NEWS
Prime Minister's press conference
At its last regular session before the summer holidays, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, alongside other resolutions, adopted the text amending the International Protection Act and the text amending the Motorway Company of the Republic of Slovenia Act. The two responsible ministers presented the adopted resolutions, and Prime Minister Pahor then answered some topical questions.
(Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA, source: GCO)
At today’s regular session, the Government adopted the amendment to the International Protection Act and sent it for discussion and adoption to the National Assembly. The International Protection Act has replaced the Asylum Act of 1999 that was last amended in 2006. The International Protection Act provides systemic regulation of international protection in Slovenia and fully transposes provisions regarding the Common European Asylum System into the national legislation. It introduces lawful, efficient and speedy asylum procedures in order to protect third country citizens who were granted international protection and to integrate them into Slovenian society. The amendment eliminates deficiencies identified in practice. It is harmonised with the relevant international standards and guarantees the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of applicants for international protection and persons who have already been granted international protection in Slovenia.
The ministerial corps specified the wording of the Motorway Company of the Republic of Slovenia Act changing significantly the scope of tasks to be carried out by the company in the future on its own behalf and on its own account. The company will assume the overall responsibility for financing the construction and renovation of motorways and expressways. Furthermore, the proposed Act regulates the property law status of motorways, the ownership of which is to be transferred to DARS on the basis of a building title. In order to enable the company to repay loans raised on its behalf for the construction of motorways and new sections, greater flexibility of the company’s operations is thus provided, in particular by deleting special provisions that restricted its business operations. When drafting the Act, the Government followed primarily the principle of transparency and economic efficiency in managing the relations between the Republic of Slovenia and DARS, the principle of economy in the operation of DARS and the principle of accounting transparency in managing funds.
Prime Minister Pahor spoke about the recapitalisation of NLB and said that the state as the majority owner of NLB was obliged to recapitalise the bank, however, it was not yet known, when recapitalisation should start, since the Government was waiting for additional clarifications from the bank’s management. As far as the national interest in NLB and other companies in which the state has a stake is concerned, he underlined that "it is a matter of return on capital invested". In respect of the purchase of NLB shares by Vital, the Slovenian Prime Minister explained that he had discussed the issue with the Director of the Securities Market Agency, Damjan Žugelj, and stressed that Mr Žugelj had assured him that in this case he would act in accordance with the legislation.
In anticipation of Saturday's meeting with the Croatian Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor, Prime Minister Pahor also commented on resolving the issue of Croatian savers with the former Ljubljanska banka. He said that at the meeting an agreement could be reached on the method of resolving this issue. "I do not wish to raise expectations, but I would consider it a success if Bohinj represented for the Ljubljanska banka issue what Trakošćan represented for the resolution of the border issue," said Prime Minister Pahor. "I hope that at the forthcoming meeting with Prime Minister Kosor a further step will be taken in respect of the second most difficult issue to be resolved in bilateral relations with Croatia, namely the issue of Ljubljanska banka," added the Slovenian Prime Minister. Mr Pahor also touched upon the problems of Joško Joras regarding the removal of the ramp on the driveway to his house. He said that Mr Joras should "accept with understanding that the Croatian side will complete the work it has started" and explained that his representative Rado Genorio was making every effort to find together with Mr Joras a solution to the problem.