The European Commission has assessed Slovenian plans for implementing reforms related to the Lisbon Strategy as suitable in general, but with a number of flaws.
According to the Commission, which issued its report on the national Lisbon Strategy programmes for the EU member states on Wednesday, the Slovenian plan has a number of strong sides, but lacks concrete blueprints on certain measures.
In its opinion of the Reform Programme for the Implementation of the Lisbon Strategy, the Commission calls on Slovenia to prepare better plans for the sustainability of Slovenia's pension system and to come up with a more comprehensive strategy for research and innovation.
It found that the reform programme fails to provide a breakdown of budgetary consequences of the proposed measures.
Although Slovenia underscores that the success of the reforms depends on support from the EU budget, it fails to draw a clear link between the priority fields and the use of development aid, the report said.
The Commission also issued a number of indirect warnings to Slovenia, including that the proposed implementation of a flat tax could raise Slovenia's budget deficit.
Among the strong elements of the plan, the Commission points to planned measures to bolster the regulative framework, including through the simplification of legislation and the cutting of red tape.
In a breakdown of the goals, the report concludes that Slovenia's aim of adopting the euro in early 2007 is a good basis for the speedy implementation of reforms.
On a microeconomic front, the Commission said the plan lacks a timetable of envisaged privatisation measures and efforts to halt abuses of dominant market positions in certain segments of the telecommunications sector.
Moreover, the Commission believes Slovenia's ambitious goal of increasing spending on research and development to 3% by 2010 from the 1.64% in 2004 is not realistic and lacks sufficient vision on private partnership.
The cabinet adopted the Reform Programme for the Implementation of the Lisbon Strategy in Slovenia in late October and sent it to the Commission soon after.
The three-year programme, which all EU member states must draft and submit to the European Commission, is based on reform measures the government is getting ready to implement.
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