NEWS

Prime Minister's press conference held after the Government’s 121st regular session

At today's press conference, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, outlined the major resolutions and decisions adopted by the Government at its 121st regular session. In his introduction Prime Minister Pahor said that he proposed the Government that it set up a special ad hoc group to prepare Slovenia's positions for the upcoming European Council meeting at the end of March. “We will set up this group and discuss our views on the proposed Franco-German competitiveness pact introducing the so-called two-speed Europe,” pointed out the Prime Minister.

   

He went on to say that “this pact is expected to be acceded by only those Member States which under concrete commitments, have been fulfilling their obligations in a more ambitious and binding manner than was the case of obligations adopted at the level of twenty-seven Member States.” The competitiveness pact and proposals, respectively, include the abolishment of wage indexation, an agreement on mutual recognition of professional qualifications and education for increased worker mobility across Europe, preparation of a joint assessment related to the tax base for corporate tax, a better alignment of pension schemes, debt alarm mechanism and national crisis mechanism for banks.

  

At today’s session, the Government adopted several acts for the purpose of improving payment discipline in the corporate sector. To this end, the Government adopted the draft Act on the Prevention of Late Payments, a proposal for the amendments to the Value Added Tax Act and a proposal for the amendments to the Public Procurement Act. The draft Act on the Prevention of Late Payments lays down the maximum deadlines for payment, defines defaults and penalties for default payment according to the guidelines laid down in a proposal for Directive 2011/_/ES, introduces the obligation of a multilateral offset when the debtor is in default regarding the fulfillment of his obligation, defines non-compliance with the payment deadline as an offence and lays down the setting up of a register of protested bills of exchange for reason of default. Through the amendment to the Value Added Tax Act, the entitlement to deduct VAT has been made subject to the payment of the relevant debt. The proposal for the amendment to the Public Procurement Act relates, in particular, to sub-contractors. Because currently the bidders report sub-contractors as their subsidiaries or affiliated companies with which they hold capital ties, the sub-contractors which actually performed the public procurement services were excluded from direct payments. The Government therefore proposes that the bidder reveal its ownership links.

   

At today’s session, the ministerial corps rescinded the preliminary exchange contract regarding the building of the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia between the Government and Mabra Inženiring Company. As the reason for rescission, the Minister of Health, Dorijan Marušič, indicated the non-fulfillment of conditions by Mabra Inženiring Company. On the basis of the report of the commission charged with the supervision of the implementation of procedures related to the drafting of the exchange contract regarding the building of the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia between the Government and Mabra Inženiring company, Minister Marušič invited Mabra in a letter of 10 February to submit to the Ministry the evidence of the fulfillment of conditions stipulated by the preliminary exchange contract and Annex I to this contract. The Minister requested Mabra to submit a certificate of occupancy for the building, a document on the transfer of ownership in the land register and evidence that the real estate is free of encumbrances. The preliminary contract fixed 31 August 2010 as the deadline for meeting the conditions; by way of an annex this deadline was postponed to 31 October 2010. The Ministry established that the letter submitted by Mabra Inženiring Company did not fulfill the conditions.

   

At the press conference following the Government's session, Prime Minister Pahor also answered some other topical questions. Regarding unrest in Libya, with which Slovenia developed a number of business relations, Prime Minister Pahor said that one must respect people's decisions and that in this connection, the West should be principled. "For example, the international community demanded democratic elections in Palestine. Then Hamas won the elections and the international community did not acknowledge the legitimate authority of Hamas. In my view, this is not an acceptable policy. We cannot demand that the Egyptian case be won by the ones we consider good, that is to say, the revolting Egyptian people, and then criticize the decision made by the same people, should the bad ones win. This is simply out of the question and this is also what I said at the European Council," noted the Prime Minister, adding that countries should be given an opportunity to decide on their future themselves. "In the event of autocratic and authoritarian measures involving violence, we must condemn such conduct of the authorities. Slovenia has no doubts as to what is right or wrong," said Prime Minister Pahor.