STA, 6 March 2019 - The government managed to get the revised budget for 2019 through parliament on Thursday with the help of the opposition Left. But the vote does not end uncertainty over this year's spending, as the upper chamber has indicated a veto was possible and the Left may make its support in a re-vote conditional on additional spending.
The supplementary budget sets expenditure at EUR 10.16bn, a rise of EUR 463m or 4.8% from the original budget. Revenue is to go up even more, by 6.2% or EUR 599m to EUR 10.35bn, exceeding EUR 10bn-mark for the first time, mostly due to significantly higher public sector wages.
The adjustments increase funding for almost all ministries despite warnings from the centre-right opposition and the Fiscal Council that such spending hikes risked setting up Slovenia for trouble now that economic growth had started to cool down.
The government has rejected criticism with the argument that the spending blueprint was treading a middle path between exclusive focus on welfare and excessive austerity. It insists the budget is fiscally sustainable.
The budget was passed without the support of the opposition Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi). The former argued that the government had ignored warnings of the Fiscal Council, while the latter was bothered by the rejection of the amendments filed by the SDS, NSi and the National Party (SNS).
The three opposition parties had filed 34 amendments, mainly concerning the funding of infrastructural projects, but all of them were rejected.
But the SNS nevertheless supported the budget. According to party head Zmago Jelinčič, this was only to see how the European Commission will respond.
To secure passage, the government has had to reach a deal with the Left that entails additional spending potentially running into several hundred million euro on policies including precarious work forms, housing, corporate tax, wages, pensions and healthcare.
The initial plan was that the pact would be signed before today's vote, but due to apprehension by some coalition partners, in particular the Social Democrats (SD) and the Modern Centre Party (SMC), it was merely initialled after a half-hour recess in which the final details were hammered out.
The leader of the Left, Luka Mesec, said the deal was very similar to the one that was initialled with the government last summer. He expects it to be signed in the coming days.
In line with the deal, the leader and the secretary of the Left will from now on be invited to the meetings of coalition deputy groups every Tuesday.
The head of the deputy group of the ruling Marjan Šarec Party (LMŠ), Brane Golubović, rejected criticism that the agreement had not been coordinated with other coalition parties, saying that all ministries concerned had participated in the talks, including those led by ministers of the SMC and SD.
There has been some speculation that the pact with the Left may be sidelined after the budget is confirmed, but this would leave the budget vulnerable in the event of an upper chamber veto, which is possible given the balance of power in the chamber.
The National Council recently denied support to the budget, with councillors voicing complaints about government plans in the area of local government and regional development.
Any vetoed legislation would requires confirmation by 46 MPs in the 90-member National Assembly. The coalition only has 43 votes.
Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said he was not surprised by the threat of the veto. "I only hope to hear some solid arguments, because the ones I heard today are very shaky considering the wishes of those presenting them and are reminiscent of horse-trading," the PM said.
