Prime Minister Janez Janša has invited the executive director of SpaceX and Tesla, billionaire Elon Musk, to invest in Slovenia, after the former wrote on Twitter that Tesla does not know yet where to build the fourth Gigafactory. Symbolically, the most suitable place would be Maribor – where the inventor Nikola Tesla got his first job. What is also important is that Slovenia ranks among the five safest countries in the world, and the new de-bureaucratisation package is on the way, and it will further improve the competitiveness of our economy.
Unlike in previous years, Slovenia is becoming a more attractive location for investments. The report which measured the global peace index for the year 2021 revealed that Slovenia ranks fifth among the world’s most peaceful countries on the list of 163 countries.
This year’s results show that the average level of peace in the world has deteriorated by 0.07 percent. This is the ninth deterioration of the level of peace in the last thirteen years. It has improved in 87 countries but deteriorated in 73. The 2021 Global Peace Index reveals a world in which the conflicts and crises that emerged in the past decade have begun to abate, only to be replaced with a new wave of tension and uncertainty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising tensions between many of the major powers, as is written in the description of the survey for the year 2021. Iceland remains the most peaceful in the world, thus maintaining its leading position since 2008. It is joined at the top by New Zealand, Denmark, Portugal, and Slovenia. Sixth place is occupied by its northern neighbour Austria, followed by Switzerland, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Canada.
If we look at the data from the past two governments, we can see that during the government of Miro Cerar (September 2014-September 2018), the data of the global peace index were as follows: 10th place (2014), 10th place (2015), 8th place (2016), 7th place (2017), 7th place (2018), and during the time of Marjan Šarec (September 2018-March 2020), the ranking was as follows: 6th place (2019), 10th place (2020). As we can see, Slovenia achieved its best result during the term of the government of Janez Janša.
The government is realising its fundamental goals – it is taking a step towards de-bureaucratisation
Being one of the most peaceful countries is undoubtedly one of the advantages for the investors when choosing the country where they will invest. It is also crucial that the country is as de-bureaucratic as possible. If the previous governments did not make any moves in this direction and did not try to change this, the situation is completely different now. Namely, at Monday’s correspondence session, the government determined the text of the bill on de-bureaucratisation, which it will send to the National Assembly, to replace the bill it sent there on the 18th of March 2021.
At today’s correspondence session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia determined the text of the draft for the De-bureaucratisation Act, which will be sent to the National Assembly. The aim of the proposal is to improve the situation in Slovenia in terms of administrative barriers and a competitive business environment. It would make life easier for citizens and business easier for companies, thus helping to reduce costs and remove administrative barriers. “Only legislation that is the least burdensome can improve the competitiveness of the economy and the openness of the market; it improves the standard of living of citizens and increases transparency. The bill contains substantive measures for de-bureaucratisation, which is one of the main goals of the current government. The first set of measures includes amendments to laws with simple solutions that do not require systemic changes in legislation. The second set of measures includes the termination of laws and executive regulations based on them, which are no longer applicable,” said the government.
Investments are an important factor in terms of economic growth and bring many beneficial effects to our economy. In addition to creating new jobs, they also bring new knowledge and technologies, as well as the integration of Slovenian companies into the supply networks of transitional companies. The measures and laws that are being passed are moving us in a positive direction and also show that the current government understands the importance of investments.
Nina Žoher
