NEWS

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša in Podravje: "Slovenia needs a more balanced development"

Following the Government’s consultative meeting held in the morning in Maribor, Prime Minister Janez Janša and his ministerial team today continued their visit to the Podravje region. In his statement at the afternoon's press conference, Prime Minister Janez Janša said that the basic finding of the Government upon visiting Podravje is that the region has been seriously affected by the crisis and that during the relevant period, it was granted less aid compared to the Slovenian average. According to the Prime Minister, certain companies helped themselves during the crisis; some have also recovered and stabilised. "And it is these companies which have the potential to provide prospects for the development of the region," Prime Minister Janša said. However, he pointed out a certain level of structural imbalance and noted that the Government will continue to make efforts and adopt measures in order to ensure its elimination.

 

Following the consultative meeting held in the morning, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Žiga Turk, met with the representatives of the Tovarna Podjemov business incubator and the representatives of certain start-up companies which have emerged from this incubator. This has been the first such visit of a business incubator which helps companies in making a breakthrough in domestic and foreign markets.  During the meeting, Drugi vid, Semantika, G1, Ortotip, Ask and Inova IT delivered creative presentations of their products and ideas. Moreover, Matej Rus, Managing Director of the business incubator, briefly presented the history of its operation and emphasised that "formalising the operation of start-up companies and nurturing the culture and values of the entrepreneurial spirit is more important than further investments in these companies". Prime Minister Janez Janša commended the work and efforts of entrepreneurs and added that the Slovenian Government is aware of the importance of nurturing the business culture and creating favourable conditions for the operation of such conceptual incubators. In his view, several solutions presented by Tovarna Podjemov could provide the means for making an economic breakthrough in Europe and the rest of the world in the years ahead. According to Minister Turk, it is very important that the existing assets are used for new programmes, ideas and policies.

 

At the press conference in Lenart, the Slovenian Prime Minister, the Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Radovan Žerjav, and the Minister of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning, Zvone Černač, drew particular attention to the relevant statistics which show that during the crisis, the Podravje region only obtained a 6.11 per cent share of state aid, which is most worrying, since at the national level, this represents a 10-times smaller share compared to the region of Central Slovenia. Prime Minister Janša went on to emphasise that despite this difficult situation in the region smaller and promising companies are emerging that seek their business opportunities both at home and abroad.

 

The Slovenian Prime Minister also pointed out a structural imbalance in the region that is, among other things, demonstrated by the requirements of companies for specific vocational profiles and qualifications and the lack of these vocational profiles. "The Podravska region has 90,000 employed and 15,000 unemployed people. Despite this fact, many companies have been unsuccessful in finding metal workers, machinists and other profiles, partly because some work in a neighbouring country for a better wage and partly because in our generation there are no such profiles because we have not educated them to do these jobs," said the Slovenian Prime Minister.

 

The Prime Minister also explained that representatives of the Government, during their meetings today with business people, craftsmen, development planners and mayors, called attention to the commencement of the new EU Financial Perspective for 2014–2020. It involves considerable funds that will be available to Slovenia immediately, "so it is reasonable to undertake the preparation of programmes and their coordination right away in order to be able to draw on these funds soon".  Since the European funds will be the part of the funds available to the municipalities, the Prime Minister believes that "it is in our common interest that these funds are acquired as soon as possible and spent in a useful way". 

 

According to the Prime Minister, the Podravje region may also expect to benefit most from the measures that are now being adopted by the state in order to set up a more attractive business environment.  "What Slovenia needs most at this moment is investment, since even those enterprises that have managed to weather the crisis and have been achieving good results in this competitive and harsh situation call for an urgent improvement to the business environment. A number of enterprises need strategic foreign partners in order to develop further and a great part of the Government's measures is focused on attaining this aim," the Prime Minister explained.  He added that the lion's share of the measures will be dealt with at the July session of the National Assembly, where the Government expects the Assembly to engage in a constructive, but critical, debate, and to act responsibly in making the decisions required, "including those which call for a two-thirds majority vote". 

 

In the afternoon part of the programme, Government representatives met with the mayors, business people, deputies and national councillors from the region during the three meetings in Slovenska Bistrica, Lenart and Maribor. At the working meeting in Maribor, the Prime Minister, Janez Janša, the Minister of Work, Family and Social Affairs, Andrej Vizjak, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Žiga Turk, and the Secretary of State for Defence, Peter Stavanja, discussed in particular the economic package prepared by the state. The Prime Minister pointed out that infrastructural projects are an opportunity for the development of the region, adding that the financial situation calls for a prompt quality preparation of projects for the obtaining of new cohesion funds for the period 2014–2020. "We all have to make our best efforts to obtain these funds, since the investment funds are relatively low considering the fact that their major part goes into the repayment of the loans generated during the last three years — which means EUR 2 billion for the repayment of the principal and interest, which is almost ten times as much as before," he said. He also highlighted the opportunities in seeking foreign investments.  Last but not least he emphasised that resolving the credit crunch and creating a favourable statutory environment for development is the Government's priority. 

 

Moreover, the Prime Minister appeared today as a guest on a Radio City talk show, where he particularly elaborated on the topical issue of Slovenia's financial situation and the current situation in Podravje region.  The Prime Minister highlighted that Slovenia had made commitments to the international environment in the past which we failed to meet, and underlined that the Fiscal Balance Act was the first step towards complying with the commitments made. He also stressed the importance of voting for the incorporation of the golden fiscal rule in the Constitution.

 

The Government representatives will conclude today's visit with a friendly football match against representatives Maribor Municipality representatives.