NEWS

Prime Minister's press conference held after the Government's 149th regular session

At a press conference following today's 149th regular session of the Government, the Slovenian prime minister, Borut Pahor, presented to the public the long-awaited proposal regarding the names of five candidates for ministerial positions. He recommended Zdenka Vidovič for the post of Minister of Public Administration, Tamara Lah Turnšek for Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Tomaž Orešič for Minister of the Economy, Branko Janc for Minister of the Interior and Samo Bevk for Minister of Culture. In this regard, Mr Pahor emphasised that he wanted the candidates to present themselves to the public together, but there was simply not enough time to do so. Moreover, he said that the candidates also wanted to have time to prepare for the presentation to the umbrella committees of the National Assembly and to the parliament. 'The candidates are well aware of the fact that they do not have much time to meet the high, and sometimes unrealistic, expectations of the National Assembly and the public at large', added Mr Pahor.

  

He went on to reiterate that 'reform is the only policy that will enable Slovenia to overcome its economic, social and other difficulties, and, in the short-, medium- and long-term, to remain a member of and consolidate its position within the group of countries of which it wants to be a part in terms of development'. Therefore, the Government's priorities until the end of its term of office will be measures 'through which the Slovenian Government wishes to maintain and reinforce the country's position within the healthy nucleus of the euro group,' announced Prime Minister Pahor.

   

Moreover, he commented on Slovenia's slip down in the competitiveness rankings and emphasised that the Slovenian Government had prepared and 'introduced the measures necessary to increase competitiveness, which were adopted by the National Assembly, but failed to pass the referendum. They included changes in the area of mini jobs, that is to say measures to combat the grey economy which, after the failure to adopt the pension reform, reduced Slovenia's competitiveness'.

   

At today's session, the Government adopted the final version of the proposed Certified Cash Registers Act. The document was supplemented with certain substantive corrections which were prepared on the basis of observations submitted during the relevant discussions, in accordance with the subsequent harmonisation procedures of the Government Office for Legislation. In terms of its content, the Act has not been significantly altered, save for minor editorial corrections which were inserted subsequently.

   

The ministerial corps also agreed with the key elements of the measure involving financial engineering to promote technological and development projects at SID Bank. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MHEST), in cooperation with SID Bank, prepared a specific financial measure to support companies' technological and development projects. The aim of the measure is to improve companies' access to long-term sources of funding for the most risky stages of the innovation process, specifically the commercialisation of knowledge developed within the scope of their own R&D activities and the introduction of new products/services or technical solutions. In order to implement the measure, SID Bank will establish a loan fund to provide loans for company projects over a twelve-year period. In 2011, the MHEST provided funds for the establishment of a loan fund in the amount of EUR 50 million. SID Bank will also invest its own funds in the loan fund by taking out a loan in the international financial market. The total initial loan facility will therefore be EUR 150 million.