Dr. Filomena

On National TV, the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša just stated that the Government will propose a motion of confidence (“vote of confidence”). You can read more on what that means here.

(If the Government does not receive the support of a majority vote of all deputies, the National Assembly must elect within thirty days a new President of the Government or in a new vote express its confidence in the incumbent President of the Government, or failing this, the President of the Republic dissolves the National Assembly and calls new elections.)

And so, the Lord of Bluff continues his rule…

Some of the planned real estate development in Ljubljana as presented at the Ljubljana Townhouse

As prices of real estate in Slovenia continue to rise, even in the already not-so-cheap Ljubljana, you, like Adriaan, may be wondering whether the prices have been affected by foreign investment or are they fuelled by local demand and how people can afford these places.

In Ljubljana, the rising prices have traditionally been fuelled predominantly by local (Slovenian, that is) demand as to us, Ljubljana natives, it sometimes seems as if the entire rest of the country wanted to move here.

Since joining the EU along with major Eastern European countries in May 2004, Slovenia has consistently stayed a step ahead of the other “new kids from the bloc” by being the only new entrant so far to join the Eurozone, having been admitted on 1 January 2007 and by becoming the first of the newbie countries to hold the Presidency of the European Union scheduled for the first half of 2008.

With Slovenian business traditionally firmly embedded in the international environment and for example just the export to the 25 EU members in 2006 reaching 69% of the country’s GDP with the total export gaining 17% in the first nine months of this year compared to 2006, and considering an almost equal flow in the opposite direction, an increasing number of foreign businesses are seeking facilities in the country and their employees renting or buying real estate as well.

On the other hand, growing exposure of the country in foreign media, interesting travel packages and low budget airlines are bringing in many visiting tourists who fall in love with the country and decide to purchase a dream home away from home, which considering the continuously rising prices, also makes for an attractive investment.

Potočnik’s Galaxy

Sky’s the limit in the country whose member on the EU Commission Janez Potočnik (Commissioner for Science and Research) visits an astronomical observatory and identifies and names his very own galaxy in passing.

Propertastic.com advises: If you are an ultra-cautious investor who is likely to lie awake at night sweating even if there is the teeniest-tiniest element of risk to your investment, then perhaps Slovenia is the right country for you to be putting your money into.

If you do, you will not be alone. Slovenia was tipped by Channel 4’s ‘A Place in the Sun’ programme as the 8th best place to invest over the next 10 years, with predicted increases of 250% over that period. Knight Frank are similarly bullish about Slovenia, putting it in their joint number two position along with Latvia for 2007 with a predicted growth of 17.5%.

To conclude, it is both local demand that the supply has not been able to meet the demand and foreign investments that keep the prices on the rise. Perhaps the most notable difference between the two factors being the territorial factor. Whereas local demand pushes the prices up primarily in the large city areas (close to workplaces) and the posh touristic places, foreign investors are quite likely to go for the cheap properties in regions not interesting to Slovenians as places of permanent residence due to their remoteness and absence of available jobs and other infrastructure.

This brings us to another real issue: How does one handle all the local and imported real estate fuel and finances the purchase of real estate in Slovenia?

Ideally, you have money readily available and pay in cash you pull from under the pillow (do share which Starwood hotel you usually stay at when at a European city served by a low budget airline from Ljubljana). If not, several types of loans are available.

In Slovenia, you can choose between regular loans secured by insurance, guarantor or the property itself (mortgage), financial products that combine loans with life insurance or investment in mutual funds, or so-called leasing.

The information I found on the net in English, claiming that the loan-to-value mortgages only goes as high as 50%, is out of date as the market has become far more flexible than that although thankfully not going into the sub-prime mortgage area quite as yet. So next in the series coming from this couch will be: details on the types of available financing.

Phenomenal venison in a creamy carrot-base sauce with spaetzle noodles, a piece of ‘sirov strukelj’ (skuta cheese roll) and pear (cooked in white wine and topped with cranberry jam.
Prepared by Poldka at the renowned Jelen restaurant in Kocevje.

Cold but cool 🙂

Janez Janša, Slovenian Prime Minister; (photo source)

I may be notoriously recalcitrant (hey, I just learned a new word 🙂 ) but I think just about everyone can see that yesterday’s statement by the Slovenian Prime Minister that the option of the entire Government stepping down is not out of the question is nothing short of a brilliant bluff.

By giving this statement, the Strategist who functions best at times of duress effectively stopped the down-with-the-government campaign before it could begin. He will be turning from a villain to a victim in no time, blaming the EU Presidency (supported by everyone) for any and all problems that may arise. The poor-me/conspiracy card works like a charm.

I am doing a great job and if you think you can do better, go for it! A year before the elections and with the EU Presidency adventure inbetween? We all remember what happened 7 years ago with the player roles reversed, right?

One has to admire the way JJ is playing his hand. He has placed the opponents into a no-win position. Call his bluff and lose the elections or don’t call it and silently admit that he is needed and adequate at his job.

Good morning, starshine 😉

I hadn’t made these in a long time, so I forgot a detail. Next time, these sexy cupcakes will look even better 😉

Ingredients (makes 24 cupcakes)

250 g (Philadelphia) cream cheese
1 egg
60 g sugar
pinch of salt

200 g dark chocolate chips
200 g all-purpose flour
200 g sugar
20 g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
230 ml water
80 ml vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Chop up the chocolate bars if you weren’t able to find miniature chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 175°C. Line muffin tins with paper cups or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, 60 g of sugar and a pinch of salt. (Note: don’t overdo the beating as you want this mixture to have consistency! don’t let it become too fluid) Stir in the chocolate chips and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Stir together until well blended.

Fill muffin tins 1/3 full with the batter and top with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture. See my problem was that I allowed my cream cheese mixture to become too liquid and had to almost pour it on top rather than top the batter with ‘dollops’. Had I done it that way, the batter would rise around the filling, engulfing most of it, for a prettier end result.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Even if they didn’t look perfect, they still tasted good, though 😀

Good morning, sunshine 😉

The New Slovenian President (right) and the Next Prime Minister (left)? (Photo Source)

The word is out. Danilo Türk won the Presidential elections with an almost incredible lead of over 70%. I must admit that while I expected his win, I never thought the polls would predict the final results so accurately. Now, while some will say this is a record win in Slovene history, I would like to point out that while Kučan won the Presidential elections by some ten per cent less, he did so in the first round, so the results are not really comparable.

Peterle surprised me several times in the last week. By starting a negative campaign against his opponent, by caving to the pressures of a not-that-politically-strong mayor and turning his back on his campaign manager in the final stretch of the campaign and lastly today at the time of announcing the results, by his bold explanation of his loss. He basically blamed his poor results on Janez Janša and his government and confirmed that he thought his loss reflected the people’s dissatisfaction with the current Government.

Taking the above into account and combining it with the fact that the STA (Slovenian Press Agency), owned 100% by the Government, reported today on the Article published in a Croatian newspaper claiming Janša had received an enormous amount of money from gun trafficking to Bosnia and Croatia while in the capacity of the Slovenian Defence Minister between 1990 and 1994, Janez Janša (current Slovenian Prime Minister) will probably wish he had not gone to China these days. Things getting slightly out of control? The theory has long been out there that Janša is not being tough on Croatia in the borders-at-sea issues because he is being blackmailed with evidence of gun trafficking, thus compromising the country’s best interests due to his personal issues. This promisses to be an interesting topic to follow.

In his victory speech, Türk emphasized Borut Pahor‘s virtues and profoundly thanked him for his support, at the same time just like Peterle hinting that the results were partly a vote of no confidence to the current Government, which will probably have to change its actions. It was most interesting to see Gregor Golobič there in the back (but “limelight back”) as (again?) a kind of the “number one“.

Another politician we saw give a short interview on the telly was Igor Lukšič, the political strategy brains behind Borut Pahor’s Social Democrats that continue to gain ground in the Slovenian political arean. And so… round one is over and the game continues, with some of the players moving up one level.

Today is the first day of the parliamentary election campaign.
Play fair, kids!