Slovenia Business Week no 47 October 15th 2004 Table of Contents HEADLINES 3 SDS Leader Jansa Receives Mandate to Form Government 3 Strong Business Delegation Visiting China 3 Entrepreneurs Pleased with Major Improvements in Ten Years 4 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 5 Speaker Cukjati Receives Croatian Ambassador 5 CEI Summit to Discuss the Initiative s Role in Europe 5 Finance Experts Examine Slovenia s Budget Planning 5 EUROPEAN UNION 7 EU Needs Translators Recruitment Campaign to Be Launched 7 Commission Says Careful Preparations Key to Successful Euro Adoption 7 Slovenia Sticks to Its Bid for EU Border Agency 8 Stokelj Says Slovenia Willing to Preside over EU in 2008 8 Slovenia Outlines National Employment Programme in Brussels 10 Slovenia Rushes to Compensate for Shortage of Translators 10 LEGISLATION 12 Government Amends Companies Act to Introduce International Accounting Standards 12 STATISTICS FORECASTS 13 Statistics Days Focuses on Globalisation 13 Factory Gate Prices Up 0 3 in October 13 Slovenia s 2003 Unemployment at 6 7 According to Eurostat 13 September Export Import Ratio at 95 6 14 Business Sentiment Strong Except in Construction 14 FINANCE 15 Trade Unions Call on Employers to Pay Christmas Bonus 15 Petrol Cheaper as of 9 November 15 Bank of Slovenia Enters STEP2 15 Banka Koper Exceeds Half Year Plans 16 Austrian Regional Bank Opens Branch Office in Ljubljana 16 Abanka Sees Profit Soar by 27 but Falls Short of Forecasts 17 NLB Streamlines IT Infrastructure 17 Slovenia Must Tighten Belt as Euro Grows Stronger 17 Banks Brace for Euro and Basel 2 18 Ljubljana Stock Exchange 19 Foreign Exchange 20 REGIONAL INFORMATION 21 Trbovlje Closing Down Mines and Looking for New Opportunities 21 BRANCH INFORMATION 22 Peugeot 307 CC Would Be Ladies Choice 22 Outsourcing Prospects Compound Fears of Further Layoffs 22 Chamber of Trade Expects Better Conditions for Small Business 23 Slovenia Becomes Top Holiday Destination for Britons 24 COMPANIES 25 Autocommerce First Ferrari and Maserati Car Dealer in Slovenia 25 Droga and Kolinska Promise Huge Synergy Effects of Their Merger 25 Istrabenz to Take Over Kolinska in Major Deal 26 Profit Down for Mercator in First Nine Months 26 Zavarovalnica Triglav CEO Wants to Keep State as Major Owner 27 Mobitel to Cut Prices of Calls to Other Networks in December 28 Kolinska Bid to Spur Consolidation of Food Industry 29 Zito Posts Lackluster Sales but Solid Profit 29 Hit Acquires 85 of Hotel Chain Kompas hoteli 30 Clothes Maker Mura to Post EUR 417 000 of Loss This Year 30 Aerodrom Ljubljana Beats Profit Target 30 50 Years of the Port of Koper Enclosed in a Book 31 Planika Management Seeks Bankruptcy Protection 31 Terme Catez Gearing Up for Biggest Slovenian Investment in Serbia 32 Intereuropa Reports Net Profit of EUR 11 7M 32 Autocommerce Acquires Adria Mobil 33 Tax Regulations Prompt Mercator Management to Offload Shares 33 SLOVENIA IN BRIEF 35 Slovenia Wants OSCE to Pay More Attention to Demographic Issues 35 Anton Turk Becomes Slovenia s Representative at NATO ACO 35 Bohinc Says EU Should Strengthen Its Integration Policy Ambitions 35 Small Businesses Sign Wage Annex to Collective Agreement 35 Prospective EU Presidency to Be Discussed by Parliament 35 Cebulj Takes Over as Constitutional Court President 35 Transport Conference Seeks to Connect Theory and Practice 35 Head of Office for Slovenians Abroad Visits Croatia 36 Debt Ridden Textile Company to File for Bankruptcy 36 Slovenia Plans to Enter Schengen Group by 2007 36 Slovenia Macedonia Army Officials Discuss Forms of Cooperation 36 2 HEADLINES SDS Leader Jansa Receives Mandate to Form Government Jansa must form government in 15 days Janez Jansa the leader of the centre right Slovenian Democrats SDS has been given the mandate by parliament to form a new government He won the nomination with 57 votes for and 27 against The real work is only just beginning he told the press Jansa expects that the government will be elected by the end of November after the coalition agreement is signed Talks about the content of the coalition agreement have come quite far he noted on Tuesday 9 November The Jansa led government would be Slovenia s eighth since the first multi party elections were held in 1990 it would be the first since the country joined the EU earlier this year After he was elected prime minister designate Janez Jansa now has up to two weeks to form a new government The parliament will take a vote on the new ministerial lineup as a whole after each candidate undergoes a hearing in the relevant parliamentary body Jansa must present to the speaker of parliament a list of cabinet members along with an explanation for their nomination within 15 days according to the parliament s standing orders The ministerial candidates then undergo hearings in relevant parliamentary bodies whose chairs must submit an evaluation of the candidates to the parliament speaker and the prime minister designate within 48 hours of the hearing The prime minister designate can replace a candidate up to three days after the hearing The parliament then takes a vote on the cabinet lineup as a whole If the government is appointed the ministers are sworn in On the same day state secretaries must offer their resignation to the new ministers As the new ministers are sworn in a provision of the state administration act will come into force whereby each ministry will only have one state secretary The law was passed by parliament in 2002 as part of a reform of the state administration It was designed to gradually separate political offices such as ministers and state secretaries from those held by professional civil servants If the list of ministerial candidates submitted by the prime minister designate is found to be incomplete and if the prime minister designate fails to amend it within the set deadline the parliament can take a vote only on the ministers whose nomination has been complete if they account for more than two thirds of the cabinet In that case the prime minister designate has to nominate the rest of the cabinet members within ten days after the government is appointed Strong Business Delegation Visiting China Some 50 business officials mainly coming from small and medium size companies are visiting Shanghai Xiamen and Hong Kong during their stay in China Representatives of almost 40 Slovenian companies began a one week visit to China on Wednesday 10 November in what is the biggest Slovenian business delegation to
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