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Prime Minister Golob on the interpellation of the Government's work: Our focus is on the well-being of the people

Prime Minister Robert Golob today gave a statement of his response to the interpellation in the National Assembly.
Prime Minister Robert Golob gave a statement of his response to the interpellation in the National Assembly.

Prime Minister Robert Golob gave a statement of his response to the interpellation in the National Assembly. | Author Matija Sušnik, Državni zbor

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In his introduction he pointed out that the interpellation submitted by the Slovenian Democratic Party mainly dealt with the Museum of Slovenian Independence, while on the other hand, only 2% was devoted to healthcare: "This tells us everything about the priorities of one party and our coalition, where the order is reversed. Our focus is on the well-being of the people, their access to public goods and public healthcare."

Regarding the Museum of Slovenian Independence, the Prime Minister explained that it had been merged with the Museum of Contemporary History, which was also supported by the largest veterans' associations. He pointed out that independence was a project of the entire nation and not of one political party. 

Prime Minister Golob recalled the blockade by the opposition when the new Government took office, the establishment of the rule of law and the redress of injustices inflicted by the previous Government on civil society and the people. As many as 62,000 fines, amounting to more than EUR 5 million, have been imposed for offences during the COVID-19 epidemic. The Government has therefore drafted a new law to suspend the offence and criminal proceedings and to reimburse the fines already paid.

Immediately after taking office, the Government took steps to tackle rising energy and food prices and prepared a comprehensive package of mitigation measures. "There has not been a moment of energy shortage," emphasised the Prime Minister. In Slovenia, energy prices were frozen last year and will remain unchanged this year. He recalled that the Government had reduced excise duties, VAT and taxes on motor fuels. Oil and petrol are more than 20% cheaper than in Austria in Italy. The Government has also introduced the monitoring of the basic food basket, which has contributed to a reduction in the prices of the basic foodstuffs included in the basket by almost 25% since September 2022.

It has also provided support to various segments of society to cope with the rising food and energy prices. Among other things, more than EUR 40 million in direct grants were made available to farmers in the second half of last year, EUR 600 million were allocated by the Government last year and this year to eliminate wage disparities, while pensioners received the highest pension increase to date.

Prime Minister Golob concluded by highlighting the key reform of this Government. Changes in healthcare are important to people, therefore the Government has introduced, among other things, practices for people without an assigned general practitioner and set up a call centre to help users. This will help people to get to a personal doctor when they need one. An intervention law to reduce waiting periods has been adopted, while laws on the digitalisation of healthcare, the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia and a proposal to amend the Health Care and Health Insurance Act are in the process of being adopted. After 20 years, the Government will finally abolish complementary health insurance, a promise made by many governments in the past. At the end, the Slovenian Prime Minister pointed out that the key objective was transparency: "People will finally know where their money in healthcare is going."