All statistics are showing a gradual recovery after the deep financial and economic crisis and Slovenia has exited the excessive deficit procedure, "but this should not lull us", the long-serving Finance Ministry state secretary said in her presentation on the Finance and Monetary Policy Committee.

Indicating that she would continue with prudent financial policies of her predecessor Dušan Mramor, who unexpectedly resigned in mid-July, she said that due to economic growth, desires for an increase in expenditure in some areas were too ambitious.

Slovenia being in the preventive part of the Stability and Growth Pact, it was required to continue to gradually decrease the structural deficit. Public debt must be reduced by EUR 480m a year and the general government deficit by EUR 240m, she said. This would enable the budget's structural balancing by 2020.

Vraničar Erman pledged to direct the available public funding into areas that would boost economic growth, where the priority would be to invest in projects offering multiplication effects.

She also announced that she would "advocate a restrictive policy on public sector pay" in talks with the trade unions, saying she did not see room for additional increase in pay apart from what has been offered in the negotiations so far. This and last year, increase in public sector pay outpaced economic growth.

The government will shortly be submitting to parliament tax restructuring aimed at reducing the tax wedge on highly-skilled workers announced by Mramor in spring. "I understand the various stakeholders who would want more, but this is what we can afford at the moment," said Vraničar Erman.

She plans several more improvements in the tax system, such as in taxation of income generated abroad and lump-sum taxation, while MPs inquired mainly about her plans for a real estate tax after its introduction was halted by the Constitutional Court in 2013.

Vraničar sad that work was currently under way to set up a system for the valuation of real estate in line with the court's instructions, and she expects a draft bill on the real estate tax to be submitted for public consultation by the end of the year. She would want the tax to be phased in.

"What I learnt from the episode of 2013 is that speed in less important in some projects and that you should take more time for cooperation with the stakeholders," she said, adding that the real estate tax needed to remain fully the revenue of municipalities. "It must be broad-based and the rates low."

She also promised continued privatisation and steps to increase efficiency in the management of state equity stakes, but would not speculate when MP Andrej Šircelj of the opposition Democrats (SDS), asked about what she thought would be the right price for the NLB bank.

She also underscored the need to complete bank restructuring and said that the bank restructuring process should be used to ensure the financial system's active support to businesses. She also believes the system should be upgraded to prevent the risk of money laundering or terrorism financing.

Some MPs expected more concrete answers from the candidate, with Marko Pogačnik of the SDS accusing her of talking political platitudes, and his colleague Anže Logar (SDS) noting that Mramor's presentation two years ago was more concrete. Franc Trček of the opposition United Left (ZL) said she talked like a bureaucrat.

Expressing doubt about her political power, Logar challenged her whether she "would be able to say no to Karel Erjavec", the foreign minister and the leader of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) who is known for his continuous demands for higher pensions.

Responding, Vraničar Erman said that she had boundaries she would not cross. "Yes, I can say no to many a person, not just Minister Erjavec."