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and energy efficiency. He moreover labelled as successful the
boosting of subsidies for families renovating or buying a house, while
also pointing out that waiting periods for complaints in constructionrelated
affairs were brought down from one year to four months.
As regards the environment, the minister highlighted an expansion
in the number of treatment plants. There are 190 such facilities in
the country now, with budget funding having increased from EUR
16m in 2004 to EUR 50m in 2008. The Environmental Fund granted
EUR 100m worth of favourable loans in the past four years, 60% of
which were used for projects that curbed greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the fund, this resulted in CO2 emissions decreasing by
48,000 tonnes. Podobnik is moreover proud of the ministry’s work in
the areas of watercourse maintenance, nature reserves, drinking water
supply, waste disposal and local environmental protection schemes.
vIrANt PrAISES ACHIEvEMENtS OF
PUBLIC ADMINIStrAtION MINIStry
Public Administration Minister Gregor
Virant presented on 14 August the
achievements of his ministry in the
2004−2008 term, saying that the
term had been eventful and dynamic
and that the ministry had done a lot.
He stressed that it was also up to the
users of public administration services
to assess the work performed. Virant
stressed as the main achievement of
the four-year term of the new ministry an increase in the quality
of public administration and its democratisation. The goal of the
establishment of the Ministry of Public Administration was to gather
all services responsible for public administration under one roof and
give political emphasis to public administration, said Virant. Among
the measures that improved the quality of public administration,
the minister emphasised the opening of offices every first Saturday
in the month. This proved to be a good step, with 45,000 clients
having made use of this opportunity within a year, according to
Virant. He also pointed to the elimination of numerous administrative
obstacles, including the abolition of territorial jurisdiction and of
the car registration sticker, the possibility to verify signatures in
administrative units, and the abolishment of income tax returns.
Virant is also proud of the one-stop-shop system for the registration
of sole proprietors and companies. According to him, procedures
are fast and free of charge, there are no forms to fill out, and there
are also fewer difficulties with incomplete applications. The minister
believes that the government’s programme for cutting red tape has
been a great success. He emphasised savings in public procurement
for the entire public administration, which stood at EUR 9m at
the annual level, while simplifications in the area of personal data
protection for small and medium-sized companies saved EUR 36m.
MINIStEr COtMAN HIGHLIGHtS tALKS
wItH CIvIL SOCIEty AS BIGGESt SUCCESS
Presenting on 1 August the achievements
of the Ministry of Labour, Family and
Social Affairs in this government’s term,
Minister Marjeta Cotman highlighted
talks with civil society as the biggest
success. “I find this the biggest success,
but it was also the hardest part,” she
said. Cotman pointed to the decline
in unemployment, saying it is at its
lowest point since Slovenia gained
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independence. At the beginning of the government’s term almost
91,000 people were unemployed, while the number currently stands
at some 60,000, Cotman noted. Between December 2005 and May
2005, the number of long-term unemployed people fell by over
30%, while the number of unemployed under 25 years of age has
decreased by almost 13,000 to 6,700, Cotman said. Cotman also
noted that the introduction of quotas has improved employment
prospects for the handicapped. Yearly, between 1,750 and 1,930
handicapped persons get jobs now, while the number stood
between 800 and 1,000 before. The passage of amendments to the
employment relationships act meanwhile brought more flexibility
to the labour market, while at the same time retaining the level of
social security, Cotman said. Among the achievements, the minister
also listed the signing of the 2007−2009 social agreement, more
scholarships and a long-term system of subsidies for students' meals.
According to Cotman, the number of people receiving welfare
benefits dropped by 37% to some 39,200 between December
2004 and June 2008. She believes this to be the consequence of the
changes to the act on social security and employment. She added
that the monthly social relief amounted to almost EUR 222 this July.
Furthermore, the changes to the pensions act benefited pensioners,
since the pensions are being adjusted to wages more consistently
since 2005, she added. The government also did not introduce any
stricter criteria for retiring. The number of beds in nursing homes has
increased by 3,000, and a tender that would bring 750 new beds
to Ljubljana and Maribor is currently underway, Cotman added.
Cotman also underlined measures for increasing the birth rate, such as
higher child benefits and benefits for large families. She noted that in
2006 and 2007 more children were born than in the previous years.
SLOvENIA BEttEr OFF tHAN FOUr
yEArS AGO
Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk has said
that Slovenia is better off after four
years of the centre-right government.
≈There were occasional problems [in
the coalition] but we always managed
to find common ground. The end result
is at hand, the coalition has successfully
implemented what it had promised
to the public.« ≈Everything that we
committed to has been realised to a great
extent, almost entirely, and what has not been finished yet is already
under way. In this sense I believe that the work of the government,
and of the coalition, has been successful.« One of the government's
biggest achievements, and a landmark event for Slovenia, was the
introduction of the euro in 2006. This was not the project of a single
government or a single ministry, but ≈practically the entire period of
preparation coincided with this term, which required cooperation
with everyone.« ≈This achievement was instrumental for Slovenia,
as it allowed faster economic growth and general progress. It is true
that global economic growth was positive, but we still grew twice
as fast as other eurozone countries.« The reason why Slovenia made
such strides was ≈the new atmosphere in the Slovenian economy
that could only have been created by clear and precise rules of the
game. Slovenia adopted the rules of the eurozone.« As for other
achievements, Bajuk mentioned the reduction of the tax burden
on companies and cuts in public spending, which dropped from
48.1% of GDP in 2001 to about 43% of GDP at the present. ≈This
broadens the space for the private sector, which is the true carrier
of creativity and progress«. Asked whether Slovenia failed to pay
enough attention to inflation considering that countries which had
adopted the euro before saw prices rise, Bajuk says it is crystal clear
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