President Borut Pahor is hosting a meeting with Prime Minister Janez Janša and speakers of both houses of parliament on Thursday to discuss the functioning of political institutions and joint efforts for political unity and joint action during the coronavirus crisis.
This will be the first meeting of Slovenia’s most senior political officials after the appointment of Janez JanŠa government on 13 March and the election of Igor Zorčič as new speaker of parliament on 5 March. The four leaders as a rule meet once a year, in December.
After the meeting, Pahor, Janša, Zorčič and National Council Speaker Alojz Kovšca are scheduled to address a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace, at which a limited number of journalists will be able to participate due to safety measures in place to contain the epidemic.
The latest available data put the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country at 526, including 73 healthcare staff. Five Covid-19 patients have died but all of them had underlying conditions. Four of them were residents of nursing homes.
To contain the epidemic the government has imposed sweeping lockdown measures. It has also set out an EUR 2 billion package to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on business and people. The cabinet is expected to adopt the package on Friday before putting it forward to parliament.
The package comes on top of a billion euro worth one already passed by parliament after being drafted by the previous government.
Source: STA
