transition to obligatory insurance. Fakin sees this as the right way to go, because it would minimise risks for all the parties involved, but he warns that supplementary insurance can be abolished only when an alternative source of funding is found. Fakin is, however, not inclined to raise the contribution rate. "With 200,000 pensioners on a monthly pension of EUR 500, we will have, or better to say, we have a social problem."

Samo Fakin, Slovenian health minister; Photo: Tamino Petelinšek /STA

Source: STA

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Political Overview

The 13th Government of the Republic of Slovenia; Photo: Nebojša Tejič/STA

Equilibrist

By Boštjan Lajovic

This article is not for the superstitious.

Based on what we have witnessed so far, Marjan Šarec, the new Slovenian prime minister, is not. The beginning of his term of office was marked by the number 13 which many believe many believe brings bad luck - his is the thirteenth government, the parliament has 13 MPs, and the government was elected on 13 September.

Despite these bad omens, Šarec formed his government, independently, with the poise of an experienced equilibrist, managing to sustain balance while leaning both left and right, even though many were eager to see him slip.

Among those who were convinced they would see him fail was Janez Janša, the skilled and cunning politician who failed to translate his party’s convincing election victory into his third term of office. Of course, it is much too early to draw conclusions as to how well or how long the new government will persevere and, in any case, it would be a mistake to underestimate the newcomer in Slovenian state politics, Marjan Šarec, and dismiss him too soon.

Though not as unique as described by the Slovenian media, Šarec’s government is special in many ways. Slovenia has had a government

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composed of six parties already – the first democratically elected DEMOS government, elected in 1990. Similarly, there was a minority government, headed by Prime Minister Andrej Bajuk, for a short time in the second half of 2000. Šarec’s government is characterised by their motivation, grounding the government’s formation and existence. Primarily, it has to do with the interest of parties and their leaders to prevent election winner, Janez Janša, from forming his government. In many ways, this situation is similar to that in 2011 when Zoran Jankovič, the surprising winner at the elections, was unable to form a government.

Jankovič was prevented from doing so by both the left- and right-wing parties who joined forces to eliminate the arrogant newcomer from national politics once and for all.

The second defining characteristic of the new government is cooperation with the left. To effectively attract new voters and spark unrest among the traditional Slovenian parties, especially the Social Democrats, the left adopted an approach similar to that of the Greek Siriza, Spanish Podemos and German Die Linke. The status of the left is relatively unclear and even political theoreticians are having a hard time defining it because the party’s representatives are persistently asserting that they belong to the opposition, even though they actively took part in coalition negotiations and the compilation of the coalition contract. Aside from traditional appetite quenching on the part of the coalition partners and ego-curbing on the part of individual political champions, the greatest challenge Šarec will face as prime minister will be to navigate through negotiations with the unpredictable left.

On two occasions before the new government was formed, when representatives of

the left made some uncoordinated political statements about their intentions to amend the tax legislation and increase the tax on capital gains, the indications were there. These statements provided the opportunity which the Slovenian economy, particularly the agile Slovenian Business Club, expertly seized. Entrepreneurs and practically all of the economic associations acted uniformly, resolutely refusing the idea of higher taxes. Things escalated to the extent that some of the most prominent entrepreneurs announced they would move abroad. Though the new prime minister and his head economic advisor, esteemed manager, Vojmir Urlep, hurried to explain that nothing has been settled, the victory by the entrepreneur’s was more than obvious. From the very beginning they showcased their power to Šarec’s government, limiting the room for manoeuvre to plan potential tax legislation amendments and other reforms, e.g. healthcare reform – the first big challenge to test the efficiency of the new government. The appointment of the new minister, experienced health service manager, Samo Fakin, garnered public approval but, at the same time, it also raised expectations which will be difficult to live up too. It is perfectly clear that the current healthcare contribution rate cannot support the broad scope of healthcare rights enjoyed in Slovenia. Sooner or later, someone in politics will have to muster up the courage to state this loud and clear.

The second important test will involve negotiations with public sector unions. Here, the previous government has left behind ruins, especially in the period when the head negotiator was Boris Koprivnikar, the unskilled minister who wanted to make a good impression on the public and recklessly submitted to the demands of the medical union. Doing so, he opened a Pandora’s box of demands from other unions. What followed was Koprivnikar’s infamous resignation. Having piled up, the unions’ appetites hungrily await the new government.

The third crucial challenge for the coalition’s perseverance and prime minister’s capability will involve personnel appointments in company administrations, the Bank Asset Management Company (DUTB), the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, etc. Even though the share of state-owned companies in Slovenia is extremely high, in such a numerous coalition the demand for influential and well-paid positions will surely exceed the supply.

Nevertheless, Marjan Šarec – at least for now – should not fret too much. The economic forecasts are favourable and Slovenia is currently in good economic condition, which is a great prospect for the future of the government. After all, it is much easier to grant funds from the budget than it is to cut or limit budgetary expenditures.

Politics

What are your expectations of the new government?

Boštjan Gorjup

President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS)

"The government should not undertake reckless measures which would wreck everything the economy has created in recent years - for its own sake and for the sake of the country.

If the economy is supported by appropriate political decision making, we can achieve a target of EUR 60,000 of value added per employee and EUR 50bn in exports by 2025.

The government should focus on counter-cyclical fiscal policy, by lowering public debt, reforming the pension and health systems and making them more sustainable, as well as creating a more business-friendly environment. Tax relief for the most highly-skilled personnel, a smart immigration policy and an increase in the numbers of older employees are critical.

Improvement in the cooperation between the economic and scientific sphere is crucial to increase the value added in companies."

Aleksander Zalaznik

General Manager of Danfoss Trata and Senior Vice-President of DEN Controls, President of the Managers’s Association of Slovenia

Employees want higher net income, while capital wants to maximise its returns. With a smart policy, we need to find the right balance between both sides as we are all well aware that capital goes where there is the highest return possible. Slovenia can be successful if it will be able to attract the large companies, learn how to preserve already established companies and be able to succesfully cherish the desire of entrepreneurial Slovenians to set up companies.

Marjan Trobiš

CEO, Boxmark Leather d.o.o., President of the Employers‘ Association of Slovenia (ZDS)

"As the President of the Association of Employers of Slovenia (ZDS) and Director of Boxmark Leather d.o.o., I expect the government, in accordance with a healthy social agreement, to enable the changes to be agreed with the social partners and not to take a decision without consultation and consent from all partners.

These are big challenges for the new government and I believe that with the mutual agreement of all social partners there is a way that will satisfy all partners."

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Politics

01

13th Bled Strategic Forum:

Bridging the divide

By Ivona Victoria Moro

its strengthening are standing still. Those of us who believe in its future do not seem to have a vision for it." The President emphasised the importance of creating a vision for the EU in a reasonable time period.

In discussing the unpredictable challenges currently facing the EU, Mr Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator - Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU, offered valuable insight into recent developments from the negotiating table. "I regret profoundly this vote. But we must respect it because it’s a democratic decision. Being realistic, the goal would be to reach a decision within the next six to eight weeks." He reiterated that a favourable outcome for both the EU and the UK is possible. "80% - 85% of the content of the Treaty has already been agreed on by both the EU and the UK." The key focus remains on the content where they have not yet been able to agree: the agricultural sector and what the future of governance for such a treaty would look like. Mr Barnier reminded us that "if we want to be autonomous and sovereign as Europeans, we must be together, otherwise we are likely to fall under the influence of China or the United States." Dr Christian Ketels, Chief Economist, Boston Consulting Group, remarked that "we see a lot of political uncertainty. Companies, not only in Europe, are not making investments because they are not sure what the context will look like. More questions are being asked than ever before. We are generating growth, but it is not reaching our general society."

Organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and 20 Years Later: The Importance the Centre of European Perspective, the 13th Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) took of the ICC place on 10 - 11 September. The forum covered an in-depth discussion about the In commemorating the adoption of the Rome myriad of opportunities available to society, focusing on increasing cooperation and bridging divides. The event was attended by government officials and leading Statute of the International Criminal Court, the discussion 'International Criminal Court: private sector figures, where the conversation focused on the global set of issues 20 Years after Rome – Setting a Path for the Futhat call into question fundamental approaches including, but not limited to, ture', started just a few short hours after John R Bolton, National Security Advisor, US Decybersecurity, the importance of mediation and safeguarding our planet by raising awareness of climate change. This year also marks another important event - the partment of State stated that the "ICC is dead to us." Honourable Justice Richard Goldstone, twentieth anniversary of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, former Chief Prosecutor for the ICTY and ICTR formed in 1998 as an interdependent system of international criminal justice, and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Coalition for the ICC, responded by noting that the allowing states primacy of jurisdiction and cooperation with the court.

The EU: Need for a Vision within a Reasonable Time Period The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Karl Erjavec, hosted the annual Bled Strategic Forum where he took the opportunity to thank all those who have helped to create a name for the forum and have increasingly enriched the content throughout the years. At the opening of this year’s forum, Dr Miro Cerar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, stressed

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that "peace and prosperity are not simply given" and that the "focus will be on how to make the European Union better, stronger and more united.

Only in this way we, as Europe, can be a true player in the relentless global arena." H.E. Mr Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia noted that current developments in the EU are "at a standstill. We see an increasing return to national politics. A standstill does not mean that everyone is waiting, it is obvious that those who are not in favour of a future strengthening of the EU are moving on. And those of us who are in favour of

US had assisted the ICC in a number of instances. Mr O’gon Kwon, President of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC, highlighted that the ICC is a judicial and not political institution acting strictly within the Rome Statute. Mrs Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC) "Without an international criminal justice system and the ICC as its nucleus, humanity would regress into a more turbulent world where chaos, volatility and violence are the norm," stressing that the international criminal justice project will inevitably continue to thrive because of the powerful idea that it represents within the broader market of ideas.

Politics What is the Utility of the Fifth Domain?

The 13th Bled Strategic Forum placed increasing emphasis on the role of societies in a largely digitalised world and the challenges that come with it. In a piece written for the Bled Strategic Times, Matthew Jacobs, Digital Coordinator, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, US Department of State asked: "People might have the world at their fingertips, but can they adeptly navigate it?" The question ultimately highlights not only the changing diplomatic environment, but the urgent need for greater cyber-resilience as outlined by Sir Julian King, European Commissioner for the Security Union.

The urgency demonstrated for developing greater cyber-resilience was stressed in The Role of South East European National Security Authorities in Ensuring Cyber Security panel. Major General Dobran Božič, Director of the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for the Protection of Classified Information, demonstrated why there is a pressing need for comprehensive solutions in the fifth domain. He noted that because of its ability to "interfere with and affect all areas of society, cybernetics is one of the most dangerous tools, and even a weapon for fulfilling national security interests and achieving national goals, both in peace and war." Mr Kai Hermsen, Global Coordinator for the Charter of Trust at Siemens AG, Germany, argued that the ecosystem "transcends countries, it is a matter of society." Mr Uzi Moscovici, Major General (retired), Vice-President of Missile Division at Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel highlighted that "one of the common denominators in mentioning the difficulties in the ecosystem is the scarcity of skilled manpower."

Although there are a number of nations that are increasingly being pressed to confront the challenge, others, such as Israel, are at an absolute advantage. Europe, for instance, is facing a growing cybersecurity skills gap with a strong need to set higher standards and coordination in response to large scale incidents.

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AI and Reshaping the International Order In looking ahead, Reva Goujon, Vice President of Global Analysis, Stratfor, paints the following century as being defined by a global race for AI supremacy. Although AI development will undeniably bring new opportunities for social construction on a global scale, it will be another area which will "spawn a new ideological battlefield between the United States and China, pitting the West’s notion of liberal democracy against China’s emerging brand of digital authoritarianism."

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PHOTOS 01 Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia; Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA 02 Opening of the 2018 BSF; Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA 03 International Criminal Court: 20 Years after Rome – Setting a Path for the Future, Speakers: Richard Goldstone, Retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; Dr Amal Jadou, Ambassador, Assistant Foreign Minister on European Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine; O-Gon Kwon, President of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court; Phakiso Mochochoko, Director of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Prof. Dr Ernest Petrič, Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Slovenia; Moderator: Dan Damon, Presenter at BBC Radio, United Kingdom; Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA 04 Leaders’ Panel; Speaker: Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator -Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU, European Commission; Moderator: Ali Aslan, Presenter and journalist, Germany;. Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA 05 Special Panel; Speakers: Igor Crnadak, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Reva Goujon, Vice President of Global Analysis at Stratfor, United States of America; Thomas Greminger, Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.; Moderator: Ali Aslan, Presenter and journalist, Germany; Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Politics Q You have had an almost 20 year career in British diplomacy and mandates in countries including Zimbabwe and Mexico. How would you characterise your mandate in Slovenia compared to other countries?

A It is difficult to compare because my time in Slovenia and the countries I’ve worked in before were during different stages of my life.

But, if I think about my current mandate in Slovenia, I would say it is quite hot and spicy because of Brexit, which was not something that I anticipated before I came here. It means these are very interesting and challenging times for me as a diplomat, but also something that I believe in because the negotiations are all about finding a way to keep the UK and the EU very close and very connected, because that is the right way forward.

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Interview: HMA Sophie Honey, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Slovenia

Today we need to think creatively for the future of the EU-UK relationship

By Tina Drolc, M.Sc., MBA

Q Last year, your Foreign Secretary, Mr Boris Johnson, visited Slovenia, joining the celebrations marking 25 years of UKSlovene ties and he said: "We already have close political dialogue, growing trade and excellent defence and cultural links, and I look forward to discussing with our Slovene partners how we can continue to grow this relationship in the future." What is the value and trend of bilateral trade? Which are the most attractive business sectors?

A This is a very apt question with a view on the recent 'Great campaign' event celebrating 10 years of the British Slovene Chamber of Commerce where I heard that Slovenian trade has been growing since 2012. The value of our bilateral trade is over EUR 1.3 billion on goods and services per year and it continues to grow.

Talking to the business people who were at the event, it is clear that there is a lot more scope for development, the Chamber is growing – as are the number of members in the last two years, and I think this just shows the interest from the business community and potential for growth. In terms of sectors, UK – Slovene trade is dominated by goods (electrical, equipment, furniture, pharmaceuticals) but services are also on the rise.

HMA Sophie Honey took the post as British Ambassador to Slovenia on 12 March 2015. Before her posting to Ljubljana, amongst others, she had worked at HM Treasury on the completion of the Single Market in Financial Services.

In light of Brexit, she points out that the economic side of the EU - UK Q How do you approach the strengthenrelationship should be much closer and deeper than the EU has with South Korea ing of nationalist powers in Europe from a or Canada. She addresses the importance of close cooperation on security issues, security perspective? Is there any correlasaying, "In Brexit we are searching for a solution that enables those links to tion? continue, although we are leaving the institutions of the EU." A Nationalism can be an ambiguous term

because, in one sense, it means identification with your nation or country to support its interests, which is positive and can be achieved in a very cooperative and internationalist way, and that is absolutely the approach of the UK. Nationalism can also be used to mean something slightly different, which is identifying

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Politics with your own nation and pursuing its interests to the exclusion or detriment of others.

Thinking about the UK’s perspective on this, of course any government it is responsible to its people and for pursuing the interest of its people. Our view is that it is absolutely critical to work internationally on all issues, including security and that is why we work through the UN and NATO. Thinking about our future partnership with the EU, we want to work very closely on security because we believe that the UK’s security is fundamentally linked to that of our EU partners. So, we stay very committed to helping maintain European security as well.

In Brexit, we are searching for a solution that enables those links to continue, although we are leaving the institutions of the EU.

Q Starting in March, recent events in and around Salisbury have been causing worry and distrust, foremost from the security perspective. Can you share some thoughts on the current status of what is happening?

A Well in March there was a very serious incident in Salisbury when a highly toxic nerve agent was used in the attempted murder of two people, Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Luckily they recovered thanks to expert care, but subsequently two more people were affected and one of them, a British national, sadly died as a result. Following evidence from the investigation, and identification of the specific nerve agent used, we made clear our view that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack on the Skripals. We were grateful to have Slovenia’s support, together with all members of the European Council, for this judgement. A very detailed and complex police investigation has since continued, examining hundreds of sites and thousands of hours of CCTV, as well as confirming the specific nerve agent in cooperation with independent experts from OPCW. Just recently British police announced that the investigation had resulted in charges against two Russian nationals for attempted murder of the Skripals. We have shared operational details underpinning the investigation with close partners including Slovenia. I want to say thank you for backing us in our assessment.

The progress made in this investigation shows that we were right to reach this judgement.

settled in the EU. The principle behind that agreement is continuity: everything should stay the same in terms of their rights to live, to work, to access education and healthcare. Obviously, this needs to be part of the whole deal and now it is important that we make progress and find a way forward on the future economic partnership and on the future relationship on security. Of course, the UK-Slovenian relationship will change because we will no longer be partners within the EU, but we will remain very close bilateral partners and NATO partners of Slovenia. Fundamentally, our goals and interests remain the same. We will continue to speak out on the issues that we spoke out on in the past and work with Slovenia on these, not within the EU but through our bilateral partnership and the wider partnership that we want to build with the EU and our NATO partnership.

Q At the Bled Strategic Forum 2018, Mr Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator – Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the UK said: "There is no winner, it is a lose-lose game, there is no added value to Brexit, so far nobody has provided any proof of added value for Brexit." Would you agree?

A No, I do not agree with that. I was listening in the audience, it was an excellent presentation that Mr Barnier gave in Bled. I remember when he said that and I fundamentally disagree with that, firstly because the winner is the democratic process. In the UK we had a referendum, it was decided by a very large majority in Parliament that we should put this long running question in political debate in the UK to a

referendum and we should trust the people. So, we got the results – it was a narrow result, but it was a result and it would be fundamentally disrespectful to the democratic process in the UK to say, "well that is a bit inconvenient, we will just ignore it and try again". It does not work within our political culture. So, we listened to the results of the referendum and we are trying to find a way forward to negotiate a new relationship which still meets the interests of both sides, but respects the view of the British people. It will be different and there will be some losses, we will be coming out of the Single Market and that will mean that access to each other’s markets is less than before. But it does not have to be lose–lose all round. On the economic side, we are looking for a relationship which is consistent with coming out of the Single Market, respecting the integrity of the single market, but it can and should be much closer and deeper than the trade relationship which the EU has with third countries such as South Korea or Canada. It comes down to common sense and business sense, and it is consistently heard from business contacts who are involved. It does mean thinking creatively about what our future relationship will look like because there are opportunities. I believe you say in Slovene, "kjer je volja, tam je pot!"…

Where there’s a will, there’s is a way!

PHOTOS 01 HMA Sophie Honey, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Slovenia 02 Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Slovenia, HMA Sophie Honey, speaking to president Borut Pahor; Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA

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Q The UK has set 29 March 2019 as the date of its exit. What will change after Brexit for the Slovenes living and / or studying in the UK and the UK-Slovenian relationship?

A For Slovenes studying and living in the UK I hope that very little will change. We reached agreement with the EU in December on citizens’ rights, which covers the rights of EU nationals settled in the UK and British nationals Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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International Business Partners

TOPIC: What should be on the priority list of the new government?

American Chamber of Commerce – AmCham Slovenia AmCham Slovenia, together with the other Chambers and business associations in Slovenia (Gospodarski krog), is caling upon the new government to lead a responsible fiscal policy and ensure moderate growth in government expenditure for the purpose of raising the public finance surplus. We are convinced that it is time to adopt key reforms that must address the unfavorable trend of an ageing population and make them more sustainable for the public treasury. In particular, we have in mind health, pension and tax reforms, modernisation of the public sector, and a policy for resolving the human resources gap which includes a modern

education policy, greater adaptability of the labour market more appealing for talented individuals and an immigration policy. Only with a moderate approach and reasonable future-oriented measures can we strengthen

our competitive advantages and create a stimulating economic environment that will ensure further economic growth, investment, employment and consequently the wellbeing of the citizens of Slovenia.

United Kingdom continues to be an attractive market for Slovene export and investment and so achieving good deals on trade, standards and the movement of people is of interest to both the EU and the UK. The Slovene Foreign Ministry and the Ministry for Economic Devel-

opment and Technology should therefore work hand in hand to make the best deal possible for the EU and the UK, setting the stage for good, post-Brexit cooperation in Europe which will continue to facilitate trade between the UK and Slovenia.

British – Slovenian Chamber of Commerce – BSCC The EU structure will bring many changes in the coming years. Businesses are already adapting, as they always do, but they need certainty from the government to be able to plan effectively and continue growing.

A strong focus on foreign policy and trade should be two of the main priorities of the new Slovene government. Slovenia continues to be an interesting investment destination for UK companies as they adapt their business strategies due to Brexit and search for opportunities on the continent, so putting more effort in to attracting new investors from the UK can be beneficial for Slovenia. On the other side, the

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International Business Partners

The German-Slovene Chamber of Commerce and Industry – AHK Slowenien In recent years Slovenia has experienced steady economic growth due to the economic recovery of the European and global markets. In order to stay competitive on a global scale, the Slovene government has to ensure a simulative and progressive economic environment that will satisfy both domestic companies and foreign investors.

How do Slovenian companies stay competitive with the global players? Our answer is added value in terms of technology. As the

driver of the concepts of Industry 4.0 and digitalisation in Slovenia, the German-Slovene Chamber of Commerce and Industry encourages both Slovene and German companies to become familiar with the two concepts and see best practice examples from both countries.

Thorough various training (Industry 4.0 for SMEs, Export Manager, etc.), panel discussions and delegations to Germany, we help our members gain first-hand insight into the two principles and become more digitally oriented, whilst still keeping the human in focus.

Our latest survey shows that Slovenia ranks first among the CEE countries in terms of attractiveness for investments by companies with German capital. Nevertheless, in comparison with the competition, Slovenia is still limited by its labour legislation and high rate of income taxation. In order to ensure a stimulating economic environment that will satisfy Slovene exporters and major foreign investors, the new government has to reduce bureaucratic obstacles and reduce labour taxation.

Advantage Austria

According to a survey conducted by ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA Ljubljana regarding the current economic conditions in Slovenia, almost two thirds of the questioned representatives of Austrian subsidiaries in Slovenia described the appeal to invest directly into the country as just "average".

One of the reasons for this is that Slovenia has, in comparison to the rest of Europe, one

of the strictest and employee-friendly labour laws, whereby the termination of employees becomes excessively difficult and will often result in labour court proceedings.

Similarly, the lack of support by public institutions when it comes to concerns of foreign investors, the very steep progression in income tax, and crime and corruption hold some financiers back from investing in Slovenia.

Therefore, if the new government wants to strengthen Slovenia as a business location they will need to increase the flexibility of labour laws, raise the level of support of public institutions toward foreign investors, simplify the tax system and continue to pursue crime and corruption.

Autumn Edition 2017 | The Slovenian Times

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International Business Partners

Luxembourg-Slovenian Business Club (LSBC)

By Iztok Petek, Nataša Zajec LSBC Management with Roland Streber, H.C. and LSBC Member of the Board

The new government is the opportunity to review how Slovenia is doing, where it’s going and what the government can do to ensure the conditions for prosperity and sustainable economic growth.

From the LSBC’s perspective, the first priority should be small and medium-sized companies as they are the backbone of economic growth and innovation. If Slovenia wants to be attractive for SME’s and even attract foreign

Italian Trade Agency (ICE) The role of each government is to ensure the long-term sustainability of public finances, to continue, upgrade and boost the country’s welfare programs starting with healthcare, education, social and employment policies, and to guarantee a healthy and stimulating economic environment. This should definitely be on the priority list of the new Slovene government.

The excellent economic "after crisis" recovery of Slovenia in recent years is a solid base for the implementation of structural reforms concerning labour market flexibility, encouraging innovation and boosting competition. The promotion of economic cooperation and attracting FDI can significantly contribute to the economic development necessary for further economic growth.

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companies, it should create conditions comparable with the most progressive business environments in Europe.

Slovenia has enormous potential in various investment opportunities. LSBC, with the support of the Embassy of Slovenia in Brussels and Honorary Consulate of Slovenia in Luxembourg, recently presented more than 20 investment projects to the Luxembourg business community. Attractiveness for foreign invest-

ments is always a good sign of the economic health of a country, Luxembourg, with EUR 1.5bn, is already the second largest investor in Slovenia.

The policymakers should leave business to do their work and focus more on creating an atmosphere where common goals and common welfare prevails over the partial interest of individuals or elites.

International Business Partners

French-Slovenian Business Club – FSBC

Since Slovenia has the opportunity to create and maintain a predictable business environment, the new Slovenian government should start by respecting the principles of the rule of law. The first step should be the necessary tax reform to achieve strong competitiveness in the labour market. This will not be reached by raising taxes and associated contributions on labour costs, but rather by equalising the

conditions for citizens with a normative status. We encourage the adoption of tax reform aimed at stimulating value added work and not to increase the tax on profits from capital investment and company profits. We are also facing difficulity in keeping high quality staff in the country because taxation on individuals is presently excessive. In order to motivate our workers we should adopt labour legislation.

As the digitalisation era is progressing fast, we need to put more focus on the impact of the following legislation. Suggestions include advanced EIDAS regulations, possible issuing a qualified digital certificate to all citizens, embedded on the ID or the health insurance card, thus facilitating digitalisation of business.

Your Daily Source of Information www.sloveniatimes.com

Leadership Corner

I love people.

By Saša Fajmut, M.Sc.

Ever since I was a little girl, I was always surrounded by many people. Growing up in a large family, you definitely get an abundance of social and so-called survival skills. Being the youngest of four kids, I learnt to observe and pick up from my older siblings very quickly. Later on, by becoming a psychologist, this fun hobby turned into my dream job.

Today, I constanly meet new people and hear a lot of fascinating personal stories. To me, people are like stunning mosaics of memories, experience, hope and desires for the future. I absolutely love discovering people. And every single time I meet a person, they teach me something new, something dazzling. But that‘s just my story.

In the business world, what still shocks me is that from time to time I meet leaders who do not have any interest in people. The only thing that drives them is power, money, status, ego. And sadly, many of them succeed while climbing the corporate and political ladders, without the basic ingredient of leadership – genuine care for people.

There is a lot of debate about what leadership really means; whether it is energy, charisma, drive, cuttingedge performance, empowering others... The list could go on and on. Nobody is perfect. We know that great leaders are a combination of innate qualities and potential which has sparked and successfully developed.

Numerous leadership workshops, training, coaching and

other personal development inventions can drill a person to become a highly efficient and organised manager, jaw-dropping speaker, politically-savvy corporate citizen, emotionally intelligent motivator, etc. But if people don‘t give you the thrills, then don‘t even try to be a leader. Either you genuinely care for people or you don‘t.

I truly wonder why ego, distance and zero empathy are still seen as a value in the business world. As Jim

Collins put it in one of the most famous management books Good to Great, "one of the most damaging trends in recent history is the tendency to select dazzling, celebrity leaders". There is plenty of research proving that the best leaders possess outstanding people skills, but also compelling personal humility and strong professional will. They are fanatically driven to produce sustained results, take full responsibility and do what it takes to make the people and company great. Top leaders know how to channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building something greater than themselves. It is not that they have no ego or selfinterest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious, but their ambition is first and foremost for the greater good, not themselves.

So leadership is all about loving and growing people, the organisation and the society to the next level. In other words, "if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." (John Quincy Adams)

I truly wonder why ego, distance and zero empathy are still seen as a value in the business world. As Jim Collins put it in one of the most famous management books Good to Great, "one of the most damaging trends in recent history is the tendency to select dazzling, celebrity leaders".

Source: • Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great. Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others don‘t. London, Random House Ltd.

Saša Fajmut, M.Sc., Director Leadership Services at Amrop, is responsible for leadership assessments and development. She holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and an Executive MBA.

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DUTB, d.d., Davčna ulica 1, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia w nepremicnine.dutb.eu e real-estate@dutb.eu t +386 1 429 38 95

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Leadership Corner

A scent of the leadership of tomorrow

By Tonja Blatnik

Professor Lucija Mulej Mlakar

Perry Timms

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in the future. In Budnjani 4Q connectivity intelligences model, I suggest the business anthropology of invisible, tacit and tangible: I link intuition and deeper insights, and understand that passion is the way. But, of course, passions have many colours as well as names. Not all of us are able to channel "white" passions and translate vibrations into words, and words into action! Hidden agendas, jealousy, hate and anger abide in many organisational cultures.

What actually are companies? The sum of the people, of their endeavours, energy, power and vison. And what do we sell, no matter the field?

Their endeavour, energy, power and vison.

Knowledge and skills are, of course, basics. If we jail people, we block their creative potential and, at the moment, we have a great crisis. Not just in meaning, politics and values, but work in general. Wages? In accordance with merit, credit and compassion! Society, having to sense those who suffer health issues or poverty, is out of equilibrium. And this is where we are!

What Professor Lucija Mulej Mlakar Perry: The "fixed" hours of work increasingly and Perry Timms, two exceptional baffles me but it is linked to three things: (a) school timings; (b) long-standing habit and (c) minds, definitely share is combining supposed retail hours. Only (a) really has little hard-core science with subtle spiritual chance of change, but the more widespread and subconscious concepts. Professor adoption of pre- and after-school clubs; people Lucija Mlakar is an anthropologist, working from home or not fixed to an officebased working process, and with retail now sociologist, writer and lecturer, and innovator of human capital; her passion largely online and extended beyond 9 to 5.30, we really have little excuse. is vivid and full of insights for the 21st So, it’s habits that are holding us back in century economy. Perry Timms, who my view. We SHOULD work when we have the energy for it. That’s not to say people can just was just recently nominated for the slack off when they feel a little tired. I mean most influential HR thinker in 2018, people work out when they’re at their best. founded his own enterprise, PTHR UK, They then "do" their work when they’re optimal in 2012, aiming to transform learning and then work out how to rest, recharge and and work by bringing the soul back into then go again.

This might sound too complex but hours our working lives. wasted in stressful commuting traffic and overcrowded public transport is more ludicrous than no fixed working times to start and finish work.

Q The majority of your work is consulting, lecturing and authoring; none of which seem like an ordinary job, yet the majority of your clients still come from companies, where 9 to 5 jobs are still the rule? What does the future of work mean for jobs, skills, and wages?

would be happier about their work and be able to live more fulfilling lives," is one of your beliefs, Perry. What is "wrong" with the existing models?

Lucija: Yes, that is a question opening firstly

Perry: What’s "wrong" with the existing mod-

the mirror we are not all ready to look into.

Namely, what does a job actually mean? Is it a jail that your boss/company puts you in? Or is it an inner and outer journey, where you share your ideas, omnipotently acknowledged as a humble desire, that we all want to feel good. The future of work is going to be very spiritual. The skill of linking intelligence, rational, emotional, spiritual and physical is knowledge needed

els is mainly that they are mechanical (built for industry and we’re a lot less industrial than we used to be); and it’s built on the premise that people will get out of doing work if they can and shirk their responsibility so they need heavy-handed management. We know most of this is unnecessary and causes damage in how people approach work in knowledge and creative economies.

Q "If we design work better, then people

Leadership Corner A balanced leader, demonstrating multiple intelligences, is far more endearing and inspiring than a brainy megalomaniac.

Another element is how people are led. Oppression and distrust, with punitive measures is more 19th century than 21st; and yet many management and supervisory techniques are still of this nature.

Because people and their understanding of who they are; what they are capable of; what they want from their work and life is more sophisticated and clear. Yes, we are a little more materialistic but even this appears to have peaked and we’re now more into the environment and restoring our planet.

We are now more sure than ever that the way we work isn’t working (13% of people engaged in the most recent Gallup poll). And whilst there’s no "Ctrl+Alt+Del" reboot, there’s a gradual shift to employee experience and a more wellbeing oriented way of looking after your own people who, without them, there wouldn’t be a business. There is no true war for talent, but there is a marketplace where more people are looking for good firms, who will nurture and respect their wishes and needs in return for loyal service (whilst it lasts).

Q Lucija introduces the new concept Budnjani 4Q , the methodology of connecting intelligences (rational, emotional, spiritual and physical). "Leadership is about a delicate mixture of the soul and the intellect.

Spirit and brains. IQ and EQ in psychometric/psychological shorthand," stresses Perry. What is your advice for leaders?

Lucija: Leaders should be aware of biblical words: if you are chosen, be aware. Having power of any origin, for example, intellect or beauty, wealth or inner depth, one should always remember, the individual actually owns nothing. Leaders should be strong in spirit and be able to tap into life flow. And that is holocracy in practice.

Perry: Leaders should build on more intel-

ness, leadership and the pragmatic component of business life?

Lucija: Everything: love is energy, energy is power and white passion is fuel to creative and noble ideas. And being fruitful in the long run is about being righteous as well.

Perry: So we DO need to talk about love very much so. Fear is too omni-present in work, so to paraphrase the legendary Stevie Wonder "work really is in need of love today."

Q "We’re not born into the world with lim-

Q In practice, Lucija, also works as a personality manager and therapist, helping leaders to be able to perceive themselves with a fresh and clear perspective. What will be the most sought after ideal in the future?

Perry: The legacy I’d like is that people can

Lucija: To open up in line with one’s own inner understanding is a mutual journey. One can only flourish in dual/mutual consent and respect. Methods are vivid and sometimes unconventional. What managers lack is the ability to sit silently and listen to their inner voice and inner wisdom. Their minds are too alert, and souls do not whisper.

Q Perry, your book Transformational HR, gives readers a deeper sense of understanding of how the world of work is changing. It was named one of the best new Human Resources e-books by the Book Authority, congratulations! What is the main message of the book?

Perry: Thank you - the main message from this book is one of HR’s calling: and the need to step out from the behind the scenes in corporate, to being more up front. From keyboards to vocals.

It talks about a range of factors that have helped HR be (unsung in many ways) heroes and brought a huge amount of decency and humanly ways to the workplace. It then explores where HR has become a little stuck: calcified by its own eagerness to serve. I finally explore how to liberate the best version of HR for the connected, uncertain and pacey era.

ligence than from pure intellect, the more compassion you will show to your people; the more understanding you will gain and show with people and situations; the more at peace you’ll be and make better decisions. A balanced leader, demonstrating multiple intelligences, is far more endearing and inspiring than a brainy megalomaniac.

ers, companies?

Q Recently, Lucija published her new book,

Perry: I would say the tip to offer to Slovenian

Conversations with Eros. The topic is a bit unusual for the managerial sphere. Why Eros? What does love have to do with busi-

In addition to this, I’d invite those who want to, to help your company thrive in the future and they in turn have fulfilling roles and therefore lives. This requires some faith in them. So, as a leader, invite them to work on things they know would make things better in the workplace and for them, their colleagues and the organisation, and then let them get on with it.

Don’t interfere, guide them by all means, but let people find things they love and how they can adapt their workplace around them, It’s the secret source to sustained performance in the research I’ve done.

Q Is there a special tip for Slovenian lead-

leaders and companies is to build a coalition with your people. You already have a working contractual arrangement with them, of course.

ited potential. We’re born to make a difference," says Perry. So, what legacy would you like to leave behind? design their working roles a lot more than they do now. Effectively, make the HR Job Design function redundant and have people craft their own "thing" based on understanding the work that needs to be done and working with others to make it so.

I THINK we can be an entrepreneurial economy but this needs a lot more wealth distribution and power dispersal BUT, we need more positive social activists, community convenors, local order creators, educators and more. Big government is failing and local is the new society. I’d like to be part of the shift towards this. I’m not anti-globalisation but I am pro-belonging and connectivity (and that’s often associated with smaller entities and close communities).

Lucija: Never thought of this; but yes, I want to be remembered by warmth and my quest for truth.

Q Your thoughts lift the spirits of many.

What makes you smile, what energises you, what makes your heart race?

Perry: What makes me smile is clever humour and sharp wordplay. What energises me is people who are coming alive in doing their work and who love learning. My heart races when I learn new things that are clearly breakthroughs and alternative views and models for doing things like work and leading others.

Lucija: I like authentic people, people of wisdom, humble people with great sparkles in their eyes. That really lifts me high. They say so many things without words, titles, and accomplishments… They just are, channelling the good of the worlds….

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Global Pitch Interview: Luigi Amati, President of Business Angels Europe

Europe puts 5bn in angel investment, the US do put over 20bn

By Tina Drolc, M.Sc., MBA

Luigi Amati, President of Business Angels Europe

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, start-ups funded by angel investors are 14% to 23% more likely to survive for the next 1.5 to 3 years and grow their employment by 40% relative to non-angel funded start-ups.

Luigi Amati, President of Business Angels Europe, who has decades of experience in early stage finance many awards for his contribution to the new successful business creations in the interview says, that yet the EU SMEs do not enjoy access to a truly internal market.

Q What would you highlight in the process of making European knowledge useful through the hidden startup gems and jewels?

A Sourcing: a mix of push and pull strategies exemplified by BAE networks, the most structured networks on the continent, networks that have shaped and shaken their national landscapes consistently for over twenty years. Networks that have promoted angel investment as a fundamental contribution to bridge the financing gap so typical of Europe. We work with startups as much as with partners likely to co invest and support the start up in its scale up ventures. Whether nationally or internationally. We have become trusted partners for companies and other investors as well – banks, VCs, funds.

Our SMEs do not enjoy access to a truly internal market, neither do our angels who are confronted to legal and fiscal obstacles whenever they need to cross a border in the EU.

FULL MEMBERS AEBAN APBA AWS BAND BANN BeBan France Angels IBAN LINC Scotland UKBAA Total

Number of Angels 2000 165 292 5000 6000 500 10000 450 800 18000 43191

Angel Networks 40 2 1 33 20 2 72 9 19 65 263

Investment p.a. in 000 euros 50.00 4.30 5.10 650.00 52.50 16.15 120.00 21.50 34.30 1 500.00 2 453.85

European knowledge: collective effort via BAE to gather reliable data for investors, constant benchmarking approach to improve level of knowledge, processes and practices – we bring our members to work together, our BAE club members, committed to internationalizing business,

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The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

Global Pitch together every month, we work as knowledge partner with the European institutions (SMART project). Our market may be characterized by the large size of its invisible part, the top of the iceberg we can talk about by drawing from the knowledge of our members gives a unique, sound and reliable indication of the pulse of the angel market. Example: Health sector, second to digital in terms of our BA investment, high risk, requiring international tours de table and long-term commitments - top active BA investor knowledge can be shared by our members, stories - good and bad, state of play, access to contacts to help companies, all allowing to evaluate investment opportunities.

Q Only a few startups from Europe ranks among top 100 according to the Startup raking. Is Europe still far behind from the ecosystem that could really make a difference and an impact? What are the main challenges?

A Europe has money to make an impact on the startup ecosystem. But it is not available or rather not sufficiently via equity instruments: risk capital has doubled in the USA since the crisis (0.8% of GDP) whereas in Europe pre IPO money is only 0.15% of GDP. The scale is when Europe puts 5bn in angel investment, the US do put over 20bn. Bank lending still represents 86% in financing.

One challenge, and it has been the same issue for decades: integration, harmonization.

Our SMEs do not enjoy access to a truly internal market, neither do our angels who are confronted to legal and fiscal obstacles whenever they need to cross a border in the EU. Incredibly, life is not simpler to accompany an investee in the EU than into the US. Estonian thriving ecosystem is global in terms of finance. Companies seek finance and competences globally from the moment they stand up. Most of Europe still takes an incremental approach to sourcing finance, within borders, dealing with 28 regulators although the sheer size of the ticket in certain industries like bio tech is calling more and more for international rounds.

BAE helps with that by working on improving the legal framework and does not despair to get some form of passporting for angels. Costs of raining fund in one go in the US for a startup that is scaling up is simply 8 times less in the US – and we are not even talking of having to go to Silicon Valley.

We also need to diffuse the early stage investment culture and practices beyond clusters, an effort to connect the ecosystems where BAE is taking its part – e.g. ESIL programme covering 44 countries including all H202o associated countries and EU 28, where we scout for the adequate partners that will build the

European community of early stage financiers, work with decision makers and investors to support more startups to scale up.

Q Angel investing in Europe grows, but Europe is not a single big market like the US and China - the markets differentiate.

How has the landscape of angel investing in Europe changed over the past ten years and what means post-Brexit Europe for the future from that perspective?

A Positive trends: angel investment better recognized, understood and practiced. Integration of CEE countries, awareness about European efforts to work on improving the single market, i.e. unlocking it for business.

International e-pitching platforms are all the rage, quality programmes of regional, national and European nature help build a steady flow of investment opportunities but as we know, it takes to take each investor by the hand to push him or her to cross a border – lack of visibility how he/she will be treated at exit time, conditions of play, complications of analyzing a new market for the start-up, slow pace of growth when it comes to approaching markets one by one given the lack of harmonization, languages, cultures, etc.

Our efforts focus on enticing more of our networks to practice the international scene, whether bilaterally or as a community of experienced investors. And we have a lot to learn still from our UK partners – from the success of their schemes such as EIS SEIS to attract angel investment and think how similar incentives could be applied in other countries, opened to non-residents, whenever the SMEs invested in are of super innovative nature.

Q What are the fields in which the European start-ups are the most successful?

Are there any preferences according to the BAE criteria?

A Key criteria or preference is not the sector but the BA assessment as to the start-up team’s potential to grow. Logically, focus is therefore on tech intensive sectors.

Our members invest in all sectors based on the quality and scalability of the proposal but Digital and Health and the combination of both form the largest share of investment across our network. Top five sectors of the UK angel investment goes into Healthcare, digital health, bio tech and pharmaceuticals, fintech, software as a service, ecommerce and digital media. These sectors each represent the lion share in individual portfolios. In France the DIGITAL attracts 45% of France angel investment where 23% goes to e-services, 32 to multimedia, 25 to software and 10% to electronics.

Key criteria or preference is not the sector but the BA assessment as to the start-up team’s potential to grow.

Logically, focus is therefore on tech intensive sectors.

In less established markets like Portugal efforts are put into switching from light tech to deep tech. In the S-E Europe and the Balkans, for many of our partners the challenge is to attract investors away from real estate despite the boom to take a step towards innovative ventures.

As to the success of these start-ups, a good indicator is the SME instrument success rate of top innovators in Europe accessing EU support from concept to market and for growing, with EU grants and coaching.

Q How do you approach the crypto based start-up projects?

A Normally, these projects are like mini-ipos therefore requiring money and not expertise, some angels closer to the projects or with specific expertise in the topics might be of course of help but generally speaking this is not for Angels.

Q What is the value (in USD) of the European start-up industry comparing to the US? A Valuation… the million-dollar question! European Start-ups states an average 3.2 m$ valuation (65891 companies) but as some disclosed figures show, in the wake of US acquisitions of EU companies – e.g. in deep tech: 0.5 m to 4.5 m$ per company: it is clear average figures do not mean much… Importantly, only 3% scale up in Europe (DG GROW).

And we know maturity is a rarity in Europe where 1/7 company will cross the pond (in the US the pre-IPO market has doubled in size since crisis and finance is widely available beyond Silicon Valley). Volumes make a huge difference even if Europe argues it can "march at its own beat" (cf. Atomico / Slush / Orrick report on European Tech) focusing for instance more on societal challenges, impact investing etc. and perhaps Europe is less obsessed with building unicorns nowadays.

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Education Perspective

Manifesto: Changing the Course of Management Development Combining Excellence with Relevance The International Association for Management Development in Dynamic Societies (CEEMAN) publicly presented the "Manifesto: Changing the Course of Management Development: Combining Excellence with Relevance" at their 26th Annual Conference, Redefining Management Education: Excellence and Relevance that took place from 19 - 21 September 2018, in Prague, Czech Republic.

"The Manifesto is more than a document; it is the beginning of a movement which represents the foundations necessary for changes in the development of management" said Professor Danica Purg, President of the CEEMAN Association when presenting the manifesto together with its co-author, Professor Derek Abell, to the 150 deans, rectors, academics and employees from 100 leading business schools and universities from 33 countries and 5 continents.

The conference was hosted by Roger Martin, who was named the world’s top management thinker by Thinkers50 in 2017 and the Swedish scholar, Johan Roos. A well-trained theoretical and quantitative researcher about the current situation: "We are now stuck with an academic system in which business schools are run as if they are deaf, blind and dumb to a completely new emerging world.... too many professors have

never worked outside of academia and are unfamiliar with the day-to-day operations of companies or the intricacies of how decisions are actually made".

The manifesto attempts to understand the real nature of management and leadership and from that, draw conclusions about what the future shape of management education and research should look like. As the reader will discover, it is neither a return to the founding years of management development, nor is it a continuation down the cul-de-sac into which many management schools now appear to be headed. Rather, it is to reestablish relevance alongside excellence as the way forward. Relevance, it will be seen, has three distinct requirements: • to be relevant to managerial practice; • to be relevant to the needs of participants in the markets that any particular institution

serves - often requiring one eye on local issues and the other on global best practices and the latest thinking; • to be up-to-date, or even better to anticipate, with respect to upcoming challenges.

CEEMAN is an international management development association established in 1993 with the aim of accelerating the growth in quality of management development in central and eastern Europe. Now it is a global network of management development institutions interested in quality of education and innovations in this field, as well as in the broad area of subjects related to change, with more than 223 members from over 55 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Annual Presidents' Forum

Artificial Intelligence and its Impact on Leadership November 9, 2018

Dr. Daniel Susskind, Oxford University

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The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

Education Perspective Interview: Professor Roger Martin, Thinker, Author, Adviser, Speaker

Management Education and the Dark Side of Efficiency

By Tina Drolc, M.Sc., MBA

In 2017, Roger Martin was named the world’s Top Management Thinker

by Thinkers50, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers. He serves as the Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and the Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship at the Rotman School of Management, and the Premier’s Chair in Productivity & Competitiveness.

He is a trusted strategy advisor to CEOs of companies worldwide, including Procter & Gamble, Lego and Verizon. At the 26th CEEMAN Annual Conference, he shared his views on redefining management education in the provocative talk, "Management Education and the Dark Side of Efficiency".

Q You said: "Management education is focused on the wrong things and that has resulted in a decrease in the confidence of students and employers on the value of management education." What is the role of management education today and what shift needs to happen to address the challenges properly?

A Business schools have failed on two fronts.

Firstly, many years ago, business education decided to split business into individual disciplines (marketing, accounting, finance…) and teach each of these disciplines without regard to any other discipline, giving the impression that you can solve problems by using a single narrow discipline, but there are no accounting or marketing problems: there are just business problems! The second problem is that business schools teach business in a highly analytical way. It starts from the assumption that you can analyze the past to decide what to do in the future. But the big problem with that approach is that the future is often very different from the past and analysis will convince you that the future will be like the past. Thus, rather than depending on analysis of the past, students should be taught that their job is to imagine possibilities and choose the one for which the most compelling argument can be made! A job is not to study the past to determine the cause of the effects that we see, but to be the cause of the new effect! Business schools inadvertently teach students methodologies that ensure they are not future oriented.

Q How would you update the curriculums?

A Teaching students to be able to think across models and not to choose one model or another, but to integrate multiple models to get a better solution. The second thing is design thinking.

It is difficult, because it goes against every organizing principle of business education. It was painfully difficult to implement at the Rotman School of Management where I was Dean, but every school needs to do it because it is arguably the most successful new form of business education in the world.

Q You published a book 'Creating Great Choices' written with Jennifer Riel (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017). It says that when it comes to our hardest choices; 'integrative thinking' is the model that helps to create a new and superior answer. Can you explain this on a practical level?

A It is about business and public leaders, when confronted by opposing options, resolving the tension between them to identify an optimal solution. The Lego CEO had a difficult choice to make when he was presented with two options

Professor Roger Martin, Thinker, Author, Adviser, Speaker

for The Lego Movie. The first option was for Lego to insist on having final editorial control over the movie. Prior experience suggested this was problematic in that when Lego personnel were in charge, the product tended to be too corporate feeling and not a success with viewing audiences. The second option was give final editorial control to Hollywood. However without control, there could be a negative impact on the Lego brand. So, the CEO was faced with two models and using an integrative thinking approach there was a third option. The decision was to go with giving the Hollywood team final editorial rights but to require them to spend a certain amount of time with Lego users to understand their love for the brand and what the company stood for in their minds. The view was that if they really understood Lego users, there was no way that this option would be bad for the brand because they would see why people love Lego. The movie was a commercial success and built not damaged the Lego brand!

Q As an adviser to Lego, how would you explain the Lego phenomenon that captures the imagination of children and adults and never goes out of fashion?

A Besides being great owners and business people, their success is also in their integrative and design thinking, which is "we can create the future, we do not analyse the past" and they just do it repeatedly. If you visibly imagine the future and you have a brand and you have productive capacities and infrastructure globally and you keep reinventing, how can you be stopped…

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Education Perspective Interview: Paul Walton, Principal, British International School of Ljubljana

An Internationally recognised curriculum that goes beyond the classroom with trips and overseas excursions

By Tina Drolc, M.Sc., MBA

Paul Walton, Principal, British International School of Ljubljana

Being a student at the British International School of Ljubljana (BISL) is not just about the excellent academic outcome, it is first and foremost about a different way of thinking, a different pedagogical approach and global experience, explained Paul Walton, the new principal of the school. He points out that with regard to the group of schools worldwide, students at BISL have opportunities to collaborate with students globally and understand their cultures.

Q You are still quite new to BISL. Where have you served before and what are your impressions about the British International School of Ljubljana?

A Previously I worked in the UK for over 10 years in two completely different types of schools. One was a large school with around 2,000 students south of London and the other in the elite countryside area. It was good to get different experiences from a big, busy, challenging school with a focus on student progress to then move to focusing on quality and outstanding outcomes. My first overseas position was with the British International School of Budapest, after which I became a Head of School in Malaysia working with a diverse range of cultures. This experience enriched my thinking about people, history and different beliefs of education. I returned to the Nord Anglia Education group to help open a flagship school in the company of 55, so I moved to Houston, where everything was dedicated to being premium and the best in the world, we had relations with large companies, for example, The Juilliard School, MIT, First Lego League. I really enjoyed my time living in South-East Asia as it was an invaluable experience to me and therefore returned to be a Principal at an International School. I then relocated back to CEE to join a group of schools again, to settle down and to be close to my family. My first impression about the school here is one of extremely strong past academic outcomes that were very high, examinations at various age groups were also impressive and the students continually have a fantastic learning experience. Staff are very highly qualified, dedicated and committed to 36

The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

different from what one may find in the local education system: our methodology of learning, our progressive vision towards education and our pedagogical approach.

Q What are your thoughts about the changes in education?

A I like to follow the latest educational and

help all students progress and achieve beyond their dreams. It is a school with a rich history, passion and legacy. I see a very bright future for all learners and our community.

Q What would you highlight in the context of your future vision for the school?

A In Slovenia, the education system is of an extremely high-quality (according to the PISA rankings) and we know that students get an excellent provision locally. When looking at the added value, why parents would choose to send their children to our school, there are some key factors that stand out. First of all, the strong English provision is a real highlight, as all of our teachers are either native English speakers or have exceptional English, we have a comprehensive English support programme and a very strong literacy department throughout the school. The training of our staff is another benefit - being mainly UK trained with an international understanding of the latest pedagogical approaches. Our legacy of outstanding exam results help create the foundation for our future vision.

We are able to blend these essentials above with the unique benefit of being a part of the Orbital Education group of schools, creating a platform where our students interact and collaborate globally – from China to Ecuador, giving our students the opportunity to even visit those places. We have a sailing trip to Spain, a historical trip to Budapest, skiing in Slovenia for example. In addition to the experiences that our students get globally, we promote problem solving, creativity, collaboration, and communication – the wider skills that are

business news from the Times, Fortune, Forbes and read about CEOs and their vision for the future skills and attributes of employees. It’s exciting to plan ahead for the workplace of today and tomorrow. The messages from the top CEOs are: think differently, challenge the status quo, look beyond the horizon, develop communication and collaboration, alongside the best academic qualifications. For me, it is how we unpick those skills, put them into our vision, our learning approach and develop these in our school. We focus on wider learning aspects and conceptual understandings, which include the thinking skills convergent and divergent, where you have logic against imagination and laterally, outside the box to help make those ideas come to life. Signposting, enabling and applying these vital characteristics now in the classroom will prepare our learners for the changes in the business world and help them get ahead in the jobs and careers of the future.

Q Your school currently has students aged 3 to 18 from more than 30 countries. About 40% of the students are Slovenian; what are the other countries represented and what would you highlight from the perspective of your international setting?

A Our countries are Slovene, CEE, English and Russian. In fact, we have 50 nationalities in our school which really creates a wonderful atmosphere conducive to the learning environment. We follow the international Cambridge curriculum, which is recognised throughout the world, we go beyond the classroom with trips and overseas excursions to create a holistic learning experience.

ADDING VALUE TO YOUR STUDIES WHY FELU?

Programmes in English

Triple Crown School - top 1% of business and economic schools in the world.

Wide Range of Full-time Programmes Offered in English.

Bachelor degree - University degree programme in Business and Economics

Great Corporate Connections and more than 10.000 alumni connections.

• specialisation International Business • specialisation Marketing

Leading research institution in Slovenia and wider region in the fields of business and economics.

Master degree programmes

Students are coming from more than 70 countries around the world which makes great international study environment with cross-cultural learning experiences.

WHY SLOVENIA? Slovenia is one of the safest countries in the world.

The most affordable country in Europe to be a university student (tuition fee and living costs).

A student in Slovenia is a privileged student.

Unique geographic position – in the heart of Europe.

• • • • • • • • •

Enjoy the various sports opportunities and true nature.

•

HOW TO APPLY?

•

Application deadlines – From February till April/September

•

Academic calendar – 1 October till 30 September

Bank and Financial Management Business Informatics Economics European Master in Tourism Management - EMTM International Business International Master Programme in Business Administration - IMB Marketing Money and Finance Master in Business Administration MBA Public Sector and Environmental Economics (JMPSE) Quantitative Finance and Actuarial Sciences Tourism

Doctoral Programme in Economics and Business

Education Perspective Interview: Professor Metka Tekavčič, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana Tilen Balon, MSc, Secretary General at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana

Making a move:

Internationalisation This year, for the first time, the Financial Times global ranking features the program of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana (FELU). The International Master in Business and Organisation (IMB) program appears in the prestigious Financial Times ranking of the world’s best Masters programs in Management. The Financial Times ranking is one of the most highly acknowledged and widely cited rankings in the international business community and it indicates the program’s quality in creating highly competent and employable graduates.

01 02

TST: In the field of internationalization within the University of Ljubljana, the Faculty of Economics has held a pioneering role. It is one of the strongest pillars in the internationalization of Slovenian higher education. However, there have been complaints about disregarding the Slovenian language due to the delivery and teaching in English. How do you cater for your mother tongue at the FELU?

Metka Tekavčič: Internationalization has many dimensions and providing a pedagogical process in English is just one of them. Learning in English enables students to have a high quality, international study experience and exposes them to the global environment where they will subsequently live and work. The introduction of study in English is a natural response to the demands of globalization, which is now a daily fact rather than a future prospect. Essentially, we are aware of the importance of the Slovenian language, which is the foundation for maintaining our national and cultural identity. I am astonished to see the modest level of the Slovenian language used in various documents produced in state and governmental institutions. It appears that basic errors in Slovenian are made by the very individuals who, paradoxically, oppose the use of English for the fear of neglecting our mother tongue.

In my opinion, this is sheer hypocrisy and there is simply no excuse for it. My wish is for students to socialize with their colleagues from different parts of the world during their studies, to learn about cultural differences as well as to learn tolerance in cohabitation and cooperation. We need to ensure that visitors coming to Slovenia are acquainted with our

PHOTOS 01 Professor Metka Tekavčič, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana 02 Tilen Balon, MSc, Secretary General at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana

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Education Perspective history and culture and gain knowledge of Slovenia while studying here.

Our students make many new friendships while building foundations of subsequent business relations.

The more Slovenia will succeed economically, the easier it will be for us to provide funds for the prosperity of culture and art, including the nurture of our mother tongue. For this reason, FELU’s door is widely open to internationalization. Students and educators come to Ljubljana to work with us and our students, and FELU’s teachers visit our partner organizations around the world. The same applies to our professional staff in supporting our underlying processes. In this regard, by taking care of excellent research achievements, maintaining a high-quality pedagogical process and dynamically cooperating with the business environment, we take care of an exemplary use of our mother tongue while also involving our international students in the Slovenian cultural and art scene. At the same time, it is just as important that our students living abroad master foreign professional languages and communicate efficiently in an international environment, thus spreading good reputation of our institution and of Slovenia.

TST: What changes would you like to see in higher education? What measures should be introduced by the new minister?

Metka Tekavčič: I wish for an environment that supports intellectualism and creative potential representing the essence of the university.

The tendencies to contain public universities within the confines of classical business hours are devastating for the university. Such tendencies inhibit internationalization. In a nutshell, it is impossible to operate in the global world if you only teach and work 8 am to 5 pm or 9 am to 6 pm. The new minister should follow the national program guidelines for higher education and, through a coalition in the National Assembly, provide reasonable legal provisions to allow the university to carry out its mission and preserve its essence.

TST: FELU’s mission is also to offer young people entry into the business world. How do you participate in the business community?

Metka Tekavčič: Our cooperation with the business community is outstanding. Teachers, together with business representatives, guide students through numerous projects that companies are interested in.

The results of these projects are excellent and beneficial to teachers, students, and companies. In addition, through our Career Centre, we help companies seek out students and graduates who are able and willing to quickly start working with companies through various forms of work relationships. It is also crucial that representatives from business participate in programs’ steering committees responsible for quality monitoring of program implementation. They also explore opportunities for the improvement and development of new forms of cooperation that boost employers’ involvement in the education of future experts in business and economics. Practitioners from domestic and international companies contribute an integral part to our pedagogical process, they transfer their professional experience to our students and enrich our educational content, of which we are very proud.

Tilen Balon: We are well aware of the high importance of cooperation with business community that can provide the experiences for students during their studies. This is crucial for the development of high-quality graduates and many companies support it. Cooperation with the business community in the pedagogical process is reflected in various forms of project work, lecturing by lecturers from business practice, implementation of projects in companies and institutions and the like. In this way, students learn about the business environment and expand their network of prospective employers. In the academic year 2017/2018, we

successfully participated in the project, Creative Path to Practical Knowledge, which connected students and mentors with the business environment and the public sector as well. The faculty regularly cooperates with the business community in business conferences, events, round tables and by hosting influential and successful individuals from international companies and institutions. The majority of students are strongly aware of the importance of meeting with the business world during their study, they comprehend and successfully use it for their careers.

TST: In addition to the bridge with the business community, what else needs to be emphasised as an important advantage of your graduates?

Tilen Balon: One of the most important advantages of our graduates is their international experience. The aim of the faculty is that every student is exposed to an international environment during their studies, whether it is an international exchange for which there are enormous opportunities, joining the international class in Ljubljana or at least interaction with foreign students in the context of social or sport activities. Among 200+ partner schools over the whole world, it is difficult to find courses or programs that would be completely different from ours, however exposure to an international environment, a six-month or a one-year stay abroad, and multicultural classes , are the key added value that graduates bring from the exchange . The same goes for those who choose to attend courses with foreign students who are on exchange in Ljubljana. Such experiences are also an excellent starting point for understanding the global world and are highly appreciated by employers. For our students, globalisation is not only a German car, a Korean phone, an Italian pair of jeans and an American drink, but writing and presenting group seminar work together with students from at least five different countries, at least three different continents and two different religions. Only then, they can learn what internationality and a multicultural environment really mean.

TST: What else is important for graduates when they pass the faculty threshold and start their career?

Tilen Balon: The study is the preparation for a career path and good preparation is a combination of different activities and factors within the study process. Students, in addition to the learning content, international exposure and links to business world, also learn the importance of taking responsibility for their actions, understanding rules and deadlines. It is important for them to learn how to plan their time and thus develop appropriate values. None of our study programs is easy at any level, some courses are even very selective and students need to put in a lot of effort not only in understanding the topics, but ultimately also in the psychological preparation for the exam. All the excellent schools have one common characteristic, teaching students the importance of hard work, business ethics and perseverenes, which are also qualities valued among employers. Effort and hard work is very quickly recognised and appreciated in professional sport where everyone understands there are no shortcuts and that success does not happen overnight, the same is true for business or career success, it cannot be reaches without immense effort and hard work. Therefore, students are encouraged during their study to develop both competence and relevant values. Some of our graduates work in multinationals such as Google and BMW. They are competitive on their career paths because they are not afraid of learning and at the same time, during their studies, they have become familiar with the challenges of the international environment, have a good theoretical basis and excellent insight into the operation of companies. This is what distinguishes them. Therefore, graduates from our faculty have the upper hand with employers, they are able to get to their first good job quicker and easier.

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Ana Roš

on top of the world

By Kaja Sajovic

Ana Roš, the World’s Best Female Chef of 2017; Photo: Robert Ribič

Ana Roš, the World’s Best Female Chef of 2017, is continuing her rise to the top of the culinary Mount Olympus. In June, her restaurant Hiša Franko entered the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and her timetable is fully booked until the end of the year and beyond. She has also just finished writing her book, Sun and Rain, which is due out in 2019 and is published by the elite Phaidon New York.

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It’s 9am and Ana Roš is already back from her morning run to the Nadiža river. It has become a routine over the past year, a year of major successes and major drama for Hiša Franko, the world’s 48th restaurant and the only one run by a female chef. Jogging helps keep her head clear, it helps her weather the storms such as sudden staff departures, 515 interviews and 150 flights a year, and increasingly demanding customers. "Mistakes were excusable back in the day when we were just a countryside inn. But now we are an institution, we’re in the 50 best, mistakes aren’t excusable anymore. Guests expect perfection," explains Ana just a couple of days after the team got back from the ceremony in Bilbao where they entered the elite list for the first time.

The Hiša Franko team is comprised of young, international chefs who go to tiny Kobarid from all parts of the world – Peru, El Salvador, Switzerland, the USA, Canada, Italy … there’s only one Slovenian in the kitchen, the lone representative of a nation that likes to think of itself as a working one but apparently doesn’t have what it takes for this kind of level.

The one who has it is Leonardo Fonseca, Ana’s Colombian sous-chef who is able to hold the fort when his boss is away.

Ana Roš is powering through the stress and the pressures with the mentality and stamina of the soldiers who fought in the area, on the Soča front back in World War I. She pushes through everything – she just jogs the fever and exhaustion away and even with the Lymes disease she contracted this summer she couldn’t stay still for more than a day. She drives her two children to athletics practice and competitions almost every day and she still takes the time to sit down for dinner with them – then drives in the middle of the night to Venice to catch a plane to Spain, Peru or China.

The world of Ana Roš these days isn’t easy to understand for some Slovenians – or even some chefs, her peers. She works internationally, is invited to speak at top culinary congresses around the world and to four-hands dinners with the world’s best chefs from Gaggan Anand to Alex Atala. They all want Ana. And not only because this wild-haired, energetic Slovenian stands out in the crowd, a rare female in a male dominated profession. She’s charismatic, opinionated, eloquent and her story is so unique. Ana is self-taught chef who quit her budding career in diplomacy to work in the kitchen of the old Hiša Franko back when Ana’s father-in-law, Franko Kramar, was running it.

Back then, Hiša Franko was famous for its legendary English roast beef and had a steady clientele comprised mostly of regular Italian guests. Times have changed, the restaurant is fully booked a year in advance, there’s no room left for walk-ins and instead of roast-beef

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia there’s roebuck with anchovy butter and green beans scolliera with sea snails and black garlic on the menu. The Italians have been largely replaced by the international clientele led by Americans who fell in love with Ana and the picturesque Soča valley watching her Chef’s Table episode.

Following her Netflix debut in 2016, 2017 saw her crowned as the World’s Best Female Chef and then everything changed for Hiša Franko. Gone was the anonymity and laid-back casualness, the restaurant is now filled with the foreigners who have flown across the world just to dine there, dying to take a selfie with the celebrity chef. Ana, not being the biggest fan of putting on shows, accepts it reluctantly. She would rather have people coming in for food, not for her. Also, because sometimes people aren’t necessarily prepared for her distinct style – her dishes are almost all intense in flavour, be it the dehydrated plum cones she fills with fermented ricotta, the oysters she pairs with beef tongue, the rich gamey and mushroom stock she serves with her glazed porcini or the melted, spicy pit cheese she serves with tripe.

She’s never been one to play it safe but in recent years she’s become bolder with the flavours, the intensity of the dishes, the unorthodox pairings of different ingredients. A lot like Valter, her partner and the head sommelier who has taken a radical approach with wine pairings and insists on serving all natural, all Slovenian wines. The crazier, the better!

"Wines like these give me energy. Conventional, "made" wines make me sleepy and bored. Life’s too short for that," says Valter who is also in charge of the cheese – his babies, brought down from the mountain pastures by the local shepherds, then aged for two, three, even five years in his underground sanctuary dug under the garden of Hiša Franko.

For people used to dining in fine restaurants around the world, in the dining rooms of Paris, New York, Copenhagen, London and Bangkok, all featured prominently on the 50 Best list, it is sometimes hard to understand how nature and seasons feature in Ana’s cuisine. Wild game, trout, raw cow cheese, porcinis brought in by her forager, wild mountain berries

brought in by her father, acacia flowers, sweet woodruff from the meadows around Kobarid, lovage, purslane, mint and nettles from the garden …

Gluten free, lactose free, vegetarian and vegan menus that more and more guests seek do not represent the area or Ana. "Cooking is like painting – if you take away my colours, I have nothing left to paint with," explains the 45 year old chef. Her biggest grief at the moment, the allergies, and "allergies" - food intolerances, food preferences. Some miraculously pop up when the guests take a peek at a menu, where offal is always prominently featured.

Recently, Ana spent an entire week preparing special menus only to receive even more requests at the table. Someone eats only seafood but not the shellfish, someone doesn’t eat eggs, someone is allergic to nuts, someone won’t eat ravioli but snatches away the bread, and someone has religious objections to certain ingredients.

Ana never has trouble creating dishes – this summer she created so many amazing new plates I couldn’t keep up. She is hyper-productive and is able to whip up a new menu any place in the world. But these new-found food intolerances are killing her, killing her creativity.

"When you come to my restaurant, I have only one request – please, try to relax and enjoy the food. You can go back to your regimen the next day, but for this one evening, trust us, put yourself in our hands," asks Ana. It’s not always the most popular request but Ana never tries to sugarcoat, even when talking about the Slovenian work attitude (not so great) or the food scene in Slovenia (not all that). "Hiša Franko is creating a culinary destination but we’re not a culinary destination," claims the chef who was so frustrated trying to find a decent place to eat good, honest, traditional food, she and Valter just decided to open one – the unpretentious Hiša

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Polonka in the centre of Kobarid is the kind of village inn you’d like to see in every Slovenian small town. And instead of ubiquitous pizza and fried calamari, you get Franko’s iconic roast beef. And that is what creating a culinary destination is all about. Sometimes it takes just a pair of really dedicated people.

"Mistakes were excusable back in the day when we were just a countryside inn. But now we are an institution, we’re in the 50 best, mistakes aren’t excusable anymore.

Guests expect perfection," 01

PHOTOS 01 Ana Roš; Photo: Robert Ribič 02 Ana Roš; Photo: Suzan Gabrijan 03 Restaurant Hiša Franko, Interior; Photo: Suzan Gabrijan 04 Restaurant Hiša Franko, Interior; Photo: Suzan Gabrijan 04

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Ljubljana, the City of Sport In Ljubljana, we are aware of the importance of physical activity for the health of our citizens and thus joined European Sports Week, the European Commission’s initiative to promote sport and physical activity, and which took place in the last week of September.

In Ljubljana, we have diversified and highquality sports available in the urban environment, in nature and in sports facilities owned by the City of Ljubljana or facilities built in public-private partnership. We encourage citizens to participate in regular sporting practice and we are glad that the share of active people in Ljubljana, doing sport at least once a week, exceeds 67 percent, which means that we are above both the Slovenian and the European average.

Among the most popular recreational open air areas is the Path of Remembrance and

Comradeship which offers many recreational opportunities in the embrace of nature, from walking, running and cycling, to practicing on the trim islands alongside it.

To this, there are new recreational and green areas which, in the last 10 years, have been extended by 329,500 m2. This represents more than one square metre per inhabitant of new outdoor area for sport and recreation.

The Municipality also co-finances various sporting programs and provides free sporting facilities for 150 sports establishments every year for annual sporting programs.

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Mobile App LJšport for Sport and Recreation At the start of the European Week of Sport, the City of Ljubljana presented the mobile app (LJŠport), that gathers in one place all of the recreational sporting events and activities that are taking place in Ljubljana. The main purpose of the app is to further motivate and stimulate the activity of the people of Ljubljana and to connect them. In addition to the full calendar of sporting events, the app also allows control of an individual’s own training.

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Energy-renewed Tivoli Swimming Pool Within the framework of the European Week of Sport, the Municipality opened the energyrenewed Tivoli swimming pool complex which stands in the middle of the largest city park Tivoli Park.

The swimming pool was built in 1975 and since then it has been partially renovated 04

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Since 2007, the Municipality has allocated 256 million EUR for sport from the budget of the City of Ljubljana, of which EUR 86m is for sporting programs carried out mainly by sporting clubs and which, on average, amounts to 8.5 million EUR per year.

The Slovenian Times | Autumn Edition 2018

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia several times, now the complex has been completely energy-refurbished.

The renovation was carried out in the framework of a public-private partnership between the City of Ljubljana and a consortium of Petrol and Resalta. It included works on the building envelope, the replacement of facades, metal structures and glass, and the replacement of all climates, heat stations and lighting.

The investment value was almost EUR 1m.

New trim islands for recreation by all generations In the framework of European Sports Week, the Municipality also opened new islands of sport with street training devices at different locations in Ljubljana: Zajčeva Dobrava, Kozarje, Vižmarje - Brod and the Sava settlement. Also completed were the trim island in 07

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Gameljne and a new trim track was opened in Črnuče.

The installation of three islands is part of the project, Islands of Sport for All, in which the plan is to set up at least two islands of sport in each quarter of the community. Last year, 11 trim islands and three trim tracks were arranged and to these were added three islands and a trim track.

KoloPark Fužine 09

At the beginning of autumn the Municipality opened bicycle park KoloPark Fužine. This is the third such polygon in Ljubljana and at the same time the largest one. Previously degraded area thus gained a new content, which is intended to improve cycling skills, playing and exercising with different types of driving aids, from bicycles, scooters, skates, and rollers.

PHOTOS 01 Ludus Sports Park is the first Slovenian hall where volleyball could be played also in winter. Photo: N. Rovan 02 In addition to quality conditions for exercise gymnastics, the gymnastics center Ljubljana offers numerous recreational possibilities, from guided exercise to fitness.

Photo: N. Rovan 03 Mobile App LJšport 04 The Tivoli swimming pool; Photo: N. Rovan 05 Tivoli swimming pool complex; Photo: N. Rovan 06 Trim island Zajčja dobrava; Photo: N. Rovan 07 With the energy-renewed Kodeljevo stadium, the Municipality improved the conditions for the training of all generations of the citizens. Photo: N. Rovan 08 Sports Life Centre – BAZA opened in Ljubljana providing us with new modern indoor sports facilities.

The opening of the sports centre is a successful example of public-private partnership. Photo: N. Rovan 09 Kolo Park Fužine; Photo: N. Rovan

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

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Interview: Gojko Zalokar, Organising Committee Director of the Volkswagen 23rd Ljubljana Marathon Andrej Razdrih, Organising Committee President of the Volkswagen 23rd Ljubljana Marathon

Within two days of the Volkswagen Ljubljana Marathon more than 1% of the Slovenian population runs

By Tina Drolc, M.Sc., MBA

The Volkswagen Ljubljana Marathon has become well known as a running and sporting event. Every year, the streets of Ljubljana are flooded by runners and the numbers show increasing interest in this type of recreation and socialising.

This year, the Volkswagen 23rd Ljubljana Marathon will be held on 28 October and according to the organisers, it is not just perfect organisation, it is also the atmosphere that makes this marathon unique!

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TST: How has running changed since the first marathon in Ljubljana and what are the ways that the organisation of marathons has changed?

Gojko Zalokar: "There’s a big difference – 600 runners in the early years and 25,000 today. Consequently, the number of people needed for the organisation is higher and we are extending the marathon event as such, because everybody runs – from the youngest to the oldest! It is important to have a future vision and we have always been striving to create a highly professional sporting event, while the budget and marketing is secondary. In recent years we’ve noticed a third factor, tourism, in terms of international tour operators bringing runners to Ljubljana. This is what will essentially be crucial for the future development of the event – how to bring foreigners to the city and show them Ljubljana and Slovenia."

Andrej Razdrih: "From the first marathon to the present day, the running culture in Ljubljana has developed enormously, it is not just

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia about increasing the number of runners, what makes us happy is the attitude of society to running. People have started running; if you go around Tivoli Park or Rožnik hill two months before the marathon, you can see the columns of runners. Within two days of the Ljubljana marathon more than 1% of the Slovenian population is running and that is absolutely a phenomenon. And what is also important, following the example of our marathon, there are many excellent running events which have appeared elsewhere in Slovenia."

TST: In recent years, which element of the marathon are you most proud of?

GZ: "I am most proud of the children’s run, the so-called Lumpi run, because it is the greatest pleasure to watch active children who are not just dedicated to their computers and smart gadgets, but are also active in sport. At the Ljubljana marathon, more than 10,000 children run! In addition, with the children there are also their families; parents, grandparents, and this is the heart of this marathon. On the other hand, children are the potential future runners in the years ahead."

organisation of the event. This means that everything works smoothly from the web registration to the number acquisition and equipment, refreshment and water stations on the route, kind people and finally a clean marathon. Here, it is important to say that without the great cooperation with the Ljubljana municipality, this marathon could not be the brilliant event it is and essentially, the Municipality enables the modest entry fee which is on average half of the entry fee of equivalent events around Europe. But what mattes the most from all the marathons around – in Ljubljana we have people along the route, they are encouraging the runners, bands are playing and that really motivates the runners at the crucial moments of their race."

GZ: "Every year we change the course. Obviously, it always goes past the monumental buildings that are important for Ljubljana or for the Republic of Slovenia. Last year, in the year of Plečnik Heritage, we paid attention to

the objects of this great architect which were specially presented on the route. Every year we add something new."

It is important to say that Ljubljana’s marathon is really very well organised and the runners are friendly, which is confirmed by the IAAF silver label which was obtained this year and we are on the way to getting the gold label.

PHOTOS 01 The Volkswagen Ljubljana Marathon is the largest running event held in Slovenia.

02 Gojko Zalokar, Organising Committee Director of the Volkswagen 23rd Ljubljana Marathon and Andrej Razdrih, Organising Committee President of the Volkswagen 23rd Ljubljana Marathon 03 The Volkswagen Ljubljana Marathon

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AR: "Indeed, the children’s running was Gojko’s idea and I am proud to say that, not essentially that other marathon organisers have copied us, but obviously they added children’s running immediately after the Ljubljana marathon 'invention'. Furthermore, even from the international congress side there are recommendations to the marathon’s organisers to encourage and include children’s running into their events. And, in addition, we as the organisers give children this run free of charge, to children and to society."

TST: How multicultural is the marathon in nationalities and countries?

GZ: "There are runners from 56 countries with the majority of foreign runners coming from the Balkan countries, in the last few years we have had more and more runners from Macedonia. In addition, we are also addressing runners from the European capitals."

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TST: What would you say about the marathon’s route? Why is Ljubljana special compared to other similar international events?

AR: "It is important to say that Ljubljana’s marathon is really very well organised and the runners are friendly, which is confirmed by the IAAF silver label which was obtained this year and we are on the way to getting the gold label, fulfilling all the criteria: streaming, top competitors – Kenya and Ethiopia, but unfortunately not yet the Europeans and top Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Helena Žigon and the Ljubljana marathon

By Mag. Jasmina Kozina Praprotnik

She was standing at the 32nd kilometre of the marathon course and watching the more or less tired runners who were running the last 10 kilometres to the finish line. The ones that noticed her recognised and greeted her, her appearance had not changed, she was exactly as they remembered. She raised her arms and waved back to them.

Her daughter was standing beside her, she knew that her mother had a hard time just standing on the sidewalk. It was quite possible that without saying a word she would suddenly step onto the road and run. Helena turned to her daughter and said, "You know, I could run these 10 kilometres too," repeating the phrase two more times.

This white-haired lady on the route of the Ljubljana marathon was 87 year old Helena Žigon. She was the only woman to have participated in all of the previous 19 Ljubljana half marathons. On this, the 20th in the row, she participated for the first time as an observer.

Helena ran her whole life. Even as a little girl she constantly ran, but usually only to get to where she had to go more quickly. She attended her first race, a short track and field competition quite casually in 1954, dressed in a skirt and blouse, but nevertheless surprisingly won.

Then she had even more motivation for running and participated in all the runs which were organised in her country and to which she was able to go. Running offered her many of the things she longed for in life.

Life revealed many dark sides to her but she didn’t give up. She was running even after all of her peers had stopped. When she was asked

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the question that was quite rude to ask, she smilingly replied: "I will continue running all until I‘m too old." For her, running was the constant in her life, a point of reference, a way of thinking, meditation, learning about herself and the world. Her path to acceptance and forgiveness.

The way of life or life itself. Running was her therapy and salvation at the same time.

It was a year and a half before this Ljubljana’s marathon day when Helena decided to celebrate her 86th birthday by participating in the first Istrian half marathon. A few days before the start of the Littoral run, after 66 years of love and 60 years of marriage, her husband Stane died. As if this was not tragic enough, some days before that she had fallen and broken two ribs, barely able to even walk.

Nevertheless, she went to the start and also to the finish. In the meantime, in every single kilometre, one by one, during her running without any stopping at all, she confessed to me the story of her life.

I described this exceptional life that was screaming in fear of oblivion, every step in the biographical novel, The Long Running Life of Helena Žigon. In Slovenia, it was released in 2014 with the name Bela dama. Among the readers were people who regarded running as something very distant from their personality, but after reading the book started thinking about it. A question rose in every readers mind: how can she still be running after all that happened?

Let’s ask the same question: How is it possible that Helena, at 86 years of age when most people her age have problems even walking much shorter distances, is able to run the half marathon? How is it possible that she still wanted to run 10 kilometres at the age of 87 and that she was very probably able to do it?

The answer to this difficult question is in the way she lived her life which included regular exercise.

It is inevitable that we get older but it is in not about how old we are, it is mainly about how we age. Our ageing can be compared with an ageing clock. When it stops working we have three options: throw it away, pay the watchmaker to fix it or sometimes a miracle if we only wrapp it. For this reason, let‘s not stop taking care of our bodies, lets regularly wrapp them. Only then can we become what we want to become because what we do has a direct impact on what we are.

Helena is now 90 years old and she will not wear her running shoes ever again, but she has a serious message: go running and enjoy it! Will we meet each other at the Ljubljana marathon!

Reviews: "To say that the story of Helena Žigon’s life is inspiring would be a vast understatement. As told to her fellow Slovenian runner, Jasmina Kozina Praprotnik, a first-time author, Žigon achieves a rare feat, delivering a compelling tale of relentless perseverance without a hint of self-aggrandisement. Žigon’s demonstration of athletic prowess is all the more astonishing for having continued well into old age. 'I am not so young anymore,' the octogenarian marathoner says, with disarming candor. 'I just have to make sure that I run with moderation and wisdom.'

As she does so, mile after exhausting mile, Žigon ruminates on her life’s highs and lows, among them her mother’s abandonment of a young Helena. 'What would she have said if she had seen how fast I was, if she had seen me win?' Zigon wonders wistfully. 'Would she have been proud of me?’ Readers of The Long Running Life of Helene Žigon will doubtless identify with this remarkable woman’s yearnings."

Nick Madigan, correspondent for The New York Times

"This is a luminous and inspiring account.

Praprotnik’s book is full of wisdom about how running—in life’s toughest times—can be one’s salvation. I will feel Helena Žigon’s courageous spirit on my morning runs along the Slovenian coast."

Joji Sakurai, journalist published in the Financial Times, New York Times, New Statesman, and Foreign Policy

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Beyond mere promotion – a story about falling in love

By Tonja Blatnik

A few months ago, the "wine-bible" Decanter, the world’s most respected wine magazine read in 92 countries, announced their selection of the best Pinot Gris in the world. Slovenian Pinot Gris from TILIA ESTATE in the Vipava Valley. The wine, described as "wine with real depth and drive", made it to the very top. Who is the mastermind behind? The founder, Matjaž Lemut, the co-owner and the oenologist, is the mastermind and main driving force of the family-owned TILIA ESTATE.

When the famous wine correspondent from the Financial Times, Jancis Robinson, visited TILIA ESTATE in Potoče, Vipava Valley, she described its founder, Matjaž Lemut, as "the most cosmopolitan Slovenian producer". No wonder - he gained his wealth of experience in Switzerland and California, and his knowledge and passion for winemaking are highly appreciated around the globe. As an internationally acclaimed expert in viticulture and winemaking, he is a sought-after oenologist. He consults to the Croatian wineries, Feravino in Slavonija and Ipša in Istria, Rebula Svetlik etc. His wines are featured at acclaimed restaurants and stores in Belgium, France, Germany, Croatia, Poland, the Czech Republic and US. Under the slogan "House of Pinots", Matjaž and his team strive to compete with the world’s greatest masters.

But, stopping at Lemut’s impressive recognitions would be a cardinal error. What really makes a difference and is noticed by every single guest of his cellar – "placed only four hours from Liverpool Street", as he likes to say, is his awareness that a great customer experience doesn’t just happen. It is planned, designed and mindfully delivered. A special mash-up consisting of superior quality wine being poured in a deeply simpatico way and Lemut, sharing his knowledge in his humble way whilst paying attention to the smallest detail - seems to be his way of achieving customer delight. Well, perhaps a bit of charm from the founder’s intense, deep-set eyes, the perfect expression of his unique self and his unique wine. He is certainly making the most of his love for wine and consequently, he has put Slovenia on the world map for producing this divine drink of the gods.

Q What are your key principles in winemaking?

A Wine creation combines the potential of the vineyard, wine cellar and the oenologist. It is the equilibrium of the grape quality, the consistency of technological procedures and the creativity and character of the winemaker. It is delightful when wine is a reflection from whom it was created (from the winemaker’s perspective), while from the wine lover’s perspective the question should be with whom would you like to enjoy it?

Q You produce several wines: Pinot Gris, Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Muscat, Merlot, however Pinot Noir seems to have a special meaning. It is one of the most sensuously fragrant red grapes and the wine is one the most highly prized in the world. Why did you choose to master it?

A The majority of the winemakers claim that Pinot Noir is demanding, problematic, even moody and predictable, while for me it simply beautifully challenging. We all aspire to be creative. We seek opportunities to test our capabilities, our limits in achieving something provocative, something beyond the usual expectations. I guess it gives us a sense of fulfilment and purpose. In my case, this is Pinot Noir.

Q You are organising the first Pinot Noir Festival and Master Class in Slovenia, which will take place on 20-21 October at the Kendov Dvorec Relais & Châteaux.

What is the key message?

Matjaž Lemut, the founder, the co-owner and the oenologist, is the mastermind and main driving force of the family-owned TILIA ESTATE

A Firstly, production of Pinot Noir in Slovenia has been developing remarkably, creativity is high. We have most certainly reached the turning point. Secondly, Pinot Noir is a wine that demands communication between the wine maker and the wine lover. So, the timing for the first festival devoted to the celebration of Pinot Noir is perfect – and who else is called to organise it if not us, the House of Pinots.

It is delightful when wine is a reflection from whom it was created (from the winemaker’s perspective), while from the wine lover’s perspective the question should be with whom would you like to enjoy it?

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Veno Taufer, Poet and Founding President of Vilenica ILF; Photo: Ivo Stefanič

33 Vilenica: rd

Mature, in a different world Since the first Vilenica International Literary Festival, in 1986, a gathering of poets, writers, dramatists and essayists from Central Europe, the key event has been the conferring of the Vilenica International Literary Award, given to the best author from Central Europe for outstanding achievements in literature and essay writing. The award recipient is selected by the Vilenica jury and conferred in the Vilenica cave. This year, the charismatic Bulgarian–German writer, Ilija Trojanow, received the award, surrounded by 20 authors from 15 countries.

Veno Taufer Poet, Founding President How did it all begin?

The festival was founded in the wonderful Karst cave, Vilenica, as a dissident and so literally, an underground movement.

Back then, Tone Partljič, the President of the Slovene Writers’ Association, appointed me to greet writers and poets from the Primorska region, gathered at a literary evening organised by the poet, Aleksander Peršolja.

The entrance to the Vilenica Cave, adorned with glimmering columns of dripstones

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charmed and enchanted me. Immediately on returning to Ljubljana, I wrote a letter to the steering committee of the Slovenian Writers’ Association with the concept for the Vilenica Festival, which actually remains the same, although it matured during the turbulent and cruel years.

Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Vilenica was a gathering place for emigrant writers from CEE and domestic dissident writers.

The Hungarian writer, György Konrad, declared it "the spiritual capital of Central Europe" Beyond Slovenia, where Vilenica presented the turmoil of civil society and a demand for

democracy in the early years, its activities resonated in some other CEE countries.

On the first page of Vilenica 86, miscellany was declared a heretic program of what was then considered taboo. The Vilenica prize should remind of the cultural heritage and promote the vitality of the integration principle of diversity in the European cultural community.

And today?

Over three decades, 1,000 or more poets and writers, from across the world, have met, listened, talked and established friendships, from Casimir de Britt from Portugal to Wang Jiaxin, a poet from China.

Today, the vital power of pluralism, integration of the diversity in art, culture and life, which at the beginning sounded strange in Central Europe or possibly even dangerous "ideological stupidity", has become the basic consciousness of European integration, existence and the future of the EU. Ilija Trojanow, this year’s Vilenica award recipient said: "… the list of winners is unbelievable..."

It’s true! Romanian-German writer, Herta Müller, attended in 2002 and won the Nobel Prize in 2009, testifying to the quality of artistic participants. The winners of the first three Vilenica festivals established its concept: Italian writer, Fulvio Tomizza, Peter Handke from Austrian Carinthia and Hungarian author, Péter Esterházy, all bordering countries.

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia Andrej Blatnik

Maja Kavzar Hudej

Writer, Editor, Lecturer, longstanding jury member

Festival Program Manager How important are local partners?

How did you become a jury member?

I was invited in 1995 by Veno Taufer. In 2007 I replaced Taufer as President of the Jury, with Lidija Dimkovska taking it over after the 2015 festival.

You are one of the most translated Slovenian authors, to what extent does the festival lead to translations?

There is more good literature in the world than writers can devour or literary mediators can notice. At festivals, a writer is in the spotlight for at least a few moments and that’s how invitations and connections happen. I performed in China because the festival organiser heard me in New York.

At the same time, a number of books have been published in Slovenia because of the Vilenica Festival.

Partners and supporters from the Karst region play a key role, both organisationally and with hospitality. Each year the festival also takes place in other Slovenian towns where local organisers help raise public interest.

For example, this year an event took place in a well secured, underground military bunker, Škrilj in Kočevje. We try to connect attractive locations with live words.

Ilija Trojanow was born in Bulgaria and writes in German.

Torn between various languages and cultures, he accepts this distinguished recognition as "an alternative Nobel prize".

Why the Karst?

Ilija Trojanow joined Jáchym Topol (Czech Republic), Olga Tokarczuk (Poland), Savid Albahari (Serbia), Mircea Cărtăarescu (Romania), Dževad Karahasan (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Claudio Magris (Italy), Goran Stefanovski (Macedonia), Milan Kundera (Czech Republic)

The Karst is magical for me. I’m always enchanted when we arrive in Lipica, through the tree-lined autumn colours, and when we descend to the epicentre of Karst – into Vilenica Cave – one almost becomes a poet...

These images remain with you forever.

"For me the award is a great honour, since it’s international, European.

A writer takes a look at those before them, the list of Vilenica Award winners is magnificent, I’m filled with joy"

How does Vilenica connect with other festivals?

Would you share some anecdotes?

Many times I remember something very personal and self-satisfying. When the phenomenal Canadian author, Patrick deWitt, came to Vilenica in 2014, I found the courage to ask him to sign a copy of his book, but his response was: "Are you Andrej Blatnik?

Would you sign your book, please?" Sometimes we feel our writing doesn’t reach far – literary festivals have the power of correcting this impression.

What was the guiding principle of your jury presidency?

The main question was how to preserve the specifics of the festival after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which Vilenica helped to demolish in its own way. I think that the focus on lesser known literature, highlighting its importance and thinking in a world that is becoming ever more materialistic is where we have succeeded.

From the beginning, Vilenica has been open to cooperation. We have established firm friendships with some of the most prominent literary festivals in the region and also from Lithuania, Ireland and Canada. These are vital to place Slovenian literature on the map of European and world literature.

This year’s theme is Write and Survive, how important is a theme?

The festival wants to start a constructive debate about various cultural, aesthetic and social existential issues that connect our space, and also point to various relations in Central European cultures.

Your personal note?

As the program manager, I connect cospeakers. We also include performers from other artistic practices. Informal socialising is one of the main advantages of the festival, requiring a very personal approach which I am trying to adopt myself.

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia

Maribor: The first Slovenian municipality

with an approved circular economy strategy On 27 September 2018, the Vetrinje Mansion in Maribor hosted a professional conference where experts from different subject fields discussed the necessity for transition to a circular economy at the national level, stressing the importance of cooperation. The introductory speech was given by Andrej Fištravec, the Mayor of the City Municipality. Fištravec pointed out that Maribor is the first and currently the only, Slovenian municipality with an approved circular economy strategy. The projects for the implementation of their strategy will imbue the city with the spirit of a circular economy.

Three projects were presented in detail, all of which will be co-funded by the European Union. These include: Urban Soil 4 Food, which focuses on recycling organic waste into fertile soil; Cinderella, which deals with the recycling of construction waste; and Greencycle, which aims to develop platforms for the exchange of good practices between the project partners.

Ladeja Godina Košir, Director and Founder of the Circular Change platform, presented the pan-Slovenian strategic plan. The document which took one year to develop, is titled Roadmap towards the Circular Economy in Slovenia.

Shedding light on the national efforts, it defines the circular economy as a response to the challenges faced by the 21st century consumer society. The distinctive feature of the Roadmap is the "circular triangle", which emphasises the significance of a systemic transition from a linear to a circular economic model, and is defined by a strong correlation between three constituents – circular economy (business models), circular change (government policies) and circular culture (the citizens).

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While Peter Bossman, the Mayor of Piran, discussed migration and mobility, emphasising that Europe needs a strong leader who is capable of firmly determining the future guidelines, Dragica Marinič from the Styrian Economic Chamber, presented their smart specialisation strategy and the importance of linking development to companies. Draško Veselinovič from the Slovenian Business and Research Association (SBRA), warned that European project co-funding is not to be taken for granted and that good applications are not written overnight. With respect to this, he praised local experts who have managed to acquire approximately EUR 5m of European funds. Interlocutors agree that Slovenia har-

bours extensive knowledge and implements many projects. What Slovenians lack, however, is the ability for self-promotion and confidence – here, the latter is scarce when compared to other EU member states.

In the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities, which will take place in Brussels from 8 - 11 October 2018, the above projects and comprehensive circular economy strategy will be presented to the European public. Maribor made its first appearance at this event in 2016 with their innovative Wcycle economic model, which sparked a lot of interest among fellow EU Member States and the former Slovenian Environment Commissioner, Janez Potočnik.

Experience&Lifestyle Slovenia Interview: Toni Llop, Partner Director, Eurofitness

Eurofitness TST: Toni Llop, Partner Director, Eurofitness, a Catalan company that expanded their operations to Slovenia in 2010, can you tell us more about your company and the beginning of this international cooperation?

Toni Llop: Eurofitness Group is owned by the sporting organisation, UBAE, which started business operations in Slovenia in 2010. UBAE and Sportna Unija Slovenija have been collaborating on common projects and networks since 1995, when UBAE led the constitution of the European Organization Sport and Health (CESS). Year by year we strengthened our bilateral cooperation based on the exchange of experiences and participation in training events.

Since 1995, Eurofitness has developed in different business areas. Other than the sporting facilities management that started in 1990 in the city of Barcelona, 20 years ago we started to develop our training programs. Hundreds of young instructors have been trained in our centre, Eurofitness Edu and many of them have become professionals in the fitness industry because of their official certification.

In 2015, the third business branch was launched with the opening of a sport hostel in the central part of Barcelona. It has a capacity of 450 beds and its booking rate is one of the highest of the city.

Finally, as a consequence of a joint venture with a business school, we are providing university degrees based on fitness and technology.

TST: What knowledge and work principles did you introduce to Slovenia at the beginning?

TL: Since introducing our processes in Slovenia, we have been focussed on providing a new experience for our customers. The offer of a multipurpose club at an affordable fee was one of our pillars. This offer should be implemented through a different design of the club and include several options for training and leisure. The combination of a spa area, pool, fitness training and group exercise sessions has become quite an innovative option in the country.

Trained and customer-oriented staff were and are irrevocable principles of ours. As a result, we focused on group exercise sessions

as a way to maintain permanent contact with our customers. We introduced some of our more successful activities, led by experienced instructors trained in our sport club network.

Finally, we invite all our new members to have an interview with our instructors who can suggest to them the most suitable activities in the club.

All the information generated by the club regarding the profile of users is ruled by a strong data management software, designed by us, which allows us to get current information about the development of the operations of the club and keep us informed about members who may not have attended for a while or market niches and set up a concrete communication strategy.

Toni Llop, Partner Director, Eurofitness

TST: After eight years, how satisfied are you with the work that has been done and with your Slovenian partners and team members? You have 15 centres across Europe, how do they differ from one another?

TL: After eight years of experience, we feel fully satisfied. We have consolidated good staff who understand and share the values of the company. Our Slovenian partner has trusted us as a partner in all phases of the business operations. From the beginning, participating in the design of the club to the latest operational processes. We feel proud of our work in Slovenia and we feel very comfortable working with our partner here.

Although we implement the same processes in all of our clubs, we accept and manage the differences as part of our continuous improvement. In many cases, local solutions become global in our network of clubs.

TST: Being the Vice President of the Sports for All Association, how do you view Slovenia? How developed is Slovenia in this respect?

TL: Slovenia is the most active nation in Europe. Slovenians love physical activity. The country has a lot of possibilities to practice, especially in the natural environment and a nice sport infrastructure has been developed in the last 10 years.

There are consolidated clubs and sport organisations and the participation of society in sporting activities and events is very significant.

I see political interest in increasing the access to physical activity for as many people as possible and I think sporting organisations can play a very important role in this area, promoting programs of activities. Public and private partnerships should help the creation of innovative physical activity.

TST: What are your plans to expand the company’s operations in Slovenia and the broader region?

TL: We have created a business structure in Slovenia and a good team of professionals. It makes it easier to evaluate projects linked to any of our areas of business. At the same time, we have a solid alliance with Sportna Unija.

Slovenia and the broader region offer nice opportunities to enlarge our network of sporting centres and the interest of younger generations for physical activity as a future professional career, and allows us to consider the potential of our educational programs.

The tourism industry is also increasing in the region and probably requires the type of business model that fits in our strategy.

TST: How do you personally experience Slovenia and Ljubljana?

TL: From more than 20 years I have regularly visited Slovenia. I have found and lived a nice experience every time and I have always felt as at home. It’s a nice country and I never miss an opportunity to recommend it.

Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times PRIROČNIK ZAAutumn UPORABO CGP

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Culture Interview: Nina Peče Grilc, Director of Kinodvor

Happy Birthday Kinodvor!

By Kaja Komar

Nina Peče Grilc, Director of Kinodvor; Photo: Nada Žgank

Kinodvor cinema, at Kolodvorska 13, built in 1923 in late Art Nouveau style as the Ljubljanski Dvor City Cinema to be the city’s luxury cinema, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. In 1935, the Sloga railwaymen’s cultural society assumed management of the renamed Kino Sloga until the state claimed ownership of all Slovenian cinemas in 1946.

The Sloga Cinema gained notoriety in the 1980s through the screening of erotic films until its rebirth as Kino Dvor in the 1990s. When the city’s cinemas began to close down at the end of the millennium, the then Kino Dvor closed as well. It was rebuilt and opened as an art cinema in 2003 under the leadership of Silvan Furlan, Director of Slovenska kinoteka (Slovenian Cinematheque). Unfortunately, the cinema’s doors closed soon after Furlan’s death and it seemed as if this cinema had no future. In spite of difficulties, the Municipality of Ljubljana established the new Kinodvor public institution in 2008 and asked Nina Peče, from the International film festival Kino Otok Cinema Isola, to become its director. It has become the city cinema showing high quality, contemporary films for a discerning audience. The expected 50,000 visitors per year was exceeded in the first year

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and today, almost 120,000 visit annually.

Kinodvor is exceeding all its spatial capabilities and according to Nina Peče Grilc, building new cinemas is the only and best solution.

Q Are you satisfied with the first 10 years of Kinodvor?

A Overall, we achieved the goals we set at the opening of the city cinema in May 2008. It was a special period for cinema in the world and in our country. People were questioning why they would watch a film in a cinema when there were so many other platforms where it could be watched. After cinemas in the city centre were closing down in the late 1990s, some of the habits of going to the cinema died out. In these circumstances, we decided to profile Kinodvor as a city cinema that would offer the best film experience in technical and otherwise best possible conditions. Our aim was to become a professional film institution as well as a cinema for all audiences. We succeeded in establishing a cinema that treats film as an art and the viewer equally respectfully.

Q Who is your audience?

A The cinema is intended for a wider audience which is as diverse as films are. From the youngest First timers through Kinotrip for teenagers to the Rendez-Vous film club for seniors. The age category is not the only diversifier,

we offer programs that can attract people with different interests or can stimulate diverse habits such as Raincheck screenings, Breakfast at Kinodvor, Early Bird or Kino-babies. There are also those that chose Kinodvor for their cinema and rarely visit other cinemas. Our results show growing interest in European film, with more than 60 percent in our program. We are a (board) member of the Europa Cinemas association, but programming of European film at Kinodvor far exceeds demand. However, together with the international film festivals, we offer diverse cinema from all around the world.

Our mission is to flourish cinema culture, which begins with the film education of young people and continues to satisfy the needs of more demanding film lovers.

Q You were the first cinema with film education in Slovenia.

A At the time of Kinodvor’s founding, there was a lack of quality, especially European, film for the youngest in Slovenia, so we started to develop a program of film education for children and young audience. Kinobalon, founded

by Petra Slatinšek, is based on the understanding of the film and conversations are an interaction with children to help them on the path to becoming an independent viewer. The program triggered a snowball, Art Kino Mreža Slovenia has developed into a well-functioning association in the past ten years, offering qual-

Culture ity cinema with activities of film education across Slovenia. The Europa Cinemas Association noticed our efforts in the early years of Kinodvor as a city cinema, Kinobalon received a prize for Best Young Audience Activities and we are a reference in international circles. This year we became a partner in a special EU project, Cinemini Europe, for children aged two to six, led by the established film institute EYE from the Netherlands together with prominent partners such as the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt and Austrian Film Institute.

Q Who selects the films?

A I have two main program co-workers, Koen Van Daele, who heads the program and Petra Slatinšek, who is in charge of film education and the young audience program. Within the program, other selectors join us to create the program for festivals, special selections, special screenings, discussions or projects. Of course, the choice depends largely on the films available in Slovenia, that is, film distribution and the festival program. However, we are completely autonomous in our program, we know our audience best and we look at our program as a whole. There is so much diversity which brings a lot of challenges including how to communicate the program to a diverse audience and how to accommodate everything in one screening hall. Therefore, based on the excellent results, we plan to increase the number of cinema halls.

Q What kind of a plan?

A In accordance with the strategy and plans of the Municipality of Ljubljana, the construction

of a new city miniplex is planned in Podhod Ajdovščina, in 2022. The Kolodvorska screening hall will remain and Kinodvor will get another big hall and three small halls. There will also be an additional, bigger hall, which due to the technical characteristics cannot be equipped as a cinema, but will be available for seminars, talks, round tables, etc. We want to keep the profile "more than a cinema" and that is why a coffee shop, bookshop, gallery, children’s corner and all of the things that we see as components of the city cinema and social space are planned. We believe the city centre will have quality content and a cultural centre for all generations, with a special cultural program.

Q What would you recommend for foreigners in Slovenia?

A The most popular programs in summer, visited by more and more foreign guests, are already in two languages, the original with English subtitles, such as the Film Under the Stars at Ljubljana Castle and the Open-air Cinema at Kongresni trg. We try to make the program accessible to foreign guests, each month, we select films that invite foreigners who live in Ljubljana and communicate the program through our partners and institutions. Our third program, apart from films in regular distribution and film education, is a festival program, which is particularly international. We have many festivals, from the most important Ljubljana International Film Festival, LIFFEe to Animateka (Animated Film Festival), the Documentary Film Festival, City of Women, Francophone Film Festival, and the Week of the European Film, etc.

Q What else are you preparing this year?

A One of the main events this Autumn will certainly be our tenth anniversary week at the beginning of October which will feature the premiere of one of the main Cannes winners, Pawel Pawlikovsky’s Cold War. Another highlight will be the premiere of the Bosnian film, The Frog, directed by Elmir Jukić, marked by an exceptionally powerful performance by Emir Hadzihafizbegovic. The Bosnian star and the director will be joining us for the premiere.

Q What was your first encounter with the world of cinema?

A I came across film in 2004 when the first film festival, Kino Otok, was formed with the aim to show films that were not in regular distribution in Slovenia. As a volunteer, I worked with experts from Slovenska kinoteka and Kinodvor and immediately recognised the special initiative and enthusiasm. By talking to the film critic, Nika Bohinc, who is unfortunately no longer with us, and working with Vlado Škafar, filmmaker and founder of Kino Otok, the door into the world of film opened to me. It is interesting that many guests, who were then hosted as promising artists, are well-established artists today. This experience helped me and Koen, my colleague at Kino Otok, decide to lead Kinodvor when the Municipality of Ljubljana was looking for leadership for the new public institution. I started the project with my colleagues, in whom I believed, they were both cinephiles and experts.

Film Under the Stars at Ljubljana Castle; Photo: Domen Pal

Kinodvor invites you: From 20 September: On Chesil Beach, Dominic Cooke, 2017 From 18 October: The Children Act, Richard Eyre, 2017 31 October: Halloween Horror Marathon (selected by leading Slovenian film critic (and horror aficionado) Marcel Štefančič, Jr.) From 7 - 18 November: Ljubljana International Film Festival LIFFe From November: The House that Jack Built, Lars von Trier, 2018 From 3 To 9 December: Animateka International Animated Film Festival.

On New Year’s Eve, we invite you to three special New Year’s premieres and a toast with a glass of sparkling wine.

Autumn Edition 2018 | The Slovenian Times

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Event Guide

 Culinary / Festival

Old Vine Festival  Culture / Exhibition

Ivana Kobilca (1861–1926), "Painting is something beautiful ..."

21 June 2018 – 10 February 2019, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana The National Gallery of Slovenia is commemorating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition of the life and work of Ivana Kobilca, one of the most famous Slovenian artists of all time.

Thedevelopment of Ivana Kobilca as a painter took place in the last two decades of the 19th century, when realism in Europe became acceptable for the growing middle class which, through politics and ideology, controlled the entire art production. She spent most of her adult life in foreign capitals: after Vienna she studied in Munich, lived in Paris, Sarajevo and Berlin, from where she returned to Ljubljana only at the onset of the First World War. The exhibition is made of twelve chapters exploring the development of Kobilca’s motifs from her Munich portrait studies and orientalism, child portraits and genre scenes, interior genre to nudes and middle class portraits. Besides the context of Kobilca’s plain air painting, the circumstances of the allegoric picture Slovenia Bows to Ljubljana are explained, as is the life and work of the artist in some of the cities she sojourned in: Ljubljana in the early and late periods, Paris, Sarajevo and Berlin.

In addition to her popular works, such as Summer and Woman Drinking Coffee, the exhibition includes paintings from private collections that are almost unknown to the broader public.

Together, the pictures reflect Kobilca’s creative force and varied influences of European artistic epicentres.

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28 September-12 November 2018, Maribor: Old Vine House, Trg Leona Štuklja and other venues The Old Vine Festival is a culinary and cultural tribute to the oldest vine in the world, which grows on Lent, the oldest part of Maribor. The Old Vine is the pride of Maribor, Styria and Slovenia. From the ceremonial grape harvest of the Old Vine in the beginning of October until the biggest celebration of St. Martin’s Day in Slovenia on 11 November, Styria will yet again celebrate the symbol of Slovenian wine and persistence. Numerous events are organised to taste wine, to toast and simply have a good time.

 Culture / Festival

Maribor Theatre Festival 15 – 28 October 2018, Slovene National Theatre Maribor, Maribor

 Sport

Bike Festival Portorož 14 October 2018, Marina Portorož, Portorož The traditional final cycling event of the season, in Portorož, is designed for both recreational and sporting enthusiasts, as well as families and youngsters. The Bike Festival Portorož will host participants on three routes: 42km for families, the 56km middle route and the 88km long route, starting and finishing at Marina Portorož, the first marina built in Slovenia, located in the protected eastern part of the Gulf of Piran.

Brimming with challenge and the poetics of the senses, the oldest and most prominent theatre festival in Slovenia has always been the scene of exciting arguments, new insights and unexpected reversals. The festival consists of several thematic programs, including Slovenian theatre performances in competition with an international program. Prizes are given for best artistic achievements with the most prestigious prize, the Borštnik Ring, awarded by a special jury to a deserving Slovenian actor for his/her life’s work. The festival has recently evolved into an international event: international symposia and foreign guests, producers and performances are obvious signs that it is confronting the European and global theatre scene.

Event Guide

 Sport

Volkswagen 23nd Ljubljana Marathon 27 - 28 October 2018, Ljubljana The Ljubljana Marathon is the largest running event held in Slovenia. Its international recognition is largely due to its highly attractive course through the streets of Ljubljana. The two main races held as part of the event, a marathon (42km) and a half marathon (21km), are accompanied by recreational runs of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty, a half-marathon inline skating race, and a half-marathon handcycling race, so that over the event weekend runners of all ages are able to find something suitable for their fitness level. While originally it was intended for the local runners, it soon grew into an internationally recognised competition. In 2017, it brought together more than 26,000 runners from 40 different countries.

 Culture / Concert

Vienna Boys Choir 24 November 2018, SNG theatre in Maribor, Maribor The world-renowned Vienna boys are returning to Slovenia because of their great interest.

Within the framework of their world tour, the only appearance in Slovenia will take place in the beautiful Grand Hall of SNG Maribor, where they will perform under the guidance of world-renowned conductor and pianist, Luiz de Godoy. The program will be brand new in which they will sing adventurous songs which will be further enhanced in the second part with beautiful Christmas songs.

 Culture / Concert  Culture / Festival

28th Ljubljana International Film Festival – LIFFe 7 - 18 November 2018, Cankarjev dom (Cultural and Congress Centre), Ljubljana The Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe) began in 1996 as a way to feature contemporary world film and promote emerging directors and trends in film. The festival is organised by the Film Department of the Cankarjev Dom Cultural and Congress Centre.

The main competition, Perspectives, will feature films by emerging film directors who will compete for the Kingfisher (Vodomec) award.

Other awards to be handed out include the Fipresci prize, voted for by a panel of judges from the International Federation of Film Critics, the Dragon (Zmaj) audience award and the Best Short Film Award. Festival screenings will be accompanied by a program of talks with film directors and other film artists.

Bryan Adams, The Ultimate Tour 2018 22 November 2018, Stadium Stožice, Ljubljana Bryan Adams is a Canadian rock singersongwriter, musician, producer, actor and photographer. For his contributions to music, Adams has garnered many awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards from 56 nominations, 15 Grammy Award nominations including, in 1992, a win for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television.

Adams was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia for his contributions to popular music and philanthropic work via his own foundation, which helps improve education for people around the world.

On 13 January 2010, Adams received the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for his part in numerous charitable concerts and campaigns during his career, and on 1 May 2010 was given the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for his 30 years contributing to the arts.

Event Guide Autumn Edition 2017 | The Slovenian Times

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1 burning issue.

5 opinion leaders.

Your brand new perspective. #opinioncorner New section at www.sloveniatimes.com We value your feedback – we are open for your ideas regarding the topics as well as opinion makers whose insights you are interested in. Drop us an e-mail: tonja@sloveniatimes.com

Be the voice, not the echo!

Investment Forum

East Slovenia Investment Compass

www.esic.si October 23rd and 24th 2018 Maribor, Slovenia Hotel City Maribor Welcome Investors Private companies with investment projects Public companies with investment projects Municipalities with investment projects Business / Industrial zones Liquidators and Insolvency administrators Business consultants and Site selectors Developers Business angels Investment funds

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

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