Today, Radovan Žerjav, the Minister of Economic Development and Technology outlined the package of measures aimed at boosting the economy which was approved yesterday by the cabinet. It comprises 155 concrete proposals aimed at reforming labour and pension legislation, ensuring the stability of the banking sector and improving the wider business environment. Mr Žerjav stressed that this was one of the most significant strategic documents to emerge as part of the Government's programme this year. In total, the package contains 60 measures, including 21 acts, 12 by-laws and 10 strategic documents.
The crucial part of the third package of measures to boost the economy relies on the labour market and pension system reforms, as the Government seeks to promote competitiveness and create conditions for greater productivity in companies in this respect.
The amendments to labour legislation reduce the segmentation of the labour market, introduce flexicurity, adjust the legislation to take into account the ageing population, set minimum rights and standards and simplify dismissals.
With respect to labour market regulation, greater flexibility is introduced, along with temporary and occasional work for the unemployed and pensioners and shorter periods of receiving unemployment allowance. The major novelties in the pension reform refer to raising and equalising the retirement ages of men and women, greater flexibility in the case of partial retirement, establishing a more stimulating policy of bonuses, as well as adjustment of job-related insurance. Amendments to the Act Amending the Prevention of Undeclared Work and Employment Act will lead to more effective work by supervising bodies, the inclusion of the Customs Administration in the supervision and higher fines for those who breach the law.
The second part of the package deals with the rehabilitation of the banks. It includes an act aimed at strengthening the stability of the banks and foresees a fund to rescue bad investments and loans within banks. This Act will be accompanied by the Banking Act. The act on measures to strengthen the financial sector will establish a company and a fund to ensure stability of banks which will take over the claims of banks in exchange for bonds guaranteed by the state. These measures will improve bank stability and consequently accelerate loans to the non-financial sector. The new act on Slovenian state holding seeks to ensure stable ownership and maximum sustainable profitability for Slovenia’s assets. Amendments to the Banking Act will establish a specific legislative framework for supervisory measures of the Bank of Slovenia.
The third part is aimed at improving the business environment and comprises several acts, particularly pertaining to finance. Amendments to the Tax Procedure Act envisage the publication of a list tax defaulters and a ban on software that allows for the manipulation of turn-over figures, with fines for offenders. With regard to taxing physical persons, amendments to the Income Tax Act upgrade the system of establishing a taxable base from income from activities by considering actual income and normalised expenses. The ceiling for inclusion in the system of normalised expenses is 50,000 euros. The amended act also introduces a retention tax on income from rent, reduces normalised costs to 10% and introduces the possibility of claiming actual expenses based on enclosed invoices.