NEWS
Prime Minister Janša: Circumstances will force us to write the golden fiscal rule into the Constitution
After today's meeting of the presidents of parliamentary parties and leaders of deputy groups, where no agreement was reached on the writing of the golden fiscal rule into the Constitution, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, expressed his belief that the circumstances will nevertheless force Slovenia to include the golden fiscal rule into the Constitution, but the price for the delay will be high.
He stressed that the differences regarding the inclusion of the golden fiscal or balanced budget rule as a commitment into the constitution have arisen because of the politicisation of the issue. The opposition would be prepared to incorporate the same content into an ordinary law, which proves that the problem is not about the content. However, according to the Prime Minister, the commitment Slovenia has made by signing the Fiscal Compact Treaty demands that this issue be solved on the constitutional or similar level. "If Slovenia tried to resolve this issue by an ordinary law, its partners would consider that a bad joke, therefore, the Government will not propose such a law," he said. He emphasised that those who have promised to support the incorporation of the golden fiscal rule into the constitution but are now opposed to it will have to take the responsibility for the high price Slovenia will pay for the delay. "A delay in or incapability of making the necessary decisions and the downgrading of credit ratings would directly result in borrowing – on which Slovenia depends – becoming more expensive," the Prime Minister stressed.
He explained that it was established at today's meeting that working groups have nevertheless made some progress in the co-ordination of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding Act and solutions for the rehabilitation of banks. Both working groups that have been co-ordinating the substance of the acts will continue with their work.
In his statement to the press, the Prime Minister pointed out that, following the recent drastic downgrading of credit ratings of the state and commercial financial institutions, the Government decided to change some priorities. "Thus the legislation on the modernisation of labour market and pension system will soon be submitted to the adoption procedure," he explained, adding that both opposition parties accepted the initiative for this legislation to be co-ordinated in the same way as the acts governing the Slovenian Sovereign Holding and the rehabilitation of banks. The Prime Minister also pointed out that the time for co-ordination is short, the deadline is the beginning of autumn.
However, the Prime Minister still considers the possibility of linking the vote of confidence to the incorporation of the golden fiscal rule into the Constitution or to other emergency measures "that are essential for the coalition to function normally." He also emphasised that the instrument of the vote of confidence is a perfectly normal instrument, which is often used in European countries and should not cause alarm. According to the Prime Minister, the public should be more alarmed about the fact that delays in taking action are costly and will be reflected in the fall of the standard of living, which will be greater than necessary.
With regard to the collapse of the Government and potential technical government, the Prime Minister said that at today's meeting the coalition did not discuss matters which are of secondary importance at this time but focused on the preparation of budgets for the next two years.
The Prime Minister also said that Slovenia must face its current circumstances and pointed out that the time is coming when partners in the social dialogue will not be "Branimir Štrukelj, Dušan Semolič, the representatives of the employers nor parliamentary parties", but the representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. "And that 'social dialogue' will be quite different," he added.