The regular plenary session of the National Assembly took place on Monday. Prime Minister Robert Golob and the ministers of his government answer questions on housing, access to healthcare, the Spirit affair and bilateral relations between Slovenia and Israel.
MP Andrej Poglajen of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) was the first to ask Prime Minister Robert Golob a question, and he asked him about housing. He reminded the Prime Minister that, among other things, we had heard promises that the coalition was going to build 30,000 not-for-profit rental flats, but in the end, a promise was reduced to setting up a mechanism for 3,000 rental flats being made available every year after 2026. “When we were 100 days into the current government’s term, one of your ministers said that the shovels were already ready. After 1,000 days, you would expect at least some bricks to be laid, but that is not the case.”
But it is the numbers that reveal the truth, he said. “In 2023, you recapitalised the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (SSRS) with around 25 million euros, then you allocated another 25 million euros for 2024, this year, you are allocating 100 million euros to the Fund, and the same for next year,” the MP pointed out, adding that the result is that the Housing Fund has so far built less than 400 housing units a year in 2023 and 2024, more than half of which were built under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) mechanism of the previous, Janša government. The MP then wondered if it would finally be made clear that the promise of 30,000 housing units and the subsequent promise of 3,000 housing units per year were a lie. He asked the Prime Minister why there was no talk of incentives for rural housing, which was enshrined in the coalition agreement, and why political decisions had led to a further increase in rents, with the tax on renting being raised from 15 to 25 percent.
Prime Minister Golob prefaced his reply by saying that he had been visited by carnival costumes who had sent him the message that the carnival was not only about chasing away winter, but also about chasing away bad energies. “I really want them to visit all the parliamentary groups and pass on this message.” Housing, he said, is one of the central policies of this coalition and this government. He noted that when they took office, they mentioned that they wanted to achieve a breakthrough in two mandates. “Because there is no other way than to build for two terms,” insisted Golob. This year, he said, construction of 2,000 homes is scheduled to start. And more before the elections.
“The carnival costumes really do chase away winter, but your government is chasing away housing for young people,” Poglajen told the Prime Minister, branding the Prime Minister’s claims as false. He recalled that the Housing Fund’s Business Policy, adopted in 2021, dictates housing policy until 2025. He pointed out that the projects the current government is now boasting about are all already listed there.
“What are you actually doing? You are calling the projects of the previous government your projects, and this is something that is a constant within the current coalition. In Slovenia, we have a saying that says: “Grain upon grain makes a cake, stone upon stone makes a palace”, and during this government, we can add the statement: “Lie upon a lie, the Golob government’s term”.” For all we are hearing now are empty promises,” he stated critically.
Golob still insists that supplementary health insurance has been abolished
MP Iva Dimic of the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – Nsi) asked when citizens can expect timely access to healthcare services. “Healthcare has been, is and will remain a key priority of this government, we are not hiding from it, and we are not running away from it, on the contrary,” Golob said. The public healthcare system must be a priority, he said. “All our actions are about strengthening the public healthcare system. Why? Because it is the public healthcare system that can enable each and every one of us, regardless of our material situation, to have access to the best quality healthcare services. And this is what Slovenia is known for in the world,” he said, insisting on how Slovenia is the envy of many, “that everyone can get the most complicated and the most demanding, and indeed the most expensive, operations for free.”
He admitted that the system itself still needs many additions and changes. “That is why we are carrying out the reform,” he said. Although it is known that the government made supplementary health insurance compulsory last year, he insisted that supplementary health insurance had been abolished. This, he said, had reduced the cost of these services, the rise in the price of which had been announced by insurance companies two years ago. In her reply to the Prime Minister, the NSi MP pointed out, among other things, that the abolition of the supplementary health contribution was not a reform, it just meant that a little more money had been diverted to the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS). “But there have been no changes made in its functioning and no changes to make public healthcare more efficient,” she added, noting that waiting times have increased by 18 percent in just over two years of their mandate, while citizens are paying more and more for healthcare. She also mentioned that the Law on Health Care Activity has been labelled as harmful by health organisations and was also torn apart by the Legislative and Legal Service of the National Assembly in its opinion.
MP Anže Logar wanted to know what the government would do with the Spirit public agency’s tender to promote investment for economic restructuring in the Zasavje and Savinja-Saleška coal regions, following the Spirit affair. The Prime Minister admitted that this was a very badly executed tender, to which some entrepreneurs who did not have pure intentions also applied. He insisted that both the Ministry and the government had reacted swiftly and decisively and that the tender had been cancelled in order to prevent any corrupt practices. Spirit, however, had apparently already initiated criminal proceedings against those entrepreneurs who had attempted to illegally obtain overpayments.
SDS MP Žan Mahnič asked a question relating to the adoption of municipal spatial plans, namely when the legal deadlines would be met. He described the slow reactions of ministries when a municipality wants to adopt a Municipal Spatial Act as blocking municipalities and settlements. Article 122 of the law sets a 30-day deadline, which is not being met by any of the key ministries. “Responses take up to six months or longer. The biggest problem is the Water Directorate, which is the absolute record holder, as it does not reply for eight months or more, and then always gives a negative opinion and asks municipalities for studies and amendments to flood maps, which, in fact, the law says it should have done itself,” he explained. He described the Ministry of Agriculture as problematic, where they allow themselves to reject almost all the proposed initiatives with opinions. He criticised the fact that the Ministry’s opinions, without clear criteria, are left to the subjective, experiential judgement of the clerks, while the judgements of the municipalities, which know their area best, are not taken into account.
The Minister for Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, Jože Novak, agreed that there was a problem. In light of the amendment to the draft Spatial Planning Act, which establishes an inter-ministerial group, he said that the act had been put out for public debate. With this group, he said that he would like to see some things further harmonised through the strength of inter-ministerial work. “This is now the first step. Furthermore, I write in the law that within 30 days, or within the time limit that the law provides, the relevant body has to give its opinion. If it does not give it, it is considered as having been given.”
At the sitting, MP Anja Bah Žibert reminded Novak that an environmental scandal is taking place in Slovenia – the construction of the C0 sewerage channel through the largest water catchment area, which provides water to 300,000 inhabitants of Ljubljana and those who come to the city. “This project is synonymous with deviance, legally, technically and health-wise. An unprecedented case that should not be happening in the country.” She asked Minister Novak why they had not responded to their criticism of the C0 sewerage channel, given that they had written in the coalition agreement that they would involve the profession more.
Novak said he understood her concern. Water resources are one of the most important, both from a strategic point of view and from the point of view of human life and health. He said that he finds it problematic that the capital, Ljubljana, is practically one of the last cities to get a complete sewerage, drainage and water treatment system. He said that he is committed to ensuring that the new cohesion perspectives try to regulate the provision of drinking water, as well as waste and wastewater management. “Someone decided to build like this and someone also issued permits eight years ago. Today, the administrative matters have been resolved, and at this moment, the building permits are formally and legally valid. The building permit can only be annulled by the court and no one else,” he pointed out, adding that he hoped that the Commission would conclude and establish the responsibility of those who did whatever they did. He said that no minister or anyone else can annul a building permit, which is final. “I, of course, would like to see the correct solution be reached.”
MP Alenka Jeraj posed a question to the Minister of Culture, Asta Vrečko. She began by recalling that the Ministry of Culture had taken several measures in the last two years to improve the situation of the self-employed in culture (increasing funding for their projects, taking over the payment of the compulsory healthcare contribution, introducing new professions, etc.). She asked whether it was true that Ištvan Išt Huzjan, a member of the Left party (Levica) and a self-employed cultural worker, was a member of the committee that awarded the scholarships that he supposedly received himself. She also wanted to know how much it cost us last year to pay for work grants and the compulsory healthcare contributions, compared to the previous year. Minister Vrečko replied that it was true that the self-employed were paid the full healthcare contribution that they had previously paid themselves. Regarding work grants, she said that in 2021, they amounted to 340 thousand euros, in 2022, they were 414 thousand euros, and now they have increased to 700 thousand euros.
The MP said that the figures quoted by the Minister are quite high and asked why compulsory health insurance was deducted from the pensions of pensioners, but not from the pensions of cultural workers. She also asked whether they intended to do the same with regard to the long-term care contribution for cultural workers. According to the Minister, health insurance is covered by the budget. “It is not for all self-employed people, but only for those who apply and, of course, meet all the conditions for it. All this is, of course, decided by a commission. They have to renew it every five years. And it is not an automatic right,” she said. She did not, however, give an answer to the question concerning the Left party member or the question about the payment for long-term care contributions.
In light of the saga of the Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Škofja Loka, SDS MP Andrej Hoivik asked the Minister of Finance, Klemen Boštjančič, when he, as the Minister responsible for the Decree on the Investment Management Strategy, would propose to the government that this company and another one in Maribor be transformed into companies that are strategic investments. The cost, he said, would be immeasurably greater for the country if these people were left on the street and unemployed. Minister Boštjančič started by saying that the state-owned enterprises for people with disabilities are managed by the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH) on the basis of a decree on the strategy for the management of the state’s investments. This strategy, he said, was re-adopted last year after ten years. “So, it is one very large document, which is, of course, not adopted or revised every year.” Nevertheless, he said that the Ministry of Finance was the first to propose a new decree on the country’s investment management strategy. He said that the government is unanimous that the socially responsible management of disability companies by the Slovenian Sovereign Holding should be explicitly emphasised, but he said that it is not the right solution to identify a particular investment as strategic. In his view, defining individual investments as strategic merely means that the state pursues strategic objectives in addition to economic ones and, above all, this entails some constraints.
“Dear Minister, I read the Ordinances well, I have also studied them, and what you have just said is not true. If you intend to save the Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired in the long term, and also the company Future, after all, the procedure is very clear. The company has to be categorised as a strategic investment company. That is true, the lawyers will tell you,” Hoivik assured the Minister. The Minister stuck to his guns, adding that the company would not go bankrupt or into liquidation on the basis of Minister of Labour Mesec’s proposal. However, he said that a long-term solution must be found for the company in terms of an appropriate business model.
