Statements by party leaders suggest several major bills could be.

"We are approaching the final year of the government's term and it is important to talk about how we will steer the coalition commitments to the end," Prime Minister Miro Cerar said as he arrived for the meeting.

He named health reform and social policies among the top priorities, but warned the budget was not unlimited and that every project would be "conditional on the fiscal framework".

As for the coalition's work, he said the debate would also touch on how to secure more unanimous voting than had been the case recently. "We need to close our ranks even more," Cerar pointed out.

Karl Erjavec, the president of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), agreed that the meeting was necessary. "We've recently voted very differently. We need to consolidate the coalition and see which laws have to be adopted by the end of the term."

Dejan Židan, the head of the Social Democrats (SD), on the other hand, noted that elections were more than a year away so there was "no need to already start acting as if we are campaigning".

He was confident the partners would be able to agree to tone down the campaign conduct and step up the implementation of the coalition agreement.

The way to achieve greater unity appears to be to shelve some of the most difficult pieces of legislation under consideration.

Erjavec said it was necessary to define what exactly can be adopted before the election and voiced scepticism about bills on healthcare and education.

Earlier today the government had to shelve a bill that would put public funding of private primary schools on roughly equal footing with public schools, in line with a Constitutional Court decision.

Both DeSUS and SD opposed the bill, with Židan and Erjavec both saying they saw "no chance" of passage.

Erjavec's statement also appears to indicate that health reform, the government's flagship project, but one pushed in particular by the Modern Centre Party, is in jeopardy.

He said it was "necessary to be realistic" since reforms are usually passed in the first half of a government's term.

Židan shares his view. "At this point it seems inappropriate to announce major changes in healthcare after three years of government," he said.shelved.