NEWS

Prime Minister's press conference held after the Government’s 128th regular session

At its 128th regular session, the Government adopted several decisions, among others the text of the amendment to the Slovenian Railway Company Act and the decision on temporary measures for Pokolpje. The responsible ministers presented the main points of the adopted act and decisions, while Prime Minister Borut Pahor answered a few questions about current issues posed by the press.

   

At today’s session, the Government defined the wording of the amendment to the Slovenian Railway Company Act. On 1 July 1993, a division of assets to the infrastructure and traffic activities was operated in the then company Slovenske železnice Ljubljana p.o. Within the same legal entity, two organisational units were formed.  Earmarked funds and associated sources of financing were transferred to the organisational unit ‘infrastructure activity’. The division of assets was a consequence of separate identification of business results for traffic and infrastructure. The Act's main objective is the payment of the claim to the company Slovenske železnice, which is also the subject of the Act.  This would enable the implementation of the Slovenian Railway Company Act, which was recently adopted, and the restructuring of the company into a holding company combining several independent companies.  The amount claimed by Slovenske železnice, totalling EUR 134,261,600, will be paid by the Republic of Slovenia out of the national budget between 2012 and 2016; the sum will be paid on a yearly basis in the amount of EUR 26,852,320.

   

The ministers also issued a decision on additional temporary measures to provide developmental assistance to Pokolpje, a problem area with high unemployment, and adopted the “programme to foster competitiveness and development assistance to Pokolpje for the period 2011–2016". Within this framework, the Government defined the area of the municipalities of Kočevje, Loški Potok, Osilnica, Kostel, Črnomelj, Semič and Metlika, which form the Pokolpje local development partnership, as a problem area with a high unemployment rate. Between 2011 and 2016, additional temporary development assistance measures will be carried out with the aim of creating new jobs and companies as well as strengthening accommodation capacity in tourism. These involve seven measures aimed at the following areas: boosting competitiveness, reimbursement of paid social security contributions by the employer, certain tax reliefs, incentives for sustainable development of rural areas, guarantees offering subsidised interest rate for investment loans for companies, and traffic and electricity infrastructure.

   

Later in the press conference, Prime Minister Pahor, together with the Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, Ivan Svetlik encouraged the citizens of Slovenia to take part in the referendum on the mini job act and vote in favour of the act.  He also dismissed the claims of some people that the results of the referendum reflected the Governments support by the public. “A referendum is a democratic instrument used to check the position people hold on a certain matter, whereas an election is used to support the ruling party, or take over the power,” said the Prime Minister, adding that the people attending referendums “will not decide on the Government but on laws introducing much-needed reforms and changes. They will decide about themselves, about their own future.” While the law on the mini job is part of the Government’s package of reform measures, it could hardly be seen as decisive, although it does represent an integral part of a whole group of changes needed for Slovenia to become more competitive and socially sustainable today and tomorrow. If the reform fails to win support at the referendum, the labour market will remain unchanged in this part, meaning some people will retain their privileges, while the young, unemployed and pensioners will be deprived of the rights the new legislation would grant them. Prime Minister Pahor believes it is the pension reform referendum that is of crucial importance, stressing that an alternative solution would not be on his agenda as long as there was a chance the reform might be successful.

   

The case of Portugal and its problems is for us “a lesson we can learn much from”, he said. In the same vein, he invited the opposition to reflect on the current events in the indebted European countries, adding that “Portugal lacked the political will needed for reforms, leading the government to collapse and financial markets to lose their hopes about Portugal being a country capable of regulating reform processes”.  Prime Minister Pahor also pointed out a crucial difference between Spain and Portugal. “In is most critical moment, Spain adopted the pension reform.  By doing so, it set a fairly high retirement age limit of 67 years.  The financial market saw this as a sign of not only the Spanish government’s and the parliament's but also the Spanish country's ability to regulate reform measures,” said the Prime Minister.  That is why Spain is today a relatively safe country as regards financial stability. Prime Minister Pahor hoped the Slovenes would keep Spain's example in mind when deciding whether to support the many reforms put to referendum.