The official two-day visit by the President of the Republic of Poland, His Excellency Andrzej Duda, to Slovenia finished on Monday. On this occasion, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) hosted also POLISH-SLOVENIAN INVESTMENT FORUM which was attended by many Slovenian and Polish business persons, economists, and diplomats. The forum opened with the ceremonial signing of the collaboration agreement between the Polish town of Miedzyzdroje and Slovenian town of Isola both represented by their respective mayors. The forum was also the meeting place for exchanging business-related experiences in Slovenia and Poland by the following attendees: managing director of Trimo Trebnje, Mr. Maciej Radomski, Executive Director of the Foreign Investment Department Invest in Poland, Mr. Adam Malecki, Partner PwC and auditing services manager for Eastern Europe, Mr. Pawel Peplinski, president of the Polish-Slovenian Business Club Triglav-Rysy, Mr. Matej Hojnik and the chairman of the Board of Armeton Group, Mr. Denis Vodopivec and others.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament adopted a revised Shareholder Rights Directive proposed by the European Commission in 2014 highlighting that the directive came as a result of previous experiences and that for the stable Europe economy the focus should be shifted from delivering short-term returns to long-term success. As it were, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia at the same time introduced a bill on judicial relief granted to holders of qualified bank credit based on the order by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia which will be subject to public consultations for 30 days - however, it is quite obvious at the first glance that it is sadly yet another blow for the legal certainty of the expropriated Slovenian investors and their right to efficient remedies - more on this in the next days after a more thorough analysis by VZMD's expert associates has been conducted.

After the coalition deputies succumbed to the particular interests of the financial industry and confirmed the controversial proposal for the amending act to the Financial Instruments Act (ZTFI-G), the the PanSlovenian Investors` & Shareholders` Association (VZMD) would like to notify shareholders and the general public that the amended ZTFI-G did not block the "Share SUPPORT", despite the obvious motives of those making the proposal; instead, the scope of options available to minority shareholders has increased.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia confirmed the proposal for amendments to the Financial Instruments Act (ZTFI-G) at their meeting on 15 February 2017. The two-hour long discussion again - as was the case at the meeting of the Finance and Monetary Policy Committee (VIDEO) and the Committee for the economy, craft industry, tourism and finance (VIDEO) of the National Assembly and the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia - focused only on the disputable Article 25 of ZTFI-G, VZMD's (PanSlovenian Investors` & Shareholders` Association) arguments and proposals, their "Share SUPPORT" and the proposals for its amendments proposed by the government coalition, Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), United Left (ZL) and New Slovenia (NSi). After voting had taken place it became clear that the coalition deputies succumbed to the narrow interests of the financial industry and the unrestrained greed of the intermediaries and large corporations. A day before the meeting, the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, again addressed a letter to all the deputies with warnings and arguments against the planned legal intervention.

The prominent Viennese and international attorney, Mr. Eric Breiteneder, founder and owner of the law firm Breiteneder Rechtsanwalt GmbH last week visited Slovenia for business and pleasure at the invitation of President of the PanSlovenian Investors` & Shareholders` Association (VZMD), Mr. Kristjan Verbič. Mr. Breiteneder is a renowned expert in capital markets and protection of investors' rights, one of the founding members and the communication officer of the International Financial Litigation Network (IFLN), and he also closely collaborates with the American organization The American Association for Justice (AAJ).

At 9:00 AM today, at the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia the 34th regular meeting of the Finance and Monetary Policy Council of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia began, where the members discussed the Bill on amending Financial Instruments Market Act (ZTFI-G) as well as amendments to the Bill - which were adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on 5 January 2017 and sent for adoption by way of summary procedure - were brought forward by deputy groups. Apart from the Council members, representatives from PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD), Securities Market Agency (ATVP) and Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia were invited to the meeting. "The Government wants to prevent VZMD from collecting shares under the "Share SUPPORT" - allow or forbid the "Share SUPPORT" of VZMD managed by Mr. Kristjan Verbič - this will be, as it seems, one of the focal points of tomorrow's discussion on the amendment to Financial Instruments Market Act. The Government and ATVP want to step on toes of the "Share SUPPORT", whereas members of the National Council, Sinteza association and NSi party stood up for it," was mentioned in the newspaper DELO.

Following last evening's news reports on National TV (RTV SLO) which gained data on the transfer of bad (also many good) debts of the NLB bank to the Bank Assets Management Company (DUTB), it has been reaffirmed that, during restructuring and simultaneous expropriation of share and subordinated bond holders in six Slovenian banks using 5 billion euros of taxpayers' money, numerous outrageous irregularities were uncovered, which also indicate a clearly obvious intent. It follows from the reports on RTV SLO and other media outlets that the Bank of Slovenia required transfers of a number of additional debts including those that were not actually bad - which even had A and B credit ratings just before "findings" were reached at NLB!

The Committee of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia for the economy, craft industry, tourism and finance also invited PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) and representatives of the Securities Market Agency (ATVP) and Ministry of Finance to its 66^th meeting. After a lively debate and confrontation of opinions and arguments (VIDEO) between the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, and the ATVP representatives, Mr. Primož Pinoza and Mr. Žiga Kosi, and the Ministry of Finance representative Mr. Aleš Butala, members of the National Council favored the arguments and viewpoints of VZMD and unanimously (8 : 0) signed off the proposal for amendments to the Financial Instruments Act (ZTFI-G), with the exception of the bill or amendments to Article 255 of ZTFI respectively, about which VZMD and the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance) - ever since the motion has been filed by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia - have warned that it is expressly in opposition to the Regulation 909/2014 909/2014 of the European Parliament and Council, general Slovenian laws and interests of minority shareholders and investors on the Slovenian capital market.

The open letter recently sent by the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance), staunchly supporting VZMD and "Share SUPPORT" in opposing to the government proposal of the amending act to the Financial Instruments Act  (ZTFI-G), was subject to reporting by over 200 European and American news media. On Wednesday, the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) warned about the mentioned problem also via the portal https://vzmd.newswire.com/ designed for informing international audiences and news media.