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04ISSN 1854-0805 April 2013

ON HE POLIICAL AGENDA: Slovenia must nd optimism and hope but above all, it needs cooperationIN FOCUS INERVIEW: What matters most is the right story SPOR INERVIEW: ina Maze

Te latest rom Slovenia

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Government Communication Ofce4 5Sinfo Slovenian information

anja Glogovan

Te doors are opento cooperationTe Prime Minister o the Republic o Slovenia, Alenka Bratuek, at-tended the reception or the newly elected Slovenian Governmenthosted by the President o the Republic o Slovenia, Borut Pahor.

In a short address, she thanked the President or his words o encour-agement and said: Our project at this moment is Slovenia in 2013,because we are all aware that the year beore us is the key year. Hardwork awaits us, however, we are not araid o it. We know that therewill be many obstacles, but we are ready to ace them. Ms Bratuekcontinued that Slovenia is a stable country, thereore any compari-sons with Cyprus are not appropriate nor necessary at this time.President Borut Pahor then addressed the gathered guests and said thatat this moment Slovenia needs practical measures and visionary ac-tion. Te President wished the Prime Minister and the Government allthe best and a lot o courage and luck. He expressed his readiness orcooperation, which the Prime Minister accepted with the words gov-

ernments doors will always be open or good initiatives.

oma Vesel is the choice othe President o the RepublicTe President o the Republic o Slovenia, Borut Pahor, inormedJanko Veber, President o the National Assembly, that he is nominat-ing oma Vesel, Supreme State Auditor at the Court o Audit, as thenew President o the Court o Audit.

President Pahor submitted his ocial proposal or the candidate othe President o the Court o Audit ater candidates had been intro-duced to all deputy groups and ater inormal consultation sessionswith leaders o deputy groups, rom which the President establishedthat Vesel enjoys the necessary support. Te term o the current Pres-ident, Igor oltes, ends on 31 May.

Matija Sevek, Director o the Government Communication Oce

Justied or not, the attention is here and we are determined to makethe most o it. First o all, in the words o our Prime Minister, wehave to convince the shareholders to operate with numbers and notspeculations. Numbers speak or themselves, and many o Sloveniasmacroeconomic indicators are better than average among the EUmember states. Our government debt is lower than the EU averageand the size o our banking sector in relation to GDP is signicantlylower than the countries that we have been compared to. Both theEuropean Commission and the OECD have recognized that Slovenia

has absolutely no need to request bailout nancing.

Nevertheless, we clearly cannot claim that our banking sector is inthe best o health. We need to continue with reorms and consolidateour nances. We are well aware o the situation we are in and canclearly state that we are prepared or the tasks ahead o us. Slowlybut surely, we will prove that we can rise to the challenge and willbe able to step ahead on the path o growth. Ten the newspapercolumns will once again be lled with good news rom a country ohardworking and motivated people.

Ready or what the uture brings

The President Borut Pahor wished the Government all the best.

Toma Vesel, Supreme State Auditor

Photo:DanielNovakovi/STA


In the past ew weeks, Slovenia has been in the centre o global mediaattention. For the rst time since independence in 1991, there has hardlybeen a journalist, newspaper or television channel not interested in theuture steps Slovenias new government and Prime Minister Alenka

Bratuek are going to take to avoid a bailout.

UNDERLINED WHATS UP?

Botjan Jazbec was appointedgovernor o Slovenias centralbankBotjan Jazbec, a senior adviser with the IMF, was appointed gov-ernor o Slovenias central bank by the National Assembly in a 77-7vote. He will take over rom Marko Kranjec or a six-year term inmid-July.

Jazbec was promised support by all deputy groups except the So-cial Democrats (SD), who said they did not share his views on xingSlovenias ailing banking system and restarting the economy. But theother deputy groups hailed his nomination as injecting a breath oresh air and a high degree o expertise to the central bank.

In his rst statement ater the vote, the 43-year-old Jazbec reiterated the posi-tion that Slovenia can solve its problems without needing to ask or interna-tional aid.

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WHATS UP?

Te New President o theNational Assembly is Janko VeberMembers o Parliament selected Janko Veber as President o theNational Assembly, with 52 votes or and 34 against.

Janko Veber ollowed the leader o the Civic List party, Gregor Virant,who resigned as President o the National Assembly (NA) ater his partylet the coalition o Prime Minister Janez Jana in January. Since then,the President has been replaced by the oldest Vice-President o the NA,Jakob Presenik.Veber was rst elected to the Assembly in 1996. So ar, he has been amember o the parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Forestry andFood, the Committee on the Environment and Spatial Planning, and theransport Board, which he also managed in the previous term o oce.He was also Vice-President o the Motorway Construction Investiga-tion Commission. At the beginning o the current term o oce, theSocial Democrat membership unanimously conrmed Veber as leadero their parliamentary group; he is also a member o the Constitutional

Commission and the Commission or Public Oce and Elections.

Slovenia has a new HumanRights OmbudsmanTe term o oce o the Human Rights Ombudsman, Vlasta Nuss-dorer, has ocially started. Nussdorer was appointed new HumanRights Ombudsman by the National Assembly at the beginning oFebruary. Her term o oce commenced on 23 February 2013.

82 Members o Parliament voted or her appointment. Tis is thehighest vote or an Ombudsman in Slovenia so ar. On taking upher post, Nussdorer announced that she would strive to help theweakest and helpless during her term o oce. Te President o theRepublic o Slovenia, Borut Pahor, wished her lots o courage, pru-dence and ortitude.Nussdorer has 35 years o experience in the judicial system and10 years in the non-governmental sector. Working as the Attor-ney General, she was known to the public or her voluntary work;among other activities, she was President o the Beli obro associa-tion, helping victims o crime.

Janko Veber is the tenth President o the National Assembly in Slovenian par-

liamentary history.

Vlasta Nussdorer is the ourth Human Rights Ombudsman in the Republic oSlovenia.

The cabinet team comprises two emale and eleven male ministers.

Photo:TaminoPetelinek/STA



ON THE POLITICAL AGENDAanja Glogovan

Slovenia must fnd optimism and hopebut above all, it needs cooperation

In addition to Bratuek, who isthe leader o the Positive Sloveniaparty, the government also in-cludes two presidents o coalitionpartners i.e. the leader o the Citi-zens List, Gregor Virant, acting asMinister o the Interior and PublicAdministration, and the leader othe Pensioners Party, Karl Erja-vec, who is serving as Minister oForeign Aairs. Te president othe ourth coalition partner, DrIgor Luki, the leader o the SocialDemocrats, is not in the cabinet.

ELEVENTH SLOVENIAN

GOVERNMENT

he ministers in the eleventhSlovenian government are:Dr Uro uer, Minister o Fi-

nance; Karl Viktor Erjavec,Minister o Foreign Aairs;Dr. oma Gantar, Minister oHealth; Dr Uro Grilc, Minis-ter o Culture; Samo Omer-zel, Minister o Inrastructureand Spatial Planning; RomanJaki, Minister o Deence; inaKomel, Minister without Port-olio or Relations betweenthe Republic o Slovenia andthe Autochthonous Slove-nian National Community inNeighbouring Countries, andbetween the Republic o Slo-venia and Slovenians Abroad;Dr Anja Kopa Mrak, Ministero Labour, Family, Social A-airs and Equal Opportunities;Dr Jernej Pikalo, Minister oEducation, Science and Sport;

Dr Senko Pliani, Minister oJustice; Stanko Stepinik, MSc,Minister o Economic Devel-opment and echnology; DrGregor Virant, Minister o theInterior and Public Adminis-tration and Dejan idan, MSc,Minister o Agriculture and theEnvironment.

KEY OBJECTIVES

In her speech ater the inaugu-ration, Prime Minister AlenkaBratuek repeated the key ob-jectives which she highlightedas PM designate: calming thepolitical situation, consolidatingpublic nances, rehabilitatingthe banks and stimulating eco-nomic growth. She stressed her

In her speech aterthe inauguration,Prime Minister AlenkaBratuek repeated thekey objectives whichshe highlighted as PMdesignate: calmingthe political situation,consolidating publicnances, rehabilitatingthe banks andstimulating economicgrowth.

On 20 March 2013, the National Assembly appointed theeleventh Slovenian government, which will be led byAlenka Bratuek, MSc. Te cabinet team comprises two e-

male and eleven male ministers.

Pope Franciss Installation MassPresident Borut Pahor attended the inauguration mass o Pope Fran-cis and held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines o the event.

Borut Pahor highlighted Pope Franciss message o modesty: T is isvery important...A large part o humanity eels inequality. His deci-sion to illustrate this humility is or me a key message.President Pahor met on the sidelines o the event his Italian coun-terpart Giorgio Napolitano, US Vice-president Joe Biden, BrazilianPresident Dilma Rousse, Canada Governor General David John-ston, and Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rode.

More than a hundred government delegations and several hundred thousandbelievers attended the ceremony in St Peters Square which marked thebeginning o Pope Franciss ponticate.

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awareness o the responsibility,and said she believed she wouldbe able to lead the team on thepath to positive change or thegood o all Slovenian citizens.Janko Veber, President o theNational Assembly, said that hewished the Prime Minister andher ministers would do all intheir power to encourage eco-nomic growth in Slovenia andensure new jobs.

THE HANDOVER OF BUSINESS

BETWEEN THE NEW AND FORMER

CABINETS

Te new Prime Minister, AlenkaBratuek, thanked the ormer

Prime Minister, Janez Jana,or the good work his govern-ment had done or Slovenia. Shestressed that her governmentwould continue to implementall the good policies that hadbeen initiated. She emphasisedthat she and her team wouldocus on the uture, and addedthat they were aware that di-cult times and a lot o hard worklie ahead or Slovenia and thatthe change in the governmentteam does not signiy an end toproblems. In her presentation,she said: My team is young,educated and ull o optimism.At a time o great distrust inpoliticians, our political inex-

perience will be our advantagerather than our weakness. Wecare about the country and thepeople and not about ourselves,and I will manage the countrytogether with my entire minis-terial team in the same spirit.

Ater the handover o business,the ormer Prime Minister saidin his press release that he wassatised with the governmentswork, regardless o the brev-ity o his term, because someimportant reorms were under-taken in that time. In conclu-sion, the ormer Prime Ministercongratulated Prime MinisterBratuek on the appointment o

the government and expressedthe hope that she would workor the common good.

CONGRATULATIONS ON

APPOINMENT

Since the election o the elev-enth Slovenian Government inthe National Assembly, PrimeMinister Alenka Bratuek hasbeen receiving congratulationson her appointment. Te Presi-dent o the Republic o Slovenia,Mr Borut Pahor, was among therst to congratulate Ms Bratuekon the nomination o her minis-terial team. He also wished herevery success in the work o the

Government and expressed hisreadiness or cooperation or thebenet o the country and itscitizens. In his message o con-gratulations, the President o theEuropean Commission, Mr JosManuel Barroso, said that herappointment came at a chal-lenging time or Slovenia andthe European Union and that hewas condent she would makea valuable contribution to thejoint eorts to strengthen theUnion. On behal o the Europe-an Commission and himsel, hewished the new Prime Ministerevery success in her mandate,adding that he was looking or-ward to working with her.

Ms Bratuek also received a let-ter o congratulations rom thePrime Minister o the Republico Croatia, Mr Zoran Milanovi.He emphasised the commit-ment o Croatia to continuewith good neighbourly coop-eration and expressed his ex-pectation to meet in personsoon. Te Metropolitan Arch-bishop o Ljubljana, Msgr An-ton Stres, congratulated PrimeMinister Alenka Bratuek onthe appointment o her cabinet,wishing her every success inthe running o the Governmentor the good o all the citizenso Slovenia, as well as personalhappiness.

In conclusion, the

ormer Prime Ministercongratulated PrimeMinister Bratuek onthe appointment othe government andexpressed the hope thatshe would work or thecommon good.

Te Prime Ministero the Republic oSlovenia, Ms AlenkaBratuek, thanked theormer Prime Minister,Mr Janez Jana, or allthe good things thathis government did orSlovenia, and told thather government teamwould continue with allthe good projects alreadyunderway.

aking over rom ormer

Prime Minister JanezJana, Prime MinisterAlenka Bratuekannounced: Sloveniamust kick-start itseconomy, create newjobs, nd optimism andhope but above all, itneeds cooperation.

ON THE POLITICAL AGENDAON THE POLITICAL AGENDA

My team is young, well educatedand ull o optimism, and, in the timewhen people do not trust politicians,our political youth will be more oan advantage than a weakness. It isall about the country and its peopleand not us, and this is also theprinciple on which, together with myministerial team, I will govern thecountry, noted Ms Bratuek.

Four leaders o coalition partners:Karl Erjavec, President o PensionersParty, Dr Igor Luki, President oSocial Democrats, Alenka BratuekMsc, President o the Positive Sloveniaparty, Dr Gregor Virant, President othe Citizens List.


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ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA anja Glogovan

Slovenia does not require oreign aid

Ater the bank crisis erupted in Cyprus, there was great speculation among thepublic about whether Slovenia would also seek oreign nancial aid. PrimeMinister Bratuek and Financial Minister uer are certain that this will nothappen. Teir opinion is shared by some important Slovenian and oreign eco-

nomic experts and politicians in Brussels.

Knowing that oreign nancialmarkets can only be convincedby concrete objectives and solidarguments, the Prime Minis-ter o the Republic o Slovenia,Alenka Bratuek, rst went toBrussels, where she met JosManuel Barroso, the President othe European Commission, Her-man Van Rompuy, the Presidento the European Council andMartin Schulz, the Presidento the European Parliament.Te Prime Minister assured herdiscussion partners that Slo-venia would continue to takemeasures to ensure the stabil-ity o the state. During her rstworking visit to Brussels, thePrime Minister also visited thePermanent Representation othe Republic o Slovenia to theEuropean Union, where she met

Ambassador Rado Genorio andthe sta at the Representation.

SLOVENIA WILL CONTINUE TO

CUT COSTS AND CONSOLIDATE

PUBLIC FINANCE

Among the planned measures,the Prime Minister highlightedthe stabilisation o the bankingsystem and expressed certaintythat settling bad debts throughthe bad bank will commence asearly as in June.

She assured her discussion part-ners in Brussels that Sloveniawould continue with savingsand the consolidation o pub-lic nance, but in a way thatdoes not reduce the economicgrowth. Te Prime Ministersaid that the Slovenian Gov-

ernment will start privatisationprocesses beore the summer,because this will be the onlyway to ensure resh capital ornew investments, enhance eco-nomic growth and create newjobs. Slovenia is a stable andstrong country, possibly stron-ger than many other Europeancountries, stressed Bratuek.While noting the assessmento the ormer rst economist oDeutsche Bank, Tomas Mayer,who assessed Slovenia as oneo the strongest members o theEurozone; according to him,only Germany and Estonia areless likely to collapse nancially.Ater the meeting, Jos ManuelBarroso, the President o theEuropean Commission, saidthat Slovenia was acing a seri-ous task, but he stressed that the

meeting had given him a eelingo condence that Slovenia willrise to the occasion. Te Presi-dent o the Commission askedSlovenia or concrete proposalsto resolve key issues, not onlywith regard to the banks, butalso in macro-economic terms.Te Slovenian Government mustsubmit a concrete plan to Brus-sels at the beginning o May. Inthe budget and reorm plan, theGovernment must thus denea comprehensive and detailedstrategy to resolve the issue omacro-economic imbalances.Te Commission will then ex-amine the plan closely, assess itand provide recommendationsor action which will be un-veiled on 29 May.

President Barroso also men-

tioned explicitly that he con-gratulated Prime MinisterBratuek on a very inspiringvote in the Slovenian NationalAssembly to support Croatiasaccession to the EU. He saidthat the Commission saw thisas a very important gesture oriendship between two coun-tries, o which one is, and theother is soon to be, a member othe EU.

COMPARISON WITH CYPRUS IS

INAPPROPRIATE

Te Prime Minister respondedto recent speculations on nan-cial aid by saying that Sloveniais not a tax oasis, but an export-oriented economy. She stressedthat Slovenia is among the EUcountries which have the least

debt. It has a positive balanceo payments and a new Gov-ernment with great determina-tion to do everything possible tosolve problems on its own. Pres-ident Barroso also rejected thecomparison with Cyprus, be-cause he believes that situationsin both countries are completelydierent.

THE MOST URGENT MEASURE IS

BANK REHABILITATION

Not only notable politicians inBrussels, but also Yves Leterme,Deputy Secretary-General othe Organisation or EconomicCo-operation and Development,said upon the introduction othe OECDs Economic Surveythat Slovenia can still ull itsobligations and, that on the ba-

Slovenia is amongthe EU countries withthe lowest debt. Teunemployment rate

is lower than the EUaverage. It has a positivebalance o payments anda new Government withgreat determination todo everything possibleto solve problems on itsown, said the PrimeMinister ater meetingthe President o theEuropean Commission.

Te Prime Ministerresponded to recentspeculations on nan-cial aid by saying that

Slovenia is not a taxoasis, but an export-oriented economy. Shestressed that Slovenia isamong the EU countrieswith the lowest debt.It has a positive bal-ance o payments and anew Government withgreat determination todo everything possibleto solve problems on itsown.

At the discussion, Prime Minister Bratuek highlighted that Slovenia is aware othe situation and tasks ahead, and presented the current and planned measuresor overcoming current problems. She particularly stressed that Slovenia is ableto resolve these issues alone, and expressed her satisaction that, similarly to thePresident o the Commission, the Deputy Secretary-General o the OECD alsoshares this opinion.

President Barroso stressed that he admires the determination o the PrimeMinister to strengthen the Slovenian economy and noted that her immediatevisit to Brussels was a clear sign that the new Government had dedicated a loto attention to the new European reorm agenda.

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ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA

sis o the OECD assessment,there is no need or internation-al aid. Mr Leterme also said thatthe Government had so ar beenable to settle its nancial obliga-tions and there are no reasonsto expect that Slovenia requiresinternational aid. However, inorder to improve its situation innancial markets, the Govern-ment must take action, particu-larly by enhancing the bankingsector and implementing struc-tural reorms or long-term sus-tainability and sucient eco-nomic growth.

Ater examining the Survey, DrUro uer, the Minister o Fi-nance, assessed that it is quali-tative and complies with thegovernment ndings on theStability Programme, which isbeing prepared by the Ministryand the Government. Stimulat-ing economic growth and scalconsolidation are the Govern-ments priorities, and the reha-bilitation o banks is the mosturgent measure. Relating to thelatter, he said that the bad bankwill implement the rst trans-ers o bad debt already this

summer. He emphasised thatthe concept remains the same,and that the adopted act is goodand workable enough. He alsomentioned that the identica-tion and segmentation o thebanks assets is currently un-derway.

With reerence to scal con-solidation, Minister uer high-lighted that the Government willcontinue to strive to reduce thestructural shortcoming i.e. thatpart o the national debt which isnot related to combating reces-sion. Te ocus will be on thesearch or measures on the sideo expenditure. Te measures tobe ound will have to be o a per-manent, not a temporary nature;they will not be concerned withmaking repairs. However, thiswill not be enough. Measureswill also have to be ound on theincome side i.e. taxes.

Te new Governor o the Bank oSlovenia, Dr Botjan Jazbec, whotakes oce in July, is certain thatSlovenia does not need interna-tional aid to solve the bankingand nancial crisis. Te mea-

sures drated by the previousGovernment, which are beingcontinued by the current Gov-ernment, are the assurance thataid will not be required, hestressed.

Dr Jazbec also highlighted thatbankers know that the bank-ing system is in serious need orehabilitation, the balancing opublic expenditure and reorms,which will help to accelerateeconomic growth and createnew jobs. He characterised thecurrent crisis as an opportunityto end bad practices in manag-ing state property and owner-ship transormations, whichcan be understood as possiblecauses o the current bankingand nancial crisis.

According to Dr Jazbec, we haveto understand that the crisis oc-curred not only in Slovenia, buthas also aected other econo-mies around the world that aresimilar to ours.

Dr Joe Mencinger, an economistand the Minister o Economy inthe rst Slovenian Government,

assesses the OECDs Survey ascorrect. With regard to the eco-nomic and nancial policy othe Bratueks Government, DrMencinger called upon the pub-lic to give the new Governmentsome time, because the situa-tion in Slovenia in his opinionis already taking a turn or thebetter.

IT IS NOT TRUE THAT SLOVENIA

HAS NO IDEAS OR A VISION FOR

A WAY OUT OF THE CRISIS

Foreign markets important toSlovenia on its way to recoveryare also markets o the ormercommon state and the Germanmarket or German capital.

In his address to Slovenian andCroatian entrepreneurs at theconsultation session on busi-ness cooperation with Croatiaat the end o March, Samo Hri-bar Mili, the President o theChamber o Commerce andIndustry o Slovenia, warnedagainst assessments which pre-dicted Slovenia would be head-ing in the same direction asCyprus, and stressed that ear

was unjustied. Nevertheless,the act is that the Governmenthas to take ast and ecientmeasures. On that occasion, hepointed out three misconcep-tions o the public about Slo-venia. He claimed that it is nottrue that there are no ideas anda vision or a way out o the cri-sis in Slovenia. Tere are inra-structural and energy projectswaiting or the green light. In hisopinion, it is also not true thatthere is not enough knowledgein Slovenia. And last, but notleast, it is not true that there isno money or capital to start upthe economy. Te capital can beacquired rom the European In-vestment Bank, the EBRD andthe EU unds. According to MrHribar Mili, Slovenia shouldconsider the accession o Croa-tia to the EU as an opportunity.

Tere are somewhat more than550 companies in Slovenia withGerman capital, which employmore than 46,000 people, createone-th o revenue in industryand have an annual turnover oseven billion euros. Tese areparticularly export-oriented

companies. Tis year, there hasbeen an increase in dissatisac-tion in companies with Ger-man capital, especially becauseo corruption, and it has beenknown or quite some time thattax burdens, tax system bur-dening and high labour costsare the basis or the reservationso oreign investors. In spite othe weaknesses o the market,German companies perseverein Slovenia, mainly due to itshigh-quality work orce and ex-pertise.

TRUST IN SLOVENIA HAS TO BE

RESTORED

Slovenia and Cyprus are not inthe same situation and thereare also no indications that thecountries will share a similarate. However, the act is andthe Government is also awareo it that trust in Slovenia hasto be restored as soon as pos-sible. As President Barroso saidin Brussels, Slovenia must notonly implement the necessaryreorms, but must also build anational consensus to imple-ment them.

Te Slovenian Govern-ment will start privatisa-tion processes beore thesummer, because thiswill be the only way toensure resh capital ornew investments, en-hance economic growthand create new jobs.

Stimulating economicgrowth and scal con-solidation are the Gov-ernments priorities,and the rehabilitation obanks is the most urgentmeasure. Uro uer,Minister o Finance,said that the bad bankwill implement the rsttransers o bad debtalready this summer.

The OECD suggests Slovenia imple-ment and publish publicly new com-prehensive stress tests and diligentreviews on the basis o conservativeand transparent assumptions. Thisshould strengthen the trust o inves-tors.

Presentation o the annual monitoring to German-speaking investors inSlovenia in mid-April. In the photograph: Christian Miller, representative oAustrian companies in Slovenia; Tjaa Cetinski, purchasing and sales manager atHelli Saturnus Slovenija; Gertrud Rantzen, president o the Slovenian-GermanChamber o Commerce and Industry; Robert Reich, the Swiss Ambassador toSlovenia, and Gerald Schmidt, general manager o BSH Hini aparati.


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Slovenias unanimous YES to Croatiasaccession to the EU

At its session on 2 April, in the presence o Zoran Milanovi, Croatian PrimeMinister, and Vesna Pusi, Croatian Minister o Foreign Aairs, Slovenian depu-ties unanimously ratied the Croatian Accession reaty. According to Slovenianand Croatian political leaders, this paves the way or closer cooperation, par-

ticularly on economic matters.

Te accession o Croatia to theEuropean Union will reduce ad-ministrative barriers in businesstransactions and eliminate levies,and with the entry o the neigh-bouring country to the commonEuropean market, customs in-spections will also be abolished.Police inspections will end whenCroatia enters the Schengen area.

SLOVENIA HAS FULLY EMBRACED

THE EUROPEAN POLICY

Alenka Bratuek, the SlovenianPrime Minister, Zoran Milanovi,the Croatian Prime Minister,Janko Veber, the President o theSlovenian National Assembly,Karl Erjavec, the Slovenian Min-ister o Foreign Aairs, and Vesna

Pusi, the Croatian Minister oForeign Aairs, discussed the im-portance o the ratication andoptions or cooperation betweenboth countries within the EU.

Prime Minister Bratuek notedthat this moment signied a spe-cial and important day or bothcountries and is proo that Slove-nia has ully embraced the Euro-pean policy o co-existence andsolidarity. She stressed the ideathat the European path unitesand creates important alliances.She expressed her happiness thather rst oreign guest was theCroatian Prime Minister ZoranMilanovi, with whom she helda brie meeting beore the sessiono the National Assembly. Tis

was proo o good relations be-tween the countries, she addedand expressed pleasure that theormer Prime Minister, JanezJana, had accepted her invitationand was present on this occa-sion at the National Assembly. Atthe end o her address, the PrimeMinister congratulated Croatia onits expected accession to the EUand wished it the best o luck inthis new and large amily.

IN INTEREST OF BOTH COUNTRIES

IS DEMOCRACY AND ECONOMIC

SUCCESS

On this occasion, the Prime Min-ister thanked all the experts andteam members on both sideswho participated in this impor-

tant and challenging project,which required their rm beliein the vitality o the Europeanproject and the aptness o ndingcompromise solutions. Sloveniais certain that the enlargemento the European Union enhancesthe stability o democracy andeconomic success, which areboth in our interest. Also, the -nancial crisis we are acing willbe overcome more easily withjoint eorts, added Prime Min-ister Bratuek. Te Prime Minis-ter wished Croatia good luck andgreat success in the new extend-ed European amily.In his statement ater the vote,Janko Veber, the President othe Slovenian National Assem-

bly, also congratulated Croatiaon its expected accession to theEU. He assessed that the resulthad shown that Croatian acces-sion to the EU was important orboth Slovenia and Croatia. Healso stressed the shared historyo the countries and the wishthat lie along the border willbecome more pleasant and thatthe interests o the region wouldbe more strongly represented inthe uture than at present, whenSlovenia is the only member othe EU rom the ormer Yugo-slavia. He wished a lot o successto Croatia in the elections or theEuropean Parliament and goodcooperation between the depu-ties o both national assembliesalso in order to represent the

interests and importance o theregion in the EU.

Te Croatian Prime MinisterZoran Milanovi rst thankedPrime Minister Bratuek, andthen also all those who par-ticipated in resolving the issueswhich eventually led to ratica-tion. Prime Minister Milanoviparticularly thanked Sloveniandeputies or the ratication. Be-cause it was unanimous, it alsohad symbolic signicance, he ob-served. In his address, he stressedthe correlation o economic con-ditions in Slovenia and Croatiaand also their interdependence.With regard to the act that thereare more things binding us to-gether than dividing us, and that

Slovenia is certain that the enlarge-ment o the EU brings stability, de-mocracy and economic success,emphasised Prime Minister Bratuekin her address ater the unanimousratication.

Similarly, the Croatian Prime Minister,Zoran Milanovi, also stressed that hewas hoping or the economic growtho both countries and believed thatCroatias accession to the EU wouldalso benet Slovenia.

Vesna Pusi, the Croatian Ministero Foreign Aairs, who also came toLjubljana, created a ramework solu-tion or the issue o Ljubljanska bankawith her Slovenian colleague, Karl Er-javec, in February.

Prime Minister Bratueknoted that this momentsignied a special andimportant day or bothcountries and is proothat Slovenia has ullyembraced the Europeanpolicy o co-existenceand solidarity.

Te Croatian PrimeMinister Zoran Milanovirst thanked Prime Min-ister Bratuek and thenall those who participat-ed in resolving the issueswhich eventually led toratication.



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Advanced technologies attracted most attentionduring the visit to Japan

Te President o the Republic oSlovenia, Borut Pahor, startedthe visit to Japan with a symbolicvisit to the Meiji Shrine, which isdedicated to the divine spirits othe Emperor Meiji and his wie,Empress Shoken. During his visit,he also met Prime Minister Abe,and they discussed the possi-bilities o strengthening general,especially economic, collabora-tion between the two countries.During their conversation, PrimeMinister Abe welcomed the sign-ing o the Cooperation Memo-randum between the SPIRIpublic agency and JERO JapanExternal rade Organisation, andhe especially emphasised the ex-tended cooperation in the eld oscience and technology. PrimeMinister Abe, who was invitedon this occasion by President Pa-hor to visit Slovenia, announcedintensive bilateral consultationson this eld. President Pahor,with the State Secretary o theMinistry or Foreign Aairs, IgorSenar and the State Secretaryo the Ministry or EconomicDevelopment and echnology,

Uro Roi, met the delegation oSlovenian businessmen who ac-companied him. At a brie work-ing dinner, they discussed thepossibilities o strengthening thebusiness activities o Sloveniancompanies in Japan.On the second day o the visit,President Pahor met His ImperialMajesty Emperor Akihito. Duringtheir conversation, which over-ran the anticipated time, theydiscussed the changes which hademerged in twenty years o dip-lomatic relations and exchangedviews on the uture.

Later, the Slovenian Presidentattended a seminar on Japanese-Slovenian technological coop-eration, visited the Hitachi ex-hibition site or developmentalinnovation and met the presi-dent o Keidanren, the JapaneseBusiness Federation, HiromasaYonekura.

Alongside the main visit, Presi-dent Pahor also met the Parlia-mentary Friendship Group withSlovenia. On this occasion, he

thanked Japanese members oParliament or their past and u-ture eorts in encouraging co-operation between Slovenia andJapan. At the meeting, PresidentPahor presented the newly-ad-opted amendment to labour leg-islation and repeated Sloveniasinterest in progress in the nego-tiations between the countrieson an agreement to avoid doubletaxation. Ater meeting memberso the Parliamentary FriendshipGroup, President Pahor attendeda reception to mark his visit toJapan hosted by the Ambassa-dor o the Republic o Slovenia toJapan, Helena Drnovek Zorko,or distinguished representativeso the Japanese public and busi-ness, representatives o the Slo-venian community in Japan andmembers o the Slovenian busi-ness delegation.

At the end o the visit, Igor Senar,State Secretary at the Ministry oForeign Aairs met Akitaka Saiki,Japanese Deputy Minister o For-eign Aairs in Japan. Mr Senarassured Mr Saiki o Slovenias

Borut Pahor is the rstSlovenian Presidentto visit Japan and theImperial Palace in okyo.

At the beginning o March, the President o theRepublic o Slovenia, Borut Pahor, and a Slove-nian business delegation were on a working vis-

it to Japan. he President was accompanied by a33-member delegation representing the Slovenianeconomy.

Emperor Akihito receives thePresident o the Republic, BorutPahor, at the Imperial Palace inTokyo. Borut Pahor is the rstSlovenian President to visit Japanand the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.The President thanked the Emperoror his invitation and expressedhis belie that Japan and Slovenia

would continue to strengthen goodand riendly relations in the uture.They also mentioned the changesboth countries had experienced inthe 20 years since the beginning odiplomatic relations and exchangedviews on the uture. In accordancewith strict imperial protocol, thediscussions with the Emperor did notextend to political issues. Thus thediscussion was held in a very relaxedatmosphere and overran the timeanticipated by ocials. As a refectiono the very positive atmosphere at themeeting, the Emperor accompaniedthe President to his car, which is notcustomary.

So ar, the Japanesehave invested littlein Slovenia, althoughthey are among themost important oreigninvestors in the EU.According to the Bank oSlovenia, the total valueo Japanese investmentsin Slovenia at the endo 2012 was EUR 31.3million.

Photo:ArchivesotheOfceothePresidentotheRepublicoSlovenia

now almost nothing separates usanymore, and with regard to theact that both countries are small,but we nevertheless know whatwe want i.e. that cooperationproves benecial to both sides, Ido not oresee closer cooperationthan with Slovenia, added theCroatian Prime Minister.

Vesna Pusi, the Croatian Min-ister o Foreign Aairs, said thatshe cannot think o many ex-amples in history when resolv-ing a problem resulted in betterrelations than existed beore. TeSlovenian Minister o Foreign A-airs emphasised that in additionto economic cooperation, thestability o the Western Balkansis particularly in the interests oboth countries.

RATIFICATION IS A SIGN OF

MATURITY

Te ratication o the Croatian Ac-cession reaty in Slovenia was oparticular interest in neighbouringCroatia. In his interview or Croa-tian Radiotelevision, the Presidento the Republic o Slovenia, BorutPahor, highlighted the importanceo ocusing on economic coop-eration between the countries. Healso stressed that the raticationwas a sign o maturity and wis-dom and the courage to resolve bi-lateral issues. He assessed that notall the possibilities or cooperationhad been explored, particularlyin energy, tourism, transport andinrastructure, and that this his-toric opportunity or cooperationshould not be missed.

Te President o the Republic oCroatia, Ivo Josipovi, expressedhis satisaction, and stressed thatthe decision o the SlovenianNational Assembly was conr-mation o good, long-term andriendly relations with Slovenia.

Upon the ratication, tean Fle,the EU Commissioner or En-largement and NeighbourhoodPolicy, stated on witter thatCroatia is thus one step closer tobecoming a member o the EU.

In spite o some negative ore-casts, Slovenia is not the last EUmember state to ratiy the Croa-tian Accession reaty, as Germa-ny, Denmark, the Netherlandsand Belgium have not concludedthe ratication process.

THE HISTORY BEFORE SLOVENIAS

UNANIMOUS YES

Te Croatian Prime MinisterMilanovi and the ormer Slove-nian Prime Minister, Janez Jana,signed a memorandum to resolvethe issue o the ormer Ljubljan-ska banka within the successionnegotiations on 11 March 2013.

In July 2012, the Governmento the Republic o Slovenia ap-pointed France Arhar, the Direc-tor o the Bank Association oSlovenia, as the expert rom theSlovenian side to resolve the dis-pute with Croatia over Ljubljan-ska banka. In cooperation with

his Croatian counterpart, Arharstask was to study the dispute and

propose a solution to both gov-ernments.

Tat the end o complications be-tween the countries is near wasalready evident at the meeting inOtoec, where Karl Erjavec, theMinister o Foreign Aairs, VesnaPusi, the Croatian Minister oForeign Aairs, and nancial ex-perts France Arhar and ZdravkoRogi met around the same tableat the beginning o last Febru-ary. Te nancial experts, whowere well inormed on the issues,concluded their work ater ourmeetings with a solution which,

according to both oreign minis-ters, is not harmul to either side,

but benecial to both. Tus theexpert contribution to the matterended, and the political processbegan.

Ater Vesna Pusi, the CroatianMinister o Foreign Aairs, andone Kajzer, State Secretary at theCabinet o the ormer SlovenianPrime Minister, had initialled amemorandum on the agreementbetween the Slovenian and Croa-tian Governments on the trans-er o oreign currency depositsin Ljubljanska banka, the ormerSlovenian Prime Minister JanezJana and Croatian Prime Minister

Zoran Milanovi met on 11 March inMokrice. Tey signed the memo-

randum, an agreement that the is-sue o transerred oreign currencydeposits in Ljubljanska bankawould be resolved within the suc-cession negotiations. Te Croatianside thus undertook to end the dis-puted judicial proceedings againstLjubljanska banka and Nova Lju-bljanska banka, and Slovenia com-mitted to ratiying the CroatianAccession reaty with the EU. Tecountries also committed to ndinga comprehensive solution to thisquestion as soon as possible andthus take a pro-active approachto urther negotiations within theBank or International Settlements.

The President o the Republic o S lo-venia, Borut Pahor, will pay a workingvisit to Croatia in May with a business

delegation. He will be hosted by thePresident o the Republic o Croatia,Ivo Josipovi.

Te accession o Croatiato the European Unionwill reduce administra-tive barriers in busi-ness transactions andeliminate levies. Withthe entry o Croatia tothe common Europeanmarket, customs inspec-tions will be abolished.Police inspections willend when Croatia entersthe Schengen area.


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ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA INTERVIEW

support or the beginning o ne-gotiations between the EuropeanUnion and Japan on a rameworkagreement and agreement onree trade, and especially withregard to Japans signicance asa strategic partner o the EU. MrSenar repeated Slovenias inter-est in progress in the negotiationsbetween the countries on theagreement to avoid double taxa-tion, which would help Sloveniancompanies in business coopera-tion with Japan.

President Pahor met several Slo-venian business representativesand their business partners, andalso attended the Slovenian-Jap-anese business and investmentorum. At the meeting, the man-agers outlined in more detail the

possibilities o business coopera-tion with their Japanese partnerson certain projects. Te workingbreakast was also attended byChikao Kawai, Vice-Minister orForeign Aairs, who welcomedall the participants and men-tioned that Japan could be a gate-way or Slovenias entry to Asianmarkets, while Slovenia could be

a gateway or Japan to enter theEuropean Union, Eastern Europeand the Western Balkans. Presi-dent Pahor added that Sloveniais seeking a partner country inEast Asia and that Japan could bea pillar o Slovenias presence inAsia. Te managers agreed thatcooperation in the eld o smartcommunities in particular couldbe strengthened signicantly.

In his speech at the Slovenian-Japanese business and invest-ment orum, organised by SPIRIand JERO and the Embassy othe Republic o Slovenia in o-kyo, President Pahor presentedto Slovenian and Japanese busi-ness representatives the idea o aweek o Japanese culture in Slo-venia and a week o Slovenian

culture in Japan, which wouldclosely connect both countries.During the investment orum,the President also witnessedthe signing o a Memorandumon cooperation between SPIR-I Slovenia public agency andJERO, the Japan External radeOrganisation. Te companiesDuol d.o.o. and VSR Lab d.o.o.

also signed letters o intent onbusiness cooperation with theirJapanese partners.

According to Japanese protocol,every visiting oreign politicianis taken to visit Kyoto, the oldimperial capital. President Pahorand his delegation visited Sanju-sangendo emple and the PureWater emple (Kiyomizuderaemple), where he learned aboutthe culture o Ancient Kyoto.Emperor Akihito granted thePresident o the Republic o Slo-venia the great honour o visit-ing Kyoto Imperial Palace, KyotoGosho.Te palace was home tothe imperial dynasty up to theEmperor Meiji, who moved theseat o the imperial capital romKyoto to okyo 150 years ago.

At the end o the working day,President Pahor attended a re-ception hosted by Mr Keiji Ya-mada, the Governor o KyotoPreecture, Mr Daisaku Kadoka-wa, the Mayor o Kyoto and otherrepresentatives o Kyotos localauthorities.

Japan wants to become agateway or Slovenia toenter the Asian market,and Slovenia wantsto become a Japanesegateway or the EU,Eastern Europe and theWestern Balkans.

Let: President Borut Pahor startedthe rst day o his visit with a symbolicvisit to the Meiji Shrine, ollowed bya meeting with the Japanese PrimeMinister Shinz Abe.

Right: President Borut Pahor meetsHis Imperial Majesty Emperor Akihito.

Shigemi JomoriJaponese Ambassador to Slovenia

Japanese companies do not have enoughinormation about Slovenia and vice versa



anja Glogovan

Photo:PersonalArchives

IMPORT PRODUCTS TO JAPAN EXPORT PRODUCTS FROM JAPAN

blood preparations and vaccines

passenger cars

amino resins, phenolic resins

motorcycles

printing machines

car tires

titanium, titanium products, waste and scrap

transmitters, TV cameras

reagents

centres or machine metalworking

retail medicinal products

passenger cars

products and equipment or gymnastics

water steam and other vapour turbines

gantry, harbour, car cranes,

seatings and parts thereo

engine ignition equipment

parts and accessories or motor vehicles

heterocyclic compounds

tools or manual work

Charts>IrenaKogoj

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ON THE POLITICAL AGENDAINTERVIEW

How would you describe Japanin a ew sentences?Japan consists o our islandswith beautiul countryside andrich culture. Tere is a coexis-tence o traditional and mod-ern or technology and nature.People are hard-working andthink highly o harmonization,which we call wa.

Where are the main dier-ences?O course, there are certain di-erences between Japan andSlovenia. I think there is a kindo cultural dierence betweenAsian countries and Europeancountries in general. But I wouldrather emphasize our similari-ties, such as our democracy andbeautiul countryside, as loverso skiing, and so on.

Japanese is the only ofcial lan-guage in Japan. How many lan-guages does an average Japa-nese citizen speak?It is true that the only ociallanguage in Japan is Japanese.Most Japanese people learnEnglish in junior high and highschool or a total o six years.Generally speaking, the averageJapanese can understand Eng-lish, though they are not so goodat speaking it.

Which and how many Japanenterprises have ofces in Slo-venia? And vice versa?Some o the Japanese enterprises

in Slovenia are oyota, SummitMotors, Makita, Yaskawa, San-Rex, Astellas, Canon and Olym-pus. I am not sure how many Slo-venian companies have ocesin Japan, but it is true that someSlovenian companies maintaingood relations with Japanesepartners and have succeeded isdoing business in Japan.

Is it true that Japans businessrelationships with Slovenia aremostly indirect (via afliates),rather than direct?o be honest, it is hard to sayhow extensive indirect busi-ness relations between Japanand Slovenia are, as the guresabout indirect business relationsdo not appear in the statistics.However, it is true that manySlovene companies export theirproducts to Japan via third Eu-ropean countries.

Why so?One o the reasons is that we both Japan and Slovenia havenot had a wide enough acquain-tance with each other. Japanesecompanies do not have enoughinormation about Slovenia andSlovenian enterprises and viceversa. Tereore it is necessaryto get to know each other as therst step towards business rela-tions. I believe that the recentvisit by President Pahor and abusiness delegation provided agood opportunity or the busi-ness communities o Japan and

Slovenia to get to know eachother better.

Is Slovenia kind enough to Jap-anese business? Where shouldthere be improvement?I know that Slovenia has strivedto make its business environ-ment better and carry out sev-eral reorms. According to Japa-nese businessmen, however,Slovenia could still improvesome elds, such as its high to-tal labour costs, high entry baror employing non-EU citizens,red tape in administration andunstimulative taxation system.

In which area, rom your pointo view, are the most chances tointensiy business between thecountries?I think that Slovenia has itsstrength in niche industry ar-eas, such as I and high tech-nologies, especially innovativesotware products, automobileparts, smart grids and the bio-chemical industry.

Have you got a avourite placein Slovenia ?I arrived in Slovenia ew weeksago, so unortunately I have notyet been to other places outsideLjubljana. I have heard, though,that Slovenia has beautiul coun-tryside with various geographi-cal characteristics. I am lookingorward to visiting many placesthroughout Slovenia during myterm as ambassador.

Ambassador ShigemiJomori began his term ooce as Ambassador toSlovenia in March 2013,ater ending his term asConsul General o Japanin Milan, Italy.

Ambassador ShigemiJomori started his termo oce quite actively.Soon ater he wasappointed, he visitedJapan with the Presidento the Republic oSlovenia, Borut Pahorand an businessdelegation.

Shigemi Jomori attended the openingo the international conerencededicated to the victims o the2012 earthquake and tsunami inJapan, which was organised by the

Department o Asian and AricanStudies at the Faculty o Arts inLjubljana.

IN FOCUSIrena Kogoj

A brand is not a productPhoto:TaminoPetelinek/STA

Advertising is an eective way to present productsor services to (potential) buyers, and retailers use it

oten to boost sales.

Te purpose oadvertising is to changebehaviour. Troughads, people learn aboutproducts or services,orm an opinion, buythem once or become

regular buyers. It is inthe interests o the sellerthat an ad has sucientreach and that theirproducts and servicesbecome known to asmany potential buyers aspossible.

Photo:ArchivesoBenetton

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IN FOCUS

Te purpose o advertising is tochange behaviour. Trough ads,people learn about products orservices, orm an opinion, buythem once or become regular

buyers. It is in the interests o theseller that an ad has sucientreach and that their productsand services become knownto as many potential buyers aspossible. Adverts have immensepower to infuence people, elic-iting a desire or things they donot even need or want.

Advertising comes in variousorms and uses various media:mass print media (magazinesand newspapers), electronicmedia (radio, television), exter-nal media such as street posters

and buses, and direct mail, theInternet, mobile phones andothers. We are constantly sur-rounded by advertising.

Advertising is one o the ele-ments that contribute to thecharacter and reputation o abrand in the market. A brand isnot a product; it is a symboliccategory which gives the prod-uct added value. People tend tochoose particular brands notonly because they are useul,but because many products orservices express certain person-ality characteristics o their us-ers. Buyers select certain brandsdepending on how the valuesprojected by the brands matchtheir liestyle.

Ads have a great impact onadults, who are more or lessaware o the actual purpose othe messages and lter themwith a critical distance; but this

is even more dicult or chil-dren, who are not able to makea distinction between media re-ality and their personal realityuntil they reach a certain levelo cognitive development, andthereore they constitute an evenmore susceptible media public.Modern ads are not necessarilyassociated with the products orservices o the advertised brand.Tey are no longer based on em-phasising quality and providinginormation, but lean on moreintangible attributes such aseelings or moods. At this point,

it is particularly important whatvalues a particular ad attributesto a particular brand.

Te media play an important role

in constructing reality, as theyinterpret the image o realityand give sense to our experience.Media content is an importantco-creator o our values and per-spectives, dictating what is de-sirable and appreciated in soci-ety, and having a decisive role inorming our images o the world,socialisation, knowledge, lie-style, identities etc. Because chil-dren, who dedicate a lot o theirree time to the media, ollowthem with a low level o criticalassessment, they must be taughtto analyse and critically refect

on media content, evaluate andinterpret it. Tis is the issue dealtwith by media education.

As early as 1964, UNESCO sup-

ported the idea o media educa-tion. In 1976, its working groupo experts created a model ormass media education, teachingchildren and adolescents how tocritically receive media content.At the International Symposiumon Media Education in Germanyin January 1982, a resolutionwas adopted which was signedby 19 countries. It stressed therole o such education, whichwould prepare the young orresponsible citizenship and in-crease the critical awareness omedia users.

Media education teaches howto understand the way the me-dia orm our images o the worldand ourselves, which is the mainconcept o media literacy. Media

literacy provides certain criteriathat help to assess inormation. Inthe last decade, the status o mediaeducation in many countries hasimproved signicantly, but only aew countries have included it inthe school curriculum. Accordingto a number o sociologists andcommunication experts, the onlyquestion should be how to teachmedia literacy, not i. Te spec-trum o communication tech-nologies is widening, and i we areto prepare our children to unctioneectively in the 21st century, theymust be media literate.

Slovenian consumers chose Milkaas the best brand in 2012, which isalso promoted by the best Slovenianskier, Tina Maze.



We are exposed toapproximately 200advertising messages

every day, amountingto approximately6,000 per month andapproximately 70,000per year.

Te brand name isdecisive in 90% opurchases.

IN FOCUS

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IN FOCUS INTERVIEW

Te Slovene AdvertisingFestival took placein March, the biggestadvertising estival inSlovenia, and we talkedwith Aljoa Bagola,one o the most visiblepeople in creativeindustry in Slovenia.

Aljoa Bagola

What matters most is the right story

Aljoa Bagola is ExecutiveCreative Director at Pristop, one

o the largest advertising agenciesin Slovenia. As a copywriter and

creative director, he has been

creating the biggest Slovenianmarketing and communicationprojects or thirteen years.He

has received over a hundredprizes and awards at established

national and international

estivals such as SOF, GoldenDrum, Epica, New York Festivals,

Cresta, Eurobest, Magdalena,ForFest, AdPrint and similar.

en years ago, he was Sloveniasrepresentative at the world

competition o young creativesat the Cannes international

advertising estival.

Photo:PersonalArchive

Polona Preeren

With its marketing methods, Benetton brought a new dimension to the globaladvertising scene.



IN FOCUS

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How has Slovenian advertisingdeveloped in the last decade?What have been the mainchanges?Advertising is an inseparablepart o the economy, and assuch, is a sort o indicator al-lowing one to understand de-velopments in the economy. Italso relects the mental imageo the country, its values andstorytelling. Concerning thelast ten years, I can say that itwas exactly ten years ago whenthe golden era o advertising inSlovenia ended, the era whenmajor brands, major advertis-

ing campaigns, major agenciesand a more or less stable ad-vertising ecosystem were cre-ated. Adverts were no longercalled propaganda or, equallyinadequately, commercials.Beore that, i.e. immediatelyater independence, Sloveniawas characterised by an erao so-called national advertis-ing, with a good example be-ing the Slovenia, my countrycampaign, which was aimedat creating a national identity,the identity o a diligent, hard-working, ski-loving nation onthe sunny side o the Alps. Wewanted to distance ourselvesrom the Yugoslav identity, inwhich the only common de-nominator was ederalism,which is why Slovenian mar-keting pioneers were lookingor a clich to make us visibleabroad and united in the newcountry. Since this era corre-sponded with major achieve-ments o our alpine skiers, wetook this convenient sportsclich and got it going. We be-

came a nation o skiers. hiswas ollowed by an era char-acterised by marketing marketgrowth, economic growth andillusions o us becoming thenext Switzerland. Now, whenwe have grasped the nettle ocrisis, this illusion has sadlyvanished, o course. In ex-plaining my view o Slovenianadvertising, I always like toemphasise the era o commer-cial advertising, which camewith the arrival o strong or-eign discount-oriented corpo-rations, leading to the banali-

sation o the daily struggle orconsumers through a strategyo aggressive selling ads which,given that the country is lood-ed with external advertising,has compromised its image.Instead o being able to admireits landscape, gigantic posterswith packed meat, toothpastes,toilet paper and other visualrubbish, which should remainin commercial catalogues, hitus in the eye. We are currentlyin a phase where advertisingshould be kept to a hygienicminimum.

Is this also a global trend?Is this something speciic toSlovenia, or did Slovenia justkeep up with some universalchanges?In times o crisis, price is avery important part o con-sumer decision-making, butadvertisers (mostly commer-cial advertisers) should cer-tainly respect the commitmentto not abuse the current earthat people eel and not vio-late undamental visual stan-dards. A part o our advertis-ing is thus as endemic as ourproteus it lives peaceully inthe darkness o its little puddleand reproduces only every tenyears.Fortunately, advertis-ing was nevertheless unableto escape global trends, whichhave recently been dictated bytechnology. he arrival o theInternet redeined the concepto inormation, knowledge andstorytelling, and transormedthe consumer rom a passiverecipient into a commentator,active user, arbiter and co-cre-

ator. Most o all, it changed theadvertising ecosystem as weknew it. he standard televi-sion advertising slot (i.e. a sys-tem o interruptions and repe-titions) got serious competitionthrough the blossoming o theminimally censored Youube.We saw that the public some-times wants something com-pletely dierent (unny cats,cute toddlers and a lot o bi-zarre things) and that adver-tising cannot have a creativemonopoly and dictate content.Given the lack o gatekeepers,

Internet users started to dictatecontent by creating it them-selves. Nowadays, the humanrace creates as much inorma-tion in two days as it did romthe year dot to 2001. Hence,advertising must radicalise itsstorytelling to be urther seenand observed. By taking ac-count o all the above, I beganto develop my own advertisingstyle, which I call WF adver-tising and which contains a loto asymmetry, oddness andorganic wildness. One shouldbe aware that the advertis-ing slot is one o the most ag-

gressive territories in Westerncivilisation, as thousands opieces o inormation and im-posed opinions battle in a ewminutes. In order to be noticedin this slot, you have to dosomething dierent.hereore,I have always included someunusual moments, a dierenttype o storytelling which doesnot ollow the Aristotelian dra-matic unities. I want peopleto see my ad and say Wow orWF and Google it immedi-ately and watch it again. Oth-erwise, our agency is knownor its engagement strategies,which invite consumers to ac-tively participate and co-createa trademark.

So digital environments andsocial networks have signi-cantly transormed communi-cation. Does it make your busi-ness harder or easier?Above all, it makes it dier-ent. Te world is changing, andsome things that used to unc-tion no longer do. Advertising

must also recongure its mol-ecule and accept that the cre-ative and storytelling advertis-ing monopolies have movedrom Hollywood to Silicon Val-ley, where the late Steve Jobsand his colleagues changed, inthe long term, the way con-sumers talk, shop and act.Forexample, let us take teenagers,who spend most o their timelooking at their hands. Tis isnot because they want to readthe uture, but because theyliterally have the uture in theirhands.For them, knowledge no

longer means storing inorma-tion in long-term memory, itmeans creative inormationmanagement.So they considerthe concept o standard educa-tion more and more irrelevantand get more and more boredat school. However, not only

knowledge has been redened.Te younger generation alsoacts as its own avatar in thedigital environment.Te youngare digital natives. So advertis-ing has serious problems withhow to address this target pop-ulation eectively and mon-etise its operations in mobileand interactive environments,since the way o unctioningis dierent rom the televisionenvironment.Te young seemto be elusive, and their walletseven more so.How are these changed circum-

stances avourable to creatingcampaigns? Can you point to agood practice example?In my opinion, the Red BullStratos campaign is certainly agood practice example, whichhas completely transormedeverything we understood as

marketing eorts in the mod-ern world. Red Bull chose toignore the advertising slots, thestandard media space purchase,and no longer accepts the stan-dard advertising triangle and itsoutdated relationships betweenthe advertiser, the medium andthe consumer. Tey do things intheir own way. In the summer,we were able to witness theEdge o Space reeall, which ina ew minutes caused a tectonicchange in marketing, like Applehad previously done by launch-ing iPhone. In the past, Red Bull

was consistent in building itsidentity through its promisethat Red Bull gives you wings.Te Stratos project campaignupgraded the well-known se-ries o animated ads into a me-dia and advertising revolution,which shows that a contempo-

rary brand needs boldness andcreativity beyond advertisingslots. A one-way address seek-ing instant consumer robotisa-tion is not good advertising. Buti your consumers are engagedin the creative dialogue or in anexperience never lived beore,they will truly appreciate it. Or,to put it metaphorically ad-vertising needs wings.

Can you mention a Sloveniancampaign that was successulin this sense?We started to use engagement

IN FOCUS INTERVIEW IN FOCUS INTERVIEW

Advertising is an insepa-rable part o the econo-my, and as such, is a sorto indicator allowing oneto understand develop-ments in the economy. Italso reects the mentalimage o the country, itsvalues and storytelling.

We wanted to distanceourselves rom the Yu-goslav identity, in whichthe only common de-nominator was ederal-

ism, which is why Slove-nian marketing pioneerswere looking or a clichto make us visible abroadand united in the newcountry. Since this eracorresponded with majorachievements o our al-pine skiers, we took thisconvenient sports clichand got it going. We be-came a nation o skiers.


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Polona Preeren

Te story o Elan is ull o exceptional innovationswhich over the years have dictated skiing techniquesup to the point that anyone - a beginner or the bestrecreational skier - can enjoy in this beautiul sport.

Te prestigious title o the Most Innovative Brand2012 presented to Elan by the German organisationPlus X Award proves that Elans achievements indesign and innovation are truly great.

Te story o a trademark: ElanElan: the most innovative brand

IN FOCUS

strategies as early as 2008 toinclude consumers in the cre-ative dialogue. he Cheapbestcampaign or Mobitel is oneexample young consumerswere enabled to assert theircreativity and could live anadvanced brand experiencethrough the concert o heKillers. We continued in a sim-ilar way with the Cockta cam-paign, which connected theyoung rom the whole o theormer Yugoslavia region intoa creative pool and allowedthem to perorm in a web se-ries we designed. Nowadays,campaigns are designed to en-gage consumers rom the verybeginning. Recently, we de-signed a campaign or Mercatorin which the users shot the Vad themselves, i.e. the ad wascomposed rom their videos.You can only be as creative asyour users. And brands needthis kind o reality check.

So you say that the trend is to-wards engaged consumershats right.

he Cannes advertising esti-val is the largest estival o itskind in Europe, and you haveattended it or several years.What are the trends to watchin the uture? What else willhappen in advertising andcommunication? What direc-tion will developments take?en years ago, when I was ayoung creative representingSlovenia at this largest adver-tising estival, I was able to ex-

perience the whole o its spec-tacle. I have been a regular eversince, as the Cannes estival isabsolutely the most trend-setting estival in our branch.hen, everything was under theinluence o major televisioncampaigns, and even today,the last Grand Prix awarded isstill the V ad award, despiteall the talk about the declineo television and the rise o theInternet. For the moment, ad-vertising continues to gloriyits holy cow, i.e. the 30-secondV-ad. On the other hand, it is

very daring in researching newecosystems ormed throughInternet technology and theglobalisation o communica-tion. hereore, special awardswere introduced at Cannes the so-called itanium GrandPrix award or visionary proj-ects in advertising. In recentyears, there has been a shitrom sel-oriented advertis-ing towards more responsibleadvertising which gives backto the environment, addressesthe public sphere and makeseorts to improve, educate andhelp.

Which medium oers themost opportunities or adver-tising expression?Each medium has its rules,but I still preer the V ad,because it requires sophisti-cated storytelling. Because Ilike huge responsibility and Iam a megalomaniac (laugh-ter), I enjoy the shoot, since itis like a composer witnessinga symphony orchestra playinghis or her latest work (laugh-ter). However, I believe thatadvertising must stop ocusingon the expressive media andimprove its talent or listen-ing. I brands are able to hearthe words spoken by Jimi Hen-drix, that knowledge speaksand wisdom listens, they willtake an important step towardtheir users. Now, advertising isused or too much talk and notenough listening, and or thisreason, its key words, or, evenbetter, its key organs or the

uture are the ear and heart, nolonger the tongue and head.

o what extent is innovationimportant in the advertisingprocess?Actually, innovation is es-sential, and constitutes theirst step in the contempo-rary advertising structure. Inmarketing language, this iscalled a competitive advan-tage or unique selling propo-sition. hey involve mechani-cal evidence about services orproducts that make them ex-

ceptional and dierent. Devel-opment departments in com-panies are thereore essentialor marketing success. Innova-tion provides more value thanmarketing, or even more nar-rowly, advertising eorts, andso it is an important part othe revitalisation o the globaleconomy. Nevertheless, it mustbe relevant and in compliancewith post-crisis values thatstrive to preserve the environ-ment and human relationshipsand improve the quality o lie.

As a country, Slovenia is rep-resented by the I eel Slove-nia brand. What is the utureor national brands in theglobalised world, which nowgives less importance to bor-ders? What are the prospectsor I eel Slovenia and othernational brands?I eel Slovenia is a great andwell managed brand. But e-orts to make every countryseem like a sort o Disney-land with castles, mascotsand unique experiences haveended. Globalisation, not onlyin terms o reducing the sig-niicance o borders betweencountries, but also in terms oincreased inormation low,has dealt a blow to typical ad-vertising and understandingso the concept o country. Asingle relevant Internet com-ment can wipe out the eect oan expensive campaign run onexpensive international chan-nels. When we are choosinga certain destination, we irst

Google it and tend to believethe experiences o other con-sumers/tourists much morethan clichd adverts with wa-teralls, ood and other instantnational romanticism. Coun-tries should learn to promotethemselves by not only ad-vertising, but by understand-ing new behaviours that comewith the new technologies.

I eel Slovenia is a greatand well managed brand.But eforts to make everycountry seem like a sorto Disneyland with cas-tles, mascots and uniqueexperiences have ended.

IN FOCUS INTERVIEW

THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGYIS LEFT AND RIGHT

The Amphibio skis were the most awarded skis.

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ROCKEREasy turning

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i l l i ki . i 7 1 1 1Elan Ambhibio skis, the latest Elan innovation, were designed incooperation with Porsche Design Studio.

Photo:ArchivesoEland.d.

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IN FOCUS IN FOCUS

optimise the characteristics o theoutside and inside ski edge at eachturn. By way o comparison: i youwere driving a Formula 1 car, youwould not have to worry aboutlosing control at any point.

COOPERATION WITH TOP

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS

Elan has always dedicated specialattention to design. When de-signing Amphibio, Elan decidedto cooperate with the renownedPorsche Design Studio, whichadded its visual touch to theserevolutionary skis and hencehighlighted the technological,aesthetic and unctional advan-tages o this innovative product.

Te marine division o Elan regu-

larly cooperates with HumphreysYacht Design, and the winter di-vision with the Slovenian designagency Gigodesign; Oskar Kogojparticipated in the design o theMBX skis several years ago. Elanemphasises that the key to its suc-cess in the eld o developmentand innovation lies in the actthat design and development are

closely connected even when anew product is rst being devel-oped, and that its achievementswhich are refected in innovationsare the result o combining richexperience and multidisciplinaryspecialist knowledge.

THE MOST INNOVATIVE BRAND

2012 AND OTHER AWARDS

For its achievements in design andinnovations, Elan has receivednumerous prestigious interna-tional awards or design, innova-tion, quality and unctionality.

All the awards were related to cer-tain products, but last year Elanreceived the title o the Most In-novative Brand 2012 in the sportsequipment category, the rst Slo-

venian company to win the award.Tis is the highest award present-ed annually by the German or-ganisation Plus X Award. Brandswhich receive such titles are themost innovative in individual cat-egories and are distinguished byoutstanding achievements in theelds where the brands are pres-ent and evolving. Te brands do

not apply or the award, but arenominated or their achievementsand the awards their productshave garnered. Elan thus sharedthe podium with some other mostinnovative global brands such asAdidas, Mercedes, AEG, Blackber-ry, Buderus, LG, Opel and Sony,which received awards in othercategories.

ELAN IN THE FUTURE

And what can we expect romElan in the uture? Luka Grilc,Elan Brand and Product Direc-tor, says: Our vision is to becomenumber one in innovation and thedesign o technical sports equip-ment, and we will do everythingin our power to achieve this ob-jective. By doing so, we do not

want to become the biggest, butthe best in the eld. Innovationswill play a key role in the uture.Te open process o innovation,which includes many externalpartners, and naturally the un-selsh and talented in-houseteam are guarantees that Elan willbe raising expectations in the u-ture as well.

ELANSNOW-BOARDSTHE NEW

ESSENTIALSPRODIGY R

For its achievementsin design andinnovations, Elan hasreceived numerousprestigious internationalawards or design,innovation, quality andunctionality. All theawards were related tocertain products, butlast year Elan receivedthe title o the MostInnovative Brand 2012in the sports equipmentcategory, the rstSlovenian company towin the award.

Elan also combines innovation anddesign in snowboards.

Ski jumper Rudi Fingar becamepart o Slovenian skiing history in1941 when he jumped 95 metres.He combined his experience andskiing enthusiasm with knowl-edge, ambition and vision andbecame the ounding ather othe Elan actory in 1945. He andsome riends (mostly cratsmenand engineers) established thecompany Elan on 24 September1945. In the same year, the resultso their rst manuacturing eortswere 800 pairs o light and dura-ble wooden skis.

Tree years later, Elan was alreadyrecognised as a producer and ex-porter o skis to the United Stateo America, and in 1948, the com-pany was nationalised. Te rangeo Elan products expanded in the

1950s and 1960s. In addition toskis, Elan also produced yachts,tennis and badminton rackets,table tennis equipment, ice picks,mountain rescue gear, competi-tion and recreational sledges, iceskates and hockey sticks, oars andwater skis.

Te 1970s were a key periodor Elan. Te company ocusedmainly on the production o skis.Te brand shone in all its glory,thanks to the excellent Swedishskier Ingemar Stenmark, whowon numerous races in the SkiWorld Cup on supreme Elan skis.Ingemar Stenmark still has themost World Cup wins o all time(he won 86 times), and he wonthem all on Elan skis. In the ol-lowing decade, Elan became oneo the largest and most powerulski producers in the world.

In 1992, two years ater bank-ruptcy and other hardships, thecompany was purchased by Croa-tian Privredna banka Zagreb. Inspite o dicult conditions, Elan

continued to develop and explorenew technological improvementsand launch an innovation whichcreated a true global revolution inthe skiing industry: Elan launchedcarving skis. Te new carvingtechnique was revolutionary andhas completely changed the de-velopment o skiing.

Elan also entered the snowboardmarket and developed innova-tive yachts. Te company againound itsel in trouble at the endo the 1990s, and was bought outby the Slovene Development Cor-

poration in 2000.Repositioning othe trademark ollowed, with in-tensive investment in developingnew products, the technologicalmodernisation o production, re-structuring the global distributionnetwork and a new approach tomarketing. oday, Elan employs500 people in Begunje.

ELANS DIVISIONS TODAY

With its three divisions win-ter, marine and sports acilities Elan Group is the leading pro-ducer and supplier o sports andleisure time activity equipment.Skis and yachts are produced inSlovenia, snowboards in Austria,and motor boats in Croatia. Elanowns six companies that marketits products in the USA, Canada,

Germany, Austria, Switzerlandand Japan, including independentdistributors around the world.

When it comes to skis, Elan isa global brand. Its products sellin more than 50 countries. Withsales o over 300,000 pairs o skisper year, the Elan trademark takesan average 8.5 per cent share oglobal markets. Elan also producessome other brands, which place itamong the largest production ca-pacities in the world. 550,000 orevery sixth pair o skis rom thethree million pairs sold worldwide was made in Begunje. Germany,which is considered the largestand most demanding Europeanmarket, accepted Elan as one oits leading trademarks. rue tech-nology, specialisation and enthu-siasm are the oundation o the skitrademark, according to Elan.

Te key markets which see themost intensive marketing activi-ties are Central and Eastern Eu-rope, Northern America, Japanand Scandinavia. Marketing ac-

tivities ocus on direct consumerexperience and testing on snow.By doing this, we are aware o theimportance o the whole chain othe sales process and also how im-portant it is to excite consumers,retailers and distributors with in-novations, says Bla Lazar, man-ager o winter division marketing.

With its products or all lovers onautical adventure, Elan Marineis present in all important worldmarkets, the most important be-ing Slovenia, Italy, France, Spainand Croatia. According to market

research by Yacht Magazine, Elanis the third most innovative andthe thirteenth most recognisablebrand in Europe out o 31 yachtmakers. Te values which Elanollows in its yacht production arecomort, manoeuvring character-istics, quality and saety.In sports acilities division whichwas initially its main sales oer,Elan Inventa is the leading com-pany in the Western Balkans,Scandinavia and Russia and is alsoentering other European markets.So ar, Elan Inventa has equippedover 2,500 sports acilities andoutdoor sports grounds. It gener-ates over 70 per cent o its turn-over in oreign markets.

INNOVATIONS ARE THE ONLY WAY

Te development o the Elantrademark is based on innova-tions, which holds or all divisions.Te development o constructionsand ski design has been a eatureo Elan since 1963, when the rstdevelopment institute was estab-lished and two patents introducedto the market only two years later.Because each innovation triggersthe need or another, Elan hasbeen exciting and surprising itscustomers throughout its history.Ater launching carving skis, itamazed with its development othe Fusion integrated ski bindingsystem, which ensured a combi-nation o the best fexibility o theski and weight distribution. Later,better fexibility and the torsionalstability o the ski were combinedin the WaveFlex technology. Elanhas now taken on a new chal-lenge and is already conqueringthe world with the new Amphibiotechnology.

THE LATEST INNOVATION:

AMPHIBIO SKIS

As the leading producer o skis,Elan has succeeded in combin-ing camber and rocker proles inone ski with Amphibio technol-ogy: the outside edge o the skihas a camber prole and eaturesull edge contact or perect edgegrip, while the inside edge o theski has a rocker prole, which en-ables control and easy turning.

Amphibio technology thus deter-mines which ski is let and whichright. Elan was the rst companyin the world to develop this tech-nology, which skiers can use to

Photo:ArchivesoEland.d.

Te 1970s were a keyperiod or Elan. Tecompany ocusedmainly on theproduction o skis. Tebrand shone in all itsglory, thanks to theexcellent Swedish skierIngemar Stenmark, whowon numerous racesin the Ski World Cupon supreme Elan skis.Ingemar Stenmark stillhas the most World Cupwins o all time (he won86 times), and he wonthem all on Elan skis.In the ollowing decade,Elan became one othe largest and mostpowerul ski producersin the world.

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IN FOCUS COLUMN CULTUREPolona Preeren

Are you also interestedin hearing the legendarysong Smooth Criminalby Michael Jackson ina version perormed ontwo cellos? When Lukauli and Stjepan Hauser,a Slovenian-Croatiancello duet, recorded theirrst interpretation andposted it on Youube, thevideo quickly recorded 7million views. Tey wereequally successul withtheir second single Wel-come to the Jungle andthus switly stepped ontothe global music stage.

2 Cellos are conquering the world

Teir version o Smooth Crimi-nal has been viewed on You-ube by more than seven millionpeople and their careers began toevolve in a direction many onlydare to dream about. Elton John,George Michael and many othersnoticed their video. Tey wereguests on Ellen DeGeneres Showand the series Glee.Luka uli and Stjepan Hausercome rom the world o classicalmusic. Hauser is a young Croa-tian virtuoso - the last o Ms-tislav Rostropovichs students -who has received many nationaland international awards. In theworld o music, he is known asthe magician o the cello. Hestudied at the Royal NorthernCollege o Music in Manchester.Luka uli is rom Maribor and

is also a virtuoso cellist. His car-rier is equally impressive. He hasperormed on numerous stagesabroad and he studied at theRoyal Academy o Music in Lon-don.Teir studio album, IN2IION,has been available in Sloveniarom this January; many emi-nent musicians such as EltonJohn, Zucchero, Steve Vai, LangLang and Naya Rivera collabo-rated on it. With their second al-bum, they wanted to display thestrong intuitive bond betweenthem and chose songs to express

this chemistry through their in-struments.We are very proud o the newalbum. It seems unbelievablethat it was produced by the leg-endary Bob Ezrin. I someonewere to enumerate the guests onour album a year ago, we wouldhave smiled and waved themaway, said uli and Hauser.

Te album eatures songs romFleetwood Mac (Oh, Well, eat.Elton John), Te Prodigy (Voo-doo People), Coldplay (Clockseat. Lang Lang), Rihanna (WeFound Love), AC/DC (Highwayto Hell, eat. Steve Vai), Muse(Supermassive Black Hole,eat. Naya Rivera), Cher & Nan-cy Sinatra (Bang Bang, eat.

Sky Ferreira), Te Police (Ev-ery Breath You ake), and EltonJohn (Candle In Te Wind). Tealbum was recorded in Zagreb,Rome, Nashville, Las Vegas andLos Angeles. Te producer wasBob Ezrin who has worked withmusic legends such as PinkFloyd, Kiss, Peter Gabriel and Al-ice Cooper.

Uro Gorian, creative director, Publicis Group, and president o the jury at the 22 nd SOF

Advertising estivals are a wonderul opportunity or conversations anddebates about what challenges the advertising industry aces in the uture.However, during the last ew years, there is also an unspoken question: is

the era o advertising over?

Advertising will survive

In spite o the changes andtrends that we are all noticing,the basic mission o advertisinghas not changed signicantly. Ithas been always true that goodadverts solve communicationchallenges. Te question todayis: what is an advertisement?For Nike, or instance, a mobileapplication is an advertisement,and they nance the develop-ment o applications rom themarketing budget. Tey alsodiscovered that they reached thebiggest audience when they ad-vertised during the Super Bowl:200 million in one day. oday,they are able to reach the samenumber every day through so-cial media. So it is no surprisethat during the last ew yearstheir investment in classic tele-vision and print advertising hasdecreased by almost a third,while their investment in other,more advanced orms o adver-tising, has increased.Te orm o advertising ischanging more than the essence.In Slovenia, this process seemssomewhat slower than in bigger,more developed markets. Tishas always been the big issue atSOF, during both ocial lecturesand social meetings. Te answerto who is responsible or thisslow pace depends on whomyou ask. Years ago, when mo-bile marketing was increasing

abroad, I visited the majority oSlovenian agencies to learn theirattitude to this issue. I receivedapproximately the same answerthroughout: We know its theuture, but our clients will notbe ready or anything like that.I then visited the clients and re-ceived this answer: We knowits the uture, but no one knowshow to sell us that. Anyway,a mobile application won theaward or visual identity lastyear at SOF.I am convinced that i todayyou were to replace the words

mobile marketing in that storywith content marketing, whichhas become a buzzword lately,and which the SOF has alreadynamed as a category in the com-petition, you would be able to

hear the same two argumentsagainst it. Seeking the reasonswhy something cannot be doneis like chasing ones own shad-ow down an Escher staircase.Advertising will survive in one

orm or another. Te advertis-ing industry must nd the cor-rect business model, which willenable fexibility in adapting tochange and thus survival.

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I am not drawn abroad - I have everything at home Darinka Mladenovi photographer

Vesna arkoviCULTURE COLUMN IN PERSON

She has been publishing her photographs in our magazine since its establishment in 2004and has so ar published 344 photographs, 42 o which were covers. Tere are many rea-sons to introduce her and or her to step in ront o the lens or a change. Tis time, she isnot photographing others, but has allowed us to look at her. But she does not like mak-ing portraits. You encroach on someone too much, she says. o make a portrait, a personhas to be willing to pose and have a special expression on their ace; they must reect acertain something, tell a story, and the photographer must have permission to get close to

them. oday, people are not willing to give themselves away so easily anymore.

Where does she look or inspi-ration or her work? As a littlegirl, she admired her ather, whowas an amateur photographerand also developed photos in amakeshit dark room at home.She was born in 1948 in Mur-ska Sobota, and because therewere no opportunities to studyor a long period due to the di-cult times, she enrolled in a

vocational photography school,where her sense o design, aes-thetics and beautiul photogra-phy was soon noticed. When hersecond daughter was growingup, she began taking photos oher, and published them in Jana,Naa ena and other magazines.She bought her rst digital cam-era, a Canon G3 in 2002, and dis-covered that such cameras oer

Darja Korez Korenan

Darja Korez Korenan is one o the recipient o Josip JuriAwards 2012. As the editor o culture programmes, the journalistand music publicist Darja Korez Korenan masterminded twonotable projects: Ars 360 and Minute za jezik. On television, shehas been the only broadcaster to deal with classical music events.Darja Korez Korenan is also involved in journalism and writingor children and adults. She has also written fve books on music:Slovenski glasbilarski mojstri (Slovenian Instrumental Masters),arobni zvoki slovenskih orkestrov (Magical Sounds o SlovenianOrchestras), Slovenske glasbene druine (Slovenian MusicalFamilies), Krog kulture (Circle o Culture) (as co-author) and amonograph on conductor Anton Nanut.

It is essential to observe the world around

My principle in writing is similar to the one that applies in journal-ism i.e. to know how to observe the world around us and to respond.Naturally, writing ction diers signicantly rom journalistic workin that a person must be a good storyteller and give their imaginationwings. I never had problems with that. I enjoyed writing imaginativecompositions in primary school. I later participated in journalist andliterature clubs, wrote speeches or various meetings and celebrations,wrote acrostic verses or amily events, and so on. I would probablyhave started writing sooner i I had had more time, but I ully dedicatedmysel to my journalist and editorial work instead, and wrote severalbooks on music, while ction was there patiently waiting its turn. Andits turn came. I now dedicate most o my ree time to writing.

I have written a short series or children in the lower grades o prima-ry school in which I point to injustices that happen to little girls andboys who somewhat dier rom the average; their titles already say alot about them: Pifarka (Nerd), Bojeka (Scaredy-cat), Oalarka (FourEyes) and Bajsi (Fatso). Te story Baletni copatki (Ballet Slippers) isabout a little girl who wants to become a ballerina, but her parents re-use to enrol her in ballet school. However, ollowing an unusual set ocircumstances, things turn out in her avour.

When a rough story is in my head, I begin writing it down, and i it isshort, like these or children, it is nished quite quickly.

It is dierent with a novel, which requires a certain basic ramework,more tw

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