While 26 MPs voted that the proposal should be further discussed by the National Assembly, 44 were against.

The Democrats (SDS), who filed the changes, wanted to bring the lowest old-age and disability pensions to the level of the guaranteed minimum income (EUR 393) and introduce a gradual increase in pension rating base to 63% in the proposed changes.

Moreover, the party wanted to see two different annual bonuses for pensioners: 80% of the lowest pension to those with the lowest pensions and 50% of the lowest pension to those with higher pensions.

The government does not support the proposal, Tilen Božič, a state secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, told the MPs today.

Although it does not support the solutions, the government does support the goals of the changes proposed by the SDS, Božič said.

In the debate, the SDS said that the proposal was a summary of pre-election promises of some coalition parties. The opposition New Slovenia (NSi) said that the proposal was basically a wish list of the Association of Pensioners (ZDUS).

The senior coalition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) said that the SDS only wanted to make work harder for the coalition by submitting this proposal to the National Assembly.

This view was echoed by the coalition partners Social Democrats (SD), Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB).

LMŠ MP Nina Maurovič underlined that such changes needed to be sustainable and agreed upon with social partners.

Meanwhile, Janja Sluga of the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) said that annual bonuses for pensioners had never been regulated in the way proposed by the SDS. "It aids one group at the expense of other," she said.

The Left, the minority government's partner in the opposition, meanwhile said that it would not oppose the changes, "although the SDS is being hypocritical to the core".