Reform Committee Outlines Proposals to Govt
The government reform committee outlined its proposals for economic and social reforms to the government at Thursday's cabinet session. According to the head of the committee Joze P. Damijan, the proposals are "a good basis for reforms aimed a boosting economic competitiveness and speeding up economic growth, while maintaining or even improving the welfare state and the security of workers".
The proposed measures deal with ten fields: promoting competition and innovation; effective usage of EU funds; privatisation and the development of the financial sector; liberalisation of public utilities; restructuring of public finances; tax reforms; labour reforms; reform of social transfers; health reforms, and changes to the pension system.
Addressing a press conference following the session, Damijan said the goal of the planned measures was to make Slovenia's economy more competitive, thereby allowing for a better standard of life in the long-term.
Among the key measures is the reform of social transfers, whose aim, however, is not to curb the welfare state, Damijan said. The goal would be to make active job-seeking a more appealing to recipients of social security, he explained.
Another measure would be the introduction of a streamlined tax code, which would promote greater economic efficiency, Damijan said.
According to him, the changes to the tax code envisage the introduction of a flat tax rate coupled with "corrective measures" which would ensure that people would not be worse off as a result of the new rate.
The reform committee has also called for an increase in the number of universities with the view to improve the transfer of knowledge from educational institutions to the economy. In Damijan's opinion, Slovenian universities should place greater emphasis on technology studies and be more flexible in order to meet the needs of the economy.
Moreover, the committee has come up with a series of measures in privatisation and the withdrawal of the state from the economy, aimed at improving economic efficiency, Damijan said. He added that the measures would see the state withdraw from the economy over a few years.
The proposed reforms also envisage a rationalisation of the health system and restructuring of the pension system in order to promote workers to stay in work longer. According to Damijan, incentives would be given to people to stay in work even after they become entitled to a pension.
The cabinet was satisfied that the proposed reforms are a good basis for the implementation of structural reforms over the next few years, Damijan said.
According to him, the large number of laws involved in the process means that the reforms can start being implemented in about 15 months from now.
After being outlined to the public, the government is expected to adopt the finalised wording of the reform document by 20 October. The public debates that are to be held on the document are to involve political parties, social partners, interest groups and the public in general, Damijan added.
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