The oddity of the law on merit supplements to pensions is demonstrated by the data sent to me by the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZPIZ) on the recipients of the highest pension supplements in 2024. At the very top, with 30,965 euros, is Arnož Polič, whose merit for the nation is that he is the son of Radko Polič. Because of this, he receives an allowance of 2,580 euros to his account every month. He was awarded his “inheritance” on the 16th of September 2022.
Radko Polič had two children, Arnož and Matevž. If you search for Arnož’s name on the internet, one of the first things you find out about him is just that – who his father was.
Polič received more money than the otherwise best-rewarded, real “deserving person”, which was Milan Dekleva, with 27,962 euros, just like in the previous year. Svetlana Makarovič, in third place, saw her political donation jump from 19,775 euros in 2023 to 21,515 euros in merit pension supplement last year. She has been receiving the allowance since 1999.
In fact, all of the above get even more, because they are also paid a pension for which they paid into the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute during their time of working.
The ninth-highest recipient of the merit allowance is the father of former Prime Minister Miro Cerar. Former Prime Minister Cerar could also inherit the allowance if he will not earn a high enough pension himself. Like Arnož Polič. Even the law that was defeated in the referendum would not have deprived him of this “right”. The new law did not touch the old law and the rights it conferred. From now on, if the people had not rejected it, the new law would have distributed the allowances more widely and in higher amounts to the cultural workers, and only in the case of the new allowances would these privileges no longer be inherited.
For sportspeople, there is also a special Vilfan law already in force, under which a hundred more have received such allowances, but Cerar has received and continues to receive it under the old socialist law, under which few sportsmen have received the privilege. The new one no longer allows inheritances.
Last year, Majda Branka Hribar was ranked third among the recipients of inherited merit allowances, and she inherited the allowance in 1969, well over half a century ago – even before the so-called ZIPO law, under which merit allowances are granted, which was adopted in 1974, and this week, MPs from the coalition Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda), Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) and Left (Levica) parties defended it against a proposal by the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) to abolish it, because the voters had decisively rejected such a privilege in a referendum. The ruling parties had already rejected the abolition procedure from the start, explaining that it would be unfair (contrary to the principle of equality before the law) if the possibility of pension supplements did not exist for cultural workers, while they are granted to sportsmen under a special law which Peter Vilfan, who received 25,037 euros last year, managed to enact for himself in 2017 with the help of MPs from the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (Demokratska stranka upokojencev Slovenije – DeSUS), the Modern Centre Party (Stranka modernega centra – SMC), the Social Democrats and the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi). On top of this supplement, of course, he also receives a regular pension.
The figures for the pension supplements for the ten most deserving citizens under the 1974 law for the last year are:
| Name of recipient | 2023 | 2024 |
| Milan Dekleva | € 25,667 | € 27,926 |
| Zorko Simčič | € 22,946 | € 24,965 |
| Svetlana Makarovič | € 19,775 | € 21,525 |
| Oskar Andrej Kogoj | € 16,716 | € 18,187 |
| Mateja Rebolj – Lapkovsky | € 15,639 | € 17,015 |
| Alojz Colja | € 15,594 | € 16,966 |
| Judita Skalar | € 15,303 | € 16,649 |
| Janez Mejač | € 16,139 | |
| Miroslav Cerar | € 14,346 | € 15,608 |
| Bruno Parma | € 14,082 | € 15,321 |
When it comes to those who have inherited these privileges, the three “greatest” were:
| Name of recipient | 2023 | 2024 |
| Arnož Polič (inherited the pension in 2022) | € 7,144 | € 30,962 |
| Jasna Plut Bravničar (inherited the pension in 2014) | € 20,077 | € 21,844 |
| Majda Branka Hribar (inherited the pension in 1969) | € 14,947 | € 16,142 |
The number of recipients of merit allowances fell from 66 in 2023 to 58 last year. In recent years, governments have not been granting many of these privileges, and large numbers of recipients from the governments of Janez Drnovšek and the socialist era are now deceased. The full list of recipients of the allowance last year, ranked by size of benefit, is as follows:
| SURNAME | NAME | Amount received in 2024 | |
| 1 | DEKLEVA | MILAN | € 27,926 |
| 2 | SIMČIČ | ZORKO | € 24,965 |
| 3 | MAKAROVIČ | SVETLANA | € 21,515 |
| 4 | KOGOJ | OSKAR ANDREJ | € 18,187 |
| 5 | REBOLJ-LAPKOVSKY | MATEJA | € 17,015 |
| 6 | COLJA | ALOJZ | € 16,966 |
| 7 | SKALAR | JUDITA | € 16,649 |
| 8 | MEJAČ | JANEZ | € 16,139 |
| 9 | CERAR | MIROSLAV | € 15,608 |
| 10 | PARMA | BRUNO | € 15,321 |
| 11 | ŠROT | MARTIN STANISLAV | € 14,688 |
| 12 | ŽORGA | ALJOŠA-BORUT | € 11,923 |
| 13 | RUDOLF | FRANC | € 11,434 |
| 14 | JELNIKAR | MARTINA-IVANA | € 11,130 |
| 15 | POVŠE | JANEZ MIKLAVŽ | € 10,994 |
| 16 | VIDMAR | VOJKO | € 10,545 |
| 17 | DANEU | IVO | € 10,302 |
| 18 | BERGER | ALEŠ | € 10,155 |
| 19 | PAVALEC | RADOSLAV | € 9,765 |
| 20 | LORENZ | MATIJA | € 9,612 |
| 21 | SLIVNIKER-BELANTIČ | VIDA | € 9,499 |
| 22 | ZELENKO | KAREL | € 9,033 |
| 23 | KIAR-MEŠKO | STAN | € 8,369 |
| 24 | BARIŠIČ | ZDRAVKO | € 8,279 |
| 25 | JOVANOVIČ | PETER | € 7,824 |
| 26 | KOVAČ | MAGDALENA | € 7,689 |
| 27 | DOBRIN | JOŽE | € 7,574 |
| 28 | KERBLER | STOJAN | € 6,714 |
| 29 | DEDOVIČ-VRHOVEC | MAGDALENA | € 6,090 |
| 30 | MINU KJUDER | MARIJA | € 5,910 |
| 31 | FRITZ | ERVIN | € 5,885 |
| 32 | MODER-SAJE | ALENKA | € 5,840 |
| 33 | ŠUGMAN | MAJA | € 5,704 |
| 34 | LEBIČ | LOJZE | € 4,772 |
| 35 | KOSI | RUDA | € 4,567 |
| 36 | OGNJANOVIČ | ZLATA | € 4,428 |
| 37 | AJDIČ | ALOJZ | € 3,947 |
| 38 | GODINA | KARPO | € 3,806 |
| 39 | FAVRELIERE | LANE | € 3,797 |
| 40 | ŠLIBAR | JOŽE | € 3,453 |
| 41 | GRAFENAUER | NIKOLAJ | € 3,427 |
| 42 | BERTOK | BIBIJANA | € 3,293 |
| 43 | VIDMAR | MARUŠA | € 3,266 |
| 44 | ŠTRUKELJ | MILAN | € 3,057 |
| 45 | ŠTUHEC | IGOR | € 2,733 |
| 46 | BENEDIK | IVAN | € 2,567 |
| 47 | GRUBAR | BRANKO | € 2,231 |
| 48 | JEMEC | ANDREJ | € 2,090 |
| 49 | TRAMPUŠ | VILJEM | € 1,747 |
| 50 | KURENT | ANDREJ | € 1,533 |
| 51 | HOČEVAR | SONJA | € 1,510 |
| 52 | BAČKO | MARJAN | € 1,428 |
| 53 | KOSI | IVO | € 1,426 |
| 54 | JAVORŠEK | MARIJA | € 964 |
| 55 | ROT | BOŽIDAR FRANJO | € 841 |
| 56 | SOUČEK | JURIJ | € 821 |
| 57 | JAVORNIK | FRANC | € 445 |
| 58 | KRISTL | DR.STANKO | € 295 |
Meanwhile, we had 50 lucky people who inherited their allowances and were receiving them in 2024:
| Surname and name | Amount received in 2024 | |
| 1 | POLIČ ARNOŽ | € 30,961.80 |
| 2 | PLUT BRAVNIČAR JASNA | € 21,843.96 |
| 3 | HRIBAR BRANKA MAJDA | € 16,142.02 |
| 4 | POGAČNIK-ARNIČ MARINKA | € 15,633.11 |
| 5 | KOMEL SONJA | € 11,469.72 |
| 6 | SLAMNIK IVANA ANA | € 11,012.52 |
| 7 | ČERNE MARIJA | € 10,448.51 |
| 8 | HLADNIK MARJETKA | € 9,752.40 |
| 9 | LUGARIČ VERONIKA | € 9,258.11 |
| 10 | BORČIČ IDA | € 8,554.19 |
| 11 | ŠPIK ELDA | € 7,907.64 |
| 12 | MARUŠIČ MATEJ | € 7,452.60 |
| 13 | KATONA ZAJC JERNEJA | € 7,452.60 |
| 14 | TOMŠIČ HERMINA | € 7,220.99 |
| 15 | MAKUC ANTONIJA | € 6,525.24 |
| 16 | RAMOVŠ ŠTEFANIJA | € 6,422.40 |
| 17 | MILATIČ POLAK MARJA | € 6,307.07 |
| 18 | PERKO PAVLINA | € 4,738.56 |
| 19 | VALENTINČIČ TEREZIJA | € 4,607.98 |
| 20 | OVEN ANGELA | € 4,279.20 |
| 21 | KODRIČ TEREZIJA | € 4,268.52 |
| 22 | LESKOVIC KERŠOVAN VERA | € 4,255.67 |
| 23 | POLJANŠEK HERMINA | € 4,225.55 |
| 24 | MATUL MARTA | € 3,955.91 |
| 25 | BOGATAJ GRADIŠNIK KATARINA ELIZABETA | € 3,888.95 |
| 26 | RADOVAN IGOR | € 3,812.88 |
| 27 | KRALJ BREDA | € 3,679.56 |
| 28 | HAFNER ANICA | € 3,647.27 |
| 29 | PAHOR MARIJA | € 3,446.28 |
| 30 | PEČAR FRANČIŠKA | € 3,391.68 |
| 31 | ŠPACAPAN ALOJZIJA | € 3,382.08 |
| 32 | SPACAL METKA | € 2,928.60 |
| 33 | KRISTAN HANC BOGOMILA | € 2,907.35 |
| 34 | KOSI MARIJA | € 2,622.07 |
| 35 | BENEDIČIČ BREDA | € 2,599.43 |
| 36 | ZDOVC MARICA | € 2,267.88 |
| 37 | VUKOVIĆ ANGELA | € 2,004.72 |
| 38 | FISTROVIČ BARBARA | € 1,755.94 |
| 39 | POMENIČ MARIJA | € 1,201.81 |
| 40 | KOVAČ ANAMARIJA | € 976.47 |
| 41 | FRANCELJ CVETKA | € 742.56 |
| 42 | PIHLAR MARTA | € 652.87 |
| 43 | LASAN SUZANA | € 526.01 |
| 44 | TURK TATJANA | € 520.61 |
| 45 | NOVAK IVANKA | € 341.32 |
| 46 | ŠELIGO LIDIJA | € 245.64 |
| 47 | PETRICA LJILJANA | € 107.50 |
| 48 | LUZNAR ERNA | € 91.58 |
| 49 | VERSTOVŠEK-HABJAN BREDA | € 58.49 |
| 50 | MAHNIČ MIHAELA | € 39.95 |
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