At today's 29th extraordinary session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, presented deputies with the Budget Memorandum for 2008 and 2009, a draft budget amendment for 2008, and a draft budget for 2009. He also presented the draft position of the Republic of Slovenia on the Draft Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community.

 

(Photo: Kristina Kosec/Bobo)

 

According to Mr Janša, the proposed budget will enable Slovenia to reduce the lag behind the EU's most developed members even more rapidly. The PM pointed out a substantial decline in the budget deficit: in 2008 this will fall by a third to 0.6% of GDP, and further halve in 2009 to 0.3% of GDP. "The draft budget for the next two years is economical and development-oriented," said the PM, adding that since joining the Euro Area, Slovenia has been benchmarked only against the best, and that the budget documents for the next two years have been drawn up so as to facilitate the continuation of the good pace of development, and a fast increase in welfare in Slovenia. When preparing the budget documents, it proved significant that the Government had adopted most of the envisaged economic and social reforms. "The adopted measures have already yielded many positive results," said the PM, stressing that Slovenia is one of the most rapidly developing countries in the EU and the Euro Area according to most indicators.

 

The PM went on to outline the Government's stance on the new EU Treaty, stressing that after a period of reflection following the negative outcomes of the referenda on the EU Constitutional Treaty the outlook is positive. The EU will thus take a big step forward. It is significant for Slovenia that the draft includes most of the text of the failed Constitutional Treaty and provisions that Slovenia considers vital. The PM also cautioned that next week in Lisbon a successful consensus on the final version can only be reached if the negotiations fully respect the mandate of the inter-governmental conference. He did not rule out complications, although he does not believe they are likely. For the Republic of Slovenia, which will assume the Presidency of the EU in the first half of next year, the timeline for the adoption of the Treaty is also significant. "The atmosphere in the EU is changing, which means it will be significantly easier for Slovenia as the presiding country to follow the ratification than if we had to coordinate finding solutions for the Treaty," said the PM.