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HEALtH MINIStEr StrESSES
INvEStMENt IN CLINICS AS MAIN
ACHIEvEMENt
Health Minister Zofija Mazej
KukoviË highlighted as the biggest
achievements of her one-year term
the progress made in the investment
into the new Pediatric Clinic and the
Neurological Clinic. She believes that
the main priority for the next term
should be reducing waiting lines in
hospitals and clinics. According to
Mazej KukoviË, another achievement
is that ≈we managed to organise the ministry as a functioning
institution which creates health care policy. The ministry was so
weak that every local institute or insurance company had more
influence on health care policy than the ministry itself.« Regarding
investment in health, the minister said that the area was one of the
toughest nuts to crack, as it required expertise in various fields.
The team at the ministry has to be well organised in order to be
up to the task in talks with contractors, she said. She believes that
the ministry has made an important progress in public tenders.
However, there is still much to be done in this area, in which
more or less the same suppliers and contractors, which hold the
ministry in their grip, take turns, she said. During the one-year
term of the minister, who took over the ministry last September
from Andrej BruËan, the parliament passed seven laws drafted
by the ministry and the resolution on the national plan for health
care through 2013. The minister highlighted the mental health
act, which received absolute support in the parliament. She also
emphasised negotiations with the trade union of doctors and
dentists (FIDES) for a wage deal, and added that the ministry
had issued in this term 150 licenses for specialist practitioners
and 183 licenses for general practitioners. According to Mazej
KukoviË, the works on the new Pediatric Clinic will be finished by
15 August, while the Neurological Clinic is expected to be moved
to a new building next spring. Regarding the construction of a
new emergency ward in Ljubljana, the minister said that it would
be better if the project was stopped and started all over. There
are many difficulties, which are a consequence of the fact that the
project was planned as a greenfield investment, but in reality the
ward is being build as an extension to the current building, she
said. Mazej KukoviË also stressed that the ministry now published
on its website data on waiting lines for individual treatments.
However, regulating the issue will be an important task which
should be carried out in the next term, said the minister.
HIGHEr EDUCAtION MINIStry
FULFILLED MOSt GOALS, SAyS MINIStEr
The Ministry of Higher Education,
Science and Technology has achieved
most of the goals it had set for the
2004-2008 period. Investment in
education and science has been
increasing and better conditions for
cooperation between research and
business have been created, Minister
Mojca Kucler Dolinar said. Presenting
the achievements of her ministry over
the past four years, the minister stressed that direct as well as
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indirect investment in research and development had increased,
including with the introduction of R&D tax breaks for companies.
≈The curve is rising and we are successfully following [trends],«
the minister said. Ales MiheliË, the head of the ministry's
Directorate for Technology, added that the statistical figures
would improve as a result of the tax breaks. The fresh investment
would bring Slovenia closer to the target of 3% of GDP for
R&D. The ministry has also spent EUR 40m on new dormitories
with 1,401 beds and it renovated dormitories with over 1,000
beds for university students. This comes on top of investment
in various education infrastructure at all three Slovenian state
universities - in Ljubljana, Maribor and Primorsko. Minister Kucler
Dolinar also highlighted the accelerated introduction of Bologna
programmes at universities. Over 350 programmes have already
been accredited and preparations for the conversion have been
stepped up in the natural sciences, arts, sports, social work,
teacher training and health. Finally, the status of employees in
higher education has improved with the reform of the wage system
for the public sector. On average base wages will increase by 17%
by 2010, Kucler Dolinar said.
MINIStEr ŽAGAr: SLOvENIA vEry
SUCCESSFUL IN DrAwING EU FUNDS
Slovenia was one of the most successful
EU members as regards the phasing
of EU funds, Local Government
Minister Ivan Žagar told the press
on 24 July. Slovenia drew some 95%
of the funds available to it from the
European Regional Development Fund
between 2004 and 2006. According
to the minister, Slovenia will get the
remaining 5% by March 2010, when
all procedures are concluded. Slovenia drew some 93% of the
funds available for fisheries and 89% of those available for
agriculture. Most funds from the Regional Development Fund
were invested into business infrastructure and public services,
with the value of contracts amounting to EUR 68.5m. Some
EUR 44.5m was used to boost tourism, while almost EUR 44m
went into innovation. The funds available from the address of
the European Social Fund were more poorly utilised, their use
rate only reaching 70%. However, Žagar believes that by the end
of the year it will reach 95%. The poor performance here is the
result of mistakes made by the previous government, according
to Žagar. The biggest share of the finances from the Social Fund
was used to strengthen active labour market policies and boost
social integration, the minister said. Slovenia drew over 50% of
the resources available from the Cohesion Fund by March 2008.
Up to July, Slovenia used 48% of EU funds − 42% (EUR 122.5m)
went into environmental investments, while 55% (EUR 123.1m)
of these funds were invested into the transport sector. Žagar
underlined that Slovenia in February signed a trust agreement
with the European Commission which transfers more oversight
duties onto national bodies, which is a major acknowledgement
of Slovenia and its control mechanisms. Slovenia got around EUR
4.2bn for the new programming period 2007−2013, Žagar said.