154th regular session of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia

The Government approved the amendments to the Parental Protection and Family Benefits Act. The proposed amendments introduce 15 calendar days of parental leave for foster carers of children placed into foster care who are aged between 8 and 15. Until now, these foster carers were not entitled to parental leave. However, it is equally important for older children to establish an initial bond with their foster carers, get to know them and adjust to their environment, which is the purpose of the 15-day parental leave. The proposed amendments remove the provision on the 20% increase in child benefits if a pre-school child under the age of four is not enrolled in pre-school education. The existing Act stipulates that if a pre-school child under the age of four is not enrolled in pre-school education in accordance with the regulations governing pre-school institutions, the individual amount of child benefit is increased by 20%. As kindergartens have had sufficient capacity in recent years, and the provision was originally introduced as it used to be very difficult to secure a place in pre-school education, particularly for younger children, the reason for this increase no longer exists. Under the proposed amendments, eligibility for the large family allowance will be extended to persons other than parents, such as foster carers. Until now, foster carers were not eligible for this allowance, unless they had at least three children from the same family in their care. In practice, foster carers often have their own children in addition to the children placed under their care (amounting to a total of three or more), and such families are also considered large in the view of the proposer. Social work centres will also be able to determine eligibility for the right to the large family allowance automatically for state scholarship recipients. The large family allowance is granted automatically to families entitled to child benefits. To reduce administrative burdens, a new provision has been added, allowing social work centres to grant the large family allowance automatically to families with three or more children entitled to receive a state scholarship. This means that after a child reaches 18 years of age and the family is no longer entitled to child benefits, one of the parents will no longer be required to submit an application. Instead, social work centres will decide on the eligibility for the large family allowance automatically, based on entitlement to the state scholarship.

The Government adopted the proposed new amendments to the Forest Act and submitted it to the National Assembly for discussion and adoption by regular legislative procedure. The proposed new amendments to the Forest Act provide for changes to driving in forests, the composition of the Council of the Slovenian Forest Service and the council of the Service’s regional units, supplement provisions on record keeping pertaining to decisions issued in administrative procedures and access to the personal data required to issue these decisions, introduce the acquisition of felling remains, permanent storage and the national forest inventory, and increase fines. The key aim of the proposed Act is to improve the efficiency of the Service’s work or the conduct of administrative procedures and the issue of administrative decisions by integrating data from existing databases managed by other entities, such as the ministry responsible for internal affairs (the central population register), the Supreme Court (the computerised main book of the land register) and the Surveying and Mapping Authority (the real estate cadastre), while ensuring the adequate protection of personal data. The proposed new amendments introduce a national forest inventory, a procedure aimed at monitoring and recording large forest areas, forest ecosystems and forest soils, ensuring the statistically consistent collection and processing of data on forests and other wooded land in Slovenia on the national and regional levels. The fines for minor offences were harmonised with the relevant legislation and inflation.

The Government finalised the text of the proposed new amendments to the Insurance Act, transposing the provisions of EU directives regulating the common European market of insurance services. In recent decades, the EU has adopted numerous directives and regulations establishing the common European market of insurance services. The purpose of these legal acts is to ensure a high level of customer safety, maintain financial stability and promote competition among insurance companies. Two directives regulating the operations of insurance companies and the distribution of insurance products were transposed into Slovenian law with the Insurance Act (ZZavar-1). European legislators regularly adopt new regulations, directives and guidelines that amend, supplement and interpret the provisions of the directives in question. The aim of these changes is to ensure their continuing adequacy and efficiency in a changing environment. The Zzavar-1 must adapt to these amendments, supplementations and interpretations. The new amendments to the Zzavar-1 transpose the provisions amending the two directives as regards the digital operational resilience for the financial sector and the establishment and functioning of the European Single Access Point. The amendments to the Act also eliminate inconsistencies and improve provisions that have proven to be difficult or impossible to implement in practice, and harmonise the existing Insurance Act with the Companies Act.

The Government has submitted the Act Amending the Public Passenger Transport Management Act to the National Assembly for consideration by the shortened procedure. The Public Passenger Transport Management Act (ZUJPP) stipulates that the Public Passenger Transport Management Company (DUJPP) performs the tasks of a public passenger transport operator, which includes a number of tasks related to the financing of the obligatory public utility service of public regular passenger transport.  These tasks include the payment of compensation to carriers for the performance of the obligatory public utility service of public regular passenger transport, the settlement between the participants in the combined ticket system, and the payment of compensation on the basis of contracts for integrated lines. In addition, revenue from the purchase of combined tickets is received to the account of the DUJPP with the purpose of financing inter-urban public passenger transport. Pursuant to paragraph one of Article 27 of the ZUJPP, the DUJPP is responsible for the overall financing of the inter-urban regular bus service, and under the current regime it acts on behalf and for the account of the Republic of Slovenia. However, the tasks of financing and managing the obligatory public utility service are still being carried out by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy, which negatively affects oversight and coordination processes. The DUJPP is responsible for coordinating timetables, determining monthly kilometres travelled and monitoring the quality and scope of obligatory public utility service provided. However, the invoices of the carriers are submitted to the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy, which is responsible for verifying, validating and paying them. This arrangement makes it difficult for the DUJPP to carry out its tasks efficiently, creates additional challenges and uncertainties in the financial management of the state, and leads to a complex implementation of the tasks, making it difficult to achieve the key objectives of the establishment of the DUJPP. Amendments to the ZUJPP are required in order to enable the DUJPP to carry out all the tasks for which it is responsible. The proposed amendments to the ZUJPP are related solely to the adjustment of the cash flow to enable the DUJPP to carry out the scope of the tasks as originally intended when the ZUJPP was adopted. The DUJPP will be able to perform the tasks on its own behalf and for its own account, meaning that it will become the issuer of combined tickets. Consequently, the revenue from the sale of combined tickets, the purpose of which is to finance inter-urban public passenger transport (Article 30 of the ZUJPP), will be managed by the DUJPP. These amendments will achieve the purpose of the ZUJPP, i.e. to ensure the uniform and transparent financing and management of inter-urban public passenger transport. The DUJPP will thus be able to effectively and efficiently draw EU funds from the Social Climate Fund to combat mobility poverty.

The Government also approved the draft Resolution on the National Programme of Sport of the Republic of Slovenia 2026–2035. The draft resolution will be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration. The National Programme of Sport of the Republic of Slovenia 2026–2035 is a strategic document that defines the public interest in the field of sport and directs the development of sport policy in the coming decade. It defines objectives and priorities, programmes for different target groups, investments in sports infrastructure and outdoor sports facilities, development and professional support, organisation in sport, events, promotion, social and environmental responsibility and support mechanisms. The National Programme of Sport of the Republic of Slovenia 2026–2035 provides the basis for the preparation of an implementation plan, which will specify actions and guidelines and serve as a basis for the preparation of annual sport programmes at the national and local levels. The document is financially neutral and only provides guidelines for the allocation of funds within existing budgetary limits. As part of the preparation process, a favourable opinion was obtained from the Council of Experts for Sport of the Republic of Slovenia and the consent of the Olympic Committee of Slovenia – Association of Sports Federations.

The Government also took note of the reasons for the extension of the temporary reintroduction of border controls at the internal borders with Croatia and Hungary as of 22 June 2025 for a period of six months, as provided for in Article 25a of the Schengen Borders Code. The Government instructs the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to notify the Member States of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission of the intended extension of the temporary reintroduction of border controls. The temporary controls at Slovenia's internal borders with Croatia and Hungary will be extended for a period of six months, from 22 June 2025 up to and including 21 December 2025. The European Union is surrounded by instability and conflict. The terrorism threat level in the EU remains high. Slovenia currently faces a medium level of terrorist threat – the third of five levels. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, EU Member States and EU candidate countries have been the target of destabilising activities and hybrid threats from the Russian Federation and Belarus. In addition to the unpredictable developments in Ukraine, the wider Middle East region remains unstable. Uncontrolled departures from reception or accommodation centres in the Western Balkan countries, largely organised by criminal groups, may also pose a security risk. In this context, migration flows can also pose a security risk. This year, the number of irregular border crossings along the Western Balkans migration route is lower than in the same period in 2024. However, the section of the route leading from Bosnia and Herzegovina via Croatia to Slovenia remains active and continues to require attention. The national security authorities of the Republic of Slovenia will continue to closely monitor potential risks and the security situation both within the country and in the wider region, as well as the effects of the temporary reintroduction of border controls – with the aim of returning to an area without internal border controls as soon as the situation permits.