In Brussels this year too, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Service Users (Better Finance) organized a high visibility press conference, and presented the only(!) objective report on real returns of European savings funds "Pension Savings: The Real Return" 2015 Edition.

The report, which was published for the third consecutive year with the support of the European Commission, is this time more comprehensive as it covers 15 European Union countries and shows that the lack of consumer trust is a direct consequence of the inability of many financial intermediaries to deliver decent long term returns. In addition to poor returns, excessive management costs, lack of information - both for savers and regulating authorities - about the real values of saved resources and the lack of comprehensive independent reports on real returns of such funds are particularly set out. 

The reforms of pension funds and savings across the EU, are espoused also by VZMD through the Better Finance – in so doing, the President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, the Executive Board member of Better Finance, was also engaged in the last year's presentation (VIDEO), whereas this year he attended the important Annual meeting and conference of the World Federation of Investors (WFI), which simultaneously unfolded in Milan, Italy.

On Monday, the 12-member economic delegation from the Russian region of Yaroslavl arrived in Slovenia. This is a return visit of representatives of enterprises and institutions from the Russian Federation after more than year since the Slovenian economic delegation has paid visit to Yaroslavl with 30 representatives onboard from 21 enterprises and institutions, and among them - as part of the 7th international tour (VIDEO) of the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) business-investor programs - was the President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, who already took part in the Business Forum in Ljubljana on Tuesday, and today in Nova Gorica as well.

Supported by Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Development, Investment and Tourism - SPIRIT Slovenia, the participants were presented Slovenian and Yaroslavl business environments and a few enterprises, and were addressed by the President of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Mitja Bervar, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Slovenia, His Excellency dr. Doku Zavgajev, President of the committee for the economic policy, investments, industry and entrepreneurship in the Yaroslavl parliament, Mr. Aleksandr Kučmenko, and the head of the delegation who is also the director of the Department of investment policy in the government of the Yaroslavl region, Mr. Andrej Zolotovskij, with whom Mr. Verbič met during B2B meetings.

Yesterday the economic delegation from Yaroslavl visited Koper and after the mayor's reception also the Port of Koper, Postojna airport and Godovič, where it paid visit to several enterprises and met with the representatives of local communities; however today the delegation is visiting Ajdovščina and Nova Gorica, where the Business Forum including B2B meetings is taking place after the mayor's reception.

Last weekend marked the closure of the three-day meeting of the World Federation of Investors (WFI) as well as numerous conferences, meetings and the general meeting of this reputable international organization, which has brought together over 60 national associations of shareholders and investors in four decades. The conference - as always since the acceptance of VZMD in Sao Paolo in 2008 - was attended by the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, who presented the association's activities whereby the greatest interest and attention was paid to the processes related to the expropriation of the holders of subordinated bonds and stocks of Slovenian banks. Just before the meeting, VZMD published the news stating that the EUROPEAN COMMISSION officially bolstered the position of VZMD.

One of the major topics was also the "Volkswagen scandal", whereby the prominent participants from 25 countries agreed upon collaboration options and joint action with the International Financial Litigation Network (IFLN), on behalf of affected investors and shareholders as well as users and suppliers, which was specifically pointed out by Mr. Verbič also in view of the potential interests of the Slovenian automotive industry and he suggested to organize the legal protection also for the suppliers. In view of the above, VZMD appeals to all shareholders, users and suppliers of Volkswagen in Slovenia and in the former Yugoslavia to let them know if interested in taking part in the pending procedures.

The meeting of the WFI was concluded with the visit to the high visibility World's Fair, EXPO Milano 2015, where VZMD, supported by SPIRIT Slovenia, provided free tickets for the guided tour and presentations at the Slovenian pavilion to the WFI delegation. The highest representatives of the WFI were personally welcomed by the General Commissioner of the EXPO Milano 2015 Section of the Republic of Slovenia, Ms. Jerneja Lampret, and they showed great interest in viewing the attractive presentation of Slovenia, its culture, history and knowledge and were thrilled at the offer and possibilities, which some of them learned about also during the WFI meeting in 2012 in Slovenia (VIDEO).

From the 1^st to 3^rd of October, Milan, Italy, was the venue of the annual general meeting and conference of the World Federation of Investors (WFI), which was also attended by Mr. Kristjan Verbič representing the Republic of Slovenia. The gathered representatives of investors from 25 countries in two days addressed the current problem areas and topics, such as financial literacy focused on the young, implications of the economic crisis for investments, banking systems, situation on the emerging markets, etc. Likewise, the situation and opportunities in each of the Member States and their significant ongoing legal proceedings to protect investors were presented. Here the WFI has closely collaborated also with the International Financial Litigation Network, representatives of investors associations (IFLN), with which also VZMD has fruitfully collaborated.

The prominent international federation - with an almost 40-year tradition - WFI brings toghether over 60 national associations of investors and shareholders from all over the globe, and VZMD became the full member in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 2007. VZMD has ever since managed to win the organization of the annual general meeting in Slovenia. The first meeting took placein 2008 (VIDEO), upon establishment of the Invest to Slovenia program and together with the first investor conference investo.si (VIDEO), whereas the second meeting took place in 2012 (VIDEO), and was the largest meeting of representatives of investors and shareholders on a global scale »Investors' Week«(VIDEO). It was the first time for the annual general meetings of three international associations, apart from WFI also EuroInvestors and Euroshareholders, to take place at one venue concurrently. 

Upon conclusion of the official part of the meeting, the WFI representatives visited the EXPO Milan 2015, where VZMD has managed to include the special visit to the Slovenian pavilion in the program and thus continue the fruitful collaboration with SPIRIT Slovenia, which hosted the WFI delegation.  

EU Court in Luxembourg has provided VZMD with the written position of all persons concerned in the case of C-526/14, Tadej Kotnik e.a., in which the court was asked by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia to clarify the legal nature of the communication published by the European Commission – focusing on the question whether the Banking Communication as of August 1, 2013, with which the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia and the Bank of Slovenia »justify«the cancellation of all shares and subordinated bonds in as many as six Slovenian banks, is legally binding. Apart from the European Commission, the Bank of Slovenia, the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, and the Republic of Slovenia itself, represented by the State Attorney's Office, the brief written opinions on behalf of their countries were provided by the State Attorney's Offices of Ireland, Italy and Spain.

The European Commission (EC), the creator of the communications whose legal nature was subject to the question posed by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia to the EU Court, did -in its written report submitted to the EU Court in the document with the reference number 988019 - explicitly and unequivocally bolster the position of VZMD and expropriated investors in Slovenian banks that its Banking Communication is not a legally binding act: "The Banking Communication shall not bind the Member States" (page 5, section 11), and "The Banking Communication is not binding on the Member States" (page 7, section 18).

VZMD has, on behalf of the expropriated investors in Slovenian banks, who it represents, repeatedly cautioned to the absurdityof the claims made by the senior officials of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia and the Bank of Slovenia (BS), saying that the cancellation of all subordinated bonds in the Republic of Slovenia was unavoidable as it was ordered through the EC Banking Communication, which is allegedly a legally binding EU act. The absurdity of such claims is clearly evident from at least two legal facts: Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU which is defining legal acts of the EU, has no mention of the EC communication whatsoever; in addition, all legal acts of EU are published in the regulatory part of the Official Journal of the EU (section L - Legislation), whereas the EC communication in the announcements (section C - Information and Notices). As the officials of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia and the Bank of Slovenia have persistently "relativized" mentioned facts, VZMD has frequently reiterated that even the EU Court has in all three legal wrangles so far, in which the EC reproached the EU Member States (also) for the failure to comply with the EC communications, dismissed the reproach as unfounded explicitly stating that the EC communications are not legally binding acts (judgments in the matters C-70/06, EC against Portugal, §34; C‑369/07, EC against Greece, §112; in C-270/11, EC against Sweden, §41).

Hence even the EC expressly agrees with the legal fact that its communications are not legally binding acts and this has been explicitly indicated twice in its written position. However, the opposite written position provided by the Bank of Slovenia unfortunately has anew confirmed that this is an institution which has already ages ago disregarded any objectivity by covering up its inadmissible conduct and by resorting to falsehoods and misleading statements without hesitation - and if nothing works out, even to the utterly absurd ones. In so doing, in its written opinions provided to the EU Court in the document with the reference number 988072, the Bank of Slovenia stated: "The Banking Communication in terms of the interpretation of the EU primary law is only binding on the Commission but also on the national courts and other institutions in a Member State" (page 15, section 28)!

In view of the above, the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, stated: "As it seems, the Bank of Slovenia believes that it is highly competent to lecture the EU Court on withdrawal from its own - and the only reasonable - position on the unbinding legal nature of the European Commission communications, and as if this were not sufficiently arrogant and disgraceful, it also claims to understand the legal nature of the European Commission acts better than the European Commission itself!"

The legal experts, who have together with VZMD been preparing the materials for proceedings before the EU Court believe that such absurd statements by the Bank of Slovenia should in no way affect the ruling of the EU Court, but VZMD shall nevertheless submit a proposal to grant the oral proceedings in this matter at the Court. The EU Court normally institutes oral proceedings only in exceptional circumstances, but VZMD believes it to be useful in this case - also in the face of increasing non-credibility of the actions taken Bank of Slovenia, which is supposed to be the guardian of fairness.»Unfortunately in the Slovenian case, the Central bank has evidently focused majority of its efforts - together with certain representatives of the financial authorities - on the fight against its own citizens, which is a particularly alarming phenomenon we are compelled to deal with and "treat" abroad as well,« was how Mr. Verbič commented on the further steps of VZMD.

On Friday night, the round table on ownership restructuring and investment opportunities in Poland and Slovenia marked the beginning of the two-day program of the Polish-Slovenian Business Forum in Ljubljana which, under the authority of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was attended by nearly 60-member delegation from Poland.

Besides numerous representatives of companies and institutions from both countries, among whom were also Secretary at the Ministry for the Economic Development and Technology, Mr. Metod Dragonja, CEO of the Bank Assets Management Company BAMC/DUTB, Mr. Torbjorn Mansson and Head of Client Relation Department at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Mr. Pawel Czupryna, and at the invitation of the organizers the event was also attended by the PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, who seized the opportunity for the activities related to both the VZMD's international business-investor programs: Invest to Slovenia – investo.si and International Investors` Network – invest-to.net, and usual efforts of VZMD linked to the scandalous expropriation of Nova KBM shareholders. The latter was touched upon also by the participants of Monday's round table, as Nova KBM's shares also quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and the cancellation directly or indirectly affected also numerous investors and Polish citizens. In this regard, the participants stressed that unfortunately exactly this keeps tarnishing the reputation of Slovenia, the issue of which has ever since cancellation/expropriation been raised also by VZMD.

Yesterday the event went on with the official opening of the business forum, where the attendees were addressed by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Slovenia, His Excellency Paweł Czerwiński, leader of the Polish delegation and the Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Ms. Katarzyna Kacperczyk, Secretary at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Ms. Dragoljuba Benčina, Secretary at the Ministry for the Economic Development and Technology, Mr. Aleš Cantarutti, and the General Manager of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, Mr. Samo Hribar Milič.

In addition to compelling presentations of business environments, opportunities and examples of best practices, the VZMD President was also actively engaged in B2B meetings, where almost 90 participants from both countries got together.

VZMD has so far excellently collaborated with partners from Poland. To name a few, in 2011, VZMD organized the high visibility »Slovenian day at the Warsaw Stock Exchange« (VIDEO), and last year, Mr. Verbič also attended the international conference »Warsaw Capital Market Summit 2014« at the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the conference of the National Bank of Poland and the International Monetary Fund »Building Market Economies in Europe: Lessons and Challenges after 25 Years of Transition«.

On Friday evening, the members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the amending act to the Book Entry Securities Act (ZNVP-1) in the third reading with 70 votes for and 4 against, and which to a large extent draws on the VZMD's proposals to alleviate the catastrophic impact of the amending act of the ZNVP-1, which namely brings with it the abolishment of the registry accounts for about 260,000 natural persons. Following the unanimous support to the amendment of the ruling coalition within the 2^nd reading on Wednesday September 23, 2015, the members also supported, with 69 votes for and 4 against, the additional amendment to the Article 48 of the ZNVP-1, tabled by the deputy group of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), which by means of its additional 3^rd paragraph shall limit the annual costs of keeping accounts and the compensation for the balance maintenance on the trading account to the maximum of 0.5% of the average value of securities on the account..

Following the support to VZMD to limit such costs, which have too frequently accounted for the significant part of the minority shareholder portfolio value, such additional amendment also followed the VZMD's opinion on the coalition's amendment, delivered to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia on September 17, 2015, which is why it was supported by VZMD immediately upon its tabling, on Thursday, September 24, 2015. On this occasion, the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, welcomed the significant progress in handling registry accounts abolishment problems, which »nevertheless reflects a certain extent of regard to uphold minority shareholders and regulate the status of investors - particularly those who are keen on being part of the Slovenian joint-stock companies, and in this manner maintain and increase effectiveness of tied up resources, save for their old age, healthcare services, education of their offspring, etc.« and was also pleased about the fact that the »the party politics was finally unified and responded to the VZMD's appeal to make slight additional efforts when formulating the definitive text of Article 48 of the ZNVP-1 proposal, and, after all already invested efforts and adjustments, to reach a solution which could be classified as acceptable and optimal in the usual context of the claimed urgency .«

Note that, ever since the drafting of the mentioned Act, VZMD has vigorously opposed the abolishment of the registry accounts at the Central Securities Clearing Corporation (KDD), where nearly 260,000 minority shareholder have their securities freely deposited, which have been largely acquired through ownership certificates. As it has been proved necessary that the abolishment of the registry accounts could not be avoided, VZMD, on September 4, 2015 put forward a compromise proposal, which represented to a large extent a foundation also for the amendment of the ruling coalition. The latter provided for the delay of the natural person registry account abolishment into 2017, and ushered in the direct reporting by the KDD. Thus, for at least 100,000 minority shareholders - who hold shares worth up to EUR 100 on their registry accounts at KDD - the amendment brings court fee exemption in the event that they do not transfer their shares to trading accounts at brokerage firms or banks which would consequently lead to transfer to the court deposit after January 1, 2017. In this regard, VZMD firmly raised the question of methods for valuation of shares on registry accounts and of the inappropriateness of the very low limit of EUR 100 up to which the shareholders are entitled to the court fee exemption.

However, as early as in February this year, VZMD sent to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia even an Urgency, with which they reiterated that Ministry, among other things was proposing abolishment of registry accounts at KDD, obscuring ownership structures, lowering the level of legal security, making it more difficult to attend meetings, additional financial and social burdens, explicitly reducing the number of minority shareholders and the proportion of local ownership in Slovenian companies etc. The first proposed amending act of the ZNVP-1 namely bore all the more serious consequences for the capital market, especially for over 260,000 Slovenian minority shareholders (natural persons), who might be the next year relentlessly deleted from the register of shareholders, that is, they might lose their shares in the face of abolishment of (their) registry accounts at the KDD, or »punished«with the court fees for the automatic court deposits of their shares. That is why VZMD has insisted on scathing criticism of such amending act of the ZNVP-1, which was anew pointed out by the VZMD President also in the meeting of the Finance and Monetary Policy Council of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. (RECORDING of the meeting – VZMD caveats and proposals from 51:40 minute onwards)

Even beforehand, VZMD had frequently voiced against the proposed abolishment of the registry accounts (inter alia also using the remarks and proposals regarding the ZNVP-1 on October 28, 2014, November 26, 2014 and February 5, 2015), in addition, VZMD has since October 2014 been actively engaged in harmonizing the text of the Proposed directive of the European Parliament and Council of the EU regarding changes to the 2007/36/ES directive regarding encouraging the long-term shareholder engagement and 2013/34/EU directive regarding specific elements of the declaration about corporate governance. Regarding the Proposed directive directly related to the Proposed amending act of the ZNVP-1, VZMD, as early as on October 6, 2014 sent its remarks and proposals - in line with the Better Finance proposals (European Federation of Financial Services, where Mr. Verbič is a member of the Executive Board) - also to directly to the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology.

It has been exactly three years since the beginning of the largest gathering of investor representatives and shareholders in the world »Investors' Week«(VIDEO), which took place in Slovenia with the support of the European Commission and organized by VZMDwithin its international business-investor programsInvest to Slovenia - investo.si & International Investors' Network - invest-to.net, from September 19th to 23rd, 2012.

Right after VZMD sent the compromise amendment and appeal to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia on September 4 to alleviate the catastrophic impact of the proposed amending act of the Book Entry Securities Act (ZNVP-1) and following numerous conversations with the representatives of the Parliamentary groups, it was on September 15 that the Parliamentary groups of the ruling coalition tabled an amendment, which draws on and also includes the compromise proposals by VZMD to a large extent. In addition to the delay of the abolishment of registry accounts for natural persons until 2017 and mandatory direct reporting by the Central Securities Clearing Corporation (KDD), the new coalition's proposal would entitle at least approx. 100,000 shareholders - who hold shares worth up to EUR 100 on their registry accounts at KDD - to court fee exemption, in the event that they do not transfer their shares to trading accounts at brokerage firms or banks which would consequently lead to transfer to the court deposit after January 1, 2017.

Thus, the VZMD president, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, sent to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia yesterday VZMD's opinion on the coalition's amendment regarding Article 48 of ZNVP-1 in which he welcomes the significant progress in addressing the issue of registry account abolishment, which reflects a certain degree of understanding for upholding minority shareholders in the Republic of Slovenia. On this occasion too, Mr. Verbič points out that »yet another step in the right direction unfortunately does not imply that the goal of the appropriate (related) solution for the status of minority shareholders has been reached - particularly of those who are keen on being part of Slovenian joint-stock companies, and in this manner maintain and increase effectiveness of tied up resources, save for their old age, healthcare services, education of their offspring, etc.« In this context, the VZMD President appeals to the deputies to make slight additional efforts when formulating the definitive text of Article 48 of the ZNVP-1 proposal as »it would be truly a pity, after all already invested efforts and adjustments, to be so near, yet so far from the solution which could be classified as acceptable and optimal in the usual context of the claimed urgency.«

However, the first, (still) proposed amending act of ZNVP-1, bears severe consequences for the capital market, particularly for over 260,000 Slovenian minority shareholders (natural persons), who might be the next year relentlessly deleted from the register of shareholders, that is, they might lose their shares in the face of abolishment of (their) registry accounts at the KDD, or »punished«with the court fees for the automatic court deposits of their shares. That is why VZMD has insisted on scathing criticism of such amending act of ZNVP-1, which was anew pointed out by the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, also in the meeting of the Finance and Monetary Policy Council of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia on Wednesday, September 2. (RECORDING of the meeting – VZMD caveats and proposals from 51:40 minute onwards)

Note that VZMD sent an urgency, to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia in February, with which they reiterated that Ministry, among other things, was proposing abolishment of registry accounts at KDD, obscuring ownership structures, lowering the level of legal security, making it more difficult to attend meetings, additional financial and social burdens, explicitly reducing the number of minority shareholders and the proportion of local ownership in Slovenian companies etc.

Even beforehand, VZMD had  frequently voiced against the proposed abolishment of the registry accounts (inter alia also using the remarks and proposals regarding the ZNVP-1 on October 28, 2014, November 26, 2014 and February 5,. 2015), in addition VZMD has since October 2014 been actively engaged in harmonizing the text of the Proposed directive of the European Parliament and Council of the EU regarding changes to the 2007/36/ES directive regarding encouraging the long-term shareholder engagement and 2013/34/EU directive regarding specific elements of the declaration about corporate governance.. Regarding the Proposed directive directly related to the Proposed amending act of ZNVP, VZMD sent its remarks and proposals as early as on October 2014 - in line with the Better Finance proposals ( European Federation of Financial Services, where Mr. Verbič is a member of the  Executive Board) - also directly to the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology.

Through the proposed compromise amendment and appeal to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, VZMD has at least attempted to alleviate the catastrophic impact of the proposed amending act of the Book Entry Securities Act (ZNVP-1). VZMD's Expert Council - in light of the adversarial meeting of the Finance and Monetary Policy Council on Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - propose the following:

1. delay of the due date for abolishment of registry accounts until 2017 for natural persons (individual investors), with which their obligation to pay compensation for maintaining accounts would cease already for the entire 2016, although they would have open accounts for 3 months at most;

2. court fee suspension (which is, subject to paragraph 5 of the Article 10 of the Court Fee Act, a systemically relevant solution), whereby, in case of the lodgment of security deposits, also the probability of numerous individual disputes which may be raised by affected persons (particularly small shareholders) shall decrease in each individual procedure involving court deposits.

In this regard, VZMD has been appealing to the deputies of the National Assembly to make necessary efforts, in case registry account abolishment is inevitable, at least to alleviate detrimental consequences - both of social (higher costs, less transparency) and corporate nature (retreat of minority shareholders leading to ownership consolidation, poorer control).

The proposed amending act of ZNVP-1, which is about to be adopted in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, would have severe consequences for the capital market, particularly for over 260,000 Slovenian minority shareholders (individual investors), who might be the next year relentlessly deleted from the register of shareholders, that is, they might lose their shares in the face of abolishment of (their) registry accounts at the Central Securities Clearing Corporation (KDD), or »punished«with the court fees for the automatic court deposits of their shares. For this reason, VZMD has been persistent in objecting to this amending act of ZNVP-1, which was reiterated by the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, in the meeting of the Finance and Monetary Policy Council of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. (RECORDING of the meeting – VZMD caveats and proposals from 51:40 minute onwards)

Note that VZMD sent an urgency, to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia in February, with which they reiterated that Ministry, among other things, was proposing termination of registry accounts at KDD, obscuring ownership structures, lowering the level of legal security, making it more difficult to attend meetings, additional financial and social burdens, explicitly reducing the number of minority shareholders (individual investors) and the proportion of local ownership in Slovenian companies etc. Even beforehand, VZMD had  frequently voiced against the proposed termination of the registry accounts (inter alia also using the remarks and proposals regarding the ZNVP on October 28, 2014, November 26, 2014 and February 5, 2015), in addition VZMD has since October 2014 been actively engaged in harmonizing the text of the Proposed directive of the European Parliament and Council of the EU regarding changes to the 2007/36/ES directive regarding encouraging the long-term shareholder engagement and the 2013/34/EU directive regarding specific elements of the declaration about corporate governance. Regarding the Proposed directive directly related to the Proposed amending act of ZNVP, VZMD sent its remarks and proposals as early as on October 2014 - in line with the Better Finance proposals (European Federation of Financial Services, where Mr. Verbič is a member of the  Executive Board) - also directly to the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology.

Last week, the Bled Strategic Forum - the largest foreign affairs event in Slovenia - took place at Bled. The two day event was attended by more than 700 attendees from more than 65 countries, among them a number of the most important representatives from politics, diplomacy and commerce from Slovenia, EU and beyond.

The President of the PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), Mr. Kristjan Verbič, also attended this year's events, for a fifth time now, in what was an opportunity among others, to also take advantage of a number of talks and informal meetings, above all in relation to the international business-investor programs, Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and the International Investors' Network (invest-to.net).

The 10th Strategic Forum, entitled Vision of New Partnerships, discussed the important topics of peace and security, business co-operation, development and human rights, upon which the role and meaning of partnerships were especially highlighted. Alongside the topics of partnership, the forum took place under the symbol of important events: the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Helsinki and the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.

The Austrian Constitutional Court announced yesterday that the expropriation of the subordinated bond holders is unconstitutional, as it infringes upon »the fundamental right to the protection of property«,therefore the reference to the precarious situation of the 

Land of Carinthia cannot be used as an argument... In light of this, the disputable Hypo Reorganization Act (Hypo-Sanierungsgesetz – HaaSanG) dating back to August 2014 was entirely abrogated, the Austrian Constitutional Court has also stated in the notice (www.vfgh.gv.at/cms/vfgh-site/attachments/3/0/3/CH0003/CMS1438067838598/hypopresseinfoen.pdf).

The PanSlovenian Investors' and Shareholders' Association - VZMD, which lodged an initiative for the constitutional assessment with the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia as early as in December 2013, also expects from the Slovenian Constitutional Court to finally pass the judgment in the procedure of its "absolutely high priority constitutional judgment" of the contentious amendment of the Banking Act and expropriation of the holders of subordinated bonds and stocks of Slovenian banks in December 2013!