176th regular session of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia

The Government approved the draft Act on Measures to Optimise Certain Procedures at Centres for Social Work and Homes for the Elderly upon the Introduction of the New Long-Term Care System and proposed that it be considered by the National Assembly under the urgent procedure. Among other measures, the act simplifies the bureaucratic process of transferring residents in homes for the elderly into the long-term care system. The urgent procedure is justified in the public interest, as the draft act concerns rights intended for one of the most vulnerable groups in society – older persons and other long-term care beneficiaries – and directly affects social work centres, long-term care providers, and other stakeholders who require a clear and timely legal basis to operate under the new system. Adoption of the act through the regular procedure would risk delaying the implementation of systemic solutions planned for 1 December 2025.

The Government also adopted the text of the draft Act on Protective Measures against Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation and referred it to the National Assembly for consideration under the regular procedure. The draft act transposes into Slovenian law the EU directive on protecting persons participating in public debate from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings (known as “strategic lawsuits against public participation”). The deadline for transposing the directive into national law is 7 May 2026. The draft act introduces a set of protective measures that defendants (beneficiaries) may use in such lawsuits or proceedings – for example, security deposits, support and assistance to the beneficiary, expedited handling of cases, and early dismissal of claims. A beneficiary may request that the court require the plaintiff to pay a security deposit if the proceedings are shown to be abusive. In addition to the protective measures, the act also transposes other obligations from the directive, including the establishment of a single contact point providing information on available procedural safeguards, legal remedies, and support measures such as legal aid, financial assistance, and psychological support. The directive also requires annual reporting to the European Commission on the number of abusive proceedings launched each year, the classification of cases by the type of plaintiff and defendant, and the nature of claims filed under the directive.

The proposed amendment to the Public Finance Act (ZJF) concerns the regulation of the composition, preparation, and execution of the budget, interventions on the secondary market of government securities, issued guarantees, budget inspection, and financial engineering. The changes aim to clarify the nature and purpose of certain provisions of the Act, thus addressing systemic shortcomings identified by the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia. In addition to projects, the amendment also defines measures that have not yet been formally recognised by the Act, even though they have been included in the third part of the state budget or in the development programme plan for years. For reasons related to fiscal rules, the amendment removes the option to finance new obligations arising after the adoption of the budget through higher expected revenues or increased borrowing. In such cases, funds may only be secured through reallocations within existing savings, or, if that is not possible, by preparing a supplementary budget. The article on the general budget reserve is also amended to remove the restriction that reserve funds may only be used for purposes unforeseen during budget preparation. It is now clearly stipulated that reserve funds may also be used for purposes identified during the year as underfunded.